Rhea Ripley speaks up and says Dom has been carrying the entire WWE on his back this entire year. Ilja calls today a day of celebration. He says as a gift for himself, he can’t picture anything better than eating a man alive like him in this ring. He then tells Rhea he’s gonna smash her boy. Cody makes the title match official for tonight. He reveals LA Knight will be the special guest referee.
Now we shoot to Baron Corbin backstage for an interview. He talks about being disappointed at the new NXT Champion Ilja Dragunov. As he continues to complain, he is interrupted inside the CWC by the theme music of LA Knight. Out he comes as the special guest referee of our next match of the evening.
After LA Knight settles in the ring as the special guest referee, the theme for Dominik Mysterio plays and out comes the NXT North American Champion accompanied by the WWE Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley. He makes his way to the ring for this NXT Championship showdown against “The Mad Dragon.”
The theme for Ilja Dragunov hits and out comes the reigning, defending NXT Champion for this scheduled title defense against the aforementioned member of The Judgment Day. The bell sounds and we’re officially off-and-running with this one. The fans chant “YEAH! YEAH!” at virtually everything early on.
“The Mad Dragon” dominates the offense early on. The momentum shifts after LA Knight is distracted by Rhea Ripley on the ring apron, which allows “Dirty” Dom to live up to the moniker, as he thumbs the champ in the eye and takes over as we head into a mid-match commercial break as this title tilt continues.
When we return from the break, we hear louder “YEAH!” chants as LA Knight and Rhea Ripley being the referee and ringside manager are heavily over-shadowing the action in the ring between the NXT World Champion and the NXT North American Champion. Ouch.
Dom backs Ilja in the corner and chops him loud enough that Rhea Ripley reacts big, Ilja stares at him with wide eyes. Dom looks for a 6-1-9 but Dragunov avoids it. He goes for it again and this time he hits it. Ripley cheers Dom on as he goes for the cover, but Ilja kicks out.
We hear the “YEAH!” chants fire up again as Dragunov fights back into the offensive lead. Dom slides out of the ring to avoid Dragunov looking for his H-Bomb finisher. Dom takes advantage of a cheap shot opportunity and looks to finish Dragunov off, but Dragunov counters and hits a big power bomb and then an H-Bomb.
He goes for another one but out comes Finn Balor and JD McDonagh. LA Knight takes them both out. Dragunov avoids a title shot from Rhea Ripley. She falls off the apron and is caught by Trick Williams, who appears at ringside. Dragunov hits torpedo masquo for the win to retain. Eventful match for what has been an eventful show thus far.
After the match, we see Baron Corbin’s theme hit and out he comes to beat down Ilja Dragunov, but from behind, Dijak takes out the champ. He tells Corbin as he passes by him, “I got him first.”
Winner and STILL NXT World Champion: Ilja Dragunov
Related Links:
Gallery: WWE Related > Digitals > WWE NXT > 2023 > October 10th
Gallery: Screen Captures > World Wrestling Entertainment > WWE NXT > 2023 > October 10th
