WWE NXT 1/13/2021

WWE NXT 1/13/2021

Last week's show is here with pics and gifs: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2021/01/wwe-nxt-new-years-evil-162021.html

Tonight is the first round of the 2021 Dusty Classic tag team tournament with 3 matches happening from it.

They slowed clips from NXT New Years Evil. It was a good show.

Shotzi Blackheart vs Candice LaRae with Indi Hartwell

The finish

Kind of odd to have Shotzi opening up a show about the Dusty Classic. Indi is obviously getting involved here. LaRae throws Shotzi's helmet off the post it is hanging on during her entrance. The girls go face to face and Shotzi hits some forearms on the ground on her. LaRae goes for a neckbreaker while Shotzi is on the ropes but she hangs on, then dives on her from the top. Shotzi wraps up her arm and rolls her around with her legs. LaRae is on the 2nd rope but Shotzi pulls her off and she hits her head off the buckles. Shotzi then does a bridge with a keylock. They fight on the apron and Shotzi pulls LaRae into the post then hits her with a knee off the apron. Indi pulls off Shotzi as she tries to get in the ring and LaRae does a springboard onto Shotzi on the outside.

 

We go to picture-in-picture break with LaRae keeping control and putting her in a chin lock. Shotzi hits some chops and gets rolled up and dropkicked to the face. Shotzi goes for a pump kick but gets kicked down then hits an enzugiri as we return from break. Shotzi hits some forearms and a brazilian kick, then senton's her as she lays on the 2nd rope. Shotzi hits a DDT on the apron and then topes LaRae and Indi. Shotzi has her neck in front of the buckles and LaRae dropkicks her into it.

Shotzi gets put in the Gargano escape and rolls LaRae for 2. Then she picks her up and swings her onto her knee. Shotzi then DDT's her by walking up the buckles. Indi tries to interfere but gets knocked down and LaRae hits a spinning neckbreaker off the 2nd rope for the win. This wasn't anything too special.

Finn Balor is shown walking into the entrance area and Dunne, Burch and Oney arrive in a car as we go to break.

Back from break and Finn Balor is in the ring. Balor says he is still the champ. He said Kyle O'Reilly is great but not as his level. He said Kyle got put down and not he is the one eating his meals through a straw. He said he put a red X on his shirt because he is the target.

 Pete Dunne comes out with Oney and Burch. Dunne said Balor only has the title because he hasn't taken it yet. Dunne said he was told to get in line but isn't waiting anymore. Balor gets attacked 3v1 and Dunne pulls his arm down over the rope. Dunne does a hammerlock to him and DDT's him then Balor gets triple stomped. Kyle O'Reilly comes out to make the save and gets beaten up too then the rest of Undisputed Era comes out as Dunne's crew leaves. Everyone stares down and UE/Balor say something to each other before Balor's music hit. I would think Kyle would be mad at Finn for saying he isn't on his level, but I guess not.

Johnny Gargano is interviewed in the back. He said it will be smooth sailing when he beats Dexter Lumis tonight. Austin Theory walks behind Johnny with an envelope. It was something from Dexter Lumis and was a drawing of Johnny crying. There was also one of Shotzi hitting Theory in the crotch with her tank missile. 

The Vets said they debuted last year in the Dusty Classic. They said they are looking for more than invite to the finals and said this is their year.

Regal did a promo. He said let the tournament commence.

The Grizzled Young Veterans vs Ever-Rise

Matthews hit a club in the back and then backed off. Drake did a headspring out of a wristlock but Parker whipped him back down. The vets double teamed their opponents then Drake jumped off of one of their backs with a dropkick to the other Ever-Rise members. Gibson does a high single leg crab and The Vets hit another combo that ended in spinning heel kick. Parker gets close to a tag and drags Drake over to his corner for it. Martel gets the hot tag and clears out The Vets. He then belly to belly suplexes Drake.

Drake gets popped up into a spear and Parker jumps off his partner's back with an elbow. Martel pounds on Gibson in the corner but Drake hits a dropkick on his back and the Vets hit the Ticket to Mayhem for the win. They kept this one moving with a lot of double teams and tag work and they made it seem like Ever-Rise had a shot here, so I'd say it was mission accomplished. The Vets then look at the Dusty Classic trophy after.

Raquel Gonzalez talked about the match with Rhea Ripley last week and said Rhea is a bad memory that we'd all like to forget like 2020. Raquel said she is looking ahead at Io Shirai and her title.

Shotzi was interviewed. She said her loss today wasn't the outcome she was looking forward to but she said she wants to win the Women's Dusty Classic and needs a ride or die. Ember Moon then came in, looking awful by the way, and said they will go balls to the wall. They said they would put their names on the trophy.

Dexter Lumis vs Johnny Gargano

The finish

No entrance for Johnny. That's shocking. Lumis walks on his hands and knees in the ring. Johnny has his crying drawing that Lumis did and he rips it up. Lumis nails him in the face and hits a Thesz press. Johnny tries to roll Dexter over for a kick but Lumis stares at him. Lumis rolls out of the ring, then avoids a Johnny kick and kips up. Johnny runs the apron and gets an uppercut which sends him back in the ring. They fight up top, Johnny gets knocked down and misses a swanton as we go to break.

Back from break and Lumis is in a camel clutch. During the break, Lumis took a spear from outside to in from Johnny after an Austin Theory distraction. Lumis hit a big spinebuster and a bulldog. He then did a slingshot suplex. Lumis did a back suplex, kipped up then hit a big jumping legdrop.

Johnny jumped off the ropes onto Lumis but Lumis caught him though Johnny did a crucifix pin for 2. Johnny hit a hard superkick to the side of the head. They fought on their knees with Lumis hitting some good punches. Johnny tried an outside to in DDT but Lumis caught him, then Theory got on the ropes and the "Silence" submission. Johnny then rolled up Lumis for the win. The commercial ate up a lot of this but what we got was good minus the interference.

Lumis went after Theory after but Johnny got him from behind. Johnny went for a chairshot but Kushida came down and stopped it. He hit Johnny with the hoverboard lock and Lumis hit Silence on Theory. Kushida then stared down the North Americal title and threw it to him, signalling that he wants a title match. Kushida and Ruff with meet Theory and Johnny in the Dusty Classic next week.

Dunne, Burch and Oney did an interview. They said UE doesn't run this place but they do. Dunne said Kyle O'Reilly put himself in the way of the NXT title and said they would take him out of the way.

Wade Barrett was the host of a Timothy Thatcher and Tomasso Ciampa talk. Thatcher said he is ready to go and Ciampa asked what the injury was, but Thatcher wouldn't say. Ciampa said maybe it was a mistake to ask for a match in the Fight Pit and said he knows how brutal it will be. Thatcher said Ciampa didn't know how brutal it would be. Thatcher said he didn't have a problem with Ciampa but didn't like him coming after him. Ciampa said he's a piece of garbage and said he will take liberties with Thatcher. Thatcher said Ciampa questions himself over whether he still has it or not and Ciampa said next week, Thatcher would get that answer.

Undisputed Era were interviewed. They said they aren't worried about Dunne's crew coming down in their match. Kyle said he will be out there to keep the peace and Cole said they will advance tonight.

MSK vs Isaiah "Swerve" Scott and Jake Atlas

This is the next match in the Dusty Classic. We don't know who MSK is. Scott and Atlas were feuding a few weeks ago, so who knows why they are together.

MSK is revealed to be the former Rascalz from Impact and the indies, minus the 3rd member of their team. One has to assume they are winning here after Scott and Atlas fight. The announcers said they are a unique pair and could make it work.

Carter(Wentz) and Atlas go at it. Atlas limbo's and backflips out of a clothesline. Carter then backflips out of a wristlock and armdrags Scott. Carter does a springboard tornillo into Scott in the ring. Lee (Xavier) then comes in. Scott pulls Lee into his knee and throws him in a rough way into the corner. Lee runs the ropes and Scott pulls him out then Atlas dives on him. Carter jumps off the steps to hit Scott and Lee does a flip dive onto Scott. The announcer then says "these rascals are highflying and exciting" as we go to break.

Back from break and Carter has Scott in a triangle. Scott does a cool roll into a go behind. Scott crossbodies Carter but he limbos out of it. Lee hit a dropkick and did a big backroll then Carter did a flip and Lee pushed him onto Atlas into an SSP. Carter gets thrown to the outside and Atlas hits Lee with a german. Scott then rolls Lee into a suplex. Atlas hits a kick to the face and Scott throws Lee into an Atlas powerslam. Then Scott hits a 450, which Carter saves the pin on.

Everyone is on or near the top rope and that all breaks down. Lee goes for the tag but nobody is there. Scott gets popped up onto the 2nd rope and Lee hits a jumping poisonrana. Carter then holds up Scott and Lee hits a running blockboster. Not a 5 star debut here but a good debut with MSK getting some chances to shine. This didn't have much of a story or anything but had some cool moves and was good.

We get a clip of some of the teams in the Women's Dusty Classic which begins next week with Kacy and Kayden Carter vs Toni Storm and Mercedes Martinez.

We got some clips from Xia Li's debut last week and she is up next.

Scarlett did a video package. They did some sound effects on the voice and I couldn't tell you most of what was said. They were playing with a skull.

Xia Li vs Jobber

Li came out with Boa and the guy on throne again. Li punched her opponent and put her down early, then did a tornado kick to the face for the win. The jobber's name was not revealed. She then hung the jobber on the 2nd rope and did a punch combo. The throne emperor then held up his hand and Li did a high knee.

Kaci C. and Kayden Carter did a promo. They said next week will be huge and they know it will be a challenge. Kayden said they are used to be overlooked and asked them to keep overlooking them. Kacy said they would shock the world. 

 

During the commercial Scott and Atlas got into it in the back. Called it! Bronson Reed told Scott to "cool it" and Scott smirked.

More Dusty Cup matches for next week announced and the Fight Pit between Ciampa and Thatcher too.

 

Breezango vs Undisputed Era (Adam Cole and Roderick Strong)

 

The is the final Dusty Classic match of the night and the main event. The question is how long does it take Dunne and crew to interfere and screw them.

Breeze and Cole both hold back on superkicks early, trying to do them at the same time and slap hands. They do some headlock takeovers and tag out. Fandango works the arm early and hits a spin kick. We do a picture-in-picture break with Cole getting the edge on Fandango. Breeze has control over Cole as we return.

Breeze goes for a dive outside but Cole hits him with an enzugiri. Strong comes in with a head of steam and backbreaker's Fandango, then does the forearms off the ropes combo. Cole does a leg lariat for 2. Dango ducks a last shot and Breeze does a big sell for a pump kick.

Breeze catapults Cole into a shot then when he lands back on the knees, Fandango comes back with a knee. Cole does a great pump kick and Dango hits a big clothesline.  Dunne and crew then come down to beat up Kyle. They put his jaw on the light fixture but Balor makes the save. Dunne then nails Kyle in the jaw and knees him with his head against the barricade. Cole is distracted by all of this and takes a big superkick to the face. Strong lariats Breeze and ends up going over the top.

Dango went for a very far crossbody that had no shot of landing and gets superkicked. Kyle is bleeding from the mouth as Dunne and crew trash talk UE. It was alright for what it was, but the match was here to advance the angle and not to have a classic.

Overall thoughts: This wasn't the final chapter in a story, but just a chapter in the story. They are clearly building for bigger things down the line here and the show reflected that