BRM Reviews the 1/27/2021 NXT (great)

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Big Red Machine
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BRM Reviews the 1/27/2021 NXT (great)

Post by Big Red Machine » Jan 28th, '21, 21:04

MEN’S DUSTY RHODES TAG TEAM CLASSIC QUARTERFINAL MATCH: Drake Maverick & Killian Dain vs. MSK (Naz Carter & Wes Lee)- 6.5/10
A very good opener with the right team going over, as MSK are the hot new act and feel like threats to win the tournament, while Dain & Maverick are much more interesting when they lose.

MCKENZIE MITCHELL INTERVIEWS CURT STALLION EARLIER TODAY- I’m not sure if he came off as charming and folksy or goofily arrogant. I kept going back and forth in my head.

WOMEN’S DUSTY RHODES TAG TEAM CLASSIC FIRST ROUND MATCH: Dakota Kai & Raquel Gonzalez vs. Jessi Kamea & Aliyah (w/Robert Stone)- no rating, okay squash
Before the commercial that proceeded this match, we got a nice little video package with each team laying out their case for victory while we watched clips of them in action. They should have been doing these since the beginning.
This went on longer than it needed to. It didn’t quite get boring, but I think this could have easily had two minutes shaved off of it and would have been just as good (if not a little better).

MCKENZIE MITCHELL INTERVIEWS THE WAY- bad
Candice and Indi are happy with their win. Johnny is now getting upset at even hearing KUSHIDA’s name. He’s in full clown mode at this point.
After they left, Dexter Lumis popped out from behind a curtain.

SCARLET PLAYS WITH TAROT CARDS AND SPEAKS IN TONGUES- Until we see something she says actually matter in a way I can understand, I’m considering these no different than the Bray Wyatt bullsh*t.

A NAMELSS JOBBER vs. TYLER RUST (w/Malcolm Bivens)- good squash
The referee ordered the bell rung while Bivens was still in the ring. WTF?
We got a split-screen promo from Bivens from earlier today while we were watching the match, building Rust up and noting that he had hand-picked this opponent for Rust. I liked that that set up for this to be a very different type of squash. Instead of obliterating the opponent, Rust did all of the basic things better than him before hitting one big move, then winning with a wacky variation of the Rings of Saturn. It made Rust feel more athletic than everyone else rather than the usual “this is a squash match, so here are my big moves.”

MCKENZIE MITCHELL’S INTERVIEW WITH FINN BALOR IS INTERRUPTED BY KYLE O’REILLY- meh
The key exchange here was “Can I trust you?” “I don’t have to trust you as long as we’re on the same page.” This felt like something that happened just for the sake of creating drama rather than being something organic between the two characters.

MEN’S DUSTY RHODES TAG TEAM CLASSIC QUARTERFINAL MATCH: Grizzled Young Veterans vs. Leon Ruff & KUSHIDA- 6.75/10
As you’d expect, Ruff was the babyface in peril. GYZ picked up a solid and clean victory, freeing KUSHIDA up to feud with Johnny Gargano over the North American Title.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- good… until the end
Johnny Gargano and Austin Theory attacked Ruff and KUSHIDA after the match, with Theory focusing on Ruff and making with watch while Gargano beat up KUSHIDA. This part didn’t work for me because they haven’t built much of a relationship up between Ruff and KUSHIDA. But despite that, I was still fine with this… until Dexter Lumis showed up in the crowd right next Theory. He didn’t do anything to help Ruff or KUSHIDA. He just stood there and scared Theory.
I just… I don’t get it. What is Dexter Lumis’ purpose? Why does he do these things? Why are they spending so much damn time on him? At least with the Fiend, people like him. I don’t understand why, but I will at least acknowledge that they do like The Fiend. With Lumis, is there anyone who actually enjoys him?

OH NO! CURT STALLION HAS BEEN LAID OUT BACKSTAGE- He says Legado del Phantasma attacked him, and we have no reason not to believe him. When we got back from a commercial, we would learn that he isn’t cleared and thus tonight’s title match has been cancelled (which creates a reason for this title match to not have to play second fiddle to the non-title Balor & O’Reilly vs. Burch & Lorcan match tonight).

MCKENZIE MITCHELL INTERVIEWS LEGADO DEL PHANTASMA- great (until the end)
Santos Escobar says it’s very unfortunate that Curt Stallion can’t compete tonight. Then William Regal bursts in and yells “I KNOW YOU DID IT!” at Escobar. I love seeing Regal show emotion because his usual clam demeanor makes it feel like a bigger deal when he does.
Joaquin Wilde insisted that Escobar couldn’t have attacked Stallion because they’ve been in this locker room together all night. Unlike Curt Stallion, we have good reason to suspect that Wilde is lying. Regal told Escobar that the title match will happen next week, and if Stallion is mysteriously attacked, all three members of Legado del Phantasma will suffer major consequences.
After Regal left, Escobar found a Tarot card in his stuff, which I guess got there magically? I don’t know. I assume that means Karrion Kross is coming after him for the comments he made last week. Escobar seemed very worried, but then made a joke. I have absolutely zero interest in that feud because 1) Kross is not a Cruiserweight, so the champ feuding with him seems like it will just take focus away from the already underutilized Cruiserweight Division, and 2) it’s heel vs. heel, and I don’t care for Kross’ wrestling skills or personality enough to find the match-up intriguing.


WOMEN’S TITLE SEGMENT- great
Toni Storm starts to cut a promo on Io Shirai so Io comes out to talk some smack. Toni attacks Io and we got a nice little bawl which Io won. Then Mercedes Martinez attacked Io from behind and posed with the belt. Toni got back into the ring and started to argue with Mercedes over the belt, allowing Io to recover and hit them both with a springboard dropkick. Io knocked Toni out of the ring and worked on Mercedes, setting up for the Over The Moonsault, but Toni shoved her off the top rope. Toni attacked Mercedes, then hit Io with a bunch of hip attacks in the corner.

MCKENZIE MITCHELL INTERVIEWS ISAIAH “SWERVE” SCOTT- GREAT!
McKenzie asked Swerve why he got in Bronson Reed’s face before Bronson’s match last week. Swerve said that he was just getting Reed’s face like Reed did to him when he and Jake Atlas were beefing. Swerve showed an “everyone is unfairly out to get me” attitude, but managed to not come off like a crazy person. He came off like someone whose attitude was “okay. Everyone is out to get me? That’s fine. I can deal with that.” It was very refreshing to not hear a heel in this situation just rant and rave like a madman.

IMPERIUM VIDEO PACKAGE- GREAT!
They heavily teased that WALTER is coming.

MCKENZIE MITCHELL INTERVIEWS ADAM COLE & RODERICK STRONG- A great confident babyface promo to build up next week’s match against Thatcher & Ciampa, and Undisputed Era’s chances of winning the tournament in general.
BRONSON REED vs. ISAIAH “SWERVE” SCOTT- 6.75/10
Reed used his size advantage to win, but they definitely gave Scott some moments to shine.

TOMMASO CIAMPA & TIMOTHY THATCHER PROMO- good

KYLE O’REILLY & FINN BALOR vs. DANNY BURCH & ONEY LORCAN- 7.75/10
This was a really hard-hitting match. Kyle and Balor worked together well and overcame Kyle’s jaw getting worked over to win when Kyle made Burch tap out. This should earn them a tag title shot… which could make things very interesting if Undisputed Era win the Men’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- good
Butch pulled Kyle out of the ring and Dunne attacked Balor. Kyle went to help Balor but Burch and Lorcan attacked him and beat Balor down. Undisputed Era did eventually come out, but too late to stop Dunne from snapping Balor’s fingers. The four-on-three stare-down became three on three when Balor backed away, so one imagines that we’ll be getting Burch, Lorcan, & Dunne vs. Roddy, Cole, & Kyle relatively soon.


This was another great episode of NXT. This show is just consistently solid with almost everything it does.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

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