WWE NXT recap for Oct. 23, 2019: Why Balor Why?

On this week’s WWE NXT we saw a shocking turn from Finn Balor, new contenders for WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles and an excellet main event.

This week’s edition of WWE NXT was a great show. Very little on didn’t connect this week and the show generally flowed quite well. We had a bunch of good matches, a fantastic main event, and a shocking heel turn from Finn Balor that very few saw coming.

But let’s not waste any more time and get right into it, this is your NXT recap for Oct. 23, 2019.

Ripley and Belair kick off the show

WWE NXT opened up this week with a match from the women’s division as Rhea Ripley went one-on-one with Bianca Belair. One would think that this match should go a long way in determining the next challenge for Shayna Baszler’s NXT Women’s Championship so there was a lot on the line with this one starting the show.

As far as we are aware this is the first time these two women have met in the ring before in singles competition. And these two absolutely delivered against one another. Their styles mixed together incredibly well and we got a great match to kick off the show.

The finish came when Io Shirai hit the ring with the referee’s back turned trying to cost Ripley the match. Unfortunately for her, it was unsuccessful. Ripley still was able to overcome as Candice LeRae took Shirai out of the equation and pulled off the win with the Riptide.

After the match, Cathy Kelley interviewed Pete Dunne, accompanied by Tyler Bate, outside of Full Sail. Dunne said that Damian Priest had a receipt coming for what he did last week. When he was questioned about Killian Dain, he simply replied that he didn’t care about him as he and Bate walked away.

The Bro out there hitting Jackhammers and stuff

When NXT returned from commercial break we got a video package of Tommaso Ciampa talking about the injury that sidelined him, causing him to forfeit the NXT Championship and his eventual return a few weeks ago.

Next, we had Matt Riddle in action against Cameron Grimes. Tyler Bate was in the front row for this one and had a pleasant interaction with the Original Bro as Riddle made his way to the ring. Grimes has been on quite a streak as of late since losing in the finals of the NXT Breakout Tournament.

Grimes tried for the finish right at the beginning of the match but Riddle had it scouted and he quickly realized this wasn’t going to be a quick typical Grimes match that we have all become accustomed to seeing lately.

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These two had a fun back and forth match. It’s clear how high the powers-that-be in NXT seem to be on Grimes giving him such a competitive matchup with Riddle. At one point in the match, Riddle hit a Jackhammer on Grimes continuing to tease the fact that he and Goldberg might have a match in the future.

The closing moments of the match saw Riddle pick up the win with Bro Derek. It was a fun transition of moves and reversals in the last minute or so of the match. Exciting stuff. Grimes really shined here even in defeat and Riddle looked great, as always. Both men came out of this match looking better than they did going in.

After the match, Riddle tried to give Grimes a bro-fist that he immediately declined. Riddle ended up bro-fisting Bate instead. Grimes wasn’t happy about that at all and shoved Bate, which got him a Bop and Bang for his troubles. We had quick words from Dijakovic talking about the triple threat match later on before the show went to a commercial break.

The ever-changing Breezango

Up next, we saw the video that NXT released on social media earlier in the day, that later on tonight we would have Dakota Kai and Tegan Nox against Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke. The winners will face the Kabuki Warriors next week on NXT for the WWE Women’s Tag Team titles.

After that, we got a six-man tag match with the Forgotten Sons going up against Breezango and Isiah “Swerve” Scott. Breezango once again had a new entrance. No longer were they construction workers tonight, instead they were Top Gun pilots. It’s something different. We just miss the old Breezango if we’re being honest.

Swerve was in this match as a replacement for KUSHIDA who was injured at the hands of WALTER on a recent edition of NXT when the two collided in the main event. This match was fine for what it was but it never got to the level of the previous matches from earlier on in the show. The highlight of this match was any time Swerve was in the ring. You can just tell this man is going to be a star, he has an incredible amount of talent and NXT was very smart to sign him when they did.

The finish of the match came when Scott picked up the win for his team with a snapping big boot-like dropkick to the back of Blake’s head to score the pinfall victory. After the match, the three men danced in the ring together enjoying their victory and the commentators called the win an upset which we really don’t agree with.

Afterward, we had words from Roderick Strong regarding his North American title defense in the main event. It’s nice to see them building up the importance of this match throughout the night. It makes it feel like the main event by the time we get there.

Cruiserweight action in front of the champ

Lio Rush came out and got a great reaction from the Full Sail crowd. Mauro let everyone know that he wasn’t going to be wrestling but instead joining them on commentary as we would have cruiserweight action up next, which was kind of obvious since Rush came out in street clothes.

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The match we ended up getting saw Angel Garza going one-on-one with Jack Gallagher. It seems like the match was designed specifically to rehab Garza after his loss to Ciampa last week. While Gallagher got some offense in, this match was mainly all Garza throughout.

Garza picked up the win with the Quebrada on Gallagher. Afterward, he stared down Rush from the turnbuckles inside the ring as the champion remained at the commentary table. Cleary a match between these two is being teased for the future.

Who will challenge the Kabuki Warriors?

When NXT returned from commercial break, we had women’s tag team action to determine the No. 1 contenders for the WWE Women’s Tag Team titles, with Dakota Kai and Tegan Nox battling it out with Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke for the rights to challenge The Kabuki Warriors next week.

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The match wasn’t long but the four women worked together relatively well. Nox picked up the win for her team with the Shiniest Wizard on Duke for the three count. Afterward, Asuka and Kairi Sane showed up on the ‘Tron to “congratulate” the winners. It was a very heelish promo, so anyone still questioning what The Kabuki Warriors are should no longer be doing so at this point.

We finally got some brief comments from Keith Lee now talking about the triple threat match which is the main event, and it’s up next.

A great main event from the black and gold brand

This episode of NXT flew by relatively quickly and it’s already time for the main event. Roderick Strong defending the NXT North American Championship in a triple threat match with Dominik Dijakovic and Keith Lee. Anyone who expected anything than an amazing match between these three men was absolutely out of their minds.

There is no recap that could do this match justice. We would go as far as to say that this might be the best main event we have seen from the black and gold brand since the show moved to the USA Network in September. It was excellent from start to finish and we even got picture-in-picture of the match during commercial breaks; much appreciated.

If you normally only read our recaps here and don’t watch NXT on a weekly basis we implore you to go out of your way to catch this main event. It was really great stuff. The finish of the match saw Strong retain the championship by hitting a flying boot on Lee right after he hit a top-rope powerbomb on Dijakovic to pick up the victory.

Some would have thought this was the ending to the show, but no. NXT decided to end the show with a shocking bang.

Balor’s shocking move

After the main event was over, the Undisputed Era joined Strong in the ring to celebrate his victory and decided to attack Lee, who was still in the ring. As the four men pose in the ring after the beatdown Ciampa’s music hits and he entered the ring. He is then joined by Johnny Gargano and the two men stood side by side against the Era, much to the delight of the Full Sail crowd who erupted in a loud “DIY” chant.

Before anything could happen, Balor came out to join them as the three stood against the four men, or so we thought. Balor out of nowhere turned heel by hitting Gargano with a Pele Kick which allowed the Undisputed Era to pounce on Ciampa and attack him with a four-on-one beat down while Balor watched on from the corner.

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Balor then went outside of the ring and hit a running forward dropkick to Gargano breaking the barricades and falling on top of several fans at ringside which we have to assume were planted. Balor then hit 1916 on Gargano on the ramp and it was a really sickening-looking landing. We can only hope that Gargano is okay.

The show ending with Balor standing over Gargano doing the gun taunts from his past in the Bullet Club as the members of the Undisputed Era did their poses in the ring over Ciampa. It was certainly an unexpected ending to cap off a really good episode of NXT.

And with that our recap for the Oct. 23 edition of WWE NXT has come to a close. It was another great effort from the black and gold brand. The show really seems to be finding its stride over the past two weeks and we only hope it continues to get even better.

What did you think of Balor’s heel turn? Was that your favorite part of NXT tonight? What do you want to see happen next week because of this? Sound off in the comments section below!