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SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley didn’t allow Team Baszler to celebrate Io Shirai's Ladder Match victory for long. Meanwhile, Finn Bálor made another new enemy in Matt Riddle and Team Ciampa added an unlikely new ally for WarGames.
NXT Cruiserweight Champion Lio Rush def. Angel Garza
Angel Garza sought to get inside the head of Lio Rush, and it only seemed to light a fire under the NXT Cruiserweight Champion.
With that fury, The Man of The Hour overcame the challenge of the self-assured Garza to retain his title — but not without a little bit of controversy.
Playing mind games from the opening bell, Garza tried to goad the champion into a disingenuous handshake, then escalated his tactics significantly. Making his way into the crowd right in front of Rush's wife Sarah and their two sons, NXT's resident Casanova proceeded to perform the now-signature spectacle of ripping off his pants right in front of Rush's family in a major sign of disrespect.
Garza went step for step with the infuriated Rush, and came an eyelash away from his first taste of championship gold after hitting "The Wing Clipper." Perhaps getting overzealous, Garza tried again for his trademark maneuver – this time from the second rope. However, The Man of The Hour headbutted his way out of danger.
Connecting moments later with The Final Hour twice in succession, Rush was able to secure the win — but not without Garza's foot appearing to catch the bottom rope out of the official's sight during the pinfall.
Xia Li def. Aliyah
The dangerous feet of Xia Li have served her well in competition to date, and that continued to ring true this week at Full Sail.
Li's spicy, signature kicks spelled doom for Aliyah on this occasion, and the damage went beyond merely a loss for NXT's most boujee Superstar. A spinning heel kick left Aliyah down for the three count and in a heap after the bell, requiring immediate medical attention.
Meanwhile, it was another impressive showing for WWE's first Chinese female competitor.
Finn Bálor called out the NXT locker room and Matt Riddle answered
Finn Bálor didn't take long to make enemies upon his return to the black-and-gold brand, and he seemed to find another new rival Wednesday.
Appearing at Full Sail to verbally rip into the NXT roster — calling many of them "babies who whine on social media" — Bálor may have miscalculated when he mentioned one Matt Riddle by name. It wasn't long before The Original Bro joined him in the ring and immediately overwhelmed Bálor, chasing him off into the crowd with a furious attack.
Like hyenas, The Undisputed ERA arrived shortly after, surrounding the outnumbered Riddle before reinforcements came in the form of WarGames teammates Tommaso Ciampa and Keith Lee.
Lee revealed that he was more than ready for a fight, extending a challenge toward NXT Champion Adam Cole. But with the leader of The Undisputed ERA having battled the likes of Seth Rollins and Daniel Bryan in recent weeks on Raw and SmackDown, Roderick Strong shielded Cole and instead accepted Lee's inpromptu challenge himself.
Keith Lee def. Roderick Strong
Tommaso Ciampa has found another — albeit unlikely — ally in his fight against The Undisputed ERA.
The impromptu match between Keith Lee and Roderick Strong served as the stage for the latest chapter on the road to TakeOver: WarGames. The Messiah of The Backbreaker punched well above his weight to keep up with Lee — at one point rattling the ring and seemingly all of Full Sail with a spectacular superplex of the 320-pounder.
Ciampa showed up to play equalizer when the rest of The Undisputed ERA came to ringside in a bid to play the numbers game. Though Adam Cole took out The Blackheart with a super kick, Matt Riddle joined the fray to send the scene into complete chaos.
Finn Bálor also joined the melee to avenge the attack he suffered at the hands of The Original Bro just moments earlier. Connecting with a Sling Blade, standing Coup de Grace and finally a flying dropkick that sent Riddle crashing into the steps, Bálor's rebuttal was delivered with an exclamation mark.
Meanwhile in the ring, Lee finished off Strong with a Jackhammer, but The Undisputed ERA had recovered to make mincemeat of Lee and Ciampa thanks to the 4-on-2 advantage.
A surprising sympathizer arrived in the form of Dominik Dijakovic, who cleared house with a double chokeslam of Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly before leveling Cole with the Feast Your Eyes.
"You're going to war? I'm in," were all the words Ciampa needed to hear from The Rare Breed to share a handshake. It took a bit longer for Lee and Dijakovic to reach an understanding given their storied rivalry, but they eventually found common ground and a handshake of their own.
And just like that, Ciampa's army added another extremely dangerous soldier.
Isaiah "Swerve" Scott def. Bronson Reed
Isaiah "Swerve" Scott and Bronson Reed were two of the most impressive competitors in the NXT Breakout Tournament earlier this year, but it was Scott getting the the better of Reed when the two met in singles action on this night.
One-upping each other repeatedly throughout a back-and-forth battle, Reed's attempt at a Tombstone off the ropes was countered into a high-impact DDT that NXT's "Resident Thicc Boy" may have never recovered from.
A step-up kick ultimately proved to be the decisive blow in Scott's favor to tame the "Aus-zilla."
Both competitors had won each other's respect by the end of their duel, though, and they shared a handshake shortly after the bell.
Damian Priest attacked Killian Dain and Pete Dunne
The most uncontrollable situation in all of NXT right now may be the one involving Pete Dunne, Killian Dain and Damian Priest. Beginning with The BruiserWeight's individual issues with Dain and Priest, the bad blood has spilled over to create a rivalry just as bitter between The Beast of Belfast and The Archer of Infamy.
Dunne and Dain sought to settle their problems with each other in a scheduled one-on-one match, but it never even started thanks to Priest, who blindsided The Northern Ireland Nightmare during his entrance to the ring.
That left Dunne and Priest to duke it out. Security was on the scene in short order to try to restore peace, but the thought that these three could be contained proved laughable.
Leveling the officials with no regard for their wellbeing, a particularly unlucky member of security was dumped onto his peers — along with Dunne and Dain — at ringside by Priest with a running crucifix bomb. The Archer of Infamy was far from satisfied, escalating the spectacle with a dazzling step-up tope con giro.
Priest was the one standing tall this time around, but the rivalry between these three feels far from over.
Io Shirai def. Mia Yim in a WarGames Advantage Ladder Match
Team Baszler has seized the advantage for WarGames — and perhaps even its fourth and final member. But SmackDown had the last laugh after scoring a pivotal blow behind enemy lines thanks to a surprise appearance by Bayley.
Io Shirai gained the win over Mia Yim in a jaw-dropping Ladder Match, securing the advantage for Team Baszler in the first-ever Women's WarGames match.
In a preview of the brutality that could be in store at TakeOver in less than two weeks' time, The evil Genius of the Sky and The Head Baddie in Charge went to great lengths on behalf of their respective squads. Yim paid a price that could have a lasting impact and implication for the WarGames match itself, having her face crushed by the ladder after Shirai's missile dropkick into it.
That wasn't enough to keep Yim out of the fight, however. She battled back to find herself within reach of the briefcase — and the WarGames advantage — hanging above the ring before NXT UK Women's Champion Kay Lee Ray rushed the squared circle. Ray pushed the ladder to send Yim flying to the outside and through another ladder in devastating fashion.
With Yim battered in a heap on the outside, Shirai retrieved the briefcase and the victory.
NXT Women's Champion and Team Captain Shayna Baszler took to the stage to express her delight with Shirai earning the advantage — but Bayley made sure The Queen of Spades couldn't bask in the moment for long.
After being ambushed multiple times in recent weeks on Friday nights, SmackDown Women's Champion Bayley gave Baszler a dose of her own medicine, flooring her with a chair shot before hitting a facebuster directly onto Baszler's title.
Getting out of dodge before the rest of Team Baszler could catch her, Bayley evened the score ahead of the Triple Threat Match at Survivor Series between her, the NXT Women's Champion and Raw Women's Champion Becky Lynch.
