Last Saturday, Sept. 30, WWE returned to Bakersfield at the Mechanics Bank Arena for their premium live event, NXT No Mercy.
It was a night of entertaining action-packed fun. The crowd could be heard chanting “This is Awesome!” throughout the night. It was certainly an all-around enjoyable experience.
NXT is WWE’s developmental wrestling brand. It showcases up-and-coming stars that will be the future of the company for years to come. It is where they grow and develop their character and wrestling ability.
All 5 of NXT’s championships were put on the line at the event. Two stand-out matches at the show were for the NXT Championship and NXT Women’s Championship, respectively.
The NXT title match was a rematch between the champion Carmelo Hayes and the challenger Ilja Dragunov.
Their first match took place at NXT’s “Great American Bash” premium live event last July. It was an intense bout between the two pro wrestlers. When watching it, you believed every punch and forearm they threw, every move they delivered. Every near pinfall had you on the edge of your seat wondering, “Is this it?” You could see the bruises on both WWE superstars as they hit each other with shot after shot.
Dragunov’s facial expressions gave off a feeling of anger and determination. To end the match, he would jump off the top rope with a forearm right to the face of a prone Hayes who was lying on the mat and cover him for the pinfall.
Ilja Dragunov would become the new NXT Champion. These two men put their bodies on the line to entertain the WWE fans in attendance.
The same can be said for the women’s title match as well, which followed Hayes v. Dragunov.
(Mason Almaguer)
But, unlike the previous one, this was an “Extreme Rules” match where the wrestlers could use weapons and fight outside the ring as long as they wanted.
It was the NXT Women’s Champion Becky Lynch taking on Tiffany Stratton in the main event, the final match of the night. This was also a rematch from when Lynch took the title off Stratton on an episode of NXT a few weeks ago.
Much like Hayes and Dragunov, these two women put their bodies through what seemed like immense pain and discomfort.
At the beginning of the match, they brawled into the crowd and up the stairs towards the exit. Stratton hit some impressive moves off the top rope, one was even hit on Lynch as she was lying on a table. Maneuvers were done onto folded-up steel chairs where their semi-exposed bodies landed on said chairs.
To close the show, Stratton would hit a moonsault off the top rope but missed after Lynch moved out of the way. Lynch would then capitalize and hit Stratton with her finishing maneuver, the “Manhandle Slam,” for the 3-count. Becky Lynch retained the NXT Women’s Championship to end a night of unforgettable action in Bakersfield.