WWE NXT 2/3/2021

WWE NXT 2/3/2021

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2021/01/wwe-nxt-1272021.html

Pics and gifs to come later.

Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez said something about last week and the next stop being Takeover as they entered.

Women's Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic - Semi Finals - Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez vs Kayden Carter and Kacy Catanzaro

Kacy and Kayden said on an inset that they did what they said they would do by winning and said they will win the tournament at Takeover. Kayden and Kacy do a double team combo on Kai. Everyone fights in the ring for a second. Kacy dives on RG on the outside then RG tosses her into the ring. RG lifts Kai into a double stomp on Kayden.

Kacy does some kind of silly string into a hurricanrana but it gets botched. Kayden does a dropkick while doing a senton then walks up the ropes and armdrags RG. Kayden then gets pushed off the apron onto a table as we do a picture-in-picture break.

Back from break and RG has control on Kayden. Kacy gets in and does a nice running hurricanrana and does a standing flip onto Kai's back. Kacy then runs up RG's back onto the light pillar and dives on both opponents. Kai botches a kick and RG shoulder presses Kayden into a Kai kick. Kaci dropkicks RG as she hangs on the middle rope then does a spike hurricanrana. Then she does her phoenix splash into a backflip which Kai interrupts the count on. RG powerbombs Kacy and really spikes her down with one arm to win. I did not except RG and Kai to win. The match was fast paced with some highlights but had the standard sloppiness you expect in American women's matches.

They congratulated Wade Barrett on becoming a US citizen with apple pie and a picture of Jim Duggan.

Toni Storm was interviewed. She will be in a triple threat for the NXT Women's Title at NXT Takeover Vengance Day. She said neither Io or Mercedez Martinez will stop her at Takeover.

William Regal and Edge talked in the back and we saw Austin Theory and Johnny Gargano head to the ring.

Leon Ruff vs Austin Theory with Johnny Gargano

Theory catches a Ruff crossbody and tries a fallaway slam but Ruff lands on his feet. Ruff is then tripped into the 2nd buckle and backdropped. Theory hits a hard back elbow on Ruff. Ruff deadlifts him up by his head but is rolled up for 2. Ruff hits a missile dropkick for 2 and Johnny gets on the ropes but is decked by Ruff. Ruff and Theory collide in the middle of the ring. The Way comes out to help Johnny then Shotzi and Ember carry out The Way. Ruff fakes getting punched by Gargano and Johnny is kicked out by the ref.

Ruff does an Os Cutter but Theory has his foot on the ropes. Ruff tries a dive to the outside but is caught and slammed throat first on the rails. Then Theory does a jumping TKO for the win. This was very fast paced and there wasn't anything wrong with this. 

Theory does another jumping TKO on Ruff after. He grabs the bell but Dexter Lumis grabs him rips out some of his hair.

There was a quick video on Legado del Fantasma. Escobar said they will show how powerful they are tonight. Escobar said their future is bright but Lucha House Party's end is near.

There was a video on Tian Sha. They did a chinese historical video where a son killed his dad and the kid's sister fled. The sister asked a dragon to teach her but it costs her soul. This is who the person on the throne is.

Legado del Fantasma vs Lucha House Party

Dorado did a springboard hurricanrana. LDF double flapjacked him then did a double dropkick. Metallik did a springboard crossbody on Mendoza and Wilde did a tope through the ropes on Metallik, sending him into the barricades as we go to break. Back from break and Metallik does a sunset bomb from the top on Mendoza.

Lince does a quick tilt-a-whirl armdrag on Wilde and crossbodies him from the top for 2. Lince handsprings into the ropes with a cutter on Wilde, then Metallik climbs on his shoulders and dives on Wilde. Wilde grabs both guys arms, runs up the ropes then does a sit down moonsault on the top rope into a DDT. Mendoza is standing on the middle rope, then Metallik runs up the ropes and hurricanrana's him down. Lince then moonsaults off the top onto both opponents.

Mendoza hits a kick and Wilde russian legsweeps Lince for the win in a double team move. This was a non-stop match with a ton of flying and action.

MSK then comes out and said they will beat them next week and win the Dusty Cup.

Dunne, Oney and Burch arrive. They said they were going to get Balor.

 

Dunne, Oney and Burch go to the ring. Dunne said he told Balor to wait, but he didn't listen, so he snapped Balor's fingers. Balor then came out. Balor accused Dunne of hiding behind Burch and Oney.

Dunne said as soon as he gets a chance he will take Balor's title. Balor said he has got his chance at Takeover Vengance Day. Edge then came out. He said he sees fire and hunger. He said NXT helped him find his passion to return. He said he can challenge for any title due to winning the RR. Edge says he sees a lot of himself in Dunne and said he would shrug his shoulders like Dunne too. Edge says Balor is in the zone and is special to watch. Edge said he will watch their match at Takeover because he has never been NXT champ. He says their match at Takeover might influence his decision on which title he wants. 

Johnny Gargano was interviewed. Gargano said Theory may have to go after Lumis if he keeps messing with him. Johnny said Shotzi and Indi will win next week and advance to Takeover. Johnny is then told he will be defending his North American title against Kushida at Takeover. Johnny calls it lies and rumors and says the announcer and cameraman are in trouble. He said we are going to watch her get fired.

Johnny goes up to Regal's office and Kushida is there. Kushida says Regal is busy then they fight in the hallway. Johnny goes through a door and gets his arm kicked before the fight is broken up.

Jessi Kamea with Robert Stone and Aaliyah vs Toni Storm

Toni gets the edge on Jessi early. Jesi plants her on the top rope and kicks her. Mercedez then jumps in and Jessi hits her then Mercedez starts fighting with Toni. Io Shirai then comes down as MM and Toni fight. Io then moonsaults on Toni and MM on the outside. 

Curt Stallion did a promo and said he won a #1 contenders match to the cruiserweight title. He said this is the biggest moment of his life. He said he has Escobar put into a corner and to place your bets on the Lone Star Stallion.

WWE Cruiserweight Title - Santos Escobar (c) vs Curt Stallion

 

Santos had control early and hit a nice dropkick. Santos put him in a dragon sleeper. Scarlett was up in the stands and stared down Escobar playing off Escobar receiving a card last week. We go to break and we saw that Curt was backdropped on the steps during the break. Escobar stretched out Curt in various ways. Curt came back with some forearms and a german then he dove onto Escobar onto the outside and both went into the barricades. Curt did a top rope splash for 2. Curt went for something but ended up getting northern lights suplexed into the buckles.  Escobar hit a michinoku driver and did something like a butterfly drop on his knee to win. I thought Escobar got a little too much in early and it seemed like it was building to a Curt win, but did not. 

Karrion Kross then came out and beat up LdF, powerbombing both into the barricades. Kross went up to Escobar and said they have an ongoing problem. Kross said he would give him the gift of time but it would give him more time to think about the inevitable. Kross told him to run along and said "tick tock". 

Edge was interviewed as he was leaving. Karrion Kross went up to him. He said Edge has a big decision to make. Kross said it won't be Balor or Dunn, it will be him taking a title he never lost back. Edge said Kross' words could motivate him to come back and said Kross might not like that.

Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic - Quarter Finals - Undisputed Era  (Roderick Strong and Adam Cole) vs Timothy Thatcher and Tomasso Ciampa

 

 

I'm really not a fan of teams consisting of rivals and I'm less of a fan of those teams actually winning. Ciampa and Cole evaded each others moves early. Strong and Thatcher traded strikes. Thatcher slammed Cole and dropped an elbow on him. Everyone got in the ring and stared down each other then brawled during break. Thatcher put a surfboard on Strong then Ciampa and Strong traded shots.

Later on, Strong superplexed Thatcher from the top. Cole got in and suplexed Ciampa on his knee as we go past 10PM. UE used a figure four and a lion tamer at the same time but Ciampa's team broke out of it. Thatcher release german suplexed Strong then Ciampa hit a big knee on him. UE hit a combo flying knee/superkick on Ciampa for 2. They piped in a bunch of crowd noise here and Strong got DDT'd by Ciampa while going back inside for the Thatcher and Ciampa win. I had a hard time getting into this one and I really did not agree with the result.

 

The Grizzled Young Vets went up to Thatcher and Ciampa after then Ciampa and Drake did a little bit of fighting.

Overall thoughts: Not a great episode of NXT. The card was more limited than usual with less people and matches on it and nothing was that great.