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NXT Recap: If At First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again

I'm Jude Terror, and this is The Shovel, the wrestling recap column where, at great risk to my mental health, I watch eleven (or more) hours of wrestling each week, seven of them produced by WWE(!!!), and then tell you what happened so you can sound knowledgable when you talk trash about them online without needing to actually waste your time actually watching them. Yeah. You're welcome. Today's edition covers the Wednesday Night Wars between AEW Dynamite and WWE NXT.

AEW NXT Recap for December 16th, 2020 Part 1

Vince McMahon is terrified of AEW Dynamite getting higher ratings than Raw regularly, which means I have to stay up until midnight every Wednesday to watch NXT on DVR instead of it being on its own night and my life being saner.

Match: Leon Ruff and Kushida vs. Johnny Gargano and Austin Theory

Leon Ruff and KUSHIDA are in the ring for a no-nonsense start to NXT. Johnny Gargano and Austin Theory come out to face them, with Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell joining them at ringside. Things are going alright until Leon Ruff attempts a step-up to the top turnbuckle for a dive to the outside and loses his footing, catches his leg in the ropes, and flips forward to the floor. He seems to be okay because Theory picks him back up and they continue the match. Theory gets the pin with a new finisher, a sort of facebuster with a lot of extra that might be called This is the Way.

Winner: Johnny Gargano and Austin Theory

Dexter Lumis is on a platform in the COVID Wrestling Center drawing on an iPad. In a video, Toni Storm cuts a promo on Rhea Ripley. They'll fight in the main event tonight. NXT takes a commercial break.

McKenzie Mitchell talks to Shotzi Blackheart. Blackheart says WarGames is over, but her war with Candice LeRae isn't. Tonight, she'll break Candice's best friend.

Match: Tommaso Ciampa vs. Tyler Rust

Tyler Rust is in the ring. Tomasso Ciampa comes out and sets up a chair on the ramp and puts a Timothy Thatcher shirt on it, inviting Thatcher to come out and watch the match. Thatcher does come out mid-match, but after getting into a staring contest with Ciampa, officials usher Thatcher out of the ringside area. Rust puts up a good fight here trying to work Ciampa's left arm for a submission. It's enough to prevent Ciampa from hitting Fairy Tale Ending and almost gets Rust a win. But Ciampa pulls it off with a Willow's Bell for the pin.

Winner: Tommaso Ciampa

Thatcher comes back out after the match, trying to get at Ciampa, but refs block him, and Ciampa mocks him.

In a video, the Grizzled Young Veterans make the case that they had a lot of momentum eight months ago and now NXT has changed a lot. But they're still the best tag team of this generation and blah blah blah we get it. I don't really understand what their gimmick is. Dynamite takes a commercial break.

We get a promo video for Karrion Kross and then see that during the commercial break, Malcolm Bivens seemingly got Tyler Rust to hire Bivens as his manager. Dexter Lumis is still drawing on his iPad.

Match: Pete Dunne vs. Kyle O'Reilly

Undisputed Era come to the ring. Pete Dunne, Danny Burch, and Oney Lorcan also come to the ring. Dunne is set to have a match with Kyle O'Reilly, but before it starts, Killian Dane and Drake Maverick run out to attack Lorcan and Burch. Undisputed Era get involved. Breezango, who have been gone for weeks, appear and join the fray. Everyone fights backstage and then Dunne and O'Reilly have a match. These two hate each other. They almost both lose in a double count-out because they can't stop punching each other. Dunne tries to put O'Reilly to sleep with a long headlock. This long-as-hell match nearly puts met to sleep, but O'Reilly stays awake. O'Reilly pins Dunne after what feels like 45 minutes following a suplex to the floor and a knee drop from the top rope.

Winner: Kyle O'Reilly

Since O'Reilly won, he gets to face Finn Balor for the NXT Championship at New Years Evil so the champ gets injured for another six weeks.

WWE NXT Continues…

There's one hour left of WWE NXT, which means there's one more click you owe us. Click down below for part two.

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