WWE NXT Recap – 12/20/17: Two Title Matches, Sullivan vs. Strong

NXT opens with a preview for tonight’s two title matches: SAnitY vs. The Undisputed ERA for the NXT Tag Team Championship and Pete Dunne vs. Tyler Bate for the WWE United Kingdom Championship. We then see the NXT opening video and then Mauro Ranallo, Nigel McGuinness, and Percy Watson welcome us to the show.

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Match #1 – NXT Tag Team Championship Match: SAnitY (Eric Young and Killian Dain) (c) vs. The Undisputed ERA (Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly)
Dain and o’Reilly start the match. o’Reilly backs into the ropes and tags in Fish, but Dain takes control of the match and backs Fish into the corner. Fish applies a sleeper hold, but Dain backs him into the corner and then drops him with a lariat. Fish rolls to the floor and O’Reilly joins him. They get back on the apron and O’Reilly tags back in. Dain keeps control and tags in Young. Dain delivers a gut-buster and Young comes off the top with a clubbing shot. Young goes for the cover, but O’Reilly kicks out at two. O’Reilly comes back with some offense, but Young takes him down with a quick clothesline. O’Reilly sends Young into the corner, but Young delivers a right hand. Fish pulls Young off the apron and to the floor as we head to a break.
Back from the break, O’Reilly and Fish are in control of Young in the corner. Fish suplexes Young down to the mat and goes for the cover, but Young kicks out at two. O’Reilly tags in and they double-team Young again and O’Reilly locks in a knee bar. Fish tags in and drives his knees into Young’s midsection. O’Reilly tags in and delivers knees of his own and then he and Fish suplex Young down to the mat. O’Reilly goes for the cover, but Young kicks out at two. Young fights back with right hands, but O’Reilly sweeps his legs and goes for the cover and Young kicks out at two. O’Reilly locks in a top wrist-lock, but Young fights back. O’Reilly puts Young on the top rope, but Young delivers a kick and a right hand. Young drops O’Reilly with a swinging neck-breaker and both men are down.
Fish tags in and he goes after Dain. Fish and O’Reilly double-team Young and the Fish slams Young into the corner and tags in O’Reilly. Young sends O’Reilly to the floor, as does Fish, and Dain tags in. Dain drops O’Reilly with a few clotheslines and then delivers one to Fish as well. Dain splashes both men in the corners and then delivers a senton dropkick to both men. Dain delivers a Michinoku Driver onto O’Reilly. Dain goes for the cover, but O’Reilly kicks out at two. Young tags back in and Fish pulls the ropes down and Dain crashes to the floor. Young delivers a power-bomb to O’Reilly and goes up top. Adam Cole runs out and knocks Young down to the mat as the referee is distracted. O’Reilly delivers an axe kick and a forearm to Young and goes for the cover, but Young kicks out at two.
Nikki Cross runs out and takes Cole out with a cross-body and Young delivers right hands to O’Reilly and Fish. Young takes O’Reilly out with a neck-breaker and goes for the cover, but O’Reilly kicks out at two. Cole takes Dain out at ringside and Young takes Cole out with a suicide dive. Fish and O’Reilly double-team Young back in the ring and O’Reilly gets the pin fall.
Winners and new NXT Tag Team Champion: The Undisputed ERA.

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We take a look at Roderick Strong, who has a Number One Contender’s Qualifying Match against Lars Sullivan later tonight. We are also reminded of tonight’s main event, Pete Dunne vs. Tyler Bate, as we head to a break.

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We see another video hype package for Shayna Baszler.

We see Heavy Machinery (Tucker Knight and Otis Dozovic) walking in the parking lot. They come across a Maserati, and Tino Sabbatelli and Riddick Moss walk up as Dozovic is trying to push it out of the way. Sabbatelli and Moss insult them and Dozovic challenges them to a fight.

We take a look back to two weeks ago and the No Holds Barred Match between Sonya Deville and Ruby Riott, which was won by Deville. We see an interview with Deville. Deville says she will make her presence known again when she beats Ember Moon on next week’s show. We see that it will be for the NXT Women’s Championship.

We take a look at Lars Sullivan. His match against Roderick Strong is up next.

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Back from the break, we take a look back to last week’s match between Aleister Black and Adam Cole, which was won by Black.

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Match #2 – #1 Contender’s (NXT Championship) Qualifying Match: Lars Sullivan vs. Roderick Strong
Strong goes on the attack immediately and delivers a few chops, but Sullivan tosses him into the corner. Strong comes back with knee strikes, but Sullivan counters with an elbow shot to the back of the head. Strong runs the ropes after forearms, but Sullivan takes him out with a lariat. Sullivan drives his knee into Strong’s midsection and delivers a stiff shot to Strong’s back. Sullivan delivers another shot to the back and then delivers a corner clothesline. Sullivan tosses Strong across the ring and goes for the cover, but Strong quickly kicks out. Strong kicks Sullivan away and comes off the ropes, but Sullivan catches him and applies a bear hug. Strong bell claps Sullivan and gets free.
Strong delivers a dropkick and then kicks Sullivan in the face. Strong chops Sullivan and Sullivan gets caught in the ropes going for a knee strike. Strong delivers elbow shots in the ropes and takes Sullivan down to the floor. Strong comes off the ropes, but Sullivan catches him and takes him down with a clubbing shot. Sullivan climbs up top, but Strong gets to him and delivers a superplex. Strong goes for the cover, but Sullivan kicks out at one. Strong delivers a few knee strikes, but Sullivan drops him with a clothesline. Strong comes back with an Olympic Slam and goes for the cover, but Sullivan kicks out at two. Strong delivers a knee strike in the corner, but Sullivan comes back and takes Strong down with the pop-up power slam. Sullivan drops Strong with the Freak Accident and gets the pin fall.
Winner: Lars Sullivan
After the match, we see the updated graphic for next week’s main event: Aleister Black vs. Killian Dain vs. Johnny Gargano vs. Lars Sullivan, with the winner advancing to NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia to challenge Andrade “Cien” Almas for the NXT Championship.

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We see that tonight’s main event, Pete Dunne vs. Tyler Bate, is after the break.

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Back from the break, we see a video from last week of The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford) interacting and “spreading knowledge” with the NXT Universe.

We see Christy St. Cloud with Tyler Bate backstage. Bate says this thing with Pete and him goes all the way back to January when he beat Dunne to win the UK title and then at TakeOver: Chicago when Dunne beat him for it. Bate says he will take the title back tonight.

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Match #3 – WWE United Kingdom Championship Match: Pete Dunne (c) vs. Tyler Bate
They lock up and Dunne quickly applies an arm bar and joint manipulation down on the mat. Bate gets free and takes Dunne down to the mat and applies a wrist-lock. Dunne counters with a head scissors take down and then vice grips Bate’s neck. Bate gets free and taunts Dunne a bit as Dunne backs into the ropes. Dunne comes back with a few quick kicks and slaps to the back of Bate’s head. Bate gets free of the standing surfboard submission and kicks Dunne back into the corner. Dunne comes back and takes Bate down again and goes back to the joint manipulation. Dunne rakes Bate’s face and put Bate’s shoulders on the mat for a few quick pin attempts. Dunne kicks Bate in the back and Bate fires up and gets Dunne to back away into the ropes. Dunne comes back and works over Bate’s ankle now. Bate gets free and drops him with a left hand shot. Bate goes for the cover, but Dunne kicks out at two.
Dunne gets into the ropes and then delivers a stiff forearm to Bate. Dunne delivers a chop and charges into the corner, but Bate counters with a knee lift. Bate delivers a European uppercut that sends Dunne to the floor. Dunne comes back with another forearm shot and then tries to stomp on Bate’s hand on the steps. Bate counters and stomps on Dunne’s hand instead. Dunne comes back and grabs Bate and suplexes him from the steps to the floor. Dunne rolls back into the ring and slaps Bate across the face. Dunne kicks Bate in the face and then stomps away on him. Dunne applies a rear chin-lock, but Bate gets to the ropes. Dunne stomps away on Bate’s arm and then delivers a running forearm. Dunne stomps down onto Bate’s hand and Bate’s finger becomes dislocated. Bate pops it back into place, but Dunne drops him with a Judo throw. Dunne goes back to the joint manipulation and then stomps down onto Bate’s hand again.
Bate kicks Dunne in the hamstring and then delivers a few chops. Dunne sends Bate back down to the mat and kicks him in the face a few times. Bate asks for more and then dodges a headbutt and takes Dunne down with a suplex. Bate delivers a few running uppercuts in the corner and then delivers a standing shooting star press to Dunne’s back. Bate delivers a belly-to-back suplex and goes for the cover, but Dunne kicks out at two. Dunne and Bate grab each other’s faces and Dunne delivers a forearm shot. Bate comes back with a wheelbarrow kick and goes for the Tyler Driver 97, but Dunne counters and locks in the triangle submission. Bate picks up Dunne and slams him down to the mat, but Dunne doesn’t release the hold. Bate picks Dunne up again and catapults him throat-first into the top rope.
Bate picks Dunne up and delivers the airplane spin three times and goes for the cover, but Dunne kicks out at two. Dunne gets to the apron, but Bate cuts him off. Bate delivers an exploder suplex and brings Dunne back into the ring. Bate goes for the cover, but Dunne kicks out at two. Dunne comes back and stomps away on Bate’s head, but Bate comes back and stomps away on Dunne as well. Bate goes for the round house kick, but Dunne counters and delivers the Bitter End. Dunne goes for the cover, but Bate kicks out at two. Dunne delivers an enzuiguri, but Bate comes back with a clothesline. Dunne comes back with his own clothesline and both men are down in the middle of the ring.
Both men get to their feet and exchange quick rights and lefts. Bate delivers a big right hand that sends Dunne down to the mat. Both men go to the ring apron and Bate delivers a left hand. Dunne comes back with a right hand and Bate delivers another wheelbarrow kick. Bate tosses Dunne back into the ring and Bate goes up top. Bate dives, but Dunne catches him with a right hand and then delivers a power bomb. Dunne goes for the cover, but Bate kicks out at two again. Bate rolls to the floor, but Dunne goes out after him. Dunne tosses Bate into the ropes, but Dunne comes back with a big clothesline. Bate gets back into the ring and then takes Dunne out with a suicide dive. Bate tosses Dunne back into the ring and delivers the Tyler Driver 97. Bate goes for the cover, but Dunne kicks out at two.
Bate goes up top and delivers a corkscrew splash and goes for the cover, but Dunne kicks out at two. Bate takes Dunne to the top and goes for a suplex, but Dunne lands on his feet. Dunne grabs Bate and delivers the Bitter End and gets the pin fall.
Winner and still WWE United Kingdom Champion: Pete Dunne.