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Santos Escobar defeated Jordan Devlin at NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver in a ladder match to unify their NXT Cruiserweight Titles. Now the undisputed champion, Escobar looked to defend his title in an open challenge.
A year ago, that title was one of a forgotten division. However, with the birth of Legado Del Fantasma and the rise of the Emperor of Lucha Libre, the division has had a lot of light shone on it in the last year.
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Escobar is a warrior, much like his father was and his son one day would be. As a warrior, he would never back down.
However, there was a possibility he'd live to regret this challenge, as it was answered by Kushida.
NXT Cruiserweight Championship Match: Kushida vs Santos Escobar (c)
Santos Escobar told his boys that Kushida was a loser and that he had this in the bag. However, The Time Splitter made him eat those words with a running dropkick. Legado del Fantasma was sent to the locker room as Escobar and Kushida traded counter-for-counter.
During the break, Escobar took control when they moved to the floor. Kushida was bounced around ringside by the NXT Cruiserweight Champion, with Escobar sending him into the apron and plexiglass.
Escobar drove Kushida into the steps before locking him in a high-angle Boston Crab on top. Kushida was battered on the inside with nasty elbows and knees to the jaw. A flying double knee in the corner sandwiched Kushida, and a super hurricanrana brought Kushida down for a two-count.
Kushida responded with an inverted atomic drop, snapmare and dropkick. The wind-up punch and penalty kick to the arm left Escobar in serious trouble. A palm strike left the NXT Cruiserweight Champion in trouble at the top.
Kushida managed to hit a half-hatch suplex off the top, and a hammerlock suplex that nearly put Escobar away. Unfortunately for the Japanese star, his opponent put his foot on the rope just in time.
Escobar countered another suplex, and the two competitors laid each other out with a series of kicks. The handspring back elbow was countered by Escobar with a backstabber.
Kushida turned a Phantom Driver into a sunset flip. They traded pinfalls until a jackknife pin would finally put away Escobar, crowning a new NXT Cruiserweight Champion.
Results: Kushida defeated Santos Escobar via pinfall on NXT.
Grade: A
Kushida finally captured his first title in NXT. What a stunning performance from the Time Splitter tonight.
Ciampa & Thatcher have their eyes set on the NXT Tag Team Titles
Tommaso Ciampa sat next to Timothy Thatcher and made their intentions clear. MSK's days were numbered as Team Dad (work in progress) was coming for the NXT Tag Team Titles.
