7/12/17 NXT Recap: Aleister Black vs. Bobby Fish; Authors of Pain vs. Heavy Machinery for the Tag Titles

Episode 401 of NXT opens with footage of Tommaso Ciampa explaining his actions from NXT TakeOver: Chicago when he turned on Johnny Gargano a few months ago. We then see that Gargano will return to NXT tonight. We go into the arena where Mauro Ranallo, Nigel McGuinness, and Percy Watson welcome us to the show.

We see footage of Roderick Strong and his family backstage after his loss to Bobby Roode in last week’s main event. We see that Bobby Roode will be on tonight’s episode later tonight. We are also reminded of tonight’s main event: The Authors of Pain vs. Heavy Machinery for the NXT Tag Team Championship.

Match #1: Aleister Black vs. Bobby Fish
Black applies a headlock and then turns it into a wrist-lock. Fish gets free and applies his own wrist-lock. Black counters into an arm-bar. Fish sends Black off the ropes, but Black goes over Fish and sits on the mat. Black gets to his feet and connects with a roundhouse kick. Fish comes back and applies a side-headlock and kicks Black in the legs. Fish sends Black into the ropes and they stare each other down. Black goes for a kick, but Fish catches him. Black counters himself and takes Fish down to the mat and Fish goes to the outside. Black springboards and sits down in the ring as Fish looks on. Fish grabs Black and applies a sleeper hold on the apron. Fish sweeps Black’s leg and takes control as we head to a break.
We’re back and Fish is still in control with right hands to Black, who is backed against the ropes. Fish slams Black down to the mat and goes for the cover, but Black kicks out at two. Fish kicks Black in the legs and works over his knee. Fish connects with forearm shots and knees Black in the thigh. Fish takes Black down with a dragon-screw leg whip and continues to work over Black’s leg on the mat. Fish drops down on Black’s knee and applies a single-leg Boston Crab, but Black counters with a roll-up and Fish kicks out at one. Fish applies a sleeper hold now and takes Black down to the mat. Black gets to his feet and backs Fish into the corner. Fish kicks Black in the chest, but Black connects with a knee. Fish delivers an exploder suplex into the corner and goes for the cover, but Black kicks out at two. Fish kicks Black in the face and then connects with a right hand, but Black fights back. Black kicks Fish and then delivers a right hand and another kick. Black delivers a forearm in the corner and then slams Fish to the mat. Black delivers a jumping knee to Fish’s face and then delivers Black Mass and gets the pin fall.
Winner: Aleister Black.

We take a look back at last week then Hideo Itami and Kassius Ohno continued to have problems with each other in their tag team match against Alexander Wolfe and Killian Dain. We then see footage of Itami and Ohno after the match. Itami said their loss was Ohno’s fault. Ohno says all Itami has done since TakeOver: Chicago is blame other people. Ohno says he has gone out of his way to help, but he is done. We see that Vanessa Borne and Jayme Hachey will meet in a Mae Young Classic Tournament Qualifying Match up next.

We see The Street Prophets, Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins, who will debut soon. We then see footage of The Velveteen Dream and Kayla Braxton tries to interview him, but he says the lighting outside the arena is not right and tells her to figure something else out.

Match #2: Mae Young Classic Tournament Qualifying Match – Vanessa Borne vs. Jayme Hachey
Borne applies a waist-lock and takes Hachey down to the mat. Borne kicks Hachey in the back, but Hachey comes back with a knee and a sidewalk slam. Hachey goes for the cover, but Borne kicks out at one. Hachey applies a submission down on the mat, but Borne comes back and takes Hachey down to the mat. Borne delivers a few chops and takes Hachey down to the mat. Borne kicks Hachey in the chest and then drops Hachey down to the mat and gets the pin fall.
Winner: Vanessa Borne.

We are reminded of tonight’s main event: The Authors of Pain vs. Heavy Machinery for the NXT Tag Team Championship. But coming up next, Johnny Gargano returns to NXT.

We see footage from last week that shows Alexander Wolfe and Killain Dain beating down Drew McIntyre in the parking lot. We then see Bobby Roode and William Regal in Regal’s office. Regal says both McIntyre and Dain are undefeated and are showing interest in the NXT Championship. Roode says they are both businessmen and the NXT Universe pays good money to see him. Roode says they both know that Roode would beat both of them with no problem. Roode pitches a match between McIntyre and Dain to see who would win. Regal says Roode is correct and that match would interest a lot of people. Regal says the match will happen next week and the winner will challenge Roode for the title at TakeOver: Brooklyn.

Johnny Gargano’s music hits and Johnny Wrestling makes his way to the ring. Gargano says the welcome he got and the ring are irreplaceable. He says whenever he heard the music, he got excited because the fans were going to see something special. He says we all saw what happened at TakeOver: Chicago. He says he never thought the guy who would take a bullet for would be the one who would pull the trigger. He says he doesn’t understand it and he never will. He says he is here to look at the future and he is standing here and he needs to get back to being in the ring in front of all the fans. He says TakeOver: Brooklyn is the biggest show of the year and he needs to be there no matter what. He says he needs to be Johnny Wrestling. Johnny’s solo music hits and the fans clap for him.

We see the Tale of the Tape for the match between The Authors of Pain and Heavy Machinery. The main event is up next.

We are reminded of next week’s main event: Drew McIntyre vs. Killain Dain, where the winner will become the number one contender for the NXT Championship. We also see that Ember Moon will go one-on-one with Ruby Riot.

Match #3: NXT Tag Team Championship Match – The Authors of Pain (Akam and Rezar) (c) (w/Paul Ellering) vs. Heavy Machinery (Otis Dozovic and Tucker Knight)
Akam and Knight start the match. They tie up and Knight applies a waist-lock. Akam connects with a back elbow and delivers right hands to Knight in the corner. Knight comes back and slams Akam in the corner and then charges, but Akam catches him with an elbow. Rezar tags in, as does Dozovic, and they get nose-to-nose. Rezar goes for clotheslines, but Dozovic is not phased. Dozovic comes back and drops Rezar with a clothesline of his own. All four men get into the ring as we head to a break.
We’re back and Akam and Knight are in the ring and Akam is in control. Rezar tags in and he and Akam double team Knight in the corner. Rezar drops Knight to the mat and goes for the cover, but Knight kicks out at two. Rezar wrenches Knight’s neck down on the mat. Rezar delivers left hands to Knight down on the mat and then delivers a right to keep Knight grounded. Akam tags in and kicks Knight to keep him on the mat. Knight fights back with right hands, but Akam delivers a knee to Knight’s head. Akam goes for the cover, but Knight kick out at two. Rezar tags in and stomps away on Knight. Rezar applies a headlock, but Knight shoves him away. Akam tags in and Knight tries to fight back. AOP double team Knight and slam him to the mat. Akam goes for the cover, but Knight kicks out at two. Rezar tags back in, but Knight fights back into the match and drops Rezar with a big clothesline. Dozovic and Akam tag in and Dozovic drops Akam with shoulder blocks. Dozovic drops Rezar with a belly-to-belly suplex. He smashes both of them in the corner and tags in Knight. Knight goes for the cover, but Akam kicks out. Dozovic tags in and Rezar drops Knight with a big boot. Akam drops Dozovic with a DDT and tags in Rezar. The AOP drop Dozovic with the Last Chapter and get the pin fall.
Winner and still NXT Tag Team Champions: The Authors o Pain.
After the match, SAnitY’s music hits and Killain Dain, Alexander Wolfe, and Nikki Cross appear on the stage. Papers begin falling from the rafters, signaling that they have ripped apart AOP’s Book of Dominance. NXT comes to a close with the two teams staring down.