Had to see some results from this one to get our predictions out last night but interested to see how some of the results happened.
MSK (WES LEE & NASH CARTER) VS. LEGADO DEL FANTASMA (JOAQUIN WILDE & RAUL MENDOZA) – DUSTY RHODES TAG TEAM CLASSIC SEMI FINAL MATCH
Not sure about Mendoza but three of the four in this match made their name in Impact/TNA. Great to see them all getting treated well in NXT.
Lots of great tags from Mendoza and Wilde doing move after move between them on Lee.
Commercial break time with Legado Del Fantasma in control sending Carter to the outside.
Back from the commercial with Carter finally able to get the hot tag to Lee.
Nice spot with MSK doing their pushing standing moonsault but off of the ring apron on to Legado Del Fantasma on the outside.
Sick Poison Rana from Wilde springing off the turnbuckle to hit it.
MSK hit a double team move to get the pinfall victory on Wilde to advance to the final at TakeOver.
Video promo to promote a Xia Li match coming up next.
Mercedes Martinez is now cutting a video promo about the NXT Championship is her goal and why she came back to NXT.
She calls Toni Storm a little girl before telling Io she is going to have to try harder to take her out.
XIA LI W/ BOA VS. KORA JADE
Do we know yet who is playing creepy white faced masked lady in the chair, Mae Ying?
Kacy Catanzaro and Kayden Carter come down to ring side before the match starts telling Xia this isn’t her before the opponent attacks Xia from behind. Big Mistake.
Xia Li destroys Kora Jade with everyone looking on at ringside.
Post match, Xia attacks Kora Jade and Kayden Carter confronts the girl in the chair leading to Xia Li attacking Kayden. Xia says it won’t happen again.
Mae Ying. grabs Boa by the throat so Xia goes after Kacy and attacks her leading to Boa being let go.
William Regal is being interviewed about the other semi final matches before going in his office where Scarlett is waiting for him.
Scarlett says she is there because if Karrion comes it won’t be nice. She wants Kross vs. Escobar next week and Regal agrees.
Johnny Gargano is seen in a wheelchair and arm in sling backstage with the rest of The Way.
The Way now come out and the make a how act of having to carry Johnny into the ring while the crowd chant Johnny Wheelchair.
Gargano says this is a result of Kushida attacking him last week.
Regal comes out to tell Johnny that we are supposed to be having the Women’s Semi Final and the medical team cleared Johnny yesterday.
They show an X Ray and Regal points out how it is not his X Ray.
Regal said they have two options, first is Theory vs. Kushida tonight would be for the North American Title which Theory is excited but Gargano rejects in hilarious fashion.
Option two is he forfeits the belt right now which Johnny says no but Kushida is apparently in the ring now and attacks.
Johnny is able to hold on to his belt with his injured arm showing he is fine and time for the Women’s match to start.
THE WAY (INDI HARTWELL & CANDICE LERAE) W/ AUSTIN THEORY & JOHNNY GARGANO VS. EMBER MOON & SHOTZI BLACKHEART – WOMEN’S DUSTY RHODES TAG TEAM CLASSIC SEMI FINAL MATCH
Back from commercial with the match already started with Ember and Shotzi in control of Candice.
Have to say that Indi Hartwell has probably benefited the most since The Way story started. She was a nothing jobber and now she’s a great personality in NXT.
Wade Barrett has been watching some old WWE tapes apparently as he slips and calls Candice LeRae “Candice Michelle.”
Great move from Candice using Indi to hold her balance and hitting a Rana on to Ember sending Moon into Shotzi.
Picture in Picture time but apparently it is not restaurant quality. NXT and USA should look into it.
Back live with Ember Moon getting the hot tag after being beat down by The Way.
Double team from Ember and Shotzi on Candice but Indi is able to break up the pin before 2.
Ember falls out of the corner causing Hartwell to send Candice into an empty corner followed by Ember sending Indi into Candice.
How is flicking someone on the head without them moving count as a pin break when they are still pinned?
Eclipse from Ember Moon on Candice with Hartwell protecting her afterward but getting hit but Shotzi who can get the pinfall victory on Indi.
Post match, Dakota and Raquel come out with Regal letting the teams know the winning team get a shot at the Women’s Tag Team Championships.
Thatcher and Ciampa are cutting a promo about their match against Era last week before talking about Grizzled Young Veterans.
Santos Escobar is being interviewed about his match against Karrion Kross next week. Mendoza and Wilde are told to make up their loss by paying a visit to “somebody” so they don’t make it to next week.
Video package now for Pete Dunne and Finn Balor fighting for the NXT Championship on Sunday at TakeOver.
AUSTIN THEORY W/ JOHNNY GARGANO VS. KUSHIDA
No entrances for this one as both are in the ring and the bell rings as we get back.
Gargano gets up on the ring apron with ease showing he didn’t need the wheelchair either.
Pretty much all Kushida in this one proving why Gargano had no interest in this match being for the NXT North American Title.
Theory starts to gain the advantage but does the cocky pose cover and only gets one.
Kushida puts the arm bar on to Theory while on the edge of the ring leading to Gargano superkicking Kushida to cause the DQ win for Kushida.
Post match, Theory and Gargano beat down Kushida until Theory gets pulled under the ring and Lumis comes out from under.
Ends with Kushida putting Gargano in a arm bar while Lumis puts Theory to sleep. Kushida stands tall with North American Title.
Toni Storm is next to promote the women’s triple threat match at TakeOver. She says Mercedes is rude for involving herself in her business.
Toni says she knows she Io doesn’t like her, she wouldn’t like her either if she beat her every time they were in the ring together.
Another video promo for Imperium saying Wolfe coming was just the beginning while putting each of them over.
Backstage Mendoza and Wilde are beat down with Kross telling the camera saying if you want something down right, you should have done it himself.
A car is arriving outside the arena making so much noise we had to go and see who it is. Apparently it is Cameron Grimes who has got some money now. He heads directly to the ring handing out money to people including audience members.
Please tell me his new gimmick is redneck millionaire who made money from GameStop and Bitcoin.
Yup, he put his money in GameStop and made it rich while he was off. And then he apparently invested in DogeCoin after that and is apparently richer than Musk.
Grimes says he is now so rich that he can tell Regal to kiss his grits and won’t wrestle who ever he wants. I love this gimmick.
Johnny Gargano is interviewed backstage saying he is done playing games and is going to beat Kushida on Sunday.
Io Shirai is cutting a promo and thankfully it is in Japanese with subtitles so she can show her emotion off a lot more.
TIMOTHY THATCHER & TOMMASO CIAMPA VS. GRIZZLED YOUNG VETERANS (JAMES DRAKE & ZACK GIBSON) – DUSTY RHODES TAG TEAM CLASSIC SEMI FINAL MATCH
Gibson has a microphone as they come down to the ring to cut a promo on Ciampa and Thatcher. Pointing out how things turned out with both of their previous partners.
Ciampa not caring to much for the promo and attacks the minute Drake gets up on the ring apron. No bell ring though since Drake was outside the ring.
Bell rings with Thatcher and Gibson getting in the ring.
Back from the picture in picture with Ciampa hurt on the outside and Thatcher having to fend for himself.
Great selling by Drake after coming off the top turnbuckle and getting uppercutted by Thatcher.
Thatcher is visibly bleeding from the nose halfway through the match.
Drake takes out Thatcher then Doomsday Device from Grizzled Young Veterans but Thatcher is able to reach in and break up the pin just in time.
Gibson holds on to Drake when Ciampa tries to hit Willows Bell. Ticket to Mayhem and Gibson pins Ciampa to advances to the finals two years in a row.
Post match, the updated graphic shows the Finals are set for Dusty Rhodes Classic for TakeOver on Sunday.
We get the stand off between the teams at the trophy on the stage before the announcers break down the Card and we see them around the arena for each match. Liked it.
#WWE #WWENXT #TakeOver #VengeanceDay #WrestlingCommunity #DustyClassic
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