‘NXT’ (3/3/21) Review And Results: Women’s Tag Team Championship On The Line, NXT Championship Match Made For Next Week, And More

NXT

NXT took place at the Capital Wrestling Center in Orlando Florida. This show featured the Women’s Tag Team Championships being defended as Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler return to NXT put them on the line against the Dusty Rhodes Classic winners Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez. It was originally supposed to be MSK challenging Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan for the Tag Team Championships but MSK will not be able to compete after the attack from the Grizzled Young Veterans last week. Instead, Timothy Thatcher and Tommaso Ciampa will compete against the tag champs in a non title match.

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As Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan came down to the ring to start the show, they show footage from last night of Tommaso Ciampa offering to face them in a non title match with his partner Timothy Thatcher to replace MSK.

Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch Defeated Tommaso Ciampa and Timothy Thatcher

Imperium looked on at Thatcher and Ciampa after the match from the stage.

They show Roderick Strong heading to the ring.

Strong was in the ring as they came back from commercial break. He threw pieces of his dog tag on the ground and ordered Adam Cole to come out. Finn Balor interrupted saying Cole is not coming out here for Strong. Strong says The Undisputed Era was doing fine until Finn came in the picture and blames him for the breakup. Finn says the reason they broke up is because of the NXT title. Finn announces that he will face Adam Cole next week for the NXT Championship. He tells Strong he will be always be a leader not a follower. He tells Strong until he has the killer instinct, he will never be champion but then Strong attacks him. Referees separate the two of them.

A video package showed The Way at a psychiatric center. Theory says this doesn’t look like Chucky Cheese. Gargano says they are here to get rid of Theory’s Dexter Lumis problem. They try to get Theory to talk about what happened when he was captured by Lumis but Theory says all that happened was Dexter needed a friend. He says all they did was hang out and explains how much of a cold hard world it is out there. Gargano takes something that Indi Hartwell was writing and he reads that it saying “Mrs. Indi Wrestling Lumis.” Gargamo scolds her for it and wants Theory to tell the doctor that Lumis tortured him and wants Lumis locked up. The doctor says Gargano has deep rooted issues of his own from his animosity for Lumis. Gargano loses it and the doctor kicks him out. Gargano calls her unprofessional and the door gets slammed in his face.

Cameron Grimes talks with a producer to try to rename the Capital Wrestling Center as the Cameron Grimes Auditorium. Regal interrupts him saying he has a potential lawsuit on his hands from Cameron hitting a crew member. Cameron says he’ll offer him whatever money but Regal says it is him he is not happy with. Cameron tries to buy him off but Regal makes him compete against Bronson Reed. Cameron asks if Regal is sure he doesn’t want money as Regal walks off.

Ember Moon Defeated Aliyah

Timothy Thatcher was interviewed about what happened earlier and he was talking about his past with Imperium. Tommaso Ciampa comes in to say the past is the past and that’s it. They go back to the locker room.

A highlight package of the rivalry between Toni Storm and Io Shirai heading into their title match is shown. Toni says Io can’t beat her. Io says she respects Toni as an athlete but not a person. Toni says Io’s reign comes to an end and it become Toni’s time. Io says it will be one of the most challenging matches of her career but the announcer will say at the end of the match that Io Shirai is still the Women’s Champion.

Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax Defeated Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez To Retain The Women’s Tag Team Championship

Austin Theory continued the therapy session. Theory explained how Dexter just needed a friend. Indi says she’ll be his friend. Candice LeRae tries to talk them out of that saying he can get other friends. Theory says he can get a little weird sometimes and Indi says she likes it when he gets weird. Candice’s phone vibrates saying what Johnny is getting Candice to talk for him. The doctor realizes that and kicks Candice and Indi Hartwell out. She kicked Johnny out as she revealed that Johnny was texting Candice. Johnny asked if they want anyhting from Uber Eats. The doctor asks what really happened with Lumis. The segment ends.

La Knight was seen entering the Capital Wrestling Center.

Isiah Swerve Scott was seen demoing some of his music. He talks about how he has to climb and crawl to get an opportunity while Ruff gets the opportunities. He says how he is dangerous and savage. He says he just doesn’t care anymore.

LA Knight came out to the ring. Knight says he has waited too long to step in this ring to talk. He says he is not here to talk about dreams and it’s business. He says he didn’t come here as the first draft pick but he will be the guy setting trends and records. He talks about other competitors here how they have their flips and dives but all he will do is simply beat the hell out of anyone. He says he is the last of a dying breed. He says he doesn’t want people to call him the GOAT but call him LA Knight. Bronson Reed came out to the ring for his match while LA Knight was still in the ring. Knight exits the ring as Reed stepped in.

Cameron Grimes Defeated Bronson Reed

Regal and Adam Pearce was seen talking in the conference room about what happened in the Women’s Tag Team Title match.

Kayden Carter was interviewed about Kacy Catanzaro’s condition with her LCL tear. Carter says it sucks and pisses her off. She doesn’t know when she’ll be back but she wants to take Xia out for what she did. She said next week she will take her out.

A video package showed Karrion Kross’ victory over Santos Escobar last week.

Austin Theory continued his session to talk about Lumis. Theory says it was a great time, watching cartoons and cereal. He says Lumis is a nice guy but doesn’t know why he brought him back. The doctor says he talked with Lumis and couldn’t make him stop talking. He said Lumis couldn’t wait to get rid of him beciase of his annoying personality. Theory started crying and ran out of the room. Gargano appeared with Theory crying on his shoulder. Gargano yells at the doctor for making him cry but then tells the doctor she did a great job. He pays off the doctor and leaves. He tells Theory they are going to Chuckie Cheese. The doctor calls them a bunch of idiots as she counts the money. The segment ends.

Ever Rise was supposed to have a match with Breezango but then Legado Del Fantasma attacked Breezango on the stage. They take them out. Ever Rise gives them a thumbs up but then go after them. Ever Rise leaves the ring as Legado Del Fantasma goes after them. Santos Escobar comes up from behind and attacks them outside the ring. He takes them out and enters the ring. He says do not mistake his loss last week to Kross for weakness.

They show a promo for the NXT Championship match next week between Finn Balor and Adam Cole.

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Finn Balor made his way to the ring for his match against Roderick Strong as they went to commercial.

William Regal was interviewed backstage about his meeting with Adam Pearce. He says due to what happened in the Women’s Tag Team Championship match earlier, he will make an unprecedented announcement next week that will change the landscape of NXT.

Finn Balor Defeated Roderick Strong

Adam Cole appeared on the stage after the match. The show ended with Finn and Cole staring down at each other.

Overall Review: The show was pretty solid but a little lackluster. I fell like they were building this show up just to get to a bigger show next week which I thought this weeks show was supposed to be that. It kind of left me disappointed they had a non title match with Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch facing Thatcher and Ciampa instead of MSK. The match was solid but it just didn’t do anything for me as far as a replacement with what they were originally going to do. The segment with The Way and the therapy sessions were pretty entertaining. I’d say it was the highlight segments of the night because it was just so wacky but not in a way where it was too unwatchable and cringe. The Women’s Tag Team Championship match I did not expect it to end the way it did. I honestly can’t say how I truly feel about it even though at first it felt very messy. The match itself wasn’t terrible but there were some times where things didn’t click between them. We’ll see what happens with Regal’s announcement concerning that. LA Knight’s debut on NXT TV was cool. I can’t wait to see how they handle him and I’m excited with how much he is going to stick out from the other stars where a lot of the competitors are more strong with their in ring work while LA Knight will probably blow people away with his character work. Legado Del Fantasma interrupting the tag match was what it was. Nothing too crazy but again we’ll see where that goes. I think though that if they really wanted to go off the air in a cliffhanger and get people tune into next week, I would’ve had the Women’s Tag Team title match main event the way it did with a little extra put in it like Regal argue with Adam Pearce in the ring and maybe have a little shoving between the two. I think Balor facing Strong maybe should’ve been at the 9:00pm slot rather than the main event that’s just me though.

Grade: 5/10

 

 

 

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