NXT: Battleground
1st Match - Thea Hail v Molly Holly v Mercdes Martinez v Blue Sky v Ivory v Fallon Henley in a 6-Woman Gauntlet Elimination match.
- First to be eliminated is Blue Sky who is eliineded by Molly Holly via rollup. Second is Mercedes Martinez who is eliminated by Fallon Henley after Thea hits her finisher and is then thrown out of the ring by Fallon who gets the pin. Third is Ivory by Fallon Henley after Fallon does her finisher. 4th is Thea Hail by Molly Holly after Molly does her finusher. 5th is Molly Holly after Fallon Henley does her finisher twice. And your NEW North American Champion is Fallon Henley.
- Backstage segment - Bayley is creeped out when the lights start flickering
2nd Match Gallus v Claudio Castognoli in a 3-on-1 Handicap match
Claudio no-sells everything and reverses everything. Claudio ends up doing The Swing on all three members of Gallus before putting Wolfgang into a Sharpshooter and making him tap for the one-two-three.
- Backstage segment - Cathy Kelley attempts to interview Liberty Champion Rhea Ripley about her upcoming title defense against Bayley but Rhea simply giggles. Cathy then tries to ask Bianca who is still missing. Rhea then gives a cryptic response before giggling and walking away as her fellow Fireflies - Nikki, Alexa, and Liv join her and they head off the opposite direction.
3rd Match - Akira Tozawa and Otis v Hart Foundation, Jim Neidhart and British Bulldog for the NXT Tag Team Championship
Otis forces Akira to start the match against Bulldog. Bulldog mockingly taunts Akira and no-sells all of Akira's attempts to take him down. Eventually Bulldog gets serious and does his moves and him and Jim do a bunch of tag team moves on him.
Chad Gable meanwhile is yelling from sidelines as usual. Akira finally gets the hot tag in to Otis after reversing a Signature move attempt by Neidhart. Otis lays waste to the Hart Foundation in Otis fashion.
Then, just as Otis is about to his Finisher, he goes outside and does it to Chad Gable instead, tagging in Akira and leaving. Akira attempts to finish of Neidhart but Neidhart grabs him and soon enough he and Bulldog do the Hart Attack on him to retain the NXT Tag Team Titles.
- Backstage segment - CM Punk is whinging as usual to Nick Aldis, this time whinging about not having a title shot against Sting despite him being ''Best in World''. Steve Austin happens to be nearby and gives him a Stunner. Saying ''Crybaby'' before walking off after handing Nick Aldis a beer.
4th Match - Becky Lynch '19 v Deonna Purrazo in a Submission Match for the Women's NXT Championship
Match starts off even with neither woman getting the upper hand. Both hit signatures but reverse each others' attempts at Submission.
Eventually Becky puts Deonna through the Announcers Table and throws Deonna back into the ring to attempt an Armbar but Deonna reverses that once again and puts in her own Submission hold with Becky being forced to tap out.
And your NEW NXT Women's Champion, Deonna Purrazzo.
- Backstage segment - AJ Styles is attacked again by the NWO for not joining. This time in the Parking Lot. Nick Aldis' Hamster Wheel gathers pace as an idea forms in his head.
5th Match - NXT Women's Tag Team Titles - Unholy Union, Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn v Saraya and Harley Cameron
Unholy Union's Alba Fyre starts the match against Harley who is creeped out by the witch sounding language Alba and Isla use and quickly tags Saraya in.
Saraya and Alba have a good back-and-forth match with Saraya ending up doing her finisher on Alba only to get a 2.99 as Isla makes the save. Alba soon gets a hot tag in to Isla who spits mist into Saraya's face and the tide turns to the Unholy Union who use a bunch of Tag Moves on Saraya.
Eventually Saraya manages to reverse Isla's finisher and makes the hot tag to Harley who is clearly creeped out by the two Witches and is quickly finished off as the Unholy Union do their tag team finisher to retain the NXT Women's Tag Team Titles.
- Backstage Segment - Bayley is interviewed just as she's about to make her entrance for her match against Rhea Ripley.
6th Match - Liberty Championship Match - Rhea Ripley v Bayley
Rhea makes her creepy Firefly Entrance and the start of the match is just her smiling creepily at Bayley who is undeterred as the match starts.
Rhea is dominant but Bayley still gets some offense in. Rhea goes for the ropes but misses and Bayley takes over from there. Bayley gets a flurry of moves in and does her finisher. Kick out at 2.99 by Rhea. Rhea then takes over and ends up hitting her finisher. Kick out by Bayley at 2.99.
Back and forth they go, with them both kicking out of each others' finishers again. Eventually, Bianca's music hits and the distraction gives Rhea an opportunity to hit Bayley from behind before doing her Super Finisher to retain the Liberty Championship.
No sighting of Bianca anywhere.
- Post-Match interview - Kayla attempts to get an interview with Rhea inside the ring and asks if playing Bianca's music was a ruse all-along. Rhea simply smiles. Kayla asks where Bianca is. Rhea again gives a cryptic answer like she did to Cathy and walks out of the ring leaving Kayla as perplexed as she was when she was learning how to play Snakes and Ladders yesterday.
Time for the MAIN EVENT of Battleground
7th Match - Steel Cage Match for the NXT Championship - Sting v Chad Gable
Sting intimidates Chad at the start of the match who attempts to climb out immediately only for Sting to drag him down and dominate the start of the match. Throwing Chad into the Steel Cage, doing DDTs, Stinger Splash before putting him into a submission.
Chad manages to wriggle out of that and briefly gets some offense going, including a Suplex but when Chad goes for a signature, Sting reverses it and gives him another Stinger Splash before doing his finisher move and pins Chad for the 1..2..3 to retain the NXT Championship.
Post-Match as Chad is laying there, he berates Akira as Akira comes out to help only for Akira to snap and assault Chad too, giving him his finisher before yelling at him in Japanese.
And, that's Battleground folks lol. Till the next PLE! Which is also NXT and Evolution...Still, till next time!
Champions post Battleground
Liberty - Rhea Ripley
NXT - Sting
NXT Women's - Deonna Purrazzo
North American - Carmelo Hayes
Women's North American - Fallon Henley
NXT Tag Team Titles - Hart Foundation - British Bulldog and Jim Neidhart
Women's NXT Tag Team Titles - Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn
