WWE NXT Review - September 21, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa's Address Descended Into Chaos

It's nice to see Ciampa back in the single spotlight for the first time in a long time. I think people have forgotten that he's a hell of a promo and can thrive in the veteran role that was previously occupied by Samoa Joe before he got injured (again). I could've done without all the new guys in the ring behind him, but I understand what they were going for with the visual. It started breaking down when everyone interrupted him and led to the predictable brawl, but it did set the stage for the night's tag team main event.

Roderick Strong def. Kushida to Win the NXT Cruiserweight Championship

This match has been months in the making, literally since Diamond Mine arrived on the scene back in June and Strong laid waste to Kushida. This was supposed to happen prior to TakeOver 36 if I remember correctly but the bout had to be bumped due to Kushida testing positive for COVID-19. This was shorter than I was hoping it would be, but what we got was entertaining. Diamond Mine is heating up at the moment and it would have been foolish to not put the belt on Strong. I just fear for Kushida because I don't know where he fits into NXT 2.0 if he's not Cruiserweight Champion, and I have no doubt he'd be relegated to the 24/7 Championship level on the main roster (Main Event if he's lucky).

Kay Lee Ray def. Amari Miller

When KLR was shown in the back brawling with Miller (a brawl that also involved B-Fab and Elektra Lopez), I feared she was being set up to lose to Miller, who has only had a handful of matches in NXT so far and hasn't stood out in any major way. She's been fine on 205 Live, but she clearly needs more experience. That's why I had no issue with KLR putting her away in a matter of minutes here. This was exactly what it needed to be.

Dante Chen def. Trey Baxter

Chen sold me with his entrance alone. He came across like a total badass. We didn't get to see much of him in the ring, but he held his own and his finisher looked cool. Who knows if he can cut a promo or if he'll be able to connect with the crowd as a character, but as far as first impressions go, he impressed me more than most of the people they attempted to introduce on this episode and last week. As for Baxter, it's interesting that it appears they're going to incorporate his real-life relationship with Coda Jade into the show as seen later on in a backstage segment. We'll see where it goes.

Cameron Grimes def. Joe Gacy

Gacy was involved in the 2021 NXT Breakout Tournament and was eliminated in the first round. He's been relegated to 205 Live since then. He felt generic to me before, so maybe this new character will help him out and make him more interesting. It's off to an odd start, so we'll see where it goes. On the bright side, he didn't immediately beat Grimes, which would have been dumb. As I've said before, Grimes has major potential as a babyface. He just needs to be a bit more serious at times and he's set.

Elektra Lopez def. Anna Scheer

Lopez all of a sudden isn't one of the newcomers anymore because she debuted prior to the premiere of NXT 2.0, even though that was only a month ago. She's still inexperienced in the ring, but hey, at least she's smoother than B-Fab (sorry but it's true). This was designed to get her a win and showcase her skills before she and B-Fab face off in a No Disqualification match next week. That's cool and all, but when the hell are we getting Isiah "Swerve" Scott and Santos Escobar for the NXT North American Championship?

Odyssey Jones def. Cary Millman and Darren Chiappetta in a 2-on-1 Handicap Match

Jones is another one of those guys that doesn't feel too new compared to the rest of the people they're bringing in at the moment, but make no mistake about it: he has "future star" written all over him and I guarantee you he'll be a success in Vince McMahon's NXT and beyond. He's gradually getting better and better and it's rare we see Handicap matches in NXT, so this was effective in putting him over as dominant. He's also settled into his first feud with Andre Chase, who finally has a character. It isn't amazing, but it's an improvement over what he was doing previously (which was nothing).

Toxic Attraction Challenged NXT Women's Tag Team Champions Io Shirai and Zoey Stark

Toxic Attraction is the new name for the trio of Mandy Rose, Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne. I miss their old entrance theme, but as others have said, this presentation for them feels like WWE is wants them to be their version of TNA's Beautiful People (hopefully just better in the ring). All three of them got an ample amount of mic time here and announced their intentions to challenge for the tag titles, which will happen next week. This was solid stuff. I honestly hope they take the titles off Shirai and Stark, who have done absolutely nothing as champs and are absent from the show most weeks.

NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa and Bron Breakker def. Pete Dunne and Ridge Holland

Of all the newcomers to NXT (and there's a lot of them), Breakker undoubtedly has the most upside. He's super skilled in the ring, has charisma and can talk, not to mention that the crowd already loves him. I'm glad the powers that be chose to run with him as one of the people they want to focus on out of the gate. He didn't look out of place in this main event whatsoever and it was a ton of fun on the whole. Breakker pinning Holland was huge given how protected Holland has been. Breakker challenging Ciampa for the NXT Championship seems to be inevitable.

Overall Show

While this was an improvement over last week's mixed bag of an episode, they're still trying to cram way too much into the two hours. They introduced even more people this week in addition to showcasing the stars that debuted last week. Video packages are effective and all, but I probably won't remember half of them by next week at this rate. Some of these people have potential, though, and I'm looking forward to seeing them develop. This had a bit of a better layout than last week, yet we don't have a complete idea of where certain storylines are headed.

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