WWE NXT: Results, Highlights and Grades for December 4th, 2019

A bevy of matches have been scheduled for WWE NXT tonight, including Rhea Ripley vs. Dakota Kai. Also, Adam Cole confronts Finn Balor about last week.

Following a soothing introduction from the voice of NXT, Mauro Ranallo, WWE’s black and gold brand starts as Killian Dain enters the ring and grabs a mic, addressing that his scheduled opponent for tonight – Damian Priest – is out with a rib injury. Dain demands a replacment opponent this very instant and Pete Dunne answers the call. Dunne and Dain immediatley trade blows and forearms as soon as the bell rings.

Dunne locks in a triangle armbar, but Dain wiggles out of it. He tries to follow up with a senton, but Dunne evades it and kicks Dain in his arm. Dunne continues wrenching and working the arm, focusing on his fingers, attempting to break Dain’s digits.

Dain runs at Dunne, Dunne leapfrogs and nails a clothesline. The big man is unfazed and sends Dunne to the outside. Dain attempts a suicide dive but Dunne blocks it with a kick.

Back in the ring, Dain hits The Divide (running crossbody) on Dunne. Follows up with a senton. He wrenches Dunne’s across the mouth before kicking him in the chest whilst taunting the crowd. Dain then drapes Dunne’s arm across the ropes and kicks the ropes, sending Dunne to the mat.

He locks in a rest hold that Dunne is able to fight out of it. Dunne’s sent to the corner and tries to get to the middle rope, but Dain pulls him by Dunne’s arm for a clothesline. Two count.

He continues working Dunne’s arm, but Dunne eventually wrestles out again. But before he can capitalize, Dunne gets hit with a running double axe handle. Another rest hold by Dain. Dunne frees himself once more and this time, is able to initiate his signature comeback spot.

He tries to lock in a German Suplex, but Dain keeps fighting out of it, but finally manages to pull it off for a two count.

Dain goes to the outside. Dunne attempts a moonsault off the top rope, but Dain grounds him to the apron. Dunne reverses by stomping on Dain’s hand and attempts an Asai Moonsault, but Dain ducks out the way. Dunne lands on his feet, but also lands on his injured leg. This allows Dain to capitalize with a suicide dive, sending us to a commercial break.

Back from the break, The Bruiserweight superplexes The Beast of Belfast off the top rope. He then follows up with a tornado DDT, then stomps on Dain’s hand before delivering an enzuigiri for a two count. Dain goes to the outside once again. This time, Dunne does manage to hit the moonsault off the top rope to Dain on the outside.

Dunne struggles to bring Dain back in the ring, but Dain reverses with a fireman’s carry slam on the apron, followed by a senton. He then hits a Belfast Blitz onto Dunne into the steel steps.

Back in the ring, Dain clotheslines Dunne in the corner and tries to hit a Vader Bomb, but Dunne catches him and tries to break Dain’s fingers in a guilotine hold, but Dain picks him up for a powerbomb. Dain goes to the top for a Vader Bomb again, but Dunne gets up and climbs the top for a back suplex attempt.

Dain tries to fight Dunne off, but Dunne settles on locking in a sleeper hold. Dain passes out, but an unconscious Dain falls back first into Dunne, sending both men to the mat. Dain’s limp body lands on Dunne for a pin and without even knowing it, Dain gets the win.

Winner: Killian Dain

Grade: A-

Truth be told, this match is more of a B or a B+, but I LOVED that finish enough to give it an extra boost. These two have tremendous chemistry and despite facing off a few times in the past, they brought enough new stuff to the table to make their latest encounter feel fresh.

Backstage, Cathy Kelley interviews Dakota Kai on the new, darker side to her. Before facing Rhea Ripley tonight, Kai says that Ripley is “dense” in thinking she’s some “almighty hero,” but Kai promises to take her out, just like she did that “hood rat,” Mia Yim at TakeOver. That last comment from Kai might’ve been a little … much … but I digress for now.

Cue Undisputed Era’s music, as the whole crew (minus an injured Bobby Fish) hit the ring.

Adam Cole takes the mic to address his stables “November to remember” where they took over every brand and dominated at Survivor Series. The Undisputed Prophecy has only just begun, but doesn’t like how their efforts are thanked by getting ragdolled by Keith Lee and Fish being injured. But the biggest cardinal sin he wants to address is Finn Balor hitting him with a Pele Kick to close out NXT last week.

Cole says they refuse to leave the ring until Balor comes out to explain himself, but instead, Keith Lee comes out instead. Kyle O’Reilly calls Lee the “belle of the ball” following his star making weekend last week, but has nothing to show for it.

Lee acknowledges he’s a moment maker, but he’s also a game changer. Not only did he make Adam Cole into one of the most viewed gifs on the internet today, but he beat Undisputed Era at WarGames.

He stays silent for a moment and says he’s thinking about which of UE’s titles he wants to take first. Cole suggests he and his boys make another moment for The Limitless One by beating Lee up and ending his career. They attack the big man, but said big man takes the upper hand.

Most notably by tossing KOR into Roderick Strong as Cole escapes up the ramp, only to be blindsided by Tommaso Ciampa. Cole runs in the ring and nearly gets powerbombed by Keith Lee before Strong and KOR pull Cole out the ring for the save.

Cole’s NXT Championship is left in the middle of the ring. Interestingly enough, Lee and Ciampa both stare each other down, looking down at the title until CIampa ultimately picks up and poses with the belt.

Grade: A

Lots of foreshadowing for the future with a lot of teases for future match-ups (Keith Lee vs. Adam Cole, Keith Lee vs. anyone else in UE, Ciampa vs. Cole, maybe Ciampa vs. Lee, etc.). Made me really excited to see where all this goes from here.

Right after, we get a backstage promo from Xia Li who addresses being attacked by Shayna Baszler and her friends last week, but tonight in a non-title match against the NXT Women’s Champion, The Warrior promises to make the most out of her opportunity and lay waste to the champ.

That sends us to a commercial before our next match, but back from the break, we get a return hype package for Kushida, who’s been out for two months. He talks about using the injury to spend time with the people he fights for: his family. He says they’re the whole reason he came to America was to provide a better life for them and in returning tonight, he’ll get back on the road to do just that. Really nice, genuine promo here.

Shayna Baszler vs. Xia Li

Li starts with a few strikes, but the former UFC competitor blocks them all. Baszler hits a few strikes of her own, but Li evades them all. We’ve got a stale mate, folks. The champ settles on a ground and pound, but Li reverses with palm strikes. Series of strike reversals from both women.

Baszler reverses a kick, only to get hit by a spinning kick. Sends Baszlerto the outside, but Baszler gets he upper hand on the way back in by attacking Li’s arm. She then stomps onto Li’s arm the same way she’s stomped on opponents like Dakota Kai to put them on the shelf.

Baszler goes for a pin attempt, but Li kicks out at one. Baszler hyper-extends the arm with an armbar. Li tries to kick Baszler off her, but Baszler grabs her foot for a Single Leg Boston Crab. Li manages to fight out of it by kicking Baszler away from her.

Back to her feet, Li floors Baszler with a super kick. Li builds momentum with a series of punches and a kick into the corner, where she continues her strikes until the ref tries to pull her off.

Baszler is able to reverse these strikes by picking Li onto the top rope, attempting to hit a gutwrench suplex off the top, but Li slaps Baszler against the back, leading to a sunset flip powerbomb for a two count.

Li’s next kick gets reversed and Baszler locks in her Kirifuda Clutch to tap Li out.

Winner: Shayna Baszler

Grade: B

Short, but very sweet. Was enjoying it so much I kind of wish it was longer, but it was the perfect length to really put Li over as a potential future contender. She may not be there yet, but she held her own against Shayna Two Times and not only put up a good fight, but their chemistry made for a good match.

Elsewhere on the Full Sail campus, Kassius Ohno says he’s returning from NXT UK to see if any Superstars “across the pond” over here are suitable contenders to face him at Worlds Collide next month, where NXT Superstars will collide with NXT UK stars like himself.

Forgotten Sons vs. Leon Ruff and Adrian Lannis

Ruff runs at Wesley Blake to start, but gets caught. Blake clobbers him with a clothesline from behind before double teaming the EVOLVE wrestler.

Steve Cutler tags in to buckle bomb Ruff into Adrian Lannis. Both Sons dominate the EVOLVE boys until hitting their tag finisher for the win. The third Son, Jaxson Ryker, attacks after the match.

Grade: N/A

I don’t grade squash match like this, especially when they do their job. Squash matches aren’t supposed to be good or great. They’re supposed to highlight mainstays like Forgotten Sons as formidable members of the roster and this match did just that. The Sons looked good in action and their opponents sold like mad for them. Job well done, boys. Job well done. Pun intended.

Rhea Ripley vs. Dakota Kai

Before the bell, Rhea Ripley calls Kai clever for her ruse at TakeOver, but no, she has to answer for her crimes. Out comes Mia Yim who runs in and attacks Kai. Both women brawl as the ref struggles to separate the two and as Ripley watches on.

Yim sends Kai to the outside with a big boot. Ripley tosses her back in as Yim just dominates Kai with kicks. The fight spills to the outside, where Kai kicks Yim in the face and tries to send her into the barricade, but Yim reverses and sends Kai into the barricade head first several times up the ramp.

As those two fight into the crowd, out comes Shayna Baszler with her crew to attack Ripley in the ring.

Duke and Shafir hit the ring first before Baszler joins them, but Ripley tries her best to clear house. Ripley avoids the Kirifuda Clutch momentarily, before Shafir and Duke keep buzzing around and scratching at Ripley like a pack of hounds. They drape Ripley’s arms across the ropes, preventing her to break out and allows Baszler to pass out Ripley with her Clutch.

“Not so tough now, huh?” Baszler says Ripley is big talk when nothing’s on the line, but now they both want a title match. Two weeks from now, on the Dec. 18 episode of NXT, Ripley gets her title match. Baszler suggests Ripley “sleep tight” before dropping the mic.

Grade: B

Would be an A because I really like the surprise of Mia Yim and both fight angles were well executed. I just hate the whole “hood rat” thing and hated how they kept bringing the line up on commentary the whole time. Really brought the segment down in my eyes.

But beyond that, the beatdown between Yim and Kai was great and the Ripley vs. Baszler encounter was even better. Seeing Ripley break out of the Kirifuda Clutch time and time again before being overwhelmed really put her over as a beast worth challenging for the title.

Really excited to see Baszler vs. Ripley for the title on Dec. 18.

Afterwards, Cathy Kelley interviews Tommaso Ciampa and Keith Lee to reveal that them and a partner of their choosing will face Undisputed Era in the main event tonight. Domonik Dijakovic emerges from the shadows to reveal himself as that mystery partner.

Shadowy backstage promo from Finn Balor, who acknowledges that Undisputed Era have had a “hell of a run” in NXT, but his attack on Adam Cole last week will begin their final chapter. Balor says to all of the potential flagbearers of NXT like UE, Johnny Gargano, etc., that there would be no flag without him. He reiterates that his “future will be [his] past.”

Kassius Ohno vs. Matt Riddle

Staredown from the familiar rivals before starting with a lockup. Ohno with a go-behind waist lock before trying to wrestle Riddle to the ground. Riddle counters with a waist lock of his own and nearly grounds Ohno with an arm lock, but Ohno kicks him away. Stale mate.

Another lock up until Ohno locks an arm lock onto Riddle, driving the former UFC star into the mat. Riddle makes it to his feet to attempt a German Suplex, but Ohno fights out of it to evade it. Another stale mate.

Ohno sprawls Riddle into a headlock into kicking him in the gut. Riddle tries to fight out of it with punches to the body, but KO keeps a tight head wrench. Riddle ultimately and eventually nails a German Suplex, before hitting a series of kicks and forearms in the corner.

KO tries to regroup on the outside, but Riddle nails KO in the chest with a penalty kick to send us to a commercial break.

Back from the break, Riddle is striking Ohno in the chest with a series of “Bro!” Kicks. KO blocks the last one and punches Riddle directly in the Adam’s Apple (ouch). He follows up with a Big Boot. Then a series of punches in the corner, followed by a big forearm.

Ohno then locks in a rest hold until Riddle turns it into a guillotine, which KO turns into a powerbomb for a near fall. KO with another rest hold (straightjacket hold this time) until Riddle fights out of it. KO tries to stop Riddle momentum by picking at Riddle’s toes, but Riddle avoids it with a knee strike.

Bro to Sleep, then a powerbomb, followed by a Final Flash knee strike. Riddle climbs to the top for a rolling senton for a nearfall.  Riddle attempts a ripcord knee, but KO reverses.

KO wrenches Riddle’s head again, but this time tosses him across the ring. He sets up a Gotch style bomb, but Riddle fights out of it. KO fights out of a Backslide, but can’t fight the ripcord knee followed by Bro-Derrick to pick up a 4-0 win over Ohno.

Winner: Riddle

Grade: C

A little disappointed by this one. Not only because Riddle and Ohno have had much better contests in the past by comparison from the height of their feud, but this was disappointing as a preview for Worlds Collide.

The concept of Worlds Collide is supposed to be that any NXT vs. NXT UK dream match-up can happen, but to hype it up, WWE decide to deliver us the fourth meeting from an old NXT rivalry? Letdown if you ask me.

Match-wise, while I like the idea of a slow-build match, I like when matches like this slowly build to a tighter, more intense action by each passing minute. This one started off slow, then every time it picked up, it’s go slow again, then back up, then slow again, etc. Not a fan of that format.

Kushida vs. Cameron Grimes

Raul Mendoza was originally scheduled to be Kushida’s opponent, but as Mendoza makes his way down the ramp, Cameron Grimes attacks Mendoza before the bell. “You’re fighting me now, boy!” Grimes screams at Kushida as he makes his way to the ring.

Grimes and Kushida wrestle frantically after the bell until Grimes locks in a headlock. Kushida pushes Grimes off the ropes, but Grimes knocks him down, but Kushida quickly returns the favor with a kick, followed by a diving plancha to the outside by The Time Splitter.

Back in the ring, Kudhida chops Grimes. Grimes tries to go for a kick, but gets an Octopus Stretch. Grimes tries to get out of it, but Grimes get caught in it again for a little longer. Kushida wrenches the arm to bring Grimes down for a roll-up, but Grimes grabs the rope before Kushida dropkicks Grimes back down.

Grimes blocks a tornado DDT and catches Kushida’s follow-up springboard in mid-air for a German Suplex for a two count.

Kushida fights out of an arm wrench to hit a handspring kick. Shortly after, he gets a tight roll-up for the win.

Winner: Kushida

Grade: C-

Another disappointing match. Less because of the chemistry (though you could tell they were struggling to work out the kinks in some spots as first time opponents) and more because it was just too short.

I suppose it’s just a preview for the future (hence why we got a roll-up finish rather than ending on something more definitive, like a finisher), but for what this match was, I feel like it could’ve been a lot more. Felt a little rushed in some areas, perhaps due to the time crunch.

Undisputed Era (Cole, Strong, KOR) vs. Keith Lee, Tommaso Ciampa and Dominik Dijakovic

Strong vs. Lee to start. The smaller man runs at Lee, but gets tossed into the corner. Tag to Ciampa, who stomps out Strong in the corner before slamming him to the ground. Tag to Dijakovic, leading to an assisted kick to the gut.

Strong stomps Dijakovic’s knee to tag KOR. KOR locks in a guillotine, but DD reverses with a suplex, then an elbow to the corner, followed by a backbreaker and springboard splash for a two count.

KOR picks up momentum with a kick to the head and tags to Strong, but DD batters KOR into Cole before tossing him out the ring.

During the break, DD forearms and elbows Strong with a series of strikes, most of which are in the corner. Strong picks up momentum with a kick to DD’s knee and tags KOR for a double team, which DD fights out of.

DD attempts a double chokeslam, but Cole causes a distraction. DD’s hand still wrapped around Strong’s throat, KOR locks in a sleeper hold, but DD brings them both down with a Chokeslam/Stunner combo, which was sick!

Tag back to Strong, who works on DD’s abdomen. He slaps DD’s head whilst calling him a “dork,” but DD delivers an exploding lariat. He tries to tag his buddies, but all three men on Undisputed Era drag DD back to their corner. Tag to KOR.

DD finally hits a big boot on KOR before tagging Ciampa, who hits a huge comeback spot, unloading on everyone.

Ciampa escapes a series of strikes from KOR to hit Project Ciampa for a near fall. He sets up a Fairytale Ending, but KOR wiggles out and tags to Strong. Ciampa doesn’t see the tag and catches a Total Elimination.

DD breaks up the pin attempt, leading to all out chaos from all parties until Strong and Ciampa are down. Hot tags to Cole and Lee. Like Ciampa, Lee breaks out a huge comeback spot, dropping everyone in sight.

He teases a huge dive on the outside, but UE run out the way. Lee goes to shoulder block everyone, but catches a superkick in the process. DD nails a corkscrew plancha. KOR goes for a dive, but DD climbs to him up top before Cole makes the save. Then Ciampa attempts the save until Cole enzuigiris Ciampa.

Out of nowhere, Finn Balor runs in and dropkicks Cole into the ref. He hits Ciampa with a 1916. He sets up a dropkick on Cole again, but Lee intervenes and Spirit Bombs Balor. Lee runs right into a superkick and attempts Shining Wizard, but runs into a Fireman’s Carry Jackhammer just as the ref gets up. Keith Lee pins the NXT Champion for the win!

After the bell, NXT GM William Regal comes out to reveal on Dec. 18, Adam Cole will defend his NXT Championship. Next week will determine a challenger in a number one contenders match between Keith Lee, Tommaso Ciampa and Finn Balor in a triple threat.

Winners: Team Lee

Grade: B+

Super fun main event. I really enjoyed this one, though I might be biased because tag matches are my favorite kinds of matches.

Overall Grade: B-

In terms of the quality of an average episode of NXT, this is technically a step down, but also, still a good show for what it is. Match wise, no other match came close to the electric opener, but the segments were interesting and had me excited for the future.

Also, I still hate that whole “hood rat” thing. Let’s leave that whole thing in the past to die and never speak of it again.