BRM Reviews the 3/31/2021 NXT (very bad go-home show)

[Big Red Machine]

RODERICK STRONG vs. CAMERON GRIMES- 7.75/10
These two had a hell of an opener. I loved everything they did to push the idea that Roddy was taking Undisputed Era’s breakup very badly (including him getting distracted by a fan in a UE t-shirt)… until the finish. Grimes pulling a UE armband out of his pants is just silly. Why was it in there in the first place? (That being said, I will give them some credit for having Grimes annoying Roddy enough to get Roddy to jump him while he was still on the ramp, thus creating an excuse for the referee not to have checked Grimes’ tights and found the elbow pad). I thought it would have been much better if Roddy had gotten distracted by a UE chant from the fans or if Grimes had gotten him angry enough to get DQed (though maybe if you’re doing the latter, you don’t do this as the opener).

KARRION KROSS VIDEO PACKAGE- good

WALTER VIDEO PACKAGE/PROMO ON TOMMASO CIAMPA- awesome

SANTOS ESCOBAR PROMO- good
He cut a good promo on Jordan Delvin and then issued an open challenge, resulting in…

TYLER BREEZE vs. SANTOS ESCOBAR (w/Legado del Fantasma)- 6.25/10
Breeze worked the knee but Escobar won clean.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- forced
Legado del Fantasma go to beat up Breeze but MSK run out to make the save. Then Grizzled Young Veterans appear on the TitanTron and cut a promo about why they will beat the other two teams in the tag title match at TakeOver. This felt like something that happened so that they could check off an item on their list for this go-home show rather than something that had any organic reason to happen.

MCKZENZIE MITCHELL INTERVIEWS JOHNNY GARGANO- terrible
More clown sh*t. He referred to Regal as “Mr. coo-coo bananas Regal.” Over the past few months they have transformed one of the best characters they had into nothing more than an over-the-top clown.
Then Austin Theory and Gargano publicly conspired to do a Fingerpoke of Doom if Theory winds up winning the matches to get himself the shot at Gargano’s title. Because that teasing that you’ll get f*cked on the finish of a title defense definitely makes fans want to watch the show. And from an in-kayfabe point of view, Regal should kick Theory out of tonight’s qualifier for suggesting something so immoral.
MCKENZIE MITCHELL INTERVIEWS CANDICE LERAE (& INDI HARTWELL)- fine
A separated this from the other thing, but it wasn’t fair to lump Candice’s fine promo building up her and Indi’s match tonight and their title shot at TakeOver in with the clown sh*t that her husband is engaging in.

IO SHIRAI PROMO AFTER LAST WEEK’S BEATING FROM RAQUEL GONZALEZ- good

TWO JOBBERS vs. THE WAY (Candice LeRae & Indi Hartwell)- 0.25/10
This should have been a squash. There is no reason for these jobbers to be getting offense in.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- bad
Candice cut a GREAT go-home promo… and then the supposed babyface came out on their stupid little tank and said their extremely dumb catchphrases. I’ve been watching pro wrestling for a very long time. I also went to a private parochial school from K-12. And I have never seen anyone trying to act cool and failing harder than Ember Moon and Shotzi Blackheart in this segment.

IO SHIARAI STARTS A FIGHT WITH RAQUEL GONZALEZ BACKSTAGE- terrible
Dumbass Io started a fight for no reason with Raquel’s friend standing right there, so of course she got her ass kicked. What an idiot.

VIDEO OF A DOG RUNNING AROUNF THE PERFORMANCE CENTER- Whatever this is, I’m sure it will be dumb. I’m also worried it will make Cody feel like he has to put his own f*cking dog on TV more, which I would also hate.

RODERICK STRONG LEAVES THE BUILDING- McKenzie Mitchell reminds him that he is booked in tonight’s main event battle royale, but Roddy sadly says “I’m done” and leaves.

ZOEY STARK vs. RAQUEL GONZALEZ (w/Dakota Kai)- 5.5/10
Another strong showing for Stark in defeat, but I don’t think this was the time to do this with Raquel Gonzalez for the exact same reason I had an issue with the tag match. Just get some jobber for Raquel to squash.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- bad
Dummy Io ran out and tried to attack Raquel but got her ass kicked again.

MORE DOG SH*T- by which I mean another dog video played; not a Shotzi Blackheart promo.

MCKENZIE MITCHELL’S INTERVIEW WITH KUSHIDA IS INTERRUPTED BY PETE DUNE- He doesn’t like that KUSHIDA claimed to be the best technical wrestler in the world last week. They’re both in tonight’s battle royale.

ADAM COLE VS. KYLE O’REILLY VIDEO PACKAGE- AWESOME!
I was shocked to see a “photo courtesy of New Japan pro wrestling.” I’m also certain that first picture was a screenshot from an ROH Video-Wire or DVD.

KAYDEN CARTER & KACY CATANZARO vs. ? & XIA LI (w/Mae Ying & Boa)- very bad segment
Apparently Mae Ying is the name of the woman in the chair and Tian Sha is the name of the group.
Xia Li’s partner never showed up, and yet the referee started the match anyway. That was weird. Beth wondered if this Mae Ying punishing Xia Li, as if Mae Ying books the matches instead of William Regal.
Xia held her own against two babyfaces. Kayden Carter eventually distracted herself and went over to Mae Ying. Mae Ying goozled her and stared to choke her, but I guess she got tired of waiting for Kayden to collapse due to lack of air so she blew magical knockout powder into her face. While we were watching this, we were missing action going on in the ring. Xia Li won cleanly shortly thereafter. Team KC were pretty much buried here, and now we’ve introduced magical bullsh*t as well.

MCKENZIE MITCHELL INTERVIEWS RAQUEL GONZALEZ- Raquel talks about how at TakeOver, she will dominate Io Shirai like she has been doing all night. Io jumped her from behind, but Raquel kicked her ass with relative ease for a third time and slammed her through a wall. There is making a babyface feel like an underdog, and then there is making the babyface feel like an ineffective geek. What they have done with Io tonight has been the latter.

The dog belongs to a woman named Franky, who will be debuting on the first Tuesday show. Whatever.

TOMMASO CIAMPA PROMO- AWESOME!

FINN BALOR VIDEO PACKAGE/PROMO-

BATTLE ROYALE TO DETERMINE WHO MOVES ON TO THE ELIMINATOR GAUNTLET AT TAKEOVER: STAND & DELIVER: NIGHT 1 AND THE ORDER OF ENTRY IN THE GAUNTLET ELIMINATOR- 6/10
Leon Ruff attacked Isaiah Scott before the bell. Austin Theory was an idiot and got himself eliminated. Pete Dunne and KUSHIDA had a face-off with technical wrestling and wound up eliminated each other.
The order of entry next week will be:
1. Leon Ruff
2. Isaiah “Swerve” Scott
3. Bronson Reed
4. Cameron Grimes
5. Dexter Lumis
6. L.A. Knight
Cameron Grimes tried to pay off Lumis and Knight but they beat him up and eliminated him instead.
Knight became a hero to me by finally taking Lumis down after months of his ridiculous push.

IO SHIRAI COMES BACK OUT AND CALLS OUT RAQUEL GONZALEZ- Raquel came out and they started to fight but the locker room came out to separate them, but they barely seemed to be trying. Io attacked the women trying to hold her back and it looked very bad. Not only was this ridiculous overkill at this point, but they had Io stand tall at the end, ruining everything they had done throughout the night o make her an underdog.



Other than a few awesome video packages and promos, this was an awful go-home show from NXT. They did so many things SOOOO wrong.

[NWK2000]

VIDEO OF A DOG RUNNING AROUNF THE PERFORMANCE CENTER- Whatever this is, I’m sure it will be dumb. I’m also worried it will make Cody feel like he has to put his own f*cking dog on TV more, which I would also hate.

1. I mean, technically Cody already put Pharaoh on TV at All Out 2019, technically they would be copying him.
2. I would bet money Frankie is the mascot for a debuting wrestler. I mean, Frankie is the name of Koko B. Ware's bird for crying out loud.

[cero2k]

VIDEO OF A DOG RUNNING AROUNF THE PERFORMANCE CENTER- Whatever this is, I’m sure it will be dumb. I’m also worried it will make Cody feel like he has to put his own f*cking dog on TV more, which I would also hate.

1. I mean, technically Cody already put Pharaoh on TV at All Out 2019, technically they would be copying him.
2. I would bet money Frankie is the mascot for a debuting wrestler. I mean, Frankie is the name of Koko B. Ware's bird for crying out loud.

The dog is gonna be Taya's, that was her final gimmick on Impact, being the Hollywood, toy dog owning lady.

[Big Red Machine]

VIDEO OF A DOG RUNNING AROUNF THE PERFORMANCE CENTER- Whatever this is, I’m sure it will be dumb. I’m also worried it will make Cody feel like he has to put his own f*cking dog on TV more, which I would also hate.

1. I mean, technically Cody already put Pharaoh on TV at All Out 2019, technically they would be copying him.
2. I would bet money Frankie is the mascot for a debuting wrestler. I mean, Frankie is the name of Koko B. Ware's bird for crying out loud.

The dog is gonna be Taya's, that was her final gimmick on Impact, being the Hollywood, toy dog owning lady.

That's highly disappointing. I'd much rather have LU Taya ass-kicking fighter Taya. Let Chelsea Green play the Hollywood lady.

[NWK2000]

1. I mean, technically Cody already put Pharaoh on TV at All Out 2019, technically they would be copying him.
2. I would bet money Frankie is the mascot for a debuting wrestler. I mean, Frankie is the name of Koko B. Ware's bird for crying out loud.

The dog is gonna be Taya's, that was her final gimmick on Impact, being the Hollywood, toy dog owning lady.

That's highly disappointing. I'd much rather have LU Taya ass-kicking fighter Taya. Let Chelsea Green play the Hollywood lady.

The only way I'll be disappointed is if she's a heel. Pepper was literally the last babyface animal mascot we had on TV. Then again, I didn't exactly mind her super played up Cruella De Ville gimmick on Impact either, so it's a win, but I stand for babyface animal mascots damn it.

[cero2k]

That's highly disappointing. I'd much rather have LU Taya ass-kicking fighter Taya. Let Chelsea Green play the Hollywood lady.

just saw this, there's the dog