WWE Worlds Collide results, April 24, 2019: Storm retains crown in wild Triple Threat Match
All eyes were on the WWE Women’s division as female Superstars from WWE, NXT and NXT UK threw down in a captivating series of inter-brand matches, culminating with a fast-and-furious NXT UK Women’s Title Triple Threat Match between champion Toni Storm, Nikki Cross and Bianca Belair.
Candice LeRae represents the black-and-gold brand in singles action against NXT UK newcomer Kay Lee Ray. Video courtesy of the award-winning WWE Network.
BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Candice LeRae and Kay Lee Ray pulled out all the stops in this supremely physical showdown pitting NXT against NXT UK. Looking to continue her string of victories since joining the NXT UK roster last month, Ray methodically wore down LeRae with ferocious stomps, strikes and submission holds. Yet, whenever the Scottish Superstar tried to finish the job via her favorite move, the Gory Bomb, the ring-wise LeRae found room to counter.
LeRae’s bursts of offense were equally effective. From landing three consecutive suicide dives, to tearing Ray off the top turnbuckle with a dangerous German suplex, LeRae kept on the attack. The surging LeRae scored the pinfall after spiking Ray with a reverse hurricanrana, snapping off a Rick Rude-esque neckbreaker and flattening Ray with a quebrada.
Realizing she was at the wrong end of a severe size and strength disadvantage in her battle with impressive NXT UK newcomer Piper Niven, SmackDown LIVE’s Zelina Vega relied on her speed and wits — not to mention, the occasional shortcut — to stay competitive. Indeed, Vega proved hard to hit in the early going, using evasive tactics to stay ahead of the Scottish powerhouse. Vega even borrowed a few tricks from the playbook of her client, Andrade, such as when she launched herself knees-first into Niven in the corner.
Vega’s game plan fell apart, however, when a moonsault attempt went awry. That misfire gave Niven the opening she needed, and she didn’t wait to pounce, sending Vega head-first into the canvas with a brutal Michinoku Driver to snare the W.
Last month, Niven introduced herself as the “most dominant woman in NXT UK,” but after her emphatic disposal of Vega, an argument could be made that she belongs in the conversation of most dominant woman in all of WWE.
WWE Worlds Collide photos for April 24, 2019, featuring NXT UK's Piper Niven against SmackDown LIVE's Zelina Vega, Io Shirai in action against Sonya Deville and more.
The Genius of the Sky's aerial arsenal meets the ground-and-pound game of SmackDown LIVE's Sonya Deville. Video courtesy of the award-winning WWE Network.
Despite Sonya Deville’s reputation as one of WWE’s hardest-hitting Superstars, Io Shirai didn’t shy away from engaging in strikes with the SmackDown LIVE Superstar. The Genius of the Sky lit up Deville with knife-edge chops, but once Deville put her hair up, it was time to square up, and that spelled bad news for the NXT sensation.
Deville punched Shirai down to the mat before robbing her of breath with an airtight body scissors. She added insult to injury, too, trash-talking the trapped Shirai while bending her fingers in the wrong direction. Shirai eventually broke free and turned to her aerial attack, nailing Deville with a 619 and an impactful missile dropkick. Yet, when a top-rope moonsault missed its mark, Deville capitalized and almost put Shirai through the canvas with a vicious double-leg takedown for the pin.
Toni Storm's NXT UK Women's Crown is on the line as she faces WWE's Nikki Cross and NXT's Bianca Belair in a high-stakes inter-brand battle. Video courtesy of the award-winning WWE Network.
NXT UK Women’s Champion Toni Storm may have drawn a perilous assignment for Worlds Collide, tasked with defending her crown against the wildly unpredictable Nikki Cross and the almost unfathomably explosive Bianca Belair, but she proved she was up to the challenge.
Cross and Belair didn’t make Storm’s path to title retention easy, of course. WWE’s Twister Sister was in true unhinged form, trapping both of her opponents in the ring skirt early so that she could clobber Belair and Storm at will. Later in the free-for-all, Belair showed her physical superiority, if not her relative inexperience, when she slammed Cross onto Storm, which nearly resulted in an inadvertent pinfall for Cross. Through it all, Storm delivered as many big hits as she received, at one point running corner to corner with a series of hip checks to both opponents.
As the intensity steadily picked up, Cross ascended the ropes with a high-risk move in mind. Belair tried to stop her, but Cross knocked The EST of NXT to the floor. She then took flight with a cross body block, but Storm sidestepped the attack and sent Cross plummeting back to the mat with the Storm Zero to win the match and retain the NXT UK Women’s Title.
