WWE NXT results, live blog (May 23, 2023): Battleground go home

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Here's a place to check results and comment along with the newest episode of WWE NXT, airing live on Tuesday night at 8PM Eastern time slot on USA Network.

Advertised for tonight's show from the WWE Performance Center: The semi-finals of the Women's Championship Tournament, with Roxanne Perez vs. Tiffany Stratton and Cora Jade vs. Lyra Valkyria! We’ll also see Axiom take on Dabba-Kato, Nathan Frazer step away from the Last Week Tonight Hard Hitting Home Truths desk to take on Noam Dar, and Tyler Bate go one-on-one with Eddy Thorpe. Dar and Bate are in title matches on Sunday, and this show will feature the final push to May 28's Battleground PLE... We’d hate to some someone mysteriously attacked before everyone heads off to Lowell, Massachusetts!

Come right back here at 8 p.m. ET when the NXT live blog kicks off once the show starts on USA. A running record of everything that happens will be below this line here.

Enjoy the show!

Mistress of ices, Stygian skater, scribing devices, dancing on sabers. So very relentless, counting the sheep. Electrical fences, Americans leap, but me? I’m just here to liveblog this pro wrestling show for you, folks.

The show opens with a hype reel for tonight's women's championship tournament semifinals.

Back and forth in the opening, desperate right hands from Valkyria, missile dropkick connects off the second! Northern lights suplex into the bridge, Jade counters with a front chancery, charging in the corner but Lyra catches her with another northern lights... NOPE!

Lyra pops up explosively...

Lyra Valkyria wins by pinfall with a reverse roundhouse kick.

Post-match, Jade chop blocks Valkyria and blasts the back of her knee with a kendo stick shot!

And so we go to break.

Back from commercial we see Ilja Dragunov blindside Donovan Dijak with a huge knee strike as he's entering the building!

He follows it up with a chairshot and ramming him into a loading door before trying to slam the door down on Dijak same as Tall Don did to him some weeks ago, but referees save him!

Axiom trying to use his speed, backflipping out of a chokeslam attempt, probing leg kicks, off the ropes, shoulder block, but Dabba-Kato throws him over the ropes and to the floor! Press slam throws him back inside, but Axiom pops right back up and hits a dragon screw!

Leg kicks, chest kicks with Kato down to a knee but he pops up and clobbers Axiom with a lariat! Choke lift...

Dabba-Kato wins by pinfall with a sitout chokebomb.

Post-match, Dabba pulls him up and lights him up with body blows and a lariat!

Reginald comes to the ring to try and make good with Axiom for the whole SCRYPTS thing but he's not having it.

We cut to interrogation room footage of Tony D’Angelo.

The officer asks Tony why his name keeps coming up and shows him video footage and Tony deflects and another man comes in the ring and says some new information has come to light that the first cop will want to see, and we go to break.

Back from commercial, we get a video package recapping Carmelo Hayes winning the NXT Championship from Bron Breakker at Stand & Deliver with narration from Bron about how little being champion did for him personally.

Gallus are in the ring bathed in green light to get on the mic.

Joe Coffey talks about the Battleground card being stacked and they all have a laugh about Tony D’Angelo and Stacks being detained before joking about the Creed Brothers not backing up their challenge either.

Enter the Creed Brothers, mics in hand.

They banter back and forth about bar food and bellies before the Creeds get on the title match at Battleground, saying it's their time.

Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo appears out of nowhere and the impromptu trio brawls with Gallus until they run them off!

Wes Lee is interviewed backstage.

He's upset about not being able to trust Tyler Bate and says things have just changed.

Tyler Bate rolls up and Wes tells him to save it and he’ll be paying close attention tonight now that he knows what he really wants.

Bate says challenging for the title doesn't change the respect he has for Lee, but Joe Gacy is a different kettle of fish.

Eddy Thorpe makes his entrance to send us to break.

Back from commercial we get some hype for John Cena being in #1 box office hit Fast X and Batista being in #2 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Wes Lee is on commentary for this one.

Thorpe working headlock takeovers early, trying to keep Bate grounded, leap frog, crawl under, Eddy sees Bop coming and backs off! Go-behind, waistlock takedown reversed into an arm drag, drop down, dropkick from Tyler, cover for two!

Inside cradle, only two, Thorpe with a huge chop that staggers Bate all by itself, snapmare into a chest kick... STILL NO! Kneeling armbar, Tyler with the escape, running hot, into a running shooting star press for two! Rebound lariat blocked with a boot, Bate gets it on the second try!

Underhooks...

Tyler Bate wins by pinfall with Tyler Driver ‘97.

Post-match, Joe Gacy appears to beat Bate down and Lee makes the save! Joe sidesteps so that Wes clocks Tyler in the face and hits them both with the Upside-Down before holding the North American Championship high.

Lyra Valkyria is interviewed in the trainer's room.

She says her knee is bruised but she doesn't feel any tears or ligament damage and she’ll rehab all week and be ready for the finals, and she wants Roxanne Perez because she's the best in NXT.

We see Nathan Frazer walking backstage to send us to break.

Back from commercial, we get footage from during the break of Tyler Bate and Wes Lee having an angry confrontation in the aftermath of Joe Gacy attacking them both.

Dar working a wristlock, Frazer reverses to a headlock, Noam counters to one of his own but Nathan gets his feet under him and shoots him off! Drop down, leapfrog denied, sidestep a kick, headlock takeover and another one!

Head of steam, off the ropes, ducking lariats, Frazer blasts Dar with a big boot and we go to break!

Back from commercial, trading uppercuts, Frazer springboards but Dar cuts him off with a roundhouse kick! Noam stomping the ankle, Nathan trying to come back with right hands but Dar cracks him in the jaw! Chest kicks, Frazer with a quebrada into an inverted DDT!

This time Frazer has the kick scouted and hits the springboard axhandle! Final Cut... NOT ENOUGH! Noam catches a kick into a rolling dragon screw, ankle lock blocked, enzuigiri connects! Quebrada again, lands on his feet, Dar with a roundhouse, suplex into an armbar but Nathan keeps his hands clasped!

Noam breaks his grip, Frazer rolls into a cover for two! Superkick, fall into a cover... NOPE! Trading chops, small package for two, Dar sends Frazer's mouthguard flying with a wicked back elbow, but it's only good for two!

Dragon Lee comes down the aisle and starts chatting with Dar's Heritage Cup, leading the Supernova to confront him on the floor! Frazer with a suicide dive, back inside, up top...

Nathan Frazer wins by pinfall with the Phoenix Splash.

Backstage, Ilja Dragunov is interviewed and says Donovan Dijak will learn what he means when he says he's unbesieg— DIJAK ATTACKS AND THE LOCKER ROOM HAS TO PULL THEM APART!

And so we go to break.

Back from commercial we get a video package of Carmelo Hayes doing local media to hype up his match at Battleground.

Trading shoulder blocks, neither man able to budge the other, Walker gets him trapped in the corner for shoulder blocks, Ledger returns a whip and a slam! Cartwheel into a big splash, cover for one!

Freight train collision and Hank rolls into the cover...

Hank Walker wins by pinfall.

Post-match, Bron Breakker appears and takes them both out with spears! He stares down the barrel of the camera and tells Carmelo Hayes he’ll see him on Sunday!

Backstage, Diamond Mine are hanging out when Stacks rolls up. They thank him for helping them out and say they’re gonna send Gallus back to Scotland, and Stacks offers an arrangement to help them beat the numbers game. They turn him down but tell him when Tony gets out they can have the first shot at the tag titles.

And so we go to break.

Back from commercial, Gigi Dolin makes her entrance and gets on the mic.

She talks about her troubles with her family and says she thought she found one in Jacy Jayne but she just tore everything down from the inside, so now she’ll do anything to end her, and the pain in her soul will be written on her face when she purges everything she ever felt for her.

Jacy appears in the crowd and says she's sick of this emo stuff and reminisces about how they were on top of the world. Gigi asks why she threw it all away if it was so great and Jayne says she got sick and tired of carrying Dolin and she refused to let her drag her down.

Gigi says it's not that she's got bigger and better things, but rather that Jacy will do anything to avoid being remembered as the third wheel. Jayne says the last time they were in the ring she beat her and embarrassed her in front of her brother, to which Gigi says she had to get eight stitches and they’re 1-1 so why not settle it right here, right now.

Jayne tells her to pander to her sadsack fans on social media and she can't wait to be done with her once and for all, so next week they’re gonna end this where it began, but she doesn't want a normal match, no, she wants to end it inside of a steel cage!

Dolin says she doesn't pander to anyone, she just wears her heart on her sleeve because she's real, unlike Jacy Jayne, who is a fake-ass bitch. She wants a steel cage match next week? She’ll take it up a notch and proposes a weaponized cage! Jacy agrees!

A man is on courthouse steps telling Von Wagner things will be settled in the ring tonight, and when he's in the ring with Luca Crusifino, he’ll regret it.

And so we go to break.

Back from commercial, we get a breakdown of the British Rounds rules for the NXT Heritage Cup.

We get NXT Anonymous footage of Noam Dar begging Oro Mensah to be in his corner for his title match on Sunday. Lash Legend and her pal walk by to mock him for his little cup.

Wagner in hot, shoulder blocks in ther corner, big right hands! Dominating the match, eventually Crusifino gets the picture of messed-up baby Von and taunts Robert Stone about it and Wagner loses it...

Luca Crusifino wins by disqualification due to castigo de excesivo.

Post-match Von keeps attacking the guy but Stone talks him out of a powerbomb and tries to talk sense into him. After a beat, Wagner powerbombs Luca into the announce desk anyway!

We cut back to the interrogation room where we see Tony D’Angelo being arrested.

Tiffany Stratton makes her entrance and we go to break.

Back from commercial we get some hype for next week's weaponized cage match.

Stratton with headpats out the gates, test of strength, Perez pops up to answer it, European Clutch for two! Side headlock, leg pick, off the ropes, schoolboy for two! Sunset flip, still just a nearfall, Tiffany with arm wringers, to the floor, Roxanne puts her into the apron!

Back inside, Stratton trips her up and sends her to the floor and we go to break.

Back from commercial, Perez counters a powerbomb and dropkicks Stratton to the floor! Back inside, Finlay Roll, triple jump on the moonsault, roll through when nobody's home, Lou Thesz Press into mounted punches! Roxanne off the ropes, big lariat, sitout powerbomb... NOPE!

Roxanne with an avalanche Frankensteiner... STILL NO! Body blows, windmill punches, side Russian legsweep blocked with a mat slam! Up for a powerbomb, reversed, trading nearfalls! Running knee, side Russian legsweep... NOT ENOUGH! Stratton off the top again...

Tiffany Stratton wins by pinfall with the triple jump moonsault.

Post-match, Stratton and Valkyria square up by the NXT Women's Championship until a hooded individual attacks Roxanne Perez in the entry and Lyra has to save her!

Donovan Dijak makes his entrance and Ilja Dragunov blindsides him and they brawl around the ring! Dijak throws Ilja over the barricade and signs the contract for their match! Security tries to stop him from attacking Dragunov, but the Unbesiegbar Czar breaks away and hammers him with chops!

Over the barricade, Ilja goes over and signs the contract and it is official for Battleground! Dijak blasts him with a big boot but Ilja takes him out off the steps!

That's the show, folks.