WWE NXT 3/10/2021

WWE NXT 3/10/2021

NOTE - I'll most likely do AEW in the morning.

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2021/03/wwe-nxt-332021.html

William Regal is in the ring to start to reveal his announcements. He announces a two night NXT Takeover called "Stand & Deliver" on April 7th and April 8th. The show on the 8th is on Peacock.

Regal then shows us the women's division wrestlers. He said they are special and asks Raquel Gonzalez and Dakota Kai to come into the ring. He said they suffered an injustic last week with the women's tag title match and said since they won the Dusty Cup, they are the new NXT Women's Tag Team Champions. I'm usually not for handing away titles, but since they just won the Dusty Cup, it's explainable.

Kai said they beat all of the women on the stage and the women's tag team titles were made just for them. RG said they will carry the titles for a long time. Shotzi Blackheart and Ember Moon then came down the ramp and challenge them to defend the titles against them tonight. Regal sets it up and that will be our main event.

I don't really like the NXT Women's Tag Titles. WWE is bad at booking tag teams, the women just aren't on par with the men and they have very few teams to compete for the titles. It makes more sense than just having the WWE Women's Tag Team Champs come around every once in a while though.

WWE NXT Women's Championship - Io Shirai (c) vs Toni Storm

Storm hits a running butt attack in the corner. Storm goes after Io on the outside early and meets a forearm. Then Io does a slingshot knee drop on her back. Storm clearly misses a face kick that Io sells, then Io limbo's out of another high kick.

Io puts Storm in the octopus stretch. Io goes for something on the ropes on the outside but is pulled down to the floor then thrown into the steps. We do a picture-in-picture break. Io gets thrown by her hair and neck cranked. Toni puts her in the cobra clutch. We return from break as Io makes her comeback and hits a springboard dropkick. Io rolls Toni through with a double stomp. They go up top and Toni hits a top rope superple and german suplexes Io for 2.

Io tries to limbo out of another move but takes an elbow and a sliding lariat. Toni then gets backdropped on the apron and Io moonsaults her off the top rope. Back in and Toni sitout powerbombs her. Io comes back with some palm strikes but Toni moves on her top rope moonsault. Toni then hits a Storm 0 for 2. Toni goes for something off the top but Io moves and puts her in the crossface for the win. They did too much here for an opener and I didn't think the crossface finish really fit this one. They no doubt did stuff in the ring that most of the main roster girls can't do though.

Finn Balor did a promo. He said there will be no blindsides or cheapshots and they will go face to face. He said he beat him to win it and will beat him to keep it.

LA Knight gets interviewed. He said he might debut next week but he needs someone to step up. Bronson Reed then grabs him by the throat which officials break up.

Jake Atlas vs Pete Dunne with Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan

Atlas cartwheels out of a throw early and does a nice armdrag. Atlas hits a hurricanrana then does a springboard armdrag. He then tries a back roll into some kind of headscissors but gets kicked hard. Pete then goes to work on the arm and bullies around Jake.

Jake hits a face kick and a head kick, then he release german suplexes Pete. Jake hits a spinning clothesline and tries a carthweel DDT but is knocked off the ropes. Pete stomps his ear and pulls apart his fingers. Then he keeps that up with an arm trap and wins it in a quick one. It was what you would expect with Jake trying to get some of his moves in and Pete working the arm and hand.

Dunne gets on the mic after. He says this is the time of year when people want to step up their game, but this is what happens when people do. He says he is the best technical wrestler in the world and dares someone to prove him wrong.

Imperium does a promo on Timothy Thatcher. They said they are here for him and invite him to join with them.

Leon Ruff does a promo on Isaiah Swerve Scott. He said he worked hard to get here and it's not luck that he beat him. Ruff said he has held it down since he got here and will beat him again next week in a short and sweet promo.

WWE NXT Women's Tag Team Titles - Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzales vs Shotzi Blackheart and Ember Moon

Kai hits a bad handstand kick to start and Shotzi puts her in a texas cloverleaf. Then they pump kick each other at the same time as we go to picture in picture break. They trade forearms and Kai ends up facewashing Shotzi.

Shotzi gets beat up on mostly over the break and takes a double stomp from Kai. Ember comes in and cleans house and hits Kai with a senton. Ember twists Kai into her knee then does a 2nd rope codebreaker. Shotzi dives out on RG. RG throws Ember into an enzugiri from Kai.

RG hangs Ember over her back with a neckbreaker then flips her forward in a nasty move. Shotzi crossbodies both opponents off the top then springboard hurricanrana's RG. Shotzi then face planted her, hit a brazilian kick then a backdrop for 2. Kai gets beat up on the ropes and Moon slingshot splashes her. Shotzi and Ember slam Kai with a unique move. Ember tries a top rope cutter on RG but gets caught. Kai ends up knocking them over the top and Shotzi rolls up Kai for the win.

Having the brand new and first ever NXT Women's tag champs lose on the first night was so stupid. It immediately makes the titles look bad and is going to be a head shaker for anyone who reads up on the lineage of the belts. Very dumb move here.

As for the match, it was very fast paced especially towards the end and they did a lot more than they could sell.

Adam Cole does a promo. He said he put Kyle O'Reilly down for stepping out of place. He said he beat Strong and reminded them who the leader of the Undisputed Era is. He says U-E is dead when he says it is dead. He said he just got rid of dead weight. Cole then says he played Finn like a fiddle and this is about the NXT title. He said he was the greatest NXT champ ever and said his next reign will be even more special.

Shotiz and Ember are congraulated by some of the girls in the back. Indi Hartwell and Candice Larae aren't impressed and boo them. Then they run into Johnny Gargano. Austin found out the therapist was paid off and wanted to know why. Johnny said because therapy is great. Austin was upset that Dexter didn't really care for him and said he has crossed the line.

Kayden Carter vs Xia Li

Li does her big entrance and gets nailed as soon as it starts. Li's entrance torches are up on the fan monitors in a neat touch. Carter rolls up Li into a superkick then face kicks her through the ropes. Kacy is out there on crutches and Kayden gets rolled into the buckles. Li puts Carter's leg up on near the post and says "this is for you" to Kacy, but Kacy nails her with the crutch to DQ Carter. Boa gets in to stop this and breaks the crutch. Boa then looks like he is going after Kacy and Carter stops him so they can escape.

Jordan Devlin of NXT UK does a promo. He said he could use a change of scenery and said it wouldn't be an NXT Takeover without him. He said his travel ban exemption is lifted and he's coming for Santos Escobar to see who the real cruiserweight champion is. I liked this.

Zoey Stark did a promo talking about her tough childhood and said she is at home in WWE. She said every woman here is on notice and said there is no limits for her.

William Regal and Santos Escobar talked in the back. Escobar was mad at Devlin and said he is the real champion.

Legado del Fantasma vs The Grizzled Young Veterans

They said what they did to MSK is nothing compared to what they will do to them tonight. Gibson said they will soon be the #1 team in NXT.

Drake takes a hurricanrana from Mendoza early and Wilde gets popped up into a dropkick on Gibson. MSK then appears on the stage doing a moonwalk and wearing space gear that Breezango wears. They dance and distract Drake who gets rolled up for the LdF win.

MSK hits the Vets with their helmets and Lee slams his helmet on Gibson's hand.

LdF celebrates then Breezango nails them from behind for the attack a while back. LdF then runs for it while Breezango and MSK dance.

Kai and RG get interviewed. They are very mad and get interrupted by Io Shirai. Io tells Gonzalez that she wants her next.

Timothy Thatcher gets interviewed. Ciampa walks in and says he isn't interested in joining. He said he is interested in getting a piece of Walter though. He said he doesn't think they should get with them and said they should take them on next week.

WWE NXT Championship - Finn Balor (c) vs Adam Cole

Cole puts Finn in a headlock early and Balor evades a superkick. We go to picture-in-picture break. Finn kips up out of an armlock and gets dropped with a forearm. Finn rolls through a sunset flip with a dropkick when we return.

Finn takes a face kick on the apron then is thrown into the barricades. Back in and Finn counters a TKO with a slice. Finn was pulled into a sitting position on the apron and was pump kicked. Finn then came back suplexed Cole onto the ramp as we go into our second picture-in-picture break.

They go back in not too long after and Finn hits a suplex on Cole. Finn puts him into a sharpshooter but Cole hits the ropes. We come back from break and they trade forearms and kicks. Finn hits a sling blade and John Woo's Cole into the buckles. He goes for the double footstomp but Cole moves and superkicks him. Cole puts him in the crossface but Finn hits the ropes.

Finn comes back with punches and flips him with a lariat but Cole hits him with a running knee without the knee pad. Cole then comes off the 2nd rope and hits the panama sunrise for 2. Cole ended up falling outside the ring and ran into Kyle O'Reilly who stared him down. Finn then flip dived on Cole then hit the 1916 on the floor. Finn then hits the top rope footstomp and wins it.

The crowd really liked this but I didn't find it to be anything too special. I hated the kick out on the panama sunrise and I didn't see any real story here.

Kyle O'Reilly then gets in the ring. Cole is scared for his life and tries a low blow but gets caught. Kyle rips off Cole's UE armband and does a nice ground and pound on him. Kyle hits some nice punches on him and pushes the ref out of the way. Then Cole gets thrown into the barricades. Kyle slaps him around and tries to suplex him on the steps like he did to him but the refs stop it. Kyle then jumps on Cole and punches him more and Kyle chases Cole.

Karrion Kross then appears behind Cole and stares him down. Cool ending here that built two programs.

Overall thoughts: Not a great night of NXT. Some of the matches weren't that bad but I wasn't really into them. The women's title change was very stupid and maybe one of the worst things NXT has ever done. I liked the show's ending though.