WWE NXT 2/24/2021

WWE NXT 2/24/2021

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2021/02/wwe-nxt-2172021.html

They showed a video on the Kross/Escobar feud.

The Way puts their hands in the middle and does a cheer and Johnny tries to make sure Theory is okay. Theory says he is.

Dexter Lumis vs Johnny Gargano

We start the show with Dexter crawling in the ring. Johnny charges at Lumis, but Lumis holds his fist up and Johnny backs off. Johnny takes a hard right hand and Lumis goes under the ring. Lumis then appears behind Johnny and Theory says "I found him Johnny, he's right behind you" in an excited tone. Lumis Thesz presses and pounds Johnny. Lumis delay suplexes him.

Johnny pushes him into apron and slams him off the floor.  Lumis drops Johnny face first on the apron. The Way gets in Lumis' face and LaRae tries to hurricanrana him in full view of the ref. Johnny then baseball slides him and tope's him. How that was not a DQ, I do not know.

Johnny keeps control over a long commercial break. Lumis comes back with a bulldog then slingshot suplexes him. Lumis backdrops him and does a jumping leg drop. Lumis and Johnny stare at each other on the mat and Lumis hits a punch and a spinebuster. Lumis pop-up uppercuts Johnny who comes right back with a superkick. Theory hands Johnny achair and Lumis steps on it. Johnny calls on Theory to chair Lumis but he can't and Johnny charges into Theory and the chair. Lumis then puts his side triangle on Johnny and wins it.

I thought Lumis took a little too much for being such a big dude and I didn't think it was a particularly great match.

Regal asks the cameramen to tell him when Escobar arrives.

Wade Barrett is not there and says he is in "Dexter Lumis' basement" over the phone.

MSK did a video package. They said they had been fighting for this oppurtunity for a while and cried when they won the Dusty Cup. They said everything they worked for has paid off and showed Nash's family going crazy for his Dusty Cup win. Nash said he got into wrestling due to his dad who passed away. Nash said it was the best feeling of his life and they said it was only the beginning. It was a nice little package.

They did a profile video on Shotzi Blackheart.

MSK were being interviewed in the back and got jumped by the Grizzled Young Vets.

They showed Leon Ruff getting cleared by the trainer in the back. Malcolm Bivens then popped up in the back and goaded him into fighting Rust later.

Bivens did a promo. He said Ruff is the son he never had and didn't want. He then said Ruff holds a special place in his heart and said Rust will prove why he is a diamond in the rust.

Tyler Rust with Malcolm Bivens vs Leon Ruff

Rust needs the win here badly. Ruff is pretty hyped up and poses on the ropes but gets nailed by Isaiah "Swerve" Scott. Scott put Ruff on the announcer table. Swerve did an F-U to Ruff off the apron edge which looked pretty nasty. Bivens then held Rust's arm in victory.

Regal offered Zoey Stark a non-title match with Io Shirai tonight.

Zoey Stark did an interview. As she talked the camera cut to Io and it seemed they had some kind of technical difficulty.

Cameron Grimes showed the old video where Ted Dibiase challenged a kid to dribble a basketball 10 times for cash. Grimes said with enough money, you can humiliate nayone. Grimes then went up to someone in the back and gave him a basketball. He said he owuld give him $1,000 for 10 dribbles. Grimes didn't interrupt him and said he didn't think he would be able to do it successfully, which he did. The guy he picked then said that's why he picked a kid. The guy took his money and left.

Zoey Stark vs Io Shirai

They botch a backdrop early. Io dropkicks her in the face. Io tries to 619 her but Zoey stops it then gets caught when she tries to dive out. Io goes up top and gets kicked down to the floor. We go to break and come back. Zoey tries a 450 but rolls out when no one is there then they collide in the air with crossbodies. Io gets release half and half suplexed for 2.

Io comes back and missile dropkicks Zoey off the top. Shirai hurricanrana's her off the 2nd rope then does a butterfly into a backbreaker on her. Zoe gets double knee'd at the bottom buckles then Io moonsaults on her from the top to win. This was mostly the Io show and I'm still not seeing the big deal about Zoey.

Toni Storm comes out and accuses Io of ducking her. Toni says Io can't beat her and Io says she will fight her anytime and anywhere. Toni doesn't buy it and tells her to go find Regal and make it happen. Io agrees.

The Way gets interviewed in the back. Johnny is angry at Theory for not using the chair. Theory says he didn't deserve the chair and Lumis is misunderstood. Johnny says he isn't misunderstood, he is just crazy. Indi says she thinks he is hot and Johnny is losing his mind over this. Johnny says Theory has Stockholm syndrome and sais he is taking him to therapy.

We see a quick package on Xia and Kacy and they are up next.

Grimes goes up to people outside and calls a stack of money "tossed greens". He said he watched all of the Million Dollar Man video and offers to give a girl $1,000 if she can dribble the ball 10 times. She stands up and is taller than Grimes. Grimes goes to kick the ball and she puts it between her legs and he loses. Grimes yells "Ted Dibiase, this ain't over".

Kacy Catanzaro with Kayden Carter vs Xia Li

Kacy back handsprings into a hurricanrana on Xia, then is dropped on the ropes throat first. Xia spin kicks her in the gut and Kacy hits an awful flurry with super weak strikes. Kacy dives off the apron onto Xia and gets rammed into the barricades. Kacy's leg is on the steps and Xia stomps down on it. Xia drags her up the steps and across the apron by the hair and the ref ends the match. Kayden goes up to the Boa, who gets in her way. While she does that, Xia spin kicks Kacy in the head and Kacy is down. This was short and was just there to further angle.

Regal looks for Escobar who still isn't there.

They do a package with Nia/Shayna and Raquel/Kai. Shayna says only the  scraps are left from when she was there and they laugh at the idea of Kai's team beating them. RG tells Nia to wake up and Shayna says Kai just has a friend to take her to the hospital now.

Grimes says this isn't over yet and challenges someone else to dribble the ball 10 times for $1,000. The guy says "like the Ted Dibiase thing?". Grimes then says "yes". The guy goes to dribble and Grimes decks him in a funny spot. Grimes tells Dibiase to kiss his grits and says "who says money can't buy happiness?".

The Grizzled Young Vets vs Drake Maverick and Killian Dain

This is sponsored by Burger King lol  Drake wears a shirt with Dain's face on it. Dain rips it off of him and whips him with it. Yeah, it's funny but Dain is so much better than this.

The Vets get on the mic and say Wes Lee has broken his hand. Drake says they were given a big fine. Gibson calls his opponents Shrek and Donkey and says the better team didn't win the Dusty Cup.

Dain messes up a dropkick to start. The announcer says Drake was "caught dreaming of a whopper". Dain saves Maverick from a doomsday device then throws both Vets over the top rope. Dain then throws Maverick on them. We go to break and return with Dain belly to belly suplexing Drake and taking control. Dain picks up both opponents and fallaway slams them and sentons them. Dain suplexes both opponents and then Maverick dives on Drake. They announce Io vs Toni for the title in 2 weeks. Drake dropkicks Maverick into a Gibson reverse STO. Dain grabs Gibson by the ear outside and gets dove on by Drake.

Maverick goes up top and gets thrown off then the Vets hit a ticket to mayhem on him and win. This had non-stop action and wasn't bad despite being a little short.

Legado del Fantasma finally arrives at 9:31pm.

Dain picked up Maverick when they were leaving and carries him to the trainer's room. Alexander Wolfe confronts him and says "you used to be a monster".

No DQ - Karrion Kross with Scarlett vs Santos Escobar

Scarlett does the entrance then Kross jumps LdF outside. Kross drives Escobar into a truck's side. Escobar gets thrown into the truck then pulls the back door down on Kross' shoulder in a cool spot. Escobar throws him head first into the truck then forearms the truck when Escobar moves. Escobar goes into the truck. Kross pulls the side mirror off and finds an axe underneath it. Kross starts beating the door and Escobar comes out. Wilde attacks and is thrown onto the hood. Mendoza attacks goes into the grill. Escobar then hits him with a trash can. Kross gets 3v1'd on the outside and is thrown back first into the truck.

LdF brings Kross into the arena and they beat him on the steps. Kross starts to fight them off and throws two of them through the plexiglass fence and stares down Escobar. They get in the ring and Kross face kicks Escobar. Mendoza gets thrown into the plexiglass again and Escobar starts using a chair on Kross. Kross then gets put into the steps. During the picture-in-picture break, Kross has the bottom half of the steps rammed into him. Escobar continues to focus the arm/shoulder.

Back from break and Kross's arm is put in a chair then it is rammed into the post. Kross is ddt'd into a chair. Kross has to fight off LdF and Escobar topes Kross into the barricades. Escobar continues the arm work and Kross overhead suplexes him. Wilde gets knocked off the apron as Escobar gets suplexed again. Escobar gets put into the steps and the post and Kross fights off Mendoza. Mendoza dives off him off the steps and is suplexed to the floor then Wilde dives onto him and is put into the barricades.

Kross stands on the steps which are near the announce table and saito suplexes Escobar through the announcer's table. Kross forearms him in the back of the head to win in a really good match. The match made a lot of sense from start to finish. They did some cool spots and starting off from the parking lot was unique. This was a good grudge style match as it should have been.

L.A. Knight did a promo. He said everyone wants to know he wants to debut. He said he debuts on his time and terms.

Adam Cole comes out. He said he feels sick to his stomach for what he did and he doesn't like the guy he has become. He said he was tired of Kyle getting chance after chance at the NXT title over him and said he was ashamed at himself. He said he hates to admit when he is wrong but he was dead wrong. He said he made a stupid mistake and hates himself for it. He said he is sorry and will do what he can to fix this.

Roderick Strong then came out. He said "now you feel bad?". Strong wasn't happy that he wasn't clued in as to what was going on. Strong said everything has changed and said Cole shattered their trust. Strong said Kyle will heal but he doesn't know if he can save Cole from what he will do to him.

Finn Balor then comes out. He pushes Strong and grounds and pounds Cole. Strong gets back in and they fall out together then Strong stomps him. Cole superkicks Finn in the face. Then when Cole gets in to apologize to Strong, Strong nails him. Cole says he is sorry and wants to go back to normal. He says this is all his fault and Strong yells "what is happening?". Strong then puts his head on Cole's head and said he loves him and he is his brother. They hug and shake hands but Cole low blows him. Cole calls him stupid, says he is dead to him and rips off his dog tag. Then he superkicks him in the head.

Overall thoughts: Not a great NXT but it got a little better as it went on. The main event was good and the Cole/Strong segment was interesting.