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Pro Wrestling Noah Grand Ship 2022

Let’s kick off the 40th issue (yep, you read correctly!) of Pro-Darin with a bonus, shall we?

The bonus event I chose for this issue is Pro Wrestling Noah Grand Ship 2022; I watched this event days before we lost Japanese pro wrestler, martial artist, politician and New Japan Pro Wrestling founder Antonio Inoki, and also days before our very own Johners went to see New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Royal Quest II in his home country of the United Kingdom. (P.S.: I’m glad to see that he had fun that night including praising the tag team main event in night 1, FTR vs. Aussie Open for the IWGP Tag Team Championship.)

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Grand Ship 2022 took place on September 25, 2022 at the AICHI Dolphins Arena in Nagoya, Japan; it was shown on Wrestling Universe and Fite TV. On the card that day were ten matches; four of them had GHC titles on the line. One of the wrestlers taking part of this event was Keiji Muto, best known as the Great Muta; on June 12, 2022 at Pro Wrestling Noah’s CyberFight Festival 2022, he announced that he was retiring in 2023. Part of his retirement tour are five matches; this match, his second on that tour, was a tag team match that took place at Grand Ship 2022. Muto is expected to retire on February 21, 2023 at the Tokyo Dome.

Out of the matches that didn’t have gold on the line, my favorite match would go to the tag team match that I mentioned just now; in this match, Keiji Muto teamed with Kazuyuki Fujita to take on Katsuhiko Nakajima and Masakatsu Funaki. Even though this was one of the final five matches Muto participated in, Muto showed his opponents what he’s capable of; you could definitely tell—metaphorically—how much gas he had in his tank that day.

As for the championship matches, my favorite of the four that took place—and also my favorite of Grand Ship 2022—would go to the GHC Heavyweight Championship bout that served as the main event; in this match, Kenoh defended the belt against the “Supernova” Kaito Kiyomiya. The storyline in this match was Kiyomiya getting sick and tired of struggling to win that title, and was proving himself—and to the fans—that he could defeat Kenoh for it. This main event from start to finish didn’t disappoint me one bit, and they definitely gave each other hell—tooth and nail—with gold on the line.

Here are the match results from Nagoya…

Match #1: Manabu Soya defeated Taishi Ozawa.

Soya is a member of the group Kongo. Soya won after making Ozawa, who was pulled away from the ropes, submit to a Boston crab. My score: 3/5

Match #2: Eita & Nosawa Rongai defeated Kai Fujimura & Yasutaka Yano in four minutes.

Eita and Rongai are members of Perros del Mal de Japon; they came to the ring with the Perros del Mal merchandise (a shirt, a towel and a tote bag to be more specific). Rongai offered a handshake until Fujimura and Yano dropkicked him and Eita seconds before the bell rang. The team of Eita and Rongai came back and won after a camel clutch/sliding dropkick combo to Fujimura. My score: 1/5

Match #3: Yoshiki Inamura & Masa Kitamiya defeated the Funky Express.

Inamura and Kitamiya are members of the Tough. Funky Express consists of Akitoshi Saito and Mohammed Yone, or “Aki” and Yone for short). The Tough members won after Inamura hit Yone with the Muso uranage. My score: 3.5/5

Match #4: Alejandro, Xtreme Tiger & Ninja Mack defeated Hiroki, Ohara & Tadasuke by disqualification.

Hiroki (a.k.a. “Hi69”), Ohara and Tadasuke are members of Kongo. Also, this was Ninja Mack’s return to Pro Wrestling Noah. Towards the end, Xtreme Tiger hit the Kongo members Hiroki and Ohara with a springboard corkscrew moonsault, and then Mack hit the two with the Ninja Special. Back in the ring, Alejandro and Tadasuke went at it until Tadasuke unmasked him, giving Alejandro and his teammates the win by DQ. After the match, Tadasuke gave Alejandro back his mask until Alejandro—with his tag team partners in tow—chased him to the back. My score: 3.25/5

Match #5: Jack Morris, Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. & Naomichi Marufuji defeated Daiki Inaba, Masaaki Mochizuki & Masato Tanaka.

Inaba, Mochizuki and Tanaka are members of Zero 1. Also, for those of you that follow ICW of Scotland like I do, Morris is indeed the same wrestler that serves as ½ of the Nine9. (Speaking of the Nine9, I wonder where Dickie Divers is nowadays…) With Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. and Marufuji dealing with Mochizuki and Tanaka at ringside, Morris hit Inaba with a Bryan Danielson knee followed by a falcon arrow for two before winning with a shooting star press. My score: 3/5

Match #6: Seiki Yoshioka & Atsushi Kotoge defeated Chris Ridgeway & Yoshinari Ogawa to become the new GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions.

Ridgeway had taped ribs, probably due to his match with Big Damo at Progress Chapter 137 that took place one month prior. The Stinger members went after Yoshioka and Kotoge seconds before the bell rang until the challengers fought back. Kotoge’s left arm was worked on, ditto Yoshioka’s left leg during the match. Also, after Ridgeway hit Kotoge with a brainbuster for two followed by a running punt to the chest for another two, both men traded strikes until Ridgeway got the upper hand; Kotoge popped up and hit him with a headbutt before Ridgeway responded back with a punt, and the two ended up in a bloody mess (with Kotoge getting the worst of it) due to the headbutt. Towards the end, Ogawa put Yoshioka in a reverse half crab (known as the Ridgeway Clutch) and then put him in a Figure Four until Yoshioka was able to get out of it; Yoshioka then fought back before winning with a buzzsaw kick. After the match, Yoshioka and Kotoge celebrated their victory until Tadasuke and Hiroki ran in and blindsided the new champions, with Tadasuke hitting Kotoge with a steel chair (that would break after one or two chair shots) and Hiroki working on Yoshioka’s leg; the Kongo members then vowed to defeat Yoshioka and Kotoge for the belts. My score: 4/5

Match #7: Satoshi Kojima & Takashi Sugiura defeated Timothy Thatcher & Hideki Suzuki to become the new GHC Tag Team Champions.

Thatcher and Suzuki came to the ring with the same theme song used by Die Familie on NXT UK (except it was played at a slow pace unlike the original Die Familie theme). During the match, Kojima went for the Western Lariat but missed and ended up getting his right arm worked on. Also, Sugiura accidentally booted his tag team partner instead of Thatcher even though he was able to hit the other opponent Suzuki minutes later. The end of the match saw Kojima hitting Thatcher with the Western Lariat and then hit Suzuki with a brainbuster followed by the Western Lariat, then Sugiura hitting Suzuki with an Olympic slam for the win. After the match, Suzuki beat down a crewman while heading to the back. Then, Kojima said “We did it” before shaking Sugiura’s hand (instead of giving him a finger shake like he did before the match began) and then telling the “assholes” on the roster that they’re a dangerous tag team. My score: 4/5

Match #8: Hayata defeated Yo-Hey to retain the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship.

During the match, Yo-Hey went for a Meteora from the apron until Hayata countered with a powerbomb on the floor; Hayata came back in at 13, ditto Yo-Hey at 19. Yo-Hey hit Hayata with the Gamengin (running double knees) for two, and then a Codebreaker and second Gamengin for another two until Hayata came back with the 403 Impact (jumping lifting DDT) for two. After Yo-Hey came back with a top rope Gamengin for another two, Hayata fought back and won with the Headache. After the match, Ninja Mack came into the ring and told Hayata to hold the belt tight, challenging him for the title. My score: 4.25/5

Match #9: Kazuyuki Fujiya & Keiji Muto defeated Katsuhiko Nakajima & Masakatsu Funaki.

Nakajima and Funaki are members of Kongo. A double Figure Four was done by Fujiya and Muto during the match until their opponents were able to get out of the holds. Also, near the end, Nakajima hit Muto with—one of Muto’s maneuvers—the Space Rolling Elbow until Muto came back and won with a shining wizard. My score: 4.25/5

Main event: Kaito Kiyomiya defeated Kenoh to become the new GHC Heavyweight Champion.

Kenoh is a member of Kongo. (P.S.: Did any of you get tired after seeing me mention who is in Kongo yet? Just asking…lol…) After Kenoh hit Kiyomita with a dragon superplex followed by the PFS (or Coup de Grace if your name is Finn Bálor) for a near fall, Kiyomita came back and won with two shining wizards. After the match, Kiyomita thanked the fans and then challenged Kazuyuki Fujita to a match for the belt. Fujita, who was drinking a can of beer, came into the ring and Kiyomiya raised his title in front of him until Fujita hugged him and then jokingly poured beer on his head; Kiyomiya took offense and punched Fujita, then as Fujita left, the champion said that he didn’t like beer despite still issuing a challenge to Fujita. My score: 4.75/5

Progress Chapter 139: Warriors Come Out To Play

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Now, onto a belated recap…and no, I didn’t need to go to a search engine for the chapter title. The dead giveaway…I still remember watching “The Warriors” on TNT back when I was in my early double-digit years, and it is indeed a damn good movie if you like action packed thriller films like this. (Yes, you read correctly…it was on TNT that night I watched it; the f-bombs and the word “shit” were edited out if I remember correctly.)

Anyway, this chapter of Progress took place at the Electric Ballroom in London, England in the United Kingdom on August 28, 2022. All four Progress championship belts were on the line that day, and there were also four exhibition matches—including one involving a straitjacket—that occurred.

I enjoyed three of the nine matches that took place that day. The opener was one of the three matches, and it was for the Progress Atlas Championship. This championship match, between Jacobs and Dereiss, was scheduled to take place two chapters ago until Mark Davis of Aussie Power was added to the bout. Just like the three-way dance for that belt, this match for the Atlas Championship was a great battle as well. Both wrestlers came close to picking up the win and title even while going back and forth with their signature maneuvers from Jacobs’ Burning Lariat to Dereiss’ Four Fiddy; in the end, it was the North West Strong member Jacobs who retained the belt. Both Jacobs and Dereiss did indeed have a good battle not just in the three-way dance, but also in this one-on-one bout.

The second of the three matches I enjoyed involved wXw wrestler Maggot and, returning to Progress after his time in the now defunct NXT UK, Eddie Dennis. After being away from pro wrestling for approximately a month, Dennis returned to action as well as Progress where he was the Progress World Champion in the past before relinquishing the belt due to injury. Dennis showed his opponent Maggot what he’s still capable of, as did Maggot that day; in the end, it was the returning Dennis who emerged victorious. I definitely look forward to seeing what else Dennis has in store for Progress now that he’s back in the company.

The third of the three matches that I enjoyed was what would have been the main event (and you’ll see why I said “would have been” in the results shortly). This match saw Big Damo defending the Progress World Championship against Dan Moloney of the 0121, and it was indeed a great battle between the two heavy hitters with gold on the line. The title didn’t change hands in this bout however, mainly because of the match’s ending that had the fans ticked off. Regardless of the result, I still enjoyed that championship match. Here are the match results from London…

Match #1: Luke Jacobs defeated Man Like Dereiss to retain the Progress Atlas Championship.

Both shook hands as the match began. After dodging a Four Fiddy from Dereiss, Jacobs hit him with the Burning Lariat for two, and then put him in a sleeper until Dereiss bridged him for two. The back-and-forth bout continued with Dereiss hitting Jacobs with a powerbomb and a Four Fiddy for back-to-back two counts until the action spilled out of the ring near the end of the match; Jacobs hit him with a Death Valley driver into the chairs, then hit him with a coast-to-coast dropkick and a second Burning Lariat for two before winning by making him submit to a sleeper. After the match, Jacobs helped up Dereiss and hugged him. My score: 4.25/5

Match #2: Tate Mayfairs defeated Gene Munny.

Mayfairs coerced Simon Miller to introduce him as “The greatest professional wrestler ever to walk planet Earth.” Early in the match, Munny did a victory lap—even with his Gene Munny Championship belt in his hands—and posed on the top rope until Mayfairs shoved him off and into the ring crew at ringside. Later on, Munny hit Mayfairs with the James Blunt Force Trauma (sit out powerbomb) for two, and then his opponent got out of the ring before the Ainsley Lariat was attempted, leading to Munny hitting him with a tope into the chairs followed by a Cactus Jack elbow drop from the apron while Mayfairs was laying on a couple chairs at ringside. Suddenly, as soon as both wrestlers were back in the ring, an SMPTE color bar test card appeared on the screen until Matt Cardona appeared on the screen as well, challenging Munny—who was setting up Mayfairs for the Ainsley Lariat—to a match; as soon as Cardona was no longer on the screen, Mayfairs missed on attempting to hit Munny with brass knuckles, then—behind the referee’s back—hit Munny with his own title for the win. My score: 1.5/5

Match #3: Lana Austin defeated Raven Creed in a straitjacket match.

The only way to win was to put the opponent in a straitjacket and strap it closed. Before the match started, Simon Miller announced that Lana was “unavailable” until Raven decided to look for her backstage; Raven, after asking Jayde where Lana was, then left the venue and found her at a sushi bar before attacking and chasing her back into the Electric Ballroom. (Plus, we learned that Raven isn’t a fan of sushi as she came back with a plate with it and didn’t like it after taking one piece of it…lol…) Raven followed Lana outside as well as under the ring early in the match, and then after beating her down, she grabbed the straitjacket (from a mannequin that read “DIE LANA DIE” on the torso) until Lana hotshot her on the top rope before fighting back. Both women fought with the straitjacket until Raven headbutted Lana after a tug-of-war with it and then hit her with the Hellbound and put her in a sleeper; she then grabbed the straitjacket until all of the sudden, Skye Smitson ran in and attacked Raven before putting the jacket on her and having Lana finish the job for the win. Afterwards, Lana told Jayde—who interviewed her—that Skye is a member of “The Lana Austin Experience.” My score: 2/5

Match #4: Eddie Dennis defeated Maggot.

For those of you that watched it on Peacock or WWE Network (or for those of you that live in Australia, Binge come 2023), Dennis’ theme song—“Party Hard” by Andrew W.K.—was replaced with the FSU theme. After Maggot countered the Gunslinger (sit out sidewalk slam) with the Crucifixion for two and then hit Dennis with a snap suplex and spear for another two, he went for a top rope crossbody—after a pendulum kick—until Dennis countered with the Gunslinger for a near fall of his own. Then, Maggot and Dennis exchanged rollups after Dennis went for the Severed Bridge until Dennis was able to hit him with the Severed Bridge before winning with the Neckstop Driver (lifting reverse DDT). Post-match, Dennis said that he planned to come back “in this [f-bombing] room” and wrestle someone making a name for himself such as Maggot, and then vowed to win back—what he relinquished due to injury a couple years ago—the Progress World Championship. My score: 4.25/5

Match #5: The Sunshine Machine defeated Danny Black & Joe Lando to retain the Progress Tag Team Championship.

During the match, TK Cooper attempted to punch Lando until Black distracted him; Cooper then went for a sunset flip powerbomb from the apron until Chuck Mambo flipped Cooper back to the apron, leading to Cooper hitting the CPF member with a reverse piledriver on the apron. The end of the match saw Mambo hit Black with a springboard crossbody into the chairs at ringside before coming back into the ring where he and Mambo hit Lando with Captain Midnight’s Revenge for the win. Post-match, Lykos Gym talked about defeating the Greedy Souls for a shot at the tag team belts and then defeating the Sunshine Machine for those titles until the tag team champions appeared; Mambo and Cooper were talking about their win until Kid Lykos spat water in his face, with Mambo trying to settle him down after telling Lykos that it was uncalled for. My score: 3.75/5

Match #6: Anthony Ogogo defeated Callum Newman.

During the match, Newman booted Ogogo into a chair until Ogogo hit him with a back body drop into the chairs in the crowd; Newman would dart back into the ring at nine afterwards. Then, after Newman powered out of a triangle choke with a powerbomb, Ogogo won with the Tower of London. After the match, Ogogo shook hands and hugged Newman before his arm was raised, and the Kosta Konstantino came into the ring and talked about working with him in the past before Ogogo became a “disrespectful piece of shit”; Konstantino said that Ogogo was a “rookie” instead of “the guv’nor” in pro wrestling like in boxing until Ogogo started poking fun of him for working for his father’s chip factory. Ogogo then said that he was looking forward to fighting Malik until Konstantino told him to get a box to lie next to his dead father; this made Ogogo furious and go after Konstantino until Malik blindsided him and beat him down prior to the two placing the Union Jack on Ogogo and leaving. My score: 4/5

Match #7: Kanji defeated Laura di Matteo to retain the Progress Women’s Championship.

If Kanji lost by disqualification, Laura would become the new champion. Laura blindsided Kanji before the match until the ring crew separated the two; both women continued to fight at ringside before getting back in the ring. The two wrestlers were then held by the ring crew as Simon Miller did the intros, and then got the hell out of dodge as the two went at it a second after the bell rang. Laura tried to get Kanji DQ’d on purpose including using the referee as a shield as Kanji charged at her. Near the end, Laura countered a slingshot spear with a super kick before hitting her with a swinging neckbreaker for two, and then got out of the ring and threw six steel chairs into the ring (including those she stole from fans). Kanji attempted to hit her with a running leg drop until she noticed that Laura tried to get her DQ’d with one of the chairs; Laura then attempted to hit Kanji with the chair until Kanji took it away from her, thought about hitting her with it, and then threw it down. Then, Laura went for a backslide until Kanji countered with a full nelson before bridging it, elbowing her down, and making her submit to a triangle choke. After the match, Laura took the title away from the referee, but then approached Kanji, whispered something in her ear, and gave the title back before heading to the back. My score: 3/5

Match #8: Dan Moloney defeated Big Damo by disqualification; Damo retained the Progress World Championship.

Both bumped fists before the match. As soon as the bell rang, Moloney hit Damo with a spear for two until the action spilled out of the ring; Damo came back and stood on Moloney like a surfboard before hitting him with a senton on the floor. Later on, Moloney hit Damo with a deadlift slam followed by a German suplex for two. Towards the end, after Damo hit Moloney with a uranage from the apron followed by a hilo for two, Moloney made a comeback until Damo hit him with a clothesline, Wasteland, a senton and the Belfast Blitz for a near fall; Moloney came back with a second spear followed by the Drilla until all of the sudden, Spike Trivet ran in and hit Moloney in the head with a bottle, giving the “Drilla” a win by DQ. My score: 4.25/5

Main event: Spike Trivet defeated Big Damo in five seconds to become the new Progress World Champion.

After attacking Moloney, Trivet beat down Damo with a steel chair several times and then used his key to open the championship opportunity. Then, as soon as the bell rang, Trivet pinned Damo for the win; he would then taunt the irate fans at ringside before leaving with the belt afterwards. No score.

ICW Fight Club

Now, onto my currently usual three, starting things off by going to the GPWA—now known simply as “The Asylum”—in Glasgow, Scotland for ICW Fight Club.

Not only did the buildup to Fear & Loathing XIV occur this week, but so did the fallout from Shug’s Hoose Party 7. This week’s episode began with Dylan Thorn coming from the crowd and into the ring, demanding answers from the Manifesto’s leader ADM. ADM came into the ring and Thorn asked him why he attacked him after losing to Daz Black at SHP7, and ADM said that he was tired of seeing Thorn fail again and again until Thorn noted other “failures” that the Manifesto had in matches such as one-on-one matches with Che Monet and Jack Jester prior to that event before ADM blamed Thorn for embarrassing the Manifesto. Thorn then talked about what happened during his match with Black at SHP7 including what Black did when the rest of the Manifesto interfered and then said that Black deserved the win until ADM called Thorn “pathetic” before getting under his skin by—comparing himself to Thorn’s deceased father—saying “I want nothing to do with you.” I got a feeling that Thorn, who appears to be no longer part of the Manifesto, will be reaching his breaking point by fighting the team’s leader ADM at Fear & Loathing XIV in November; I have to admit, the Manifesto has been a force to be reckoned with even before ending up with a handful of losses heading into SHP7, but if Thorn vs. ADM does indeed occur at F&L XIV, then I could expect the other members—Grant McIvor and Eddie Castle—take part of this bout whether it helps ADM more than Thorn or vice versa.

Back to F&L XIV, we saw that there is another match that has been made for that event. After Chris Bungard rescued Levi from getting beaten down by Aaron Echo, we learned there will be a match between the mixed martial artist/wrestler Bungard and ICW veteran Echo at that event in November. Before he does so, Bungard will face Theo Doros next week on an episode of ICW Fight Club. I believe giving Bungard some matches—including one against Doros—prior to F&L XIV is indeed a good thing, mainly because it helps build his pro wrestling skills even with any plans of using his MMA-related fighting abilities in his bouts; this looks like something WWE should take notes on before having Logan Paul fight Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at Crown Jewel (even though Paul was impressive in his first two matches per se). That’s just my opinion, so…

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Me being opinionated (and probably biased as well) aside, we saw three matches on this week’s episode of Fight Club. My favorite of the three would go to the Zero-G Championship match between Daz Black and Sheikh El Sham. With size and strength coming into play, El Sham showed Black what he had in store even before Black made a comeback and won. Black is so far having a good run as a champion, and El Sham is indeed proving to us that he can be championship worthy even after coming close to winning that belt.

Here are the match results from Glasgow…

Match #1: Angel Hayze defeated Lana Austin. Lana is nowadays, like on Progress since late 2021, competing as a heel.

As soon as the match began, Angel offered Lana a handshake until Lana slapped it away. Both wrestlers fought into the audience, including Lana slapping a drink out of a fan’s hand and Angel punching her opponent into the seats and fans. Near the end, Angel hit Lana with a superkick and then put her in a guillotine until Lana backed her into a corner and—after kicked her off the top tope—came back with a Codebreaker for two. Lana then went for a discus forearm, but Angel dodged it and won with a bridging La Magistral. My score: 3.5/5

Match #2: Andy Wild defeated Coach Trip (w/ Jason Reed).

Before the match started, Wild went after Trip until Reed joined in the battle; Reed even attacked Wild with a steel chair, giving Trip the upper hand before the bell rang. Reed also helped Trip who had Wild in an abdominal stretch until the referee caught him; Reed attempted to interfere again until he was ejected from ringside. Trip begged for mercy and then went for a low blow until Wild blocked the attempt prior to hitting the coach with a clothesline and the Dad Bomb for the win. Afterwards, Reed and Trip attempted to escape through the crowd until Wild blamed Reed for riding the coach’s coattails while wrestling and not having a connection with fans; Wild then said that it will be 2 vs. 1 with fans before telling Reed and Trip “We’re going to [f-bomb] you up at Fear & Loathing!” My score: 1/5

Main event: Daz Black defeated Sheikh El Sham to retain the ICW Zero-G Championship.

Both bumped fists before the match began. After Black missed with a moonsault, El Sham hit him with a spear for a near fall, and then had him in a camel clutch until Black backed him into a corner. Black came back with a shining wizard-like kick followed by the Curbstomp for the win afterwards. After the match, El Sham looked like he was going to attack Black, but instead he shook hands with the champion. Then, Theo Doros appeared and said that despite Black epitomizing the Zero-G division, he vowed to win the title at Fear & Loathing XIV and change the Zero-G division. My score: 4.25/5

NXT

We now head to Orlando, Florida in the United States for an episode of NXT.

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NXT has been rebranded once again. This rebrand looks like a cross between the NXT of the black-and-gold era and the NXT of the short-lived multicolored “2.0” era. Besides keeping the same décor used for the last era, the black wrestling mat was brought back and also had black barricades covering up the glass barricades that were used for a year. Like I said, it looks like two past eras wrapped into one; I might call it either the white-and-gold brand or the black, white and gold brand mainly because of the changes made to the logo as well as the arena, but on the other hand, I’m definitely looking forward to what else this new era of NXT has in store.

Two more matches were made for Halloween Havoc. One was the long-awaited rematch between friends turned enemies Cora Jade and Roxanne Perez. This match was announced on an episode of a new show “The Grayson Waller Effect” where Waller had both wrestlers as his guests. Roxanne vowed to come into the match without emotions instead of mixed emotions like the last time she did before fighting Cora who claimed that her opponent was telling a “sob story” and said that she’s nothing but “internet hype”; Cora then said that she tried to be nice to the fans before “The Generation of Jade” was born until Roxanne said that no one bought Cora’s “nice girl act” and said that she was “full of shit.” Waller then added a stipulation to their match with the Halloween Havoc wheel; as soon as he spun the wheel, it landed on “Weapons wild match.” That is indeed one way of having the two women clash once again, especially for an event such as Halloween Havoc; I look forward to seeing what they have in store including Roxanne promising to go after Cora without a single iota of emotion. By the way, shouldn’t the wheel be used during Halloween Havoc instead of before? Maybe they’ll use it for other matches that may be added to that event come in a few weeks.

The other match made for Halloween Havoc was Julius Creed taking on Damon Kemp. After Kemp battered and bruised Brutus Creed with a steel chair last week, Julius vowed to go after the now former Diamond Mine member even with Brutus wanting to go after the turncoat. Kemp decided to challenge Julius to a match at Halloween Havoc, and Julius made it an ambulance match. Kemp then added a stipulation to that bout. If Julius wins, Brutus will have his rematch against Kemp; if Kemp wins, Brutus is gone from NXT. I have been a fan of Diamond Mine as of late, especially the Creed Brothers and I doubt that we’ll see Kemp have one Creed stay and the other part ways with the NXT roster.

Seven matches took place, with two tag team matches that were better than the rest that were—once again—short lived including one that lasted for less than a minute. Not only was the main event tag team match between—from SmackDown—Ridge Holland & Butch of the Brawling Brutes and Pretty Deadly for the NXT Tag Team Championship, but so was the women’s tag team match that took place in the middle of the episode; the women’s tag team match ended up being my favorite match of the episode.

In this tag team bout, we saw the team of Nikkita Lyons and Zoey Stark take on Toxic Attraction members Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne; the winning team would become #1 contenders for the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championship. Originally, this match was supposed to be a six-woman tag team match with Alba Fyre together with Nikkita and Zoey taking on all three members of Toxic Attraction until the match was changed courtesy of Alba as you’ll see shortly. Even though it was a last-minute change that occurred prior to the episode taking place, it still a good tag team bout that involved the wrestlers in NXT’s women’s division; in the end, it was Nikkita and Zoey that was victorious, and even though this team is fairly new, you can tell that those two women work like a well-oiled machine, chemistry and all.

Here are the NXT results from Orlando…

Match #1: Carmelo Hayes (w/ Trick Williams) defeated Oro Mensah.

Near the end, Williams—who distracted Mensah during the bout—pulled Hayes out of the way before being hit by Mensah’s running heel kick in the corner; this led to Hayes hitting Mensah with a Codebreaker followed by the Nothing But Net for the win. My score: 1.5/5

Match #2: Von Wagner (w/ Mr. Stone) defeated Andre Chase (w/ Bodhi Hayward and Thea Hail) in three and a half minutes to qualify for the NXT North American Championship ladder match at Halloween Havoc.

Carmelo Hayes joined Sudu Shah, Byron Saxton and Wade Barrett on commentary. Mr. Stone distracted Chase until Thea picked him up on her shoulders before—after Mr. Stone threw the Chase U flag on the floor—slamming him on the floor. Then, Wagner defeated Chase with a Death Valley bomb. Suddenly, after the match, Wes Lee jumped from the crowd and attacked Hayes until two referees came and separated them. My score: 0.5/5

Match #3: Wendy Choo defeated Lash Legend in almost four minutes.

Lash fired up Wendy by throwing her own body pillow at her before the match. Wendy won after hitting Lash with a reverse splash. My score: 0.5/5

Match #4: Nikkita Lyons & Zoey Stark defeated Gigi Dolin & Jacy Jayne for a shot at the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championship.

It was originally scheduled to be Alba Fyre, Nikkita Lyons & Zoey Stark vs. Toxic Attraction until—before the episode took place—Alba attacked Gigi and Jacy in the parking lot before hightailing in Mandy Rose’s SUV; Gigi ended up with taped ribs as a result. Also, Kayden Karter & Katana Chance watched the match backstage. Zoey and Nikkita won after hitting Gigi with, respectively, the Z360 and a leg split leg drop. My score: 3.5/5

Match #5: Julius Creed defeated Duke Hudson in 52 seconds.

This match was made after Hudson taunted the Creed Brothers and Ivy Nile over Damon Kemp turning on their backs and Brutus being unable to compete due to injury. Julius won with a basement clothesline to Hudson. Post-match, Brutus ran in and attacked Hudson until Kemp appeared on the stage. Kemp vowed to defeat Julius at Halloween Havoc, and Julius made it an ambulance match; Kemp then said that Brutus will have his rematch with him if Julius wins, or else—if Kemp wins—will be kicked out of NXT. No score.

Match #6: Xyon Quinn defeated Hank Walker in two minutes.

Walker is using his southern rock-like theme song, that we’ve heard during his appearances on NXT: LVL UP, as his theme song once again. Quinn dodged a running boot and then won with a running jumping forearm. Post-match, Quinn attempted to attack Walker until Quincy Elliott came in and chased him out. My score: 1/5

Main event: Pretty Deadly defeated Ridge Holland & Butch to retain the NXT Tag Team Championship.

This match was made after Kit Wilson and Elton Prince in their “address of NXT commonwealth” announced that they will be champions forever due to a lack of competition until the Brawling Brutes members came and challenged them for the belts. Near the end, Pretty Deadly attempted to hit Butch with Spilled Milk until Holland clotheslined Prince out of the ring, leading to Butch putting Wilson in a cross armbreaker. Prince came back in and broke up the hold before Butch hit him with the Bitter End seconds later until Wilson put his tag team partner’s foot on the bottom rope. Then, Holland hit Wilson with Northern Grit until all of the sudden, Giovanni Vinci and Ludwig Kaiser appeared; this distraction led to Pretty Deadly winning with Spilled Milk. Afterwards, Holland and Butch fought the Imperium members out of the arena while Edris Enofé & Malik Blade appeared at the entryway ditto Josh Briggs & Brooks Jensen on the stage; both teams stared at Pretty Deadly, gesturing for shots at the belts. My score: 3/5

NXT: LVL UP

Staying in Orlando, we wrap things up with NXT: LVL UP.

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Out of the three matches that took place this week, I enjoyed the second bout between Myles Borne and Guru Raaj. Not only was it a flashback from June of this year, but it was also a good back and forth bout between the two. It was slightly better, in my opinion, than their June encounter; in the end, it was Borne who was finally able to pick up his career first win. Besides a good showing from the two competitors, it was also good to see Borne finally chalk up a win in his WWE tenure.

Here are the NXT: LVL UP results from Orlando…

Match #1: Indi Hartwell defeated Sloane Jacobs in three minutes.

After Sloane hit Indi with a middle rope crossbody, Indi won with a spinebuster. My score: 1.5/5

Match #2: Myles Borne defeated Guru Raaj.

Raaj booted Borne in a corner, and then went for a top rope maneuver until Borne caught him with a flatliner for the win. Both men shook hands afterwards. My score: 2.5/5

Main event: Fallon Henley & Sol Ruca defeated Kiana James & Arianna Grace.

Sol kicked Kiana off the apron, and Fallon hit Arianna with a shining wizard for the win. My score: 2/5

Next time…

Besides my currently usual three, I will also take a look back at Extreme Rules. Plus, not yet set in stone, I might throw in a belated recap.

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For just my newsletters along on the WWJ website, it is wrestlingwithjohners.com/authors/pro-darin/

Thanks for reading! Feel free to comment! I’ll see you next time!

(Photos shown in the newsletter are from WWE, Pro Wrestling Noah, Progress and ICW.)