WWE NXT Review - August 17, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Ilja Dragunov def. Roderick Strong

I'm honestly shocked Diamond Mine is still a thing with Tyler Rust being released recently, especially since Hachiman hasn't wrestled or spoke at all yet. At any rate, Strong was supposed to challenge Kushida for the NXT Cruiserweight Championship on this show before William Regal announced on Twitter earlier in the day that Kushida had to be pulled for medical reasons, which was a bummer. Strong issued an open challenge instead and got Dragunov in what was a hell of an opener. Unsurprisingly, they worked really well together and Dragunov winning was the right call considering he's contending for the NXT United Kingdom Championship this weekend (not to mention that he lost to Pete Dunne last week).

Hit Row and Legado del Fantasma Brawled in the Parking Lot

I've been digging this feud over the last few weeks and I thought this was an effective way of furthering it. Isiah Scott looked like a moron for going out to the parking lot alone only to get ambushed by the rest of Legado, but at least Hit Row made the save and leveled the playing field. We don't tend to see this sort of stuff on the show often, so it was a nice change of pace to build toward their six-man tag team match next week.

Cameron Grimes def. Josh Briggs

Briggs lost in the first round of the NXT Breakout Tournament and has had a few matches on 205 Live. He's got potential and can move around well for a guy his size, but the fact he lost in a matter of minutes isn't exactly an encouraging sign for his future. Then again, the match wasn't the focus as much as the aftermath was with LA Knight laying out Grimes in front of Ted DiBiase ahead of Knight vs. Grimes at TakeOver 36. It's easily been my favorite storyline in NXT all summer.

InDex def. Robert Stone and Jessi Kamea

I realize it isn't for everyone, but I've been loving the whole InDex storyline this year. It's probably my second favorite thing going on in NXT right now behind the Knight, Grimes and DiBiase angle. Indi Hartwell being so committed to the character is great and she was the highlight of this match, which essentially served as a showcase for the new couple. They're already skipping ahead to the wedding with Hartwell proposing to Dexter Lumis afterward. When was the last wedding we got in NXT? Was it 2010 with Goldust and Aksana or am I blanking on another one?

NXT Women's Champion Raquel Gonzalez and Dakota Kai Exchanged Words

It's obvious there's no clear-cut babyface in this feud, and there doesn't necessarily need to be, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised seeing as how NXT books a lot of heel vs. heel feuds. At least this one makes sense and both women have played their roles well, specifically Kai. I really enjoyed this verbal exchange and the attention to detail with Gonzalez bringing up on Kai once betrayed Tegan Nox before was well done. It helps we don't know for sure who's going over when they finally go one-on-one this Sunday.

Carmelo Hayes def. Duke Hudson in an NXT Breakout Tournament Semifinal Match

I'm super high on both of these guys and would have been fine with either of them advancing, but I thought Hayes was the smarter choice to give the finals a bit more variety. Odyssey Jones is a big guy like Hudson, and Hayes might be able to get a better bout out of him, anyway. This was a fun match while it lasted and easily the best of the tournament so far, which isn't saying much because most of them have been on the shorter side. Hudson looked credible in defeat and I hope we'll be seeing more of him sooner rather than later.

NXT Tag Team Champions MSK def. Imperium (Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner)

The biggest problem with Imperium, at least with Barthel and Aichner, is that although they're very good in the ring and consistently have quality matches, they've never been positioned as much of a threat. It feels like they've lost more than they've won and thus the titles didn't feel like they were in jeopardy of changing hands here. Post-match, all of Imperium (including WALTER) laid out Dragunov, which all but confirms that Dragunov is winning that title at TakeOver. The time is now.

NXT Champion Karrion Kross and Samoa Joe Brawled

As I've said before, my hype for this match at TakeOver is down significantly from what it was a month ago because of how WWE has booked Kross on the main roster lately. Was there really a need for them to use him on Raw and break his undefeated streak before he lost the NXT Championship? Despite that, this was a strong segment. They kept it short and sweet with what they had to say before brawling all over the arena, which made for a chaotic close to the show. This may have been the last we'll see of Kross on NXT TV after he almost surely loses the NXT title at TakeOver.

Overall Show

It's a shame there's so much uncertainty reportedly surrounding NXT behind the scenes at the moment because people's anticipation level for TakeOver 36 on Sunday should be through the roof given the card on tap. For what it's worth, this was an excellent go-home show I thought. One title match didn't happen as advertised due to an unforeseen circumstance, but the match we got instead was terrific. The NXT Tag Team Championship match was solid and the rest of the hype for TakeOver as well as next week's show was wonderful, including the brief Prime Target package for Adam Cole vs. Kyle O'Reilly III. Unfortunately, the next few episodes of NXT TV are apparently going to be taped in advance, so who knows if they'll be able to keep this momentum going coming out of TakeOver regardless of what goes down.

SEE MORE: NXT Reviews