New Year’s Evil happened. Titles were retained. Nuts were hit. Dakota got shoved into a locker. Raquel put Rhea through the stage. Kyle and Finn tore the house down. Xia & Boa…anyway, moving on.
This Week: The Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic begins! Also, what’s next for the NXT Champion?
Hey whatever happened to all those Ghostfaces? Kinda moved past that didn’t we? Anywho…
Mid: No Way
This match was fine. It didn’t blow my mind or anything but it was a perfectly cromulent match. I really don’t have much to say about it, but I do want this storyline between The Way and Shotzi to either end or move on already. This really should’ve ended at WarGames.
Later, Shotzi and Ember make it known in an interview that they’ve teamed up for the Women’s Dusty so that should be fun.
POP: Belt & A Microphone 1916
So Finn comes out and cuts an amazing promo. Seriously, his promos haven’t been bad lately, but this is the first time in a minute that he was talking and my ears really perked up. I also love how he incorporated the red “X” that he’s taken to putting on all his merch (so does that make people who wear his merch targets too).
Pete Dunne however, doesn’t wanna hear all that “I’m the best one” stuff so he comes out with his friends all full of piss and vinegar to beat him up about it. Then, obviously because they are so very against jumping people, Kyle and the rest of the Undisputed Era come out to make the save.
POP: This Kid Draws
After Mackenzie’s pretty rude interview with Johnny Gargano (coming for Savage Charly’s Savage Crown clearly), we find out Gargano’s facing Lumis tonight.
I think this is my favorite Dexter Lumis match so far. I always kinda liked him but there was something about this match that really made me sit back and actually take a look at him and he really impressed me tonight. Brother was crisp, his moves looked great and he was very impactful. I do think his gimmick is a little limiting as he doesn’t talk and I feel like the drawings can go so far, but hey maybe he doesn’t need to talk to get over.
The ending to the match gets kinda hinky as some random distracts Dexter which allows Gargano to get a roll up pin, and the rando literally flies past the ref who just doesn’t react to that.
Afterwards Kushida saves Dexter from getting jumped and lets Gargano know he wants that North American Championship so that should be great to look forward to.
POP: Talking Pit
Bad News Barrett, Esq. holds a sit down with the two men set to go into the Fight Pit, Tomasso Ciampa and Timothy Thatcher, and it is great. These guys both look like legitimate fighters and can talk. It got a little hammy at times with the yelling, but it was still overall great.
One thing, when Thatcher points out once again that he has no beef with Ciampa and that he’s the one who came after him, Ciampa seems to suggest that he came at him because he doesn’t like the way he treats his students.
This from the man who not too long ago when he returned, beat the shit out of Jake Atlas just because. Yeah, I don’t buy it. I’m not sure, but I think as an audience, we’re supposed to glean from Thatcher’s comment about Ciampa wanting to know if he still has “it” is the true reason as to why he’s decided to target Thatcher.
POP: I got the heebie jeebies
Scarlett speaks in romanian in this creepy ass promo that either suggests they’re not done with Priest yet or that they’re ready to move on. Their presentation continues to be more exciting than their matches.
BOTCH: whatever
This Week in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic
GYV gets a buy-in as their opponents are Never-Rise. Zack Gibson cuts a fiery promo before hand and man, they really should just let him talk literally every week. It feels like he’s beating up his opponents with his voice.
What I like about this match is how GYV really has who they are as a team down. At a certain point, James Drake gets pissed off at Never-Rise #1 and Gibson calms him down and whispers their game plan into his ear. You’re showing the audience that James is the wild card and Gibson is the loudmouth cooler head. Ok, I also popped for “Ever-Rise rules!”
Swerve and Atlas go up against 2/3rds of the former Rascalz, Wes Lee and Nash Carter now known as MSK (not revealed yet what it stands for, best guess in the comments gets a piece of candy!). I don’t watch Impact so this is my introduction to these two and damn, did they impress. I can already tell they’re gonna be an NXT Tag Division favorite. They have that thing about them where they make high risk moves seem easy. That whole sequence before the first commercial break had me out of my seat (interesting bit with Swerve sacrificing himself for Atlas at one point, deserving of a “CHIV-AL-RY!” chant).
MSK beat Atlas & Swerve in their debut to move on in the Dusty Classic.
One thing. There was this one moment where Carter does a standing moonsault and is about to hit pavement, and Wes Lee pushes him towards Swerve so that it’s an Assisted Standing Moonsault. That move is kinda dumb. Like, it looks cool at first but he could just do the standing Moonsault, it’s not like Wes pushing Carter makes it hurt more.
Finally we have the UE (Cole/Strong variant) vs. Breezango in what is clearly the best match of the episode. Still not used to the UE acting like they’ve always been good guys. Cole saying he respects anyone, let alone Breezango is just odd.
It’s not exactly a shocker that UE vs. Breezango was great considering they’re definitely in the Top 5 of best Tag Teams not just in NXT but possibly in the company as well. Near the end of the match Pat McAfee’s friends show up to break Kyle’s jaw some more and Finn tries but ultimately fails to save him.
This distraction almost costs Cole & Strong the match, but they’re able to pull it out in the end. Judging from the fact that these guys keep getting involved in each other’s business, I think Cole & Strong becoming the first ever 2 time Dusty Classic winners is a safe bet (unless they’re meant to be a red herring of some kind).
Fast forward a week…
Welcome back physical Beth Phoenix!
Mid: Yawn and Pay
This was fine I guess. I mean, it was a squash match. There’s only so much you can say about those given that their very nature doesn’t leave much room for variation. Now he’s at least squashing lower level NXT guys instead of “local talent”. I dunno i’m just not into Kross outside of his entrance right now, it seems he only ever has squash matches or boring matches. The finish was literally a punch to the back of the neck.
Scarlett’s tentacle face crown was hilarious at least.
POP: Cruisin’ for a Brusin’
Damn, that was a package boy. Pete let’s us know that part of his motivation for coming at the Prinxe is he’s tired of being compared to Finn when he considers himself way above him. In his own words, Finn left NXT, while Pete built a whole other promotion around him (and then immediately left after getting got by WALTER, but who’s asking for details right). I can already tell Finn vs. Pete is gonna be yet another banger for one hell of an amazing title run.
POP: Subsequent Hypevideo
This package did a pretty good job of showing us what MSK’s personalities are like which appears to be endearingly goofy buds who are really good at flips. Thumbs up.
POP: CO-EXIST
There’s been a subplot going on during the night concerning Finn and 1-2 Punch. He goes to Regal and demands he face them himself next week. Regal being the only decent authority figure around here recognizes putting his World Champion with a recently injured jaw in a handicap match is a dumb idea for his show so he tells him he’s gotta find a partner. Finn notes that these days “he’s got enemies, got a lotta enemies”, but Lord Bill is all “not my prob, bruh”.
So obviously he goes to one of the only people around here he actually respects, his broken jaw brother, Kyle O’Reilly. Yeaaaaaaaaaaah Buddy.
Mid: Tetanus
Malcolm’s being interviewed about his partnership with Tyler Rust when Rusty pops out of Regal’s office to let him know he scored himself a match with Bronson Reed (notably without any help). Malcolm intelligently points out that he would’ve gone in a “different direction”. More people should listen to Malcolm Bivens.
Tyler Rust is probably a good dude but man he just does nothing for me in the ring. I like Bronson Reed, I love Malcolm Bivens, but Tyler Rust in the formula just makes my brain go “ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh”.
“Listen, if Stone Cold asks, I did the motion capture for Def Jam Vendetta. I know this is bad timing, but I want that Broken Skull Sessions cameo.” pic.twitter.com/dUdrbKKF8V
— Malcolm (@Malcolmvelli) January 22, 2021
POP: Party Crashers
Santos Escobar explains to everyone why he’s the “Champion of Champions” in NXT (and admittedly, he puts up a solid case) and brags to everyone about how Raul and Joaquin are on their way to winning the Dusty and becoming Tag Champs so they can all be Champion of Champions (feel like I’ve seen something like that recently), then LHP come out to fight them.
They get saved by *checks notes* Curt *checks notes* Stallion who is a “205 Live standout”. If you say so. Don’t know if I’ve said this already but clearly Ashante and Curt should be a Tag Team so that they can be called “Thee Stallions”.
Curt’s also apparently the #1 Contender? Ok.
POP: Fight Night
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.
…
Oh fine, I guess I have to write actual words. THIS WAS THE SHIT! MY SHIT! EVERYBODY’S SHIT. HOLY SHIT.
Yeah I love the Fight Pit. Now, I do like the first one better than this one, but this one was still amazing. I love how the competitors have to figure out how to do the moves they’re used to doing but now without the help of ropes. Ciampa hit the Widow’s Bell off of the Ref’s back for f*cks sake, how could you not POP that?
Thatcher and Ciampa are both good at something that can often be lost with wrestlers today and that’s actually looking like they’re trying to win a fight. Everything from their facials to how they struggle to pull off certain moves at certain times adds to that, they’re not just needlessly doing moves just to “get their shit in” they’re making sure what they do makes sense and looks good.
The finish was logical too, Ciampa’s trying anything to get out of the hold Thatcher’s got him in so he tries by leveraging himself out of the Pit through the space in one of the corners, but Thatcher is able to use that to transition to a Stretch Muffler to tap him out. Finally, Thatcher looks like a straight killer again after months of just treading water. Given that look they gave each other at the end, I doubt this is the last time they cross paths.
This Week in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic
Ok so first off just so you guys know, apparently WWE decided to do some of the matches of both the men’s and women’s Dustys on 205 Live, but I won’t be going over those matches because I only have so much time in the week to watch wrestling. Bruh, even 3 hours every Monday is pushing it. Just know that the Not Best Friends beat Curt Stallion & August Grey and Legado Del Fantasma beat The Bollywood Boyz.
The night actually began with Johnny Gargano vs. Kushida and Leon Ruff in a match that was a little all over the place, but still good. Leon hit a killer Cutter from the second rope that would make Randy blush.
Kushida and Leon get the win here which actually surprised me and also builds to the eventual showdown between Gargano and Kushida for the North American Championship.
In a serious clash of styles, LHP faces off against Imperium in a damn barn burner of a match. If I was to rank all the matches in the Dusty this year, even though it’s still pretty early, I think i’d put this near the top. Ain’t it crazy how everyone who is presented like they suck 95% of the time on the main roster, instantly improves when they go to the CWC? Get Drew Gulak down here immediately.
LHP takes the win here which shocked the hell out of me, but I’m glad because that means I get to see more of LHP in NXT, BBY.
Alexander Wolfe shows up to do the Imperium pose with Aichner and Barthel which can only mean one thing. HE’S COMING.
The East Coast Avengers vs. Toni Storm & Mercedes Martinez set a high fuckin bar for the rest of the womens Tag Matches in this tournament because WHEW. Talk about scoring a major upset. I don’t think anyone could blame you for assuming Toni and Marintez were gonna take the whole thing but it wasn’t to be. Biggest POP ever for that damn PHOENIX SENTON from Kacy Catenzaro. My jaw literally dropped.
Also Io showed up to toss Mercedes over a table to remind her that they still have beef. A lot of great womens division stuff is happening right now.
Whew so yeah there’s my XL NXT recaps of some weeks I missed. Don’t worry, my recap of the Jan. 27th episode will be coming soon then hopefully I will be back on schedule. As always share this on all your sharables, check out all the other recaps & reviews we have on the site and join the SRP Discord.
Peace.
Next Week:
Santos Escobar (c) vs. Curt Stallion – NXT Cruiserweight Championship Match
Finn Bálor & Kyle O’Reilly vs. Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch
MSK vs. Drake Maverick & Killian Dain – Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic
Grizzled Young Veterans vs. Leon Ruff & Kushida – Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic
Raquel Gonzalez & Dakota Kai vs. Aliyah (no not that one, or that one) & Jessi Kamea – Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic
