Adam Cole, Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish, the Undisputed Era have made quite an impact since their debut as a trio over the summer -- and have made some enemies. Among the first group of foes on that list is SAnitY. They were the Undisputed Era's first targets at TakeOver: Brooklyn III when O'Reilly and Fish ambushed them just minutes after their NXT tag team championship victory over the Authors of Pain. It became clear that they had their eyes on the tag team prize right from the get go.
The rivalry progressed at TakeOver: War Games last month when the Undisputed Era picked up a victory in the first War Games match in nearly 20 years over SAnitY, the Authors of Pain and Roderick Strong. But there were no championships on the line in that match.
This week was a different story as O'Reilly and Fish battled Eric Young and Killian Dain for the gold.
It had been over two years since the NXT tag team championship changed hands at a non-TakeOver event (the Revival defeated the Vaudevillains in October of 2015 on an episode of NXT for the titles), but O'Reilly and Fish accomplished the feat on this week's episode.
In true heel faction form, the win wasn't without shenanigans as Cole, the Undisputed Era captain, got his hands dirty when SAnitY appeared poised to retain. Cole caused Young to lose his balance as he attempted to hit a top rope elbow drop and from that point on, the action was out of control. Cole's involvement brought out the fiery Nikki Cross, who intensified the action considerably as she dove onto Cole and unleashed a flurry of strikes before the referees pulled her off. The distraction allowed Cole to get his hands on Dain on the outside of the ring and pull Young's focus away enough to where O'Reilly and Fish were able to finish him off in the ring.
This was the next chapter in a story that is far from over. SAnitY will likely be looking for revenge and the wildcard that is the Authors of Pain, who picked up a win last week, could still factor into the equation.
However, for the time being, the big win at War Games combined with the this week's championship victory help set the tone of the Undisputed Era's superiority in NXT.
Pete Dunne defends his United Kingdom Championship
What a year it has been for the WWE's U.K. division. In January of this year, the WWE rolled out a tournament featuring a 16 U.K. performers as a way to crown the WWE's first U.K. champion. Since that time, the championship has been sporadically defended at NXT events and participants from the tournament have been featured on NXT television. Nearly every time these tremendous athletes stepped in the ring, they've stolen the show.
Two superstars stood out above the rest. The first ever WWE U.K. champion Tyler Bate and the current champ Pete Dunne have truly made names for themselves in the WWE this year. They battled in the aforementioned tournament finals and followed it up with a match of the year candidate at TakeOver: Chicago back in May when Dunne defeated Bate to become U.K. Champion. The chemistry between them is bountiful in large part due to their history together and comfort level with each other.
"[Tyler is] one of my two favorite people to wrestle and I'm really glad I got to share that one with him," said Dunne. "I had a big hand in training Tyler. I got him his first ever booking, which was against me in a tag match."
After scoring a pinfall victory over Dunne a couple weeks back in a tag match, Bate earned himself a chance to reclaim the U.K. championship this week. The result? Another incredible effort that saw Dunne retain his title after a back and forth affair full of innovation and brilliantly designed sequences. Much like their TakeOver match was a match of the year candidate, this was one of the best weekly TV matches of the entire year.
Simply put, the U.K. talent heightens the quality of the WWE's product, especially from an in-ring perspective. The more the superstars are featured in television, the better.
Next week
The No. 1 contender match is now set: Lars Sullivan faced off with Roderick Strong to determine who would join Killian Dain, Aleister Black and Johnny Gargano in next week's Fatal 4-Way match to determine the next No. 1 contender to the NXT championship. Sullivan's streak of dominance continued in what was the highest profile match in his NXT career when he defeated Roderick Strong and continued to establish himself as one of the elite talents in the brand.
Absolution's Sonya Deville will challenge Ember Moon for the NXT women's championship.