We continued the Men’s Dusty Classic and began the Women’s Dusty Classic, Xia Li did…something, Scarlett wore a tentacle face crown, and WE GOT CIAMPA AND THATCHER IN DA FIGHT PIT!
This Week: Who will be next to move on in the Dusty Rhodes Classic? What’s next for the mutual respect buddies Ciampa & Thatcher? Will Santos Escobar be able to retain his Cruiserweight Championship against *checks notes**checks notes again*Curt*checks notes*Stallion?
Mid: Horsin’ Around
Speaking of…dammit I keep forgetting…Curt Stallion, he has a sit down interview with McKenzie to let the NXT audience know more about him and to hype up his title match with Santos Escobar later tonight. He’s not a bad talker at all, it’s just that nothing he’s saying is particularly interesting. Is he supposed to be a cowboy or something because we already have one of those on Wednesdays. He kinda has the cadence of a mellowed out Heath Slater.
McKenzie is very good at pretending to be interested in what the person talking to her is saying though, props.
“Un”fortunately, Curt’s found beat up in the 2nd most dangerous place in NXT, the locker rooms. He accuses Legado Del Fantasma of taking him out, and Regal goes off to tell them that the match will be moved to next week and because he’s good at his job, he makes sure to let them know if anything happens to Curt next week, there will be serious consequences.
However it gets VERY interesting when Santos finds a playing card under his Championship and like the teenagers in every horror movie opening ever, LDF laughs off the obvious terror coming their way.
Negative Vibes
Prior to LDF finding the card, Scarlett continues telling fortunes in promos that continue to be more interesting than her man’s matches. Loving the theater kid vibes from these though. Xia and Boa should’ve gotten tips from her on how to make theirs interesting.
POP: MarvelVision
Teagan Nox’s recovery seems to be going well, which is great! Also, she got to do a workout with the actual Captain Marvel, Brie Larson which you’d think WWE would be making a bigger deal out of considering she’s the star of one of the most successful movies of all time, but hey at least they mentioned it.
Mid: Malcolm In The Middle
Man, I just do not care about Curt Sta…I mean Tyler Rust. I mean this honestly isn’t even a bad match at all, it’s actually pretty good. But Tyler is such a bleh to me. Also, this match was a little bit too competitive considering he’s facing a guy who didn’t even get a name. Malcolm Bivens is trying his best to spin gold out of hay. The best part of this entire segment was his insert promo at the beginning of the match.
Like, usually the onscreen point of a Manager is for them to talk for guys that are good in the ring, but aren’t necessarily the best talkers, and to occasionally cheat for them. However, if the Manager is overshadowing the actual wrestler, that’s not exactly a good thing, and quite frankly the most interesting thing about Tyler to me, is Malcolm. I know some of y’all like him but I just do not see it.
This was funny though.
AYYYYYE. pic.twitter.com/cXYIPJHJEU
— Malcolm (@Malcolmvelli) January 28, 2021
Also the nameless jobber’s gear looks a lot like Beyoncé’s Ivy Park clothing line.
POP: Stormy Weather
Toni Storm comes out to (foolishly) let Io know that she’s out to ruin her life for costing her the Dusty Classic last week. Io, of course, gets right in her face and they start throwing hands. Mercedes Martinez gets thrown in the mix and they all fight until Toni’s the one standing tall.
If we’re gonna get a Triple Threat out of this…bruh. BRUH.
POP: Hey Siri, Play Symphony No. 9 IV by Dvořák
HE’S COMING (again).
POP: Squish Match
Last week, Bronson Reed got involved in a fight between Atlas and Swerve so this week, Swerve wants to fight him about it. After a great (but rude) interview with McKenzie, we’re on to the match.
It’s not surprising to anyone who watches this show regularly that this match was good as hell. That sucide dive from Reed especially made me think Swerve might be out for the rest of the match, I mean damn, he throws a meaner arm than Samoa Joe.
Reed wins here, as he should, and I wonder what’s next from here. That look on Swerve’s face at the end seems to imply a further sinking into the dark side.
Classic Promos
Strong & Cole are asked by McKenzie on how they feel about facing Ciampa & Thatcher next week (I’ll explain further down below) and obviously they aren’t sweating it. Cole says no one knows Ciampa better than the Undisputed Era and I’m like…uh, there’s definitely at least one person on this show who knows him better than you guys.
In the better of these two packages, Thatcher decides to join Ciampa in his tough guy ranting Boiler Room to talk about how they’re cool with each other now.
POP: What’s Beef
So, the story here is that Finn and Kyle have broken each other’s jaws in a couple title matches and don’t particularly like each other, however, they do respect each other as competitors. Also, both of them have issues with Pat McAfee’s friends and they’re both sick of their shit, so they decide to agree to team up to beat the crap out of them in a match.
NXT skills wise, might have one of the best rosters in the business right now, and I’m reminded of that by how great all these guys are in the ring. Oney & Danny have a more ground and pound style, Kyle’s got his MMA and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu style and Finn’s got more of an all around hybrid style going on and it all meshes well in this stew of great wrestling.
Finn and Kyle even continue to tell the story these two have with each other by staring daggers at each other almost the whole match, even while doing tandem offense. However, their beef doesn’t stop Kyle from a fire ass hot tag that leads to a win via submission.
After the match, Pete shows up to help Danny & Oney jump Finn & Kyle. Pete’s about to break Finn’s fingers and Kyle is in the corner, seemingly unable to help Finn, probably due to pain in his jaw. However, the rest of the UE shows up, walking pretty slowly, which gives Pete enough time to break Finn’s fingers and scram, and all of a sudden, Kyle can get up and start yelling at them. Hmmmmm…
Granted, at the end, they’re all standing together but I don’t know, I’m pretty suspicious, especially since Kyle still wants the NXT Championship.
This Week in The Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic
So, last week after beating the RESPECT into each other, and after Karrion Kross injured Ashante Adonis, Thatcher & Ciampa decided to team up to be the most OP team this year and take the newly opened spot. Gotta say, originally I was predicting Undisputed Era winning, but now? I think Ciampa & Thatcher are gonna take it. I gotta come up with a name for them.
Okay so over on 205 Live, The Way beat Gigi Dolin & Cora Jade to advance and Timothy Thatcher & Tomasso Ciampa beat Tony Nese & Ariya Daivari to advance.
We are now in the Quarterfinals of the Men’s Dusty Classic and we continue with MSK vs. The Not Best Friends. I am also still wondering what MSK stands for. Drake’s put a little Heavy Metal into their theme to make Dain happy but he doesn’t appear to appreciate it very much. MSK continues to impress me in these matches and I think it’s safe to say I’m a fan (even with that standing Moonsault push move that doesn’t totally make sense). Also is it just me or does the color scheme of MSK and their in ring style remind anyone else of TH2 over on the TNT show?
Next up we have NXT Veteran Aliyah & Jessi Kamea (w/ the return of Robert Stone, who unfortunately is not run over with a tank this week) vs. Dakota Kai & Raquel Gonzalez who now has enough star power to come out separately with her own theme!
What is going on with Jessi’s gear though? It’s like 2 kinds of gear stitched together like Ruby Riott currently wears, but with a full bodysuit which makes it look weird. Not a fan.
Aliyah & Jessi work well for a first time team, but it just makes me miss Vanessa Borne who apparently was called up to the Main Roster early 2020 but has been MIA ever since. PUT VANESSA BORNE ON TV WWE, SHEESH.
The RSB put up a decent fight but it’s pretty much over as soon as Raquel gets in the ring, of course.
GYV vs. Leon & Kushida was definitely the best Dusty Classic match tonight and all 4 of these guys worked their asses off in this one. The journey of Leon Ruff from NXT jobber to legit contender on this show has been pretty wild to watch.
Even though right now I think Ciampa & Thatcher are gonna win the whole thing, GYV might be the actual best Team in this tournament. They’re like a British FTR in that their Tag Team wrestling is top notch and stands out among the other teams. Also I really want MJF vs. Zack Gibson in a roasting session (this might be the most times in an article that I’ve referenced the other show).
After the match, Johnny (who is currently treating Kushida like he’s Candyman) runs down to the ring to beat up Kushida but gets chased off by a suddenly appearing Dexter Lumis who isn’t quite done with him yet.
That’s it for NXT this week, as always share this on all your sharables, check out the other Recaps & Reviews on the site and if you’re so inclined join the SRP Discord.
Next Week:
Lucha House Party vs. Legado Del Fantasma – Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic
Undisputed Era vs. Tommaso Ciampa & Timothy Thatcher – Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic
https://t.co/dVnXMOMxFs pic.twitter.com/foKwZ0ZWBm
— puf (@pufisgod) January 28, 2021
