WWE NXT Review - March 17

Finn Balor Promo

It’s St. Patrick’s Day, folks and The Wednesday Night Wars are once again underway. This time from the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. 

We open in the ring, with a very pissed-off NXT Champion, Finn Balor. 

Balor starts listing the many talented competitors that he’s defeated, and then he calls out the last remaining threat: Karrion Kross.

Out comes Kross, Scarlett close behind him. He says he’s glad they’ve both settled their respective beef so that the two of them can finally come face-to-face. 

Kross says he’s the real champion, but Balor says that Kross doesn’t have what it takes to be in the main event and be the champion.

Scarlett claims she has a vision; that these two men can face off while draped in gold.

Just then, the NXT Tag Team Champions come walking down the stage. Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan claim that Pete Dunne should be the #1 Contender to Finn Balor, not Kross.

Scarlett exits the ring, gets very close to Lorcan and Burch. One could say, seductive, even. She manipulates them into defending their championships against Kross and Balor. And that match will be the main event.

Rating: 3/5

A really solid matchup is on the way between Kross and Balor, but with three weeks before they come to blows, this was a solid way to heat up this rivalry.
Dexter Lumis vs. Austin Theory

Austin Theory is on FaceTime with Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae backstage, as they tell Theory to face his fears alone in the matchup.

The action begins outside of the ring with Theory being very aggressive, almost bullying Lumis. The entirety of the commercial break was Theory’s, with little offense being created by Dexter Lumis. A few solid moments of back-and-forth were capped by Ataxia from Austin Theory, which nearly put Lumis away.

Highlight: Lumis reaches out to a subdued Austin Theory, lifts him up and stares at Theory. Theory gives Lumis a big hug.

Lumis played up the creepiness and choked Austin Theory out to win the match.

Rating: 2.5/5

Nobody’s to blame for this segment not being better. Most of the action took place during the commercial, and even though the finish didn’t make as much sense as it could have, I’d be hard-pressed to find a better over-the-top performance than what this storyline calls for.
Tomasso Ciampa Backstage Promo

McKenzie Mitchell is outside of Mr. William Regal’s office, looking for a word on tonight’s Tag Team Title match, but she is approached by Tommaso Ciampa. He calls out Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner, claiming that all of Imperium needs to be put on notice.

Rating: n/a
Adam Cole Promo

The longest-reigning NXT Champion in history is in the building, and his attention is solely on Kyle O’Reilly. He claims that Kyle is jealous of his success and that’s why he attacked him. Mr. Regal shows up and scolds Cole for putting his hands on the medically un-cleared O’Reilly. 

O’Reilly appears on the monitor and calmly addresses Cole, threatening to attack him, whether it be at his house, at GameStop, or anywhere else.

Cole leaves the arena, promising to find O’Reilly before O’Reilly finds Cole.

Rating: 3/5

Smart to keep these two from fighting until their eventual blowoff match, it should build the tension.

Ember Moon/Shotzi Blackheart Backstage Promo

After being crowned the new NXT Women’s Champions, Moon and Blackheart explain how proud they are to be the first true owners of these new championships. Robert Stone appears, then Aaliyah and Jessi Kamea. They challenge the champions, who quickly accept.

Rating: n/a

Legado Del Fantasma vs. Breezango

Joaquin Wilde and Raul Mendoza are accompanied by Interim NXT Cruiserweight Champion, Santos Escobar.

Some really basic, traditional tag team wrestling all-around here. Breeze and Fandango always show such great fire, and that was no different tonight. Legado Del Fantasma meanwhile, showing that they probably deserve to be more than the lackeys of the Cruiserweight Champion, as they pick up the victory with a huge tag team move.

Escobar quickly hops on the mic, calling out Jordan Devlin, wondering where the “fake champion” is.

Out comes Devlin, and what better day than today. Devlin has his Cruiserweight Championship in hand and calls Escobar a false idol, a coward with a replica title. Escobar on the other hand, claims that everyone just forgot about Devlin. He challenges The Irish Ace to a match at Takeover to unify the titles. Devlin drops Escobar with a mean headbutt, followed by The Devlin Side.

Rating: 3/5

This match was good, nothing special. But the segment that followed set up a title unification match that I’ve been looking forward to for months now. So I’m very excited for Devlin vs. Escobar.

Backstage with Adam Cole

Adam Cole scrambling to exit the building, is caught up with by McKenzie Mitchell. He says he’s leaving the building to hunt down Kyle O’Reilly and put him down.

Rating: 2/5

We all can plausibly understand that these two men know where each other’s houses are. So why haven’t they already hunted each other down? That thought takes me out of this segment, but I’m still not mad at the execution.

Zoey Stark vs. Dakota Kai

The recently very impressive Stark has another very real test against Kai, after impressing many in her match last week against NXT Women’s Champion Io Sharai.

The very well-rounded newcomer picks up plenty of momentum early, but the dirty tactics of Kai are too much to overcome early as Kai takes control with various submissions and aggressive maneuvers.

Only in her 4th televised match, Zoey Stark is really rising to the occasion when stepping in against NXT’s best. Kai picks up the victory, and to my surprise, it does not require the assistance of Raquel Gonzales.

After the match, Io Sharai stormed down to the ring with a match contract in her hand, walks up to Dakota, then walks past her and hands the contract to Gonzales. This seems to be a Takeover challenge.

Rating: 3/5

I’m really pleased with the top of the championship scene in NXT overall, but this match’s entire segment had a lot going for it to set up an entire division.

Marcel Barthel vs. Tommaso Ciampa

This match starts with chair shots delivered by Ciampa to the side of Fabian Aichner. This immediately gives this match a half grade up by way of chair shots. 

This rivalry between Ciampa and Imperium has some built-in history given the involvement of WALTER and his former tag team partner, (on the independent scene) Timothy Thatcher. Bartel and Ciampa started and maintained a level of aggression and violence that NXT can sometimes lack, which was a very enjoyable change of pace. 

Willows Bell got the job done tonight for the former NXT Champion. 

WALTER is here, the United Kingdom Champion, who has been champion for 712 days, is back on American soil. Imperium uses the numbers and attacks Ciampa, and WALTER chops the soul out of Ciampa, followed by a huge powerbomb.

Rating: 3.5/5

Chair shots.

Promo on the Streets

Kyle O’Reilly in the back of a radio car, Adam Cole in handcuffs. This just makes sense. If two former best friends got into an altercation outside of the wrestling ring, the cops would likely be called. I’m on board with this.

Rating: 5/5 for realism.

LA Knight Debut

We start with a walk-and-talk, as Knight walks to the ring from backstage, he tells the audience directly to the camera why he’s a superstar.

He’ll be taking on August Grey, who does not get an entrance.

This was clearly a Knight showcase but was cut off by the appearance of Bronson Reed, who did the “fat guy in a little coat” bit with Knights leather jacket. 

Despite a flurry of offense from Grey, Knight took control back and put Grey away with a snapmare driver for the win.

Rating: 2.5/5

Although I’ve never been a huge fan of the ringwork of LA Knight (formerly known as Eli Drake), I do believe that his personality-heavy character will work wonders for NXT going forward.

Finn Balor and Karrion Kross vs Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan - NXT Tag Team Championship Match

Let me just address this first: the presentation of Karrion Kross and Scarlett’s entrance is absolutely flawless. It is the coolest thing in wrestling to this day. 

Early physical dominance from The Walking Doomsday Clock actually put the match in jeopardy when Danny Burch took a nasty bump on a double suplex, legitimately injuring Burch to some capacity. NXT went to commercial to remedy the awkwardness, but the remainder of the match was clearly being called on the fly.

Highlight: Finn Balor hits a Wu kick on Oney Lorcan outside of the ring, who collides into Scarlett.

Kross snaps on Balor after the Scarlett incident, he attacks Balor and throws him into Lorcan. Lorcan hits a huge running European uppercut for the victory. 

After the match, Kross is on a rampage, destroying Lorcan with multiple Doomsday Saito Suplexes, then hitting one on Balor before attempting to choke him out. 

But it is Scarlett who stops the massacre, only for Kross to drop Balor once again. 

Rating: 3/5

NXT has a history of successfully teaming opponents together in tag team matches. Think back as recently as Thatcher and Ciampa, to back as far as Finn Balor and Samoa Joe winning the very first Dusty Rhodes Classic.

This match was no different. Balor and Kross both respecting the importance of the championships enough to go after the title, but only conflict with each other when Scarlett is harmed.

Overall

Rating:  3/5

Outside of the main event suffering due to the injury of Danny Burch, and we can only hope his injury is a minor one, this show can definitely be viewed as one of the stronger NXT shows in recent weeks. Solid performances all around, some very interesting story continuations, and very easy to watch.