Both NXT and All Elite Wrestling announced a handful of matches for their respective two-hour lives shows for next week (Oct. 23). WWE’s Black and Yellow Brand will feature an NXT North American Championship match between reigning champ Roderick Strong, Keith Lee and Dominik Dijakovic, Rhea Ripley vs. Bianca Belair and Finn Balor’s first match with the promotion since he returned back on Oct. 2. Meanwhile AEW will host the latest episode of Dynamite from Pittsburgh and will feature Jon Moxley vs. PAC, The Lucha Brothers vs. Private Party and SCU vs. The Dark Order in the semifinals of the AEW World Tag Team Championship Tournament. The Young Bucks and Pittsburgh native Britt Baker will also be in action during the show.
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The young promotion is slowly building towards its next pay-per-view, Full Gear, on Nov. 9 in Baltimore. Two matches have been booked on the show so far — Chris Jericho vs. Cody Rhodes for the AEW World Championship and Moxley vs. Kenny Omega — while a third match involving the Bucks and Santana & Ortiz was teased on this week’s Dynamite.
Meanwhile on NXT Strong won the North American championship during the show’s first broadcast on the USA Network. After being embarrassed by Velveteen Dream last week, Strong and the rest of the Undisputed Era badly injured Dream in a backstage segment on this week’s episode. As a result William Regal made the Lee vs. Dijakovic match a No. 1 contender’s bout, prompting Strong to interfere and attack both men. Regal responded by giving both big men a title shot.
Balor, a former WWE Universal and Intercontinental Champion, explained why he made the move back to NXT, during a recent interview with Newsweek.
“I’ve been out of the ring for about two months and out of NXT for much longer,” Balor said. “To get the opportunity to return to Full Sail live on USA is a huge honor for me.
“Right now that’s what [‘Finn Balor is NXT’] means. I’m going to wrestle whenever, whoever I want,” he added. “That’s something I’ve been chasing for quite some time in my career. I don’t believe in any boundaries be it weight class, country, promotion… And I want to break those boundaries. I’m here at NXT to do that.”
NXT’s next pay-per-view, NXT TakeOver: WarGames, will take place on Nov. 23 in Chicago, Illinois during the Survivor Series weekend. No matches have been announced for the card as of this week.
