WWE NXT 3/17/2021

WWE NXT 3/17/2021

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2021/03/wwe-nxt-3102021.html

Finn Balor is in the ring to start the show. He said he has one man left to beat and that's Karrion Kross. He says his time is up at Takeover: Stand & Deliver. Kross then comes out with Scarlett.

Kross said we all need to know who the real champion is. Finn says he's the champion and Kross doesn't have what it takes to beat him in the main event. Kross said he will choke out Finn and Finn says Kross will see what it is like to choke in the main event of Takeover. Scarlett said she has seen this in her tarot cards. She said this all happens for a reason then Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan come out. They said Finn should be facing Pete Dunne for the title and said they know Dunne can beat them both. Scarlett said Burch and Lorcan should put their tag titles on the line against Kross and Balor.

Scarlett flirts with them and says they wouldn't want to be known as cowards, would they? It works and Burch and Lorcan accept. Scarlett says you can't change fate and every moment is for a reason. I hate makeshift tag teams with feuding partners and I really hate it when those feuding partners with tag titles, so hopefully they lose.

Theory talks to The Way on an ipad who are at home. They said this is the last step of Theory's recovery and he needs to do this alone.

Dexter Lumis vs Austin Theory

Theory slams Lumis' face on the announcers table to start as we go to picture-in-picture break. Theory slingshots through the ropes and hits Lumis with a dropkick. Dexter comes back with a lariat but Theory takes back over as we return.

Theory fallaway slams Lumis for 2 and is caught in a head and arm choke.  Theory tries another slingshot roll but is caught with a spinebuster. Lumis backdrops him and then legdrops him for 2. Lumis hits a slingshot suplex and when he slithers over to Theory, he gets nailed in the face. Theory fisherman buster's him on the knee.

Lumis hits a clothesline and offers theory his hand. Theory then hugs Lumis and gets put in a head and arm choke, then hits a sitout side chokeslam. Lumis then chokes out Theory with the head and arm choke to win.

McKenzie Mitchell was waiting outside of Regal's office to ask about the main event. Tomasso Ciampa comes in. He said Thatcher has been hurt by Imperium and tells her to ask the rest of Imperium if they have seen Alexander Wolfe lately. He then implies he hurt him too.

Adam Cole is in the ring as we return from break. He says Kyle O'Reilly is jealous and says he's not leaving until Kyle comes down. Regal comes out instead and says Kyle is injured and not here. Kyle then appears on the tron. He said he enjoyed screwing him out of the title last week and said he will never forgive him for trying to end his career. Cole said Kyle isn't going to come and hurt him because he's going to find him and hurt him first.

Ember Moon and Shotzi Blackheart are interviewed. They are happy to be champions. Robert Stone, Aaliyah and Jessi Kamea walk in and they challenge for the titles and they accept.

Jordan Devlin arrives in a convertible.

Legado del Fantasma(Joaquin Wilde and Raul Mendoza) vs Breezango

Mendoza gets a leg sweep into the buckes to start and Fandano spinning lariats Wilde. Wilde crossbodies a sitting Breeze. Breeze whips Wilde into a Fandango dropkick. Fandango and Raul fight up top with Raul getting slammed down, then he enzugiri's Fandango down to the floor.

We go to break and return as Breeze gets the hot tag. Wilde takes a catapult over th etop to the floor and Mendoza takes out Fandango on Fandango's side of the ring. LdF hits a russian legsweep/enzugiri combo for the win. This wasn't too special and the break in the middle of this hurt it. Escobar then gets on the commentator's headsets and calls out Jordan Devlin.

Devlin comes out. He said he is what a real champion looks like. He calls Escobar's belt a replica title and said the real cruiserweight champion is back. Escobar says he has redefined what it means to be a cruiserweight. Escobar says Devlin only has the title because everyone forgot he had. Escobar tells him to come face him at Takeover. Devlin headbutts him and backdrops him and escapes as LdF comes to Escobar's aid.

Adam Cole is asked if he is concerned. He said he is going to find Kyle O'Reilly and hurt him.

We get a promo for Sareee, who is now known as Sarray. She was supposed to come to WWE for a very long time now and is finally here. She's really good but she is not a 5 minute TV match type of wrestler.

We get a tweet from Cameron Grimes showing him photoshopped on a beach and swimming with dolphins.

Zoey Stark vs Dakota Kai with Raquel Gonzalez

They go to the mat to start. Stark hits two nice armdrags. Zoey hits a nice lariat. Kai goes outside and Stark hits a plancha on her as we go to break. Back from break and Kai pounds on her. They both lariat each other at the same time and go down. Kai takes a half and half suplex and a baseball slide.

Stark's head hangs over the apron and Kai bicycle kicks it. Stark springboards and gets caught with a superkick, then Kai face kicks her for 2. Stark does a rolling fireman's carry on Kai and then takes a go to sleep double knee for the Kai win. This was Stark's best showing so far and this was rather athletic for the women.

Io Shirai comes out. She shoves a contract into RG and says she wants to face her. Io then helps Stark out to the back.

Regal is asked a question but we are told something has happened to Cole and Regal leaves.

The Grizzled Young Vets do a promo. They said the stunt MSK pulled last week will go down as the biggest mistake of their careers. They said they won't forgive or forget and there will be a receipt.

Marcel Barthel with Fabian Aichner vs Tomasso Ciampa

Ciampa chairs Aichner and throws him over the rails, then he gets in and we start. Ciampa hits a nice back elbow to the face. MB rubs his fist and elbow in Ciampa's face and release double underhook suplexes him. He comes off the top and gets caught with a knee from Ciampa. Fabian gets involved and MB hits a boot to Ciampa's face. Ciampa then gets hung upside in the ropes and is dropkicked.

Aichner gets on the apron and is met with a knee then Ciampa release german suplexes MB. Ciampa ddt's MB as he is draped over the middle rope and wins in a quick but decent match. I was very surprised to see Barthel taken out so easy.

Walter then appears on stage. Ciampa takes a 3v1 and Walter chops him hard. Walter then powerbombs him and Imperium poses over top of him.

We head to the parking lot where Kyle O'Reilly and Adam Cole are being arrested. They yell at each other while handcuffed and Regal tries to calm things down.

LA Knight is interviewed in the back. He starts talking and Bronson Reed heads into his locker room behind him.

Johnny Gargano and Candice LaRae do a commercial for Dairy Queen. I can't believe that DQ doesn't serve waffle cones.

LA Knight vs August Grey

205 Live mainstay August Grey is here and he doesn't stand a chance. Knight hits a nice slingshot shoulder tackle and is somewhat popped up into a slam. Bronson Reed appears with Knight's jacket on the stage and rips it trying to put it on. Well, that's an easy lawsuit. Call those police again for destruction of property.

Grey tries to roll up Knight for the pin but can't. Grey does his top rope walk into a twisting dive but gets nothing. Knight wins with a safe snapmare driver in a quick squash.

 Raquel Gonzalez is interviewed in the back. She said Io made a big mistake by challenging her. Kai said she talked to Regal and made a tag match with Kai and RG vs Io and Stark. RG isn't interested but agrees at the end.

Xia Li does a promo with Boa. She said obstacles will be removed and resistance will not be tolerated.

Regal is interviewed and says everything is out of control with Kyle and Adam Cole. He said hopefully the police drop their charges.

WWE NXT Tag Team Championship - Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch vs Finn Balor and Karrion Kross with Scarlett

Kross throws Oney with an exploder early. Kross lariats and controls Burch with a bearhug. The champs try to double suplex him but Kross picks both up for his own double suplex. Burch kind of spikes himself on the landing and is down unplanned as we look around and kill time.

During the break, Finn tags himself in. Back from break and Finn dropkicks Oney off a sunset flip. Burch is getting looked at by a doc on the outside as Oney gets the edge on Finn. Finn makes a comeback and double stomps Burch. Finn slingblade's Lorcan on the floor and John Woo's him into Scarlett. Big mistake. Kross grabs Finn and slams him off at the barricades then throws him in. Lorcan his a running euro uppercut and wins it, only to take backdrops from Kross.

Kross then beats up on Finn in the corner and exploder suplexes him. Scarlett comes in and seemingly tends to Finn, only to set him up for a forearm to the back of the head by Kross. Kross then poses over top of him and Scarlett tells Finn that things happen for a reason.

The match clearly wasn't supposed to happen as it did. They could have done a better job here covering for the initial injury but it could have been worse too. The ending here was an okay way to get out of Finn and Kross losing this without dropping a fall.

Overall thoughts: This was clearly a show that was meant to build to Takeover. It wasn't one of the best episodes but at least it was due to them building storylines.