WWE NXT: Thatcher submits Ciampa in Fight Pit

WWE NXT: Thatcher submits Ciampa in Fight Pit.

WWE NXT featured a wealth of great wrestling from both the men and women on the roster. The Fight Pit was all the rave heading into Wednesday’s edition of NXT. Timothy Thatcher and Tommaso Ciampa were set to do battle in the special match, but there was additional action scheduled including matches in both the men’s and women’s Dusty Classic tournaments.

The first match of the night was a first-round matchup of the Dusty Classic. Kushida and Leon Ruff teamed up to face Johnny Gargano and Austin Theory in tag team action.

Ruff and Theory started things out and Ruff used every bit of his quickness to evade everything that Theory had to throw his way. Kushida and Ruff took turns on Theory until he was finally about to get over to Gargano and make the tag. Kushida found himself taking a lot of offense from the Way as they isolated him away from his partner.

Ruff would eventually make the tag, but even he could not keep the momentum on their side for the rest of the match. Ruff almost made the tag, but Gargano attacked Kushida seconds before. When Kushida was able to get the hot tag, he went on a tear that led to the end of the match. Kushida finished things off with a unique chicken-win front suplex to get the pinfall.

Karrion Kross was out next and the assault started immediately after. Ashante Adonis tried to go straight up against Kross and that resulted in suplex after suplex. Adonis attempted to fight back, but it was a few moments before he took a shot to the back of the head and was pinned in the center of the ring.

Imperium and the Lucha House Party were out next for another first-round matchup in the Dusty Cup.

Marcel Barthel and Lince Dorado started things off for their respective teams. Dorado and Gran Metalik were putting on a show early with their high-flying moves until Fabian Aichner entered the match. However, the momentum swung back into LHP’s direction, but their quickness was stopped once the power game of Imperium came back into play.

Metalik was able to get the tag and went off with some high-flying offense, but even he would fall to the power game of the Europeans once again. Still, after every big move LHP continued to kick out and fight back. They kept fighting until the very end, where Dorado landed a big Shooting Star Press onto Barthel and pinned the former tag team champion in the middle of the ring.

WWE Hall of Famer Beth Phoenix was back to kick off the women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic.

Kayden Carter and Kacy Catanzaro were up first against Toni Storm and Mercedes Martinez. Carter and Catanzaro were at a power disadvantage to start the match and Martinez and Storm took advantage of that fact.

Martinez continued to batter Catanzaro, tossing her across the ring and laying into her with chops and punches. Carter and Storm got back into the ring after their respective tags, with Carter taking it to Storm. It looked like Storm and Martinez were going to roll to the victory until Io Shirai showed up to attacked Martinez, creating enough of a distraction for Carter to make the tag to Catanzaro who hit a ridiculous top rope maneuver to get the pinfall.

Bronson Reed and Tyler Rust were in singles action next in a match of two rising stars on the NXT roster. Rust started out on the wrong side of Reed’s power, tossed from the ring multiple times. He was able to slow Reed down however, when he began to focus on the big man’s arm.

Rust remained in control for much of this match, even using the top rope to lift Reed from his feet. It was not enough though, because Rust eventually slipped up and ate the Tsunami from Reed, who picked up the pinfall after the big splash.

Tommaso Ciampa and Timothy Thatcher met in the Fight Pit for the evening’s main event. The match started on top of the scaffolding around the cage with both men assaulting each other. They fought on the top of the cage until Ciampa finally tossed Thatcher into the caged section, continuing to beat him up with everything at his disposal.

Thatcher did not stay on the defensive long as he began to contort Ciampa’s body, especially his fingers, in odd directions. Thatcher even went to the sleeper hold in and attempt to choke Ciampa unconscious, but the move was broken when Ciampa hit a low blow. He then used the referee as a post to hit the Willow’s Bell and planted Thatcher on his head. Ciampa continued to focus on Thatcher’s head, planting him with the Fairy Tale Ending, but he still would not go away.

The end came when Thatcher wedged Ciampa in-between the cage and the post, using a modified Stretch Muffler to force Ciampa to submit.

WWE NXT results

• Kushida and Leon Ruff defeated Johnny Gargano and Austin Theory via pinfall
• Karrion Kross defeated Ashante Adonis via pinfall
• Lucha House Party defeated Imperium via pinfall.
• Kacy Catanzaro and Kayden Carter defeated Mercedes Martinez and Toni Storm via pinfall
• Bronson Reed defeated Tyler Rust via pinfall
• Timothy Thatcher defeated Tommaso Ciampa via submission