SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
NXT ON USA
MARCH 10, 2021, 8PM EST
LIVE IN ORLANDO, FLA., AT CAPITOL WRESTLING CENTER
AIRED ON USA NETWORK
REPORT BY KELLY WELLS, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR
Commentary: Vic Joseph, Wade Barrett, Beth Phoenix
Join the “PWT Talks NXT” Dailycast with Tom Stoup & Nate Lindberg to break down the episode:
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[HOUR ONE]
-Earlier today, Finn Balor, Adam Cole, Toni Storm and Io Shirai arrived (not together). Balor fist-bumped Finlay and Scotty 2 Hotty.
-William Regal teed up two game-changing announcements. The feed went to a voice-over guy who announced “TakeOver: Stand and Deliver,” a two-night TakeOver for the first time. The first night will be live on USA on Wednesday the 7th of April while the second will be exclusively on Peacock the following night.
The women of NXT were on the ramp for the second announcement, down all the way to the unseen developmental talents. Regal invited Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez into the ring for the largely expected announcement of the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championships. He pulled a sheet off of a podium to reveal two sharp-looking white straps.
Dakota Kai took the mic. She said it was the most talented division in the world, and then she looked down the ramp and bragged “and we beat you all!” Gonzalez said it was the first step in ruling the world and they’d be champs for a long time.
Shotzi Blackheart and Ember Moon walked down the ramp. They said if there are going to be champions, there have to be challengers. The two of them put over their own performance in the tournament and said the final could’ve gone either way. They asked for a match tonight. Regal said they all made his job so easy, and he announced the match for tonight.
(1) IO SHIRAI (c) vs. TONI STORM – NXT Women’s Championship match
Shirai was announced as the show threw to commercial and her music was still playing upon return. Storm strode down to boos. Alicia Taylor did formal introductions. Taylor will be busy with all these title matches tonight.
Collar and elbow. They went to a rope and Storm slapped Shirai. Shirai mounted Storm for some punches and the two reversed a couple of times. Back kick by Storm, followed by a hip attack in the corner. Shirai bailed and Storm went for a tope but Shirai cut her off with a strike. Back inside and Shirai hit her double knees in the corner. Chops by Shirai. Shirai ducked a kick and hit a running dropkick. Shirai put Storm’s head in the corner and then worked an abdominal stretch with an added elbow in the center of the ring. Shirai with a chop. Irish whip, reversed, and Shirai threw Storm to the outside. She tried a move from the apron but Storm yanked her down, then put her into the steps and the show went to split-screen commercial. Storm dominated throughout the break in a slower-paced heat sequence.
Back to action, Shirai took control and hit 619. Cover for two. Okana roll into a double stomp by Shirai. Shirai went up but Storm popped up and slowed her down with a headbutt, then went up the buckle with her. Superplex by Storm. Running clothesline by Storm. German with a bridge got two for Storm. Shirai got the better of a shot exchange. Shirai Matrix-ducked a clothesline so Storm quickly dropped an elbow on her. Action went to the apron and Shirai hit a backdrop on the apron, then a moonsault to the outside. Shirai rolled Storm inside and set up her Over the Moonsault, but Storm snatched her off the buckle and hit a powerbomb for two. Double-underhook and Storm wanted Storm Zero but Shirai blocked. Storm swung wildly and got caught in a crossface. Storm reached the rope to break. Shirai hit running double knees, then missed Over the Moonsault. Storm hit Storm Zero and got a long two, and the announcers sold shock.
Storm went to the top rope and missed a swandive headbutt and Shirai trapped her in the crossface again. Storm tapped.
WINNER: Io Shirai at 11:57.
(Wells’s Analysis: Storm’s best effort in a singles match in some time, and a typically strong match for Shirai. This did feel like a sped-up story to load up this week before Shirai gets into a bigger feud to pay off at Stand and Deliver, but I’m not ever going to complain about Io getting a lot of TV minutes)
-Finn Balor gave a backstage interview into the camera, talking to Adam Cole. He said Cole had to remember he’s a one-man act now. No tricks. Just the two of them face to face. Balor said he’d beaten him before and will again.
-An NXT:UK commercial promoted their first-ever mixed tag match tomorrow, pitting Jinny and Joseph Conners against Piper Niven and Jack Starz.
-McKenzie Mitchell was with L.A. Knight in the back. Knight said next week was going to be his debut, if anybody in the back could “find the tingle in their loins” to face him. Bronson Reed attacked and a gaggle of refs pulled them apart. Knight opened his mic time with his catchphrase for years now, “Let me talk to ya.”
(2) JAKE ATLAS vs. PETE DUNNE (w/Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch)
Collar and elbow. Dunne worked an arm wringer and Atlas found his way out. Reset. Atlas shot in and Dunne grounded Atlas by wrenching back his fingers behind his back. Reverse and Atlas hit an armdrag. Dunne trapped Atlas in a headlock on the mat. To their feet, rope run, and Atlas hit a huracanrana. Atlas wanted a headscissor takedown but Dunne cut it off and kicked Atlas in the chest. Dunne dropped his legs on Atlas’s left arm and worked a mean-looking arm submission, then dropped a knee on Atlas’s arm. Palm strike by Dunne. Another. Dunne kicked dismissively at Atlas’s head. Atlas got up and threw a few punches and a big boot. Atlas tried a standing moonsault, then had to avoid a submission. After a few reversals he hit the standing moonsault and covered for two. Lariat by Atlas, who went up the corner for the cartwheel DDT, but Dunne knocked him from the rope and grounded him, then stomped his head. He snapped the fingers and worked an arm submission for a quick tap.
WINNER: Pete Dunne at 4:23.
Dunne got on the mic and said this was the time of year everybody steps up their game, but you shouldn’t step to him. He said he’s the best technical wrestler in the world, and he dares anyone to try to prove him wrong. I see a Kushida feud in his near future.
(Wells’s Analysis: That was one of the most action-packed matches under five minutes you’ll ever see. Great counters by both and relentless cruelty by Dunne.)
-Marcel Barthel took the reins on a backstage interview into the camera by Imperium. They spoke directly to their old running buddy Timothy Thatcher, and said with or without him, they were taking over.
-Leon Ruff spoke into the camera. He said he knew Swerve was a snake when he met him. He said he didn’t just luck into his opportunities, and next week he’d hold Swerve down with another “Ruff landing.”
(3) SHOTZI BLACKHEART & EMBER MOON vs. RAQUEL GONZALEZ & DAKOTA KAI (c) – NXT Women’s Tag Team Championship match
Beth Phoenix brought up the Jumping Bomb Angels, and Wade Barrett was just as thrilled at the reference as I was. Champs entered first so the challengers could use their potato gun on them, I assume. The challengers rode the tank to the ring and didn’t use the cannon after all. Alicia Taylor handled formal introductions.
Moon hit a boot on Gonzalez as the bell sounded. Kai and Blackheart became legal and went to a corner, where Blackheart grounded Kai and hit a cloverleaf. Kai crawled to the ropes but Blackheart took her right back to the center of the ring. Kai finally got herself to a rope. Both got to their feet and hit synchronized pump kicks to ground one another leading into split-screen commercial. During the break, Gonzalez took control of the match.
[HOUR TWO]
Gonzalez planted Blackheart and tagged Kai, who hit a double stomp and covered for two. Kai worked a scissors on the mat and Blackheart rolled her up for two to break. Kai grounded Blackheart with a kick. Blackheart hit a step-up enzuigiri and made the hot tag to Moon. Moon kicked Gonzalez to the floor, then dominated Kai. Senton by Moon, followed by a slam. Gonzalez tried to intervene and Moon hook her out. Gonzalez dragged Kai outside to safety but Blackheart hit a top on Gonzalez. Moon rolled in Kai and rolled her up for two. Kai yanked Moon into a buckle and hit a face wash, then tagged Gonzalez. The heels teamed up for a Kai kick and Gonzalez covered for two and threw a fit that it didn’t get three. Gonzalez slammed Moon and covered for two and Blackheart made the save. Gonzalez ran Blackheart off and tagged Kai. Kai went for a kick and missed. Blackheart hit a flying cross-body on both. She put Gonzalez to the outside and planted Kai. Running knee and a discus punch by Blackheart. Suplex by Shotzi got two. Moon tagged in and did a slingshot splash for two. Blackheart tagged in and the faces teamed up for a slam on Kai, but Gonzalez broke the hold and worked a sleeper on Gonzalez. Moon tried the Eclipse but Gonzalez caught her. Kai put Moon to the outside but Shotzi trapped her in a pin and got the three.
WINNERS: Shotzi Blackheart & Ember Moon at 12:15.
(Wells’s Analysis: Bizarre booking going back for weeks. The heels won the tournament to get a match with the heel WWE Women’s Tag Team champions. The NXT heels were done dirty so they were given championships. The faces ruined the moment by demanding a championship match despite losing to them already, and they got it? The teams should have been swapped at basically every step in this journey. Gonzalez and Kai are the perfect tag champions but the titles look to already be for singles wrestlers who are stalled in their chase for the singles championship. All the booking aside, this was, of course, a good match with strong work done by all participants)
-Adam Cole gave a backstage interview to Finn Balor. He put over the fact that he’s beaten everyone and told Balor that if he thought his 403-day reign was something, he hasn’t seen anything yet.
-The new women’s tag team champions tearfully enjoyed high fives from the entire women’s locker room except for an unimpressed Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell. The two joined up with Johnny Gargano and Austin Theory. Gargano talked to Theory and told him all the things Dexter Lumis said about him. Theory lost it when Gargano told him Lumis said he had a “mediocre abdominal region.” Theory ripped off his shirt and stormed off.
(4) KAYDEN CARTER vs. XIA LI (w/Mei Ying & Boa)
It’s become very clear on twitter to anyone who had doubt left that Ying is Karen Q, but she’s still being cloaked and masked heavily. Li got her full entrance again as her meaningful push continues.
Carter exploded with a kick at the bell. Two more. Vicious back elbow by Li. Li grounded Carter, but Carter hit a jawbreaker and a few running clotheslines. Rope run and a back kick by Carter. Face wash against the ropes by Carter got a two count. Li took the opportunity to take Carter down with a kick when the ref was separating them. Kacy Catanzaro strode down to ringside on crutches to cheer on Carter. Li took note of her. Li stomped Carter’s leg just like she did Carter and said “this is for you.” Catanzaro swung her crutch for the immediate DQ.
WINNER: Xia Li via disqualification at 2:08.
Catanzaro destroyed Li with the crutch for a while, and Boa cut it off and broke the crutch. Mei Ying seemed to indicate to Boa to attack Catanzaro, but Carter popped up behind Boa and hit him with the other crutch.
(Wells’s Analysis: A good step in what has been one of the better-booked feuds on NXT TV. Nice that the faces didn’t just get slaughtered one after the other and they got some more time out of this)
-Jordan Devlin gave an interview. He said it would be a shame if the first-ever two-night NXT TakeOver didn’t feature the real NXT Cruiserweight Champion. He told Santos Escobar he was done playing make-believe because his travel ban was just lifted today and he wants a change of scenery.
(Wells’s Analysis: Escobar and Devlin are so strong as heels that it could be a better situation if either one wasn’t champion. Both have had strong reigns, though, so whatever. I look forward to seeing Devlin work in an NXT ring here again)
-Zoey Stark hype segment. She said she grew up on the wrong side of the tracks and she used wrestling as an escape. It was a mini-doc that humanized her and gave her a human interest story. Would’ve been nice to see it before the match with Io Shirai, but close enough. She said hard work pays off and there’s no limit to Zoey Stark.
-Santos Escobar got into William Regal’s face to complain about Jordan Devlin calling him out. Regal tried to calmly say that Devlin was champion and never lost it. Escobar’s cronies were up in a match next and Escobar sent them off.
(5) LEGADO DEL FANTASMA (Joaquin Wilde & Raul Mendoza) vs. GRIZZLED YOUNG VETERANS (Zack Gibson & James Drake)
Gibson and Mendoza to open. Quick reversals to open. Suplex by Gibson. Tag to Drake. Mendoza hit a rana and dropkicked Gibson to the floor. Quick tags and shots by Legado. Slingshot slam by Mendoza. Breezango’s music played and GYV were distracted. “Breezango” pulled off their astronaut helmets and it was MSK. Drake got rolled up for the quick loss. Inside the ring, LdF laughed it up but the actual Breezango charged in and laid them out after their issue from last week. MSK joined Breezango in the ring and they celebrated.
WINNERS: Legado del Fantasma at 1:42.
(Wells’s Analysis: Basically every team in the division but the champions have something going on)
-Raquel Gonzalez and Dakota Kai got angry about the result from earlier. Io Shirai stepped into frame and said something in Japanese, then walked up to Gonzalez and said “I…want you next.” After a pause, Gonzalez said “Be careful what you wish for.”
-McKenzie Mitchell tried to get a word from Timothy Thatcher about joining Imperium. Tommaso Ciampa got into frame and spoke for him, saying their answer would be no. He proposed a match next week pitting himself and Thatcher against Imperium. Thatcher stroked his beard thoughtfully.
-Hype for next week’s show, including LA Knight’s first match.
(6) FINN BALOR (c) vs. ADAM COLE – NXT Championship match
Champ entered second. Alicia Taylor handled intros and finished at 16 to the hour. The two got face to face and jawed before the bell.
Rope run and a block by Finn. Rope run and a block by Cole. The two exchanged holds on the mat. Balor worked a headlock and Cole tried to break with a rollup, but Balor held on. The two got vertical and Cole tried to break free. He finally reversed and worked a wristlock into a headlock, then went to the mat and contorted his own body for more torque. Headscissor got Balor free and the two jockeyed for position. Cole wanted a superkick but Balor backed off going into a split-screen commercial.
Cole stomped Balor in the corner upon return to full screen. Balor hit a basement dropkick after rolling through a rollup. Sleeper by Balor grounded Cole. Cole got to his feet and struck with a knee, then ran the ropes right into a shot by Balor. Cole dumped Balor and hit him with a pump kick when he tried to return to the ring. Cole headed outside and ran Balor into the Plexiglass. Cole rolled Balor inside and followed. Irish whip by Cole and Balor landed hard in the corner and dropped. Another in the other corner but Balor hit a quick basement dropkick right out of the corner. Balor went at Cole with a stiff chop in the corner. Kneebreaker by Balor. Double stomp. Enzuigiri by Cole. Balor countered a suplex and dropped Cole for a two count. Balor stomped Cole near the ropes. Cole bailed and yanked Balor to the apron. Cole hit a pump kick that showed a lot of light as the camera was at an unfortunate angle.
Cole separated one area of the ring steps and wanted a suplex, but Balor reversed and hit a suplex of his own on the metal ramp. Vic threw to another split-screen commercial.
The two were exchanging forearms as the match came back to full-screen. Pump kick by Cole. Pelekick by Balor. Upright ushigoroshi by Cole got two. Cole went up to the second rope for Panama Sunrise but Balor fought it off. Sling Blade by Balor. Balor went up for Coup de Grace and missed. Superkick by Cole got two. Balor sold fogginess and Cole worked a crossface.
[OVERRUN]
Cole dragged Balor back to the center of the ring but Balor broke it and tried to work his own crossface, but Cole was able to go back to his. Balor fought his way to the bottom rope to break. Cole held on to the count of four. Balor sold pain to his jaw. Cole stomped Balor a few times. Balor fired up and mounted Cole with some forearms. Big lariat turned Cole inside-out. Cole rolled through a suplex attempt and hit the Last Shot for a believable near-fall. “This is awesome” chant.
Cole went up and hit Panama Sunrise. Again, he got two. Wow. Cole sold shock. So did I. Cole set something up and ran the ropes; Balor recovered enough to dump Cole over the top rope. Cole was draped over the barricade and saw something. It was Kyle O’Reilly, slowly walking his way. Balor hit a tope, then 1916 on the floor. He rolled Cole inside and hit Coup de Grace for the win.
WINNER: Finn Balor at 20:06.
O’Reilly, in a jean jacket over a Metallica shirt, walked to the ring and stood over Cole. Cole begged for forgiveness, then attempted a low blow. O’Reilly caught it and laid waste to Cole until the ref tried to put a stop to it. Cole escaped to the outside and O’Reilly followed and threw hands again. Referee Drake Wuertz again tried to intervene and Kyle tossed him. O’Reilly went hard at Cole and some words were bleeped. He attempted something on the ring steps and a bunch of refs broke it up to boos. Cole went up the ramp and O’Reilly attacked. The refs broke it up again.
When the smoke cleared, Finn Balor stood tall in the ring with his championship. He looked over his shoulder and said “What took ya so long?” The camera panned to reveal Karrion Kross, his likely opponent for TakeOver with Cole and O’Reilly clearly being paired off. The show went off the air at eight minutes past the hour.
(Wells’s Analysis: I still think Cole just about has to be the next champion, but this separation of Cole and Balor hardly makes it seem inevitable. Kross still feels like he’s earmarked for a main roster run soon so I’m thinking Balor gets past him, somehow, at TakeOver. This match was strong but not the defining Cole-Balor match, which it wasn’t intended to be as it existed as much to set up future events as it did to be a match on its own)
FINAL THOUGHTS: The announcement of TakeOver spanning two nights seems like it would have been a bigger deal if tonight wasn’t a TakeOver Lite as it was, but by the end of the night, some serious work had been put into that card – we already have Devlin-Escobar, Balor-Kross, O’Reilly-Cole and Gonzalez-Shirai as likely matches and I’d say the Candice/Indi tease likely points to them getting a shot at the Women’s tag straps as well. Pete Dunne wants a match with a master technician and I’m expecting Kushida until they tell us differently; Timothy Thatcher, another reasonable guess, will likely be tied up in some feud with Ciampa and Imperium.
I still wish we got some more variance in pacing, but all in all, this week didn’t grate on me as some have recently. Check out PWT Talks NXT tonight or stream tomorrow. Cheers.
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