Bodeen’s Top 5 Moments: WWE NXT (3/24/21)

With the two night, NXT TakeOver: Stand and Deliver just a few weeks away this week’s edition of the black and yellow brand was once again an action-packed 2 hours of wrestling as saw NXT General Manager, William Regal’s reaction to the actions of Kyle O’Reilly and Adam Cole, LA Knight face off against Bronson Reed, an appearance from Shawn Micheals and more.

So with that out of the way, I am Bodeen Green and these are the Top 5 moments from another amazing episode of NXT this week.

5. Io Shirai, Dakota Kai, Raquel Gonzalez and Zoey Stark open the show

If there is one problem with WWE’s style of booking, is the over reliance of tag team matches for a singles feud. Generally, these tag matches very little to advance feuds and just feel like a way of passing the time. However, we would see an exception to this on NXT this week as the NXT Women’s Champion Io Shirai teamed up with Zoey Stark to face Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez with all four women during a great job in opening the show.

While the big story heading into this match was the feud between Io Shirai and Raquel Gonzalez, the real MVP of this match was the young and upcoming star Zoey Stark. Stark would push Gonzalez and Kai to their limit and even seemed to have the match in hand as she attempted to hit the 450, only for Gonzalez to move out the way and hit the chokeslam twice and Stark, with Gonzalez, staring at Shirai as she pinned Stark for the win.

After the match, Raquel Gonzalez and Io Shirai would confront each other, before Dakota Kai distracted Shirai allowing Gonzalez to attack Shirai. Gonzalez would brutalize Shirai around the ring, finishing her assault with a brutal chokeslam on the announce table. This was a great match to open NXT and did a good job in advancing the feud with Gonzalez and Shirai as well as making Zoey Stark look good in the process.

4. Bronson Reed scores a huge upset win over LA Knight 

After Bronson Reed destroyed LA Knight’s jacket last week on NXT, LA Knight would get a chance to get revenge on Reed as both men faced each other this week. This was a solid and simple match with both men showcasing their different in-ring styles as Bronson Reed scored a huge upset win after he pinned LA Knight.

Bronson Reed would get the advantage early in the match against Knight showing off his power and speed before being cut off by Knight. Knight would then remove the style from his offense as he grounded Reed throughout the match. Reed would eventually hit the Tsunami on LA Knight to score a shocking victory.

Special credit has to be given to LA Knight’s promo before his match against Reed. Despite the promo being less than a minute, it was still highly effective in showcasing the charisma and cockiness of LA Knight. A shoutout also had to go out to Wade Barrett who was hilarious on commentary as he put over LA Knight.

3. Karrion Kross destroys Oney Lorcan as Finn Balor sends a message  

While it is extremely sad to know that Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch had to vacate their NXT Tag Team Titles due to Danny Burch separating his shoulder, there was one positive with that positive being the match we saw between Oney Lorcan and Karrion Kross this week. Both men had an amazing match and they brutalized each other with hard-hitting offense.

Despite Lorcan’s aggression at the start of the match, Kross would dominate Lorcan throughout the match, with Lorcan getting very little offense in against Karrion. Lorcan would attempt a comeback late in the match, hitting Kross with multiple uppercuts and slaps, only for Kross to hit Lorcan with a Saito Suplex and an elbow in the back of the neck for the win.

After the match, Karrion Kross would cut a promo on the NXT Champion Finn Balor, only for Balor to interrupt him. Balor would cut his own promo on Karrion Kross, telling Kross he was weak due to him running on emotions. This was a simple but effective promo and did a solid job of advancing the feud between Karrion Kross and Finn Balor.

2. WALTER decimates Drake Maverick and Tommaso Ciampa   

WALTER would waste no time this week in making an impact on his in-ring return to the black and yellow this week. In less than a minute, WALTER would hit a brutal powerbomb on Drake Maverick early in the match, then locked in a single leg Boston Crab on Maverick, with WALTER getting the win after the referee called for the bell to protect Drake Maverick.

After the match, Tommaso Ciampa would come out and challenge WALTER to a match at NXT TakeOver: Stand and Deliver. Ciampa would then slap WALTER and attack Imperium, with the numbers game eventually catching up to Ciampa. WALTER would then rip off Ciampa’s necklace and chop Ciampa, accepting Ciampa’s challenge at Takeover.

This was a great segment as it made WALTER look strong and made Ciampa look fearless as he attacked WALTER despite being outnumbered. While I am excited to see Ciampa and WALTER face each other for the NXT UK Championship, it does make the match between Rampage Brown and WALTER predictable.

1. Things between Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly continue to heat up

After their actions last week the center of NXT was once again based on the feud between Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly. Before William Regal could confront both men later in the night, things would continue to heat up with Cole and O’Reilly as we sew footage of Cole attacking O’Reilly and O’Reilly’s BJJ gym. We would also see the friendship between Roderick Strong and Kyle O’Reilly end as O’Reilly refused to accept Roderick Strong’s offer of teaming up on Adam Cole.

Both men would confront each other at the end of the night as they signed the contract for their match at TakeOver: Stand and Deliver. As he signed the contract, Cole would cut a promo on how the Undisputed Era held him back and how annoyed he was at Kyle for getting close to Finn Balor. Kyle would then cut his own promo about how they grew as wrestlers in NXT and how he will do anything to destroy Adam Cole with both men being held back as NXT closed.

This was an amazing promo segment to close the show with both men cutting great promos on each other. William Regal’s promo before the contract signing was also great, as he showed his frustration towards O’Reilly and Cole, proving to fans once again why he is one of the best authority figures in wrestling.

These were my top 5 moments from this week’s edition of NXT. What were your top 5 moments and what do you think of LA Knight’s future in NXT. Let us know in the comments below.