Ilja Dragunov stands tall, defends NXT world title against Tony D'Angelo

Ilja Dragunov successfully defended his NXT World Title against Tony D'Angelo in the NXT Stand and Deliver. Much like all other matches in the night, the match between the two for the title lived up to the expectations. The fans loved every bit of the match where both the athletes gave their best. The payoff for the leadup to the match was indeed worthy.

Tony tried to take out the champion early in the match. The challenger to the title took out Ilja out of the ring twice. Both of them exchanged blows and put on a show. The fans were impressed by the duel which had some athletic moves. As promised in the promo a couple of days back, Tony took Dragunov to his limits.

The feud between the two has been tight. The match was not any different. One could not predict which way it was going. Both of them were in the match for most parts. Just when Ilja seemed to be losing the momentum, there was a distraction from the members of D'Angelo's faction. They tried to force the challenger to take a cheap shot at the champion.

Ilja Dragunov's impressive run continues

Tony won the hearts of the fans by denying to use false technique to claim a win. The fight between the two continued. Following the decision of Tony, Dragunov kissed him twice. The NXT champion got the much required momentum from that point. He was all over Tony from that instance. Outside the ring, D'Angelo's mates kicked themselves as Tony hesitated to take the advice provided by them.

Ilja prepared himself for the finishing move. He climbed up the rope to deliver H bomb. In the first instance, Ilja failed as Tony backed off from the point of impact. After handing a couple of blows, Ilja prepared himself and delivered H bomb from the top of the rope. He was successful in the second instance to retain the title. After the match, the duo shared mutual respect by shaking hands with each other.