WWE NXT: The 5 count for July 17, 2019

A five-count rundown from this week’s episode of WWE NXT, keeping you up to date on the latest happenings in the black and yellow brand.

This week’s edition of NXT was a solid episode with some great matches, some good storyline building and a closing angle between Johnny Gargano and NXT Champion Adam Cole which seemingly confirm the direction that the brand is heading towards NXT TakeOver: Toronto.

So let’s not waste any more time, this is the NXT 5 Count!

1. Killian Dain returns to NXT attacking Matt Riddle

NXT kicked off this week in interesting fashion, as Matt Riddle went one-on-one with Arturo Ruas. Mauro Ranallo quipped that he thought he was back calling a mixed martial arts fight instead of a wrestling match, and it was a pretty accurate statement overall.

A match of this style as far as we know is certainly a first for the black and gold brand. If you missed this show and you don’t normally watch NXT and you want to see something you most likely have never seen inside of a wrestling ring before, we highly recommend you check it out.

The finish of the match came with a technical knockout win for Riddle after a running knee to the jaw followed up by mounting punches causing the referee to stop the match and award the victory to Riddle.

After the match ended, Riddle was attacked by someone in a hoodie who turned out to be none other than Killian Dain making his return to NXT. He absolutely destroyed Riddle ending the onslaught by hitting a running senton on top of the Original Bro, putting him through the stage. It was quite the impactful return and one would think these two are on a collision course for TakeOver: Toronto.