WWE NXT Review - April 20, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Kyle O'Reilly Attacked Cameron Grimes

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm really digging this new side of O'Reilly and I'm sure it's closer to who he really is than any other incarnation we've seen of him before. The entrance music is great, too. He put the NXT North American Champion and NXT Champion on notice, but considering he and Karrion Kross faced off backstage before the main event, that's where I think we're headed. Grimes is a riot, so this was a fun opening segment that set the stage nicely for the night's main event.

LA Knight def. Dexter Lumis

I feared that Knight was being set up to lose (again) here, but thankfully, that was not the case. Instead, it was designed to further Lumis' feud with The Way with Indi Hartwell accidentally costing Lumis the victory by distracting him from ringside. The match itself was well-wrestled but nothing you'll remember tomorrow. I'm actually intrigued/entertained by the Lumis/Hartwell stuff, but are we just going to forget that Lumis pinned Johnny Gargano a month or so ago? Where's his title shot?

Grizzled Young Veterans def. Breezango

I believe these teams met in the opening round of the men's Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic a few months ago, so they have experience working together and this was another enjoyable encounter from them. Grizzled Young Veterans needed a win coming off their recent TakeOver losses and I'm still hoping they'll get a run with the tag titles down the road. As for Breezango, they can clearly go in the ring, but they either need to get more serious or go their separate ways. The act overstayed its welcome a while ago.

Sarray def. Zoey Stark

I'm not too familiar with Sarray's pre-WWE work, so this was pretty much my first exposure to her. She had a strong showing and looked great in there. Stark was probably the perfect person for her to face in her debut because of how she always gains something in defeat. She loses more than she wins, mind you, but I assume that will change once they give her more of a character. Toni Storm attacking Stark afterward (remember, Stark beat her on the TakeOver: Stand & Deliver Night 1 pre-show) likely means Storm will be Sarray's next opponent.

NXT Cruiserweight Champion Kushida def. Oney Lorcan

Kushida's championship celebration was kept short and sweet and that was arguably for the best. He's super likable but struggles with promos, so there was no reason for it to go longer than it did. Instead, we were treated to a championship open challenge that was answered by Lorcan. Lorcan got screwed when Danny Burch got hurt and they had to vacate the NXT Tag Team Championship, so it was nice that he had his chance to shine here and it was an exciting affair. If Kushida can have matches like this on the regular, he's going to have a hell of a reign as champ.

Imperium (Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner) def. Ever-Rise

Aren't Ever-Rise heels? Or are they tweeners because they're aligned with The Bollywood Boyz on 205 Live? Either way, this was designed to be a simple squash for Imperium, so at least it served a purpose. Interestingly, Killain Dain came out afterward and attempted to confront Imperium before Drake Maverick got in the way of it. They tried to play it up as Dain potentially joining Imperium, but I don't see that happening. They were doing the same thing with Timothy Thatcher a month ago, but Thatcher oddly hasn't been seen since.

Kyle O'Reilly def. Cameron Grimes

Watching this made me realize how many matches just became possible because O'Reilly is now on his own. He's been doing the tag team thing pretty much since he started in NXT, so this singles run is going to be a blast. Unsurprisingly, these two had a top-notch main event and there never seemed to be a dull moment. O'Reilly continues his recent roll with another win, and as previously noted, I assume the NXT Championship is in his sights. It'd be cool if he had to go through Finn Balor first in order to get another shot and that's where he finally beats Balor.

Overall Show

We also had Io Shirai being interviewed by Beth Phoenix in the back before being interrupted by Franky Monet. Shirai noted she isn't leaving NXT (for now) but that she'll be taking a break for a bit. I loved the tease for a match between her and Monet as they'd be the perfect program for both of them at this stage of their respective runs. The rest of the show was the usual quality show from NXT. There wasn't anything overly newsworthy, but the wrestling was solid, feuds were furthered, and they thankfully advertised three matches for next week's show. I maintain that both NXT and AEW are better off on different nights so they can focus on improving their own products.