WWE NXT Takeover: Vengeance Day 2/14/2021

 WWE NXT Takeover: Vengeance Day 2/14/2021

The pre-show sucked. They didn't have any matches and MSK/L.A. Knight were the only promos. They have tons of people who could have used a match and it would have been better than the endless talking.

MSK was interviewed on the pre-show. Carter made some goofy faces and they made fun of the Vet's name. They said they would beat them tonight.

Eli Drake came on the pre-show and kicked one of the announcers out. He said his name was L.A. Knight. He said while others played cards, he rolled the dice. He said he has walked in and changed the game. He said he is coming for people with titles. He said this is L.A. Knight's game. That is not a good name at all.

For the intro, they had some guy rapping with a rose about loving NXT. This did not fit at all.

Women's Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic - Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzales vs Shotzi Blackheart and Ember Moon

Kai was the babyface in peril here even though Shotzi's team are the faces. RG came in for a while an took over. Shotzi was powerbombed into the boards. Ember 2v1'd her opponents for a little and hit a diving top rope cutter but Kai prevented the count. Shotzi hit an ugly sliced bread #2 and tope'd Kai. Shotzi lifted up Kai on her shoulders on the outside and Ember body pressed her from the middle rope for a hard bump. 

Later on in the match, Shotzi did an assisted springboard into a susent flip and took canadian destroyer version of a backcracker for 2. RG threw up Shotzi and Kai hit some kind of enzugiri on her. RG then threw Ember onto the stage in a hard fall, then threw her off into the barricade. RG entered and Shotzi springboarded off the middle rope and landed on her as she hung out over the middle rope. Kai was backdropped onto RG onto the stage. RG threw Kai over the top rope onto Shotzi on the side then RG did her one-armed powerbomb for her team to win it.

This was an odd match with some ref screwups and the heels working as faces. They went a little too overboard at the end doing some stuff they didn't need to.

North American Championship - Johnny Gargano vs KUSHIDA

The Way put their hands in together in the back and yelled "Beat Kushida". Theory was with them but then disappeared during Johnny's entrance and The Way went looking for him. He was likely grabbed by Lumis.

They did some armwork and some nice evades early. Kushida underhook suplexed Johnny on the arm outside. Kushida hit a really nice single underhook hammerlock suplex here in the ring. Johnny hit a neat looking twisting suplex from the 2nd rope. Kushida did his handspring back elbow but was caught with a jumping russian legsweep. Ksuhida was lawn darted in the middle buckle hard. Johnny was suplexed into the buckles. Kushida did something like a tope rope spanish fly into an armbar. Kushida ran the ramp into a kick on Johnny's arm. Johnny ended up winning this with a slingshot DDT after a slingshot DDT on the ramp. It really wasn't that good. It went for a really long time. They did cool stuff but didn't really sell it and arm work was off and on.

The women in the three way were shown warming up in the back.

Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Finals - MSK vs The Grizzled Young Vets

 

 

We may have found out earlier that MSK stands for "Must See Kids", but we don't know for sure. The Vets did a promo before the match and said MSK should wipe the smiles off their faces. They said this will not be fun and they will not enjoy any of this. Gibson told them to stick their green pajama tights up their @sses.

The Vets did some technical stuff early then MSK did some of their double team moves. Lee did a twisting flying space tiger early to the outside then Nash jumped off his back and dived on Gibson. Drake hit a nice lariat on Nash and Nash was missile dropkicked into a flatliner. Lee got the hot tage and did a nice dive over the post onto both opponents. Lee slingshotted in then did a backflip into a backflip kick on Gibson. Carter fired up and did a nice assisted-springboard into a cutter. Lee tried his backflip move again and was knee'd. Then the Vets twister brainbustered him and Drake did a 450 for 2. Carter was pushed into an SSP over Drake. Nash did a swanton off the top then Lee followed with a spinal tap but it was only for 2. Lee was put in an electric chair on the outside then Drake dove through the ropes and lariated him, which he did a big flip sell for on the floor.

Lee caught his partner Nash on a ticket to mayhem finisher then they superkicked their opponents. Lee then did a slingshot flipping blockbuster to win it. They did too much here but the action was good with some memorable spots. These two teams worked pretty well together though there wasn't much story.

We got a Cameron Grimes package with him having a bunch of fun with his money. This was pretty good and the song was cool.

WWE NXT Women's Title - Io Shirai (c) vs Mercedez Martinez vs Toni Storm

The battle started before the ring introductions were complete. Toni was twisting neckbreakered to the floor early. Io did a 2nd rope moonsault to the outside and got nobody as they all moved and she went into the barricades. Io put Toni in a crossface then got put in a dragon sleeper by MM, then she was reverse suplexed. Toni was spider german suplexed by MM and Io double stomped her from the tree of woe position.

Toni was DDT's on the floor. Io climbed the light pillar and dove on both opponents on the outside. Toni did a diving headbutt from the top onto MM then Io moonsaulted her and stole the victory. This was mostly just a spot fest with a lot of big moves and not much time for anything else. This felt a little rushed.

WWE NXT Title - Finn Balor (c) vs Pete Dunne

Balor put him in an armlock early and even held onto it through a monkey flip. Dunne came back with a headscissors then started to work on the fingers.  Dunne stepped on his right shoulder then pulled his left arm all the way back while bending fingers. Dunne then did a similar stretch to him and stomped the arm.

Dunne was put in some kind of indian deathlock but grabbed Finn's fingers to get out. Dunne picked up Finn in a wild twisting brainbuster. Finn hung up Dunne's leg on the 2nd rope backwards then dropped himself on it. Finne then came back with a big lariat on Dunne. Finn STF'd Dunne but Dunne grabbed his fingers and banged them off the mat. Finn got a pele kick caught and got stomped, headbutted then ligerbombed for it for 2.

Dunne put Finn's arm on the mat and stomped it then german suplexed him and stepped on the fingers. Finn John Woo'd Dunne hard into the buckles and when he went for the top rope double stomp, Dunne caught him in a triangle. Finn tied up Dunne and Dunne pulled apart his fingers and wouldn't let go of them. Finn got his fingers double stomped then got put in a powerbomb, but turned it into a ddt. Finn hit his elevated reverse ddt for 2 and double stomped Dunne's back. Finn dropkicked him then double stomped him from the top, then hit his high angle ddt for the win. It was a good match but would have been a lot better if Balor had stuck with the leg work.

After the match, Dunne's crew beat up Balor. Undisputed Era made the save and got Balor to pose with them. Balor did so but during it, Cole superkicked him. O'Reilly wasn't happy then Cole superkicked him too and left him laying to end the show. It seems like we are seeing the end of UE here which is unfortunate as they evolved into a good stable and are always an easy group of people to match up others with.

Overall thoughts: The show was mostly good with two pretty good matches.