WWE NXT 3/3/2021

WWE NXT 3/3/2021

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2021/02/wwe-nxt-2242021.html

Last night, apparently Oney and Burch met up with MSK and Ciampa in the back. Ciampa challenged them to a match. They showed a clip of this.

Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch vs Tomasso Ciampa and Timothy Thatcher

Burch and TT go on the mat early then exchange euro uppercuts. Ciampa and Oney then exchange hard strikes and Lorcan grabs onto Ciampa's beard. Burch goes outside and takes a TT euro uppercut. Oney does a great sell for a Ciampa lariat, then he gets popped-up into a TT uppercut.

Oney fish hooks TT's mouth while he is in a hold then TT belly to belly suplexes Oney. Burch then hits a big lariat on TT and TT holds his neck outside. We go to break `and return with TT in a high single leg crab. TT makes the hot tag and Ciampa clears house. Ciampa hits a big double clothesline off the ropes then pounds on Burch. Ciampa then hits a big chop combo and TT forearm flurries Burch. TT and Ciampa then double pound on their opponents.

Everyone gets an attack in and all four go down. Imperium appears on the ramp, distracting Ciampa. TT gets put in the magic killer position and gets DDT'd out of it for the Burch and Oney win. This was fine with a lot of hard shots thrown by both teams and a hot crowd.

Roderick Strong is shown in the back and comes out after the break. He calls out Adam Cole. Finn Balor comes out instead like he seemingly always does when Cole is called out. Finn says Cole won't come out and Strong never learns this. Strong says Undisputed Era was doing fine until Finn showed up and that this whole thing is Finn's fault. Finn says the NXT title is what broke apart UE. Finn says he knows how to get Cole out here and challenges him for the NXT title next week. Finn says Strong will always be a follower and never a leader. He said Strong needs to be more greedy and selfish then Strong decks him and they fight. The refs then break it up.

The Way is at a psychiatrist's office. Johnny says Theory has a Dexter Lumis problem. Theory says he doesn't and was just on vacation. Theory said nothing bad happened and they just hung out. Indi was drawing on a notepad and wrote "Mrs. Indi Wrestling Lumis". Johnny lost his mind over this and the psychiatrist said Johnny's issues with Lumis exposed his own personal issues. Johnny knocked over something when he was told to calm down and the doc kicked him out. She then slammed the door on him. This was funny.

Cameron Grimes was in the production booth in the back. He said the Capitol Wrestling Center should be called the Cameron Grimes Auditorium. Regal then went up to him and told him to stand up. Regal said Grimes hit a crew member last week and now he has a lawsuit on his hands. Grimes tried to bribe Regal and said Grimes will be facing Bronson Reed tonight. Grimes was not happy about this and tried to bribe him further.

They announced Finn Balor vs Roderick Strong for this week and Balor vs Cole for the title next week.

Aliyah with Robert Stone and Jessi Kamea vs Ember Moon with Shotzi Blackheart

Aliyah tries an armdrag but gets blocked then takes multiple armdrags. Aliyah rolls and forearms Ember then struts. Ember tells her to do it again but Ember ends up backdropping her. Stone tries to give his business card to Ember but she doesn't accept. Aliyah dives on Ember and gets caught.

Aliyah chinlocks Ember and Moon comes off the mat with a headscissors takedown on her. Shotzi dives on Jessi and Stone from the stairs then Moon hits the eclipse from the top to win. This had too much shenanigans with Stone and wasn't much of a match.

Thatcher and Ciampa were interviewed in the back. TT said he has a history with Imperium and they keep throwing it in his face. Ciampa says it is just the past and basically implies that it should be left there.

They did a package for Toni vs Io. Io says she isn't scared of Toni. she said she respects her as an athlete but not a person. Toni says she will win the title next week.

WWE Women's Tag Titles - Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax (c) vs Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez

Nia throws Kai early and Shayna tries to stomp Kai's arm but gets slapped. We go to picture-in-picture break with the champs mostly keeping control. We come back with Shayna getting a facewash kick but then pulling Kai off the apron hard. Kai gets her leg stomped on.

Nia hits a swinging stretch muffler on Kai and swings her into the buckles. Nia hits a sloppy gorilla press on Kai. RG comes in with a nice dropkick then she hits some nice fallaway slams on Shayna. RG then does a tour of the islands slam on Shayna. Nia and RG staredown and trade shots. RG firemans carry tosses Shayna into an Kai knee. RG gets clotheslined over the top by Nia. Shayna gets her choke on Kai. Kai crawled to the ropes and RG broke it up, then ended up kicking the ref when trying to kick Nia. Nia got speared over the table. Shayna slaps on the choke again and Pearce calls out an official to get out there. Shayna gets the win with the choke though Kai wasn't the legal person in the ring. The finish was screwy here and I just didn't love the match. It had some highlights though.

We went back to the therapist's office. Theory thought Lumis just needed a friend and Indi said she would be Lumis' friend with benefits. Johnny texted Indi from outside, then the therapist went to the door and saw Johnny there. Indi and LaRae were then kicked out.

L.A. Knight was in the back and said he was coming out.

Isaiah "Swerve" Scott was making music. He said Ruff has been getting in his way and needs handled.

L.A. Knight came out. He said this wasn't a dream, this was just business. He says he gets the job done and is the last of a dying breed. He says this is his game and just a fact of life.

Bronson Reed comes out before Knight leaves.

Cameron Grimes vs Bronson Reed

Grimes tries to pay him off but gets decked. Grimes tries to sunset flip Reed but Reed just sits on him. We go to break and come back. Reed turn a crossbody into a side spanish fly. Reed does a running body block on Grimes then splashes him in the corner. Grimes then gets flipped by a Reed lariat. Grimes goes outside seemingly to run with his hat on and Reed tope's him. L.A. Knight comes back down and knocks down Reed off the top then Grimes hits the M. Bison stomp to win. What we got of this was good.

Pearce and Regal were arguing in the back.

Kacy Catanzaro tore her ACL and Kayden Carter was interviewed about it. She said she doesn't know when she is coming back but she is mad at Xia Li for taking her friend out.

We got a package for Escobar vs Kross from last week.

We went back to Theory and the psychiatrist. Theory said he was in a small room watching cartoons and eating cereal. The doc didn't get why he thought Lumis was a nice guy. The doc said she spoke with Lumis and he wouldn't stop talking, even though he doesn't speak. According to the doc, Lumis said he couldn't wait to get rid of Theory. He apparently said Theory is obnoxious, has bad eating habits and doesn't like how he cuts off shirts to show off his abs. Theory then ran out of the room crying. Johnny and the Way then caught him and Johnny asked what did she do to him. Johnny seemed mad, then when Theory left, it was revealed he organized this and tipped her for the good work. The doc then called them "a bunch of idiots".

Ever-Rise vs Breezango

LdF jumps Breezango as they try to enter, then Ever-Rise runs for it when Legado del Fantasma goes for them. Escobar comes from behind to nail them though. Parker gets his head banged off the steps and Martel goes into the barricades.

Santos Escobar cuts a promo. He said don't mistake his loss for weakness last week. He said if you do, you get beaten up like these guys were.

They did a video package for Cole vs Balor next week.

Regal was interviewed in the back. He said he would make an announcment last week off the women's tag match tonight that would shake up the landscape of NXT. My guess is NXT getting their own women's tag team titles.

Finn Balor vs Roderick Strong

They wrestle on the mat early and Strong hits a nice backbreaker. We go to picture-in-picture with Strong keeping control for a while but then getting his arm worked over. Balor kept working on the arm and Strong slammed Finn while he had the arm in a hammerlock.

Finn hits a nice version of the cobra clutch but Strong hits the ropes. Strong runs the ropes back and forth with elbows to the face then then double underhook powerbombs Finn for 2. Strong runs the ropes and Finn gets a sling blade out of nowhere. Roddy tried a gorilla press gutbuster but Finn got out and did a mid-air dobule footstomp in a cool reversal. Finn hits a John Woo on Strong in the corner then double footstomps him from the top. He then hits a 1916 and wins it. I didn't like how all the arm work basically lead to nothing but there was some cool stuff in the last portion of this match.

Cole gets on the ramp after and Finn points at him.

Overall thoughts: Just a so-so episode of NXT. There was some decent wrestling but some of those matches had bad finishes or were kind of short.