WEEKLY OVERVIEW – NXT (thru 4/4): Top stories of week, major show lineups, live event results, schedule of live events, noteworthy social media posts, more

The following is the latest in a new series of weekly in-depth articles exclusive to PWTorch which will help put in perspective major wrestling promotions with a weekly overview, looking at news and roster developments, results, future line-ups, social media activity, key interviews, plus a timely commentary at the end. We will be featuring similar features on other promotions each week and each will be updated weekly.

•Top Stories of the Week

Candice LeRae vs. Aliyah and The Street Profits vs. Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel have been announced for next week’s show, most likely a taping from New York. Keith Lee vs. Donovan Dijakovic has been advertised to take place in two weeks.
NXT TakeOver:New York takes place Friday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Pre-Show begins at 6 P.M. with I’m assuming some sort of Charley Caruso led panel and the main card begins at 7 P.M. The card is set and completely stacked, all that’s left is to get it going.

•NXT Live Event Results

March 29 Gainesville, Fla.

Angelo Dawkins beat Rinku Singh
Deonna Purrazzo beat Xia Li
Steve Cutler beat Jeff Parker
Dominick Dijakovic beat Brendan Vink
James Drake beat Danny Burch
Eric Bugenhagen beat Shane Thorne via DQ
Kacy Catanzaro beat Rachael Ellering
Velveteen Dream beat Jordan Devlin to retain NXT North American Championship
War Raiders beat The Forgotten Sons, The Street Profits, and James Drake/Zack Gibson to retain NXT Tag Team Championships

(Results courtesy of wrestling-news.net)

March 30 St. Augustine, Fla.

Saurav Gurjar beat Jonah Rock
Lacey Lane beat Reina Gonzalez
Denzel DeJournette, MJ Jenkins, Jessie Elaban beat Aliyah, Vanessa Borne, and Kona Reeves
Kassius Ohno beat Daniel Vidot
Marcel Barthel beat Albert Hardie Jr.
Punishment Martinez beat Dan Matha
Roderick Strong beat Flash Morgan Webster
Shayna Baszler beat Bianca Belair, Io Shirai, and Kairi Sane to retain NXT Women’s Championship

(Results courtesy of f4wonline.com)

•Upcoming Major Show Line-up: NXT TakeOver New York

NXT TakeOver New York
April 5, 2019
Brooklyn, NY (Barclays Center)

Projected Lineup:

War Raiders (NXT Tag Team Champion) vs. Aleister Black and Ricochet
Shayna Baszler (NXT Women’s Champion) vs. Bianca Belair vs. Io Shirai vs. Kairi Sane
Velveteen Dream (NXT North American Champion) vs. Matt Riddle
Johnny Gargano vs. Adam Cole 2 out of 3 falls match for the vacant NXT Championship
Pete Dunne (NXT UK Champion) vs. Walter

•Upcoming Events

FRIDAY APR. 5 – BARCLAYS CENTER (BROOKLYN, NEW YORK) NXT TAKEOVER BROOKLYN
Friday Apr. 12 – Minnreg Hall (Largo, Fla.)
Saturday Apr. 13 – Sanford Civic Center (Sanford, Fla.)
Thursday Apr. 18 – Lakeland Armory (Lakeland, Fla.)
Friday Apr. 19 – Maxwell Snyder Armory (Jacksonville, Fla.)
Saturday Apr. 20 – University Area CDC Gymnasium (Tampa, Fla.)
Thursday Apr. 25 – Orlando Live Events (Casselberry, Fla.)
Thursday Apr. 25 – Ralston Arena (Omaha, Neb.) JUST ADDED
Friday Apr. 26 – Rivercenter (Davenport, Iowa) JUST ADDED
Saturday Apr. 27 – Turner Hall Ballroom (Milwaukee, Wis.) JUST ADDED
Saturday Apr. 27 – Dade City Armory (Dade City, Fla.)
Saturday April. 28 – Roy Wilkins Auditorium (St. Paul, Minn.) JUST ADDED
Friday May 3 – Palm Beach County Convention Center (West Palm Beach, Fla.)
Saturday May 4 – Havert L. Fenn Center (Fort Pierce, Fla.)
Friday May 10 – Highlands Today Center (Sebring, Fla.)
Friday May 17 – St. Petersburg Armory (St. Petersburg, Fla.)
Thursday May 23 – Bartow Armory (Bartow, Fla.)
Friday May 24 – Fieldhouse at Watsco Center (Coral Gables, Fla.)
Saturday June 29 – Venice Community Center (Venice, Fla.)

•Latest TV Highlights: 4/3 NXT TV Report

(1) War Raiders beat local talent by pinfall (3:06 – 4:08)
(2) War Raiders beat Adrian Jaoude and Cezar Bononi by pinfall (5:36 – 6:56)
Pete Dunne/Walter video package (8:27 – 11:47)
Performance Center video package (13:16 – 15:11)
Candice LeRae parking lot interview (16:04 – 17:52)

Interrupted by Aliyah and Vanessa Borne (16:32)

(3) Jaxson Ryker beat Oney Lorcan by pinfall (19:52 – 25:20)
Adam Cole/Johnny Gargano video package (26:56 – 30:54)
Velveteen Dream/Matt Riddle video package (33:11 – 36:20)
Keith Lee/Donovan Dijakovic video package + backstage interview (36:39 – 39:47)
(4) Bianca Belair vs. Kairi Sane ends in no contest (43:04 – 51:30)

Shayna Baszler, Marina Shafir, Jessamyn Duke storm ring
Rest of NXT Women’s division storms ring with Io Shirai standing tall holding title

(Check out PWTorch’s NXT TV Report HERE.)

•NXT in the Media

Ricochet sat down with Lilian Garcia for Garcia’s Chasing Glory podcast to discuss his career, his goals, and his personal life. Ricochet opens up about his family and growing up with a mixed background as well as talking about why making it to the main roster was so important to him. LINK
The State of Combat podcast recently caught up with HHH and Adam Cole ahead of his huge main event Friday night in New York. “There is so much pressure that goes into being the main event of a TakeOver card in general, let alone one that is as stacked as this one is and it’s Wrestlemania weekend,” said Cole. I can’t wait for this match. Check out the podcast HERE.

•Latest NXT Podcast – “PWT Talks NXT” PWTorch Livecast

In this episode of PWT Talks NXT, Kelly Wells, Justin James, and Tom Stoup make predictions for TakeOver New York 4, prepare for the next chapter of the women’s division, debate the best use of the War Raiders, and more.

-On Tune In Radio HERE
-On Apple Podcasts HERE
-Or search “PWTorch” or “Pro Wrestling Torch” on your podcast app of choice

•Top NXT Tweets of the Week

Ciampa tweet of the week… There’s a piece of dust in my eye.

Everyone has a “why”.

This is my “why”.

Meet the real Goldy…https://t.co/WuRwMklVQA

— CIAMPA (@ProjectCiampa) April 3, 2019

Wrestlers love their video games.

On flight entertainment! @sixers #NintendoSwitch @JetBlue pic.twitter.com/2NahNV0uXr

— The One And Only! (@KingRicochet) March 31, 2019

Being a regular guy enjoying his pizza and two beers… We can all relate to that, Bro.

2 days out! “All work and no play makes Bro a dull boy” pizza and beer at my favorite grocery store Luckys 🍀 and I’ll say this Dream is about to be very unlucky when it comes to retaining the North American Championship
#originalbro #kingofbros #stallion #nxttakeovernewyork pic.twitter.com/YwNGFrwEhC

— matthew riddle (@SuperKingofBros) April 3, 2019

Not a bad consolation to Gargano/Ciampa.

I can taste it…only a couple days away from capturing what has belonged to me all this time…#AndNew #NXTChampion #AdamColeBayBay #UndisputedERA pic.twitter.com/WsmBdyGB4c

— Adam Cole (@AdamColePro) April 4, 2019

•Thoughts and Comments

Predictions for NXT TakeOver:New York

Matt Riddle over Velveteen Dream to become new NXT North American Champion. This one is the hardest on the card to predict. Velveteen Dream losing the North American title so soon is tough to swallow, but so is the King of Bros taking his first loss. I wish I didn’t have to choose because these two are my favorite wrestlers in NXT, but I think Velveteen is closer to the main roster call-up than Riddle, so I’m sticking with Riddle.
Walter over Pete Dunne to become new NXT UK Champion. I’ve flip-flopped on this one a few times, but ultimately, Walter is the right man to take the title from WWE’s longest reigning champion. Pete Dunne is 25 years old and is going to be a huge part of WWE going forward, but we’ll all be singing along to “IV Allegro con fuoco” as Walter raises the NXT UK title over his head.
War Raiders over Ricochet and Aleister Black to retain NXT North American Tag Team Championships. Unlike the previous two, this bout is a little bit easier to forecast. I can’t see any conceivable way it makes sense for the War Raiders to drop the titles here. Also, NXT has buried the rest of the division in order to promote Ric and Black which not only made the outcome of this match a foregone conclusion, but leaves the War Raiders without any real competition after TakeOver. Unless Ricochet and Black pull off the improbable and win all three tag team titles (Raw, Smackdown, and NXT) Wrestlemania weekend…ahhhh…that’s just too good.
Shayna Baszler over Bianca Belair, Io Shirai, and Kairi Sane to retain NXT Women’s Champion. There is a possibility that either Belair or Shirai win the title by pinning each other or Sane, but I don’t think either of them can carry the division right now. It’s Baszler’s division and unless the WWE has major plans for a four horsewomen showdown to close out Wrestlemania, it’ll stay that way.
Adam Cole over Johnny Gargano to become the new NXT Men’s Champion. My God, this card is as stacked as the WrestleMania one and caps off with high quality championship match. Another one that I’ve gone back and forth on, but ultimately, NXT loves its heel champions and Cole fits that bill to a T. I’m hoping Johnny sticks around in NXT for a while and builds a new championship story with Cole, but I think he has 205Live written all over him. It’s finally Adam Cole’s time, BayBay.

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