By John Moore, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
NXT TV
Orlando, Florida at Capitol Wrestling Center (WWE Performance Center)
Aired June 1, 2021 on USA Network
[Hour One] A narrated teaser video aired to hype up the Kyle O’Reilly vs. Pete Dunne vs. Johnny Gargano number one contender’s match as well as other advertised matches for this week’s show…
Vic Joseph, Wade Barrett, and Beth Phoenix were on commentary. Entrances for the opening number one contender’s match took place. Johnny Gargano’s weekly Marvel gearlooked to be Punisher themed. Wade Barrett noted that Oney Lorcan and Austin Theory were banned from ringside for this match due to the stakes of the match…
1. Kyle O’Reilly vs. Pete Dunne vs. Johnny Gargano to face Karrion Kross for the NXT Championship at NXT Takeover In Your House. O’Reilly immediately put Gargano in the ground and pound. O’Reilly then nailed Dunne with Muay Thai knees. Gargano was tossed aside and Dunne worked on O’Reilly with Joint Manipulation. O’Reilly locked Dunne in a crossarmbreaker. Gargano tried to break the move with a kick but O’Reilly caught the kick and put him in a heel hook. At the same time Dunne put O’Reilly in a armbar.
O’Reilly was sent to ringside. Gargano hit Dunne with a huracanrana but missed an armdrag. Dunne was about to put Gargano in a Surfboard, but O’Reilly gave Dunne a roundhouse to the chest. O’Reilly went into ground and pound on Gargano from the rear mount. Dunne showed up from behind and locked O’Reilly and Gargano in wishbone holds simultaneously. Dunne stomped on the hands on both opponents. All three men recovered and traded running strikes.
O’Reilly hit both of his opponents with a single Dragon Screw. Gargano and Dunne were dumped to ringside. Gargano went for One Final Beat on O’Reilly, but Dunne stopped it. O’Reilly dragon screwed Dunne’s leg into the second rope. Gargano ran off Dunne who was standing on the apron, to hit O’Reilly with a Tornado DDT. The show cut to picture-in-picture commercial.[c]
O’Reilly worked on Dunne and Gargano with Muay Thai clinch strikes. O’Reilly hit Dunne with two rolling suplex and then followed up by giving Gargano a modified Impaler DDT onto Dunne. O’Reilly gave Dunne a diving knee at ringside. Gargano recovered and took out Dunne and O’Reilly with rapid suicide dives. O’Reilly took two dives. Gargano hit O’Reilly with a slingshot spear for a two count. O’Reilly escaped Gargano’s lawndart hold. Dunne tripped both opponents and hit them with a front dropkick.
Dunne hit O’Reilly with a power bomb for a two count. Dunne hit Gargano with an X Plex for a two count. Barrett talked about how the window of opportunities for pinfalls have been small due to the endurance of all three men. Dunne locked O’Reilly in a Kimura. O’Reilly used his tights to prevent his arm from bending fully. Dunne fell to ringside and Gargano rolled up O’Reilly for a two count. Both men traded reversals with O’Reilly ending up in the heel hook on Gargano. Dunne broke up the submission, but Gargano reversed the Bitter End with a DDT.
Gargano lawn darted Dunne’s head into O’Reilly, who was recovering on the apron. All three men ended up recovering and nailing each other with strikes in the center of the ring. In the end, O’Reilly took out himself as well as his opponents with a rebound lariat. O’Reilly blocked Gargano’s slingshot spear into a Guillotine Choke. Dunne locked O’Reilly in a sleeper. Gargano broke up the hold with La Mistica into a GargaNo Escape on Dunne.
Dunne did his finger break spot to escape the GargaNo Escape. Dunne hit Gargano with a Bitter End. O’Reilly broke up the pin with a diving knee to the back of the neck on Dunne. Dunne and O’Reilly took each other out at ringside with a clothesline. Adam Cole showed up out of nowhere and hit all three men with a steel chair. No DQ because of Triple Threat rules. Cole focused most of his attack on O’Reilly. Cole shoved Dunne into the referee to knock him out. REF BUMP!!!
Cole hit both O’Reilly and Gargano with Final Shots. William Regal showed up with Security Guards to chase Cole away from ringside. Cole agreed to leave, but before he left he gave O’Reilly a superkick. Cole walked away and the show cut to regular commercial.[c]
Regal was still backing Cole down up the ramp. Ember Moon passed by everyone for some reason. Apparently the match was deemed a no-contest because the Triple Treat participants were nowhere to be seen.
Kyle O’Reilly, Pete Dunne, and Johnny Gargano fought each other to an apparent no-contest in 18:38.
Moon called out Raquel Gonzalez who walked out. Before a brawl could ensue, Regal and his security guards showed up to escort Gonzalez out of the ring. Dakota Kai showed up and hit Moon with a few kicks to leave her lying. Gonzalez and Kai walked away after leaving Moon lying…
The Legado Del Fantasma trio cut a promo backstage where they hyped up Wilde and Mendoza potentially winning the tag team titles later in the show…
LA Knight cut a promo on his way to the ring. LA Knight bragged about impressing Ted DiBiase by laying out Cameron Grimes last week. Knight also mentioned dispatching Jake Atlas a few weeks ago. Knight said he’s going to prove that he’s the man worthy of the Million Dollar Legacy…[c]
John’s Thoughts: I can see some complaining about the lack of finish, but I really like what it sets up. For one, it immediately puts Adam Cole in the main event picture, presumably in a feud against O’Reilly again, but they can also go in another direction. It looks like they’ll continue to protect Dunne, which I’m a huge fan of. Dunne hopefully will be nowhere near the finish because I don’t think it’s time for him to be fed to Kross given their huge push of him over the past few months. What ultimately made the last segment palatable was the Gonzalez and Kai attack on Moon after. It gave the show a sense of mayhem with Regal trying his best to contain all the madness that is happen, with the madness ultimately being too much for him.
The unseen interviewer tried to interview Drake Maverick over him helping Indi Hartwell last week. Ever Rise showed up to confront Maverick and also shill merch. The Hit Row stable rolled up in their SUV to roast everyone verbally. Killian Dain got in between Isaiah Scott and Drake Maverick when things started to heat up between them. Isaiah Scott told Dain to keep check on his little homie or else both of them will be ending up on Hit Row’s hit list…
John’s Thoughts: Again! I’m all in on Hit Row, and it looks like NXT creative is high on them too given how they’ve gotten consistent TV time over the past few weeks. Again, these guy’s really really remind me of Impact’s legendary LAX stable, the Santana and Ortiz one specifically, and I want to see more of these peeps on my TV.
2. LA Knight vs. Jake Atlas. Atlas used his strength and agility to get the upper hand on Knight. Knight escaped Atlas’s restholds, but Atlas rolled up Knight for a two count. Atlas worked on Knight with heavy strikes. Knight ended Atlas’s momentum with a backdrop and neckbreaker. Suddenly, Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase showed up to watch the match from ringside. Atlas rolled up Knight with a sunset bomb for a two count (with Knight letting out an audible “oh shit!”). Knight slammed Atlas to the mat to gain momentum again.
Knight worked on Atlas with methodical offense while DiBiase was nodding in approval. Knight hit Atlas with a slingshot shoulder tackle heading into regular commercial.[c]
Atlas escaped a sleeper several times. Joseph noted that Knight was trying to go for the Million Dollar Dream. Knight ended up tossing Atlas to ringside in front of the Million Dollar Man. Atlas rolled back into the ring and Knight was about to go for a dive but he was caught and slammed by Atlas. Atlas took down Knight with a clothesline. Cameron Grimes suddenly showed up to buddy up to Ted DiBiase at ringside, while Atlas was dominating Knight. Atlast hit Knight with a Cartwheel DVD and moonsault for a two count. Grimes kept yapping about being worthy for the Million Dollar Legacy at ringside to Ted.
Atlas ended up crotching Knight on the top rope. Atlas hit Knight with the Rainbow DDT for the victory.
Jake Atlas defeated LA Knight via pinfall in 9:06 of on-air time.
Knight was furious at Grimes distracting him. Knight yelled to Ted to not go with Grimes, but Ted walked away shaking his head in disapproval…
The show cut to Johnny Gargano, Pete Dunne, and Kyle O’Reilly being checked up on in the trainers room. Oney Loracn chased away the camera man and said that the only reason Dunne isn’t number one contender is because of Adam Cole. Austin Theory took offense and said that Johnny Gargano would have been number one contender. Lorcan and Theory got into a pull apart brawl…
McKenzie Mitchell asked Ted DiBiase backstage who DiBiase thinks deserves the legacy of the Million Dollar Man. Before he could explain anything, Adam Cole passed by McKenzie and Ted. The camera followed Cole as he was heading to the ring…[c]
John’s Thoughts: Things are a bit vague at the moment, but I’m still intrigued as to how they are going to utilize Ted DiBiase to boost Grimes and Knight. This Ted involvement was the least entertaining of the Ted segments, but it essentially allowed Grimes to get a W over Knight in their budding feud. I still hope this ultimately ends up with Grimes turning babyface and showing a bit more of a serious side to his persona, which is what was teased last week.
An ad aired for NXT Takeover: In Your House…
[Hour Two] The commentary team hyped up Poppy’s return to NXT next week. Barrett noted that Poppy was nominated for a Grammy Award…
Adam Cole was in the ring, ranting about being the real number one contender. Cole talked about being gone for two months as he watched everyone else attempt to live up to his legacy. Cole said everyone failed. Cole took credit for taking three of the top NXT stars in one go in the opening match. Cole addressed Kross. Cole said people see Kross as a monster but he’s an overrated musclehead who doesn’t deserve to be in the ring against Cole. This drew some cheers from the crowd.
Cole’s promo was cut off by Kross and Scarlett making their entrance. Kross was in casual street clothes while Scarlett had black makeup smudged on her face for some reason. Kross called Cole a little man and said he understands why Cole wants to go after the title. Kross said once he signed with NXT, Cole stopped being “special”. Kross told Cole to humor him. Cole said he was happy to and that Kross is Mr. Overrated. Cole said Kross will not be Cole Bay Bay and will never be. Cole said that Kross gets the star treatment with the lights, entrance, and girl. Cole said all he needs is the bell.
Cole said Kross is not special, Cole is special. Cole said Kross is a man who has Cole’s property. William Regal showed up and said that he sees through Cole trying to weasel his way into a title match. Kross told Regal to shut up and this is not about what everybody else wants, but what Kross. wants. Kross said he wants everyone at In Your House: Gargano, Dunne, O’Reilly, and “Gas-Station Weasel” Cole. Regal seemingly agreed as the announcers pointed out. Adam Cole cleared the announce table and stood on top of it to pose. He said he runs the show. Cole left, but not before chucking a water bottle at Kross.
McKenzie Mitchell interviewed Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell. LeRae was happy while Hartwell was crestfallen. LeRae tried to mock Poppy, but she noticed Hartwell was distracted by listening to 80s Power Ballads. LeRae yanked off the headphones and dragged Hartwell away. Hartwell is still sad that Dexter Lumis is sad…
Vic Joseph, Wade Barrett, and Beth Phoenix checked in from the commentary table. Wade Barrett noted that Christian Cassanova accepted Kushida’s open challenge. Barrett noted that his name is now Carmelo Hayes and that Hayes has been impressing NXT stars and trainers at the Performance Center. A introduction vignette aired to introduce Hayes, who talked about how he’s the real deal and will win the Cruiserweight title…
Kushida made his entrance for the open challenge. He was wearing his MMA shorts and Marty McFly pre match cosplay…[c]
John’s Thoughts: A great promo exchange, but it’s also a bit intriguing that they are laying out the perception that hardcore fans have against Kross, that Kross is overrated and overproduced. Cole just recently turned back heel, yet his promo was that of an inspired and plucky babyface. I get that Kross bounces around as a tweener, but it was perplexing to see them send Cole out there to throw hard-to-counter shade on Kross. A five way match seems a bit much, but the talent level is off the charts. Hey, Kross might be able to thrive in this hectic match (as I’ve seen him do in his match against Legado Del Fantasma on NXT, and several dark matches at Lucha Underground).
Xia Li cut a promo backstage in Mandarin. She was watching an LED TV and standing next to Boa. She cut a promo on Mercedes Martinez and said she was coming after Martinez at Takeover. The camera panned back to show that Mei Ying was also standing in the dark candle-lit room…
Vic Joseph announced Karrion Kross vs. Kyle O’Reilly vs. Pete Dunne vs. Johnny Gargano vs. Adam Cole for the NXT Championship at NXT Takeover In Your House…
The camera cut to Dexter Lumis backstage, who put on Indi Hartwell’s abandoned smartphone and headphones, which was playing 80s Love Ballads…
3. Kushida vs. Carmelo Hayes for the NXT Cruiserweight Championship. Hayes got a two count off a sunset bomb. Hayes hit Kushida with a springboard takedown for a two count. Kushida gained momentum after grounding Hayes with a handstand back elbow. Hayes countered kushida and hit Kushida with a roundhouse to the back of the head and a draping leg drop for a two count. The show cut to regular commercial.[c]
Vic Joseph announced Cameron Grimes vs. LA Knight for NXT Takeover In Your House. Kushida and Hayes traded roundhouse kicks. Hayes hit Kushida with a La Mistica Slam for a two count. Hayes ran right into Kushida’s hip toss and dropkick. Kushida caught Hayes with a haymaker. Hayes clasped his hands and blocked a Hoverboard Lock. Kushida broke the hold and nailed Hayes with another haymaker. Kushida picked up the win with the hoverboard lock.
Kushida defeated Carmelo Hayes via submission.
Wes Lee and Nash Carter, MSK, cut a promo backstage. They were super energetic and hyping up their title defense later in the show…[c]
John’s Thoughts: It’s not the greatest thing in the world, but it’s such a huge upgrade for MSK promos, after watching these guys do their low budget That 70s Show routine for years down in Impact (though I will give Carter credit, he does do a pretty damn good Michael Kelso). As for the cruiserweight title match, really good stuff. Carmelo Hayes got a lot of hype in the few minutes leading up to the match and he lived up to that ability. I haven’t been keeping up on 205 Live, but I have a feeling that Kushida isn’t featured on that show. I like what they did tonight with the cruiserweight division. Santos Escobar definitely took the title off the forgettable 205 Live and into the forefront. This match involving Kushida reminded me of my favorite part of WCW Nitro, the cruiserweight division matches. It would be smart for WWE to keep the title off of 205 Live because that will only drag down the credibility of the title.
Franky Monet was shown backstage with people doing her makeup. She was bragging about the rave reviews of her match. She also had her cute Pomeranian with her…
Entrances for the next match took place. Vic Joseph compared Indi Hartwell and Dexter Lumis to Cory and Toppanga from Boy Meets World. Wade Barrett said that sounds like teeny bopper nonsense…
4. NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions “The Way” Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell vs. Zoey Stark and Zayda Ramier in a non-title match. Hartwell and LeRae traded quick tags to keep Ramier isolated in their corner. The commentary team argued over being for or against the Indi and Dexter ship. Wade Barrett being against the ship, of course. Ramier managed to roll away from LeRae in order to tag in Stark for the hot tag. After cleaning house, Stark hit LeRae with a enzuigiri for a two count. Ramier tagged in and was wheelbarrow slammed by Stark onto LeRae for a two count. LeRae dumped Stark to ringside and slammed Ramier on the mat.
LeRae hit Zayda wtih a Wicked Stepsister. Hartwell tagged in and hit Zayda with a pretty slingshot elbow drop for the victory.
The Way defeated Zayda Ramier and Zoey Stark via pinfall in 3:35.
Mercedes Martinez talked about Tian Sha marking her and how she’s been a marked woman all her life. Martinez said Li’s just standing in between her and the woman’s title. Martinez challenged Li to a match at Takeover…
The commentary team checked in from the table and announced Cameron Grimes vs. LA Knight as well as Karrion Kross vs. Pete Dunne vs. Kyle O’Reilly vs. Johnny Gargano vs. Adam Cole for the NXT Championship for NXT Takeover In Your House.
MSK and Legado Del Fantasma were shown walking through the corridors backstage…
John’s Thoughts: At the moment, NXT doesn’t have too many established tag teams, but they can still present a plethora of women’s tag team matches because they can showcase any combination of their developmental and undercard women wrestlers, those who don’t get too much TV exposure, and utilized them to put on an entertaining segment week to week. This match was good and they kept Zoey Stark away from the finish, given how high they are on her.
A vignette aired for “Diamond Mine”, whatever the hell this is supposed to be. It said it was “Opening soon”. It also still looks like a random MMA gym…
McKenzie Mitchell interviewed Ember Moon about getting attacked by Dakota Kai. Moon talked about how Gonzalez is champion, but still relies on a lackey like Kai. Moon said she’s going to run through Kai en route to getting the title against Gonzalez. Moon challenged Dakota Kai to a match next week…
The commentary team announced Ember Moon vs. Dakota Kai and “Grammy award nominated” Poppy returning to NXT next week…
Santos Escobar, Raul Mendoza, and Joaquin Wilde made their entrance. Escobar was wearing a bright gold fancy suit. Mendoza was wearing a injury face mask which is due to him busting his nose against Tommaso Ciampa a few weeks ago. Joaquin Wilde wore the pre match mask that makes him look like the Gold Dino Kyoryuger. Alicia Taylor handled the formal in-ring introductions for the championship match. The match started with about 10 minutes left at the top of the hour…
5. “MSK” Wes Lee and Nash Carter vs. “Legado Del Fantasma” Joaquin Wilde and Raul Mendoza (w/Santos Escobar) for the NXT Tag Team Championship. Santos Escobar took a seat next to the announce table. Lee took down Wilde with a headlock. Wilde escaped and slammed Lee to the mat. Carter tagged in but was dominated by Wilde who took down carter with a crossbody for a two count. Lee tagged in and MSK swarmed Wilde with fast kicks. Mendoza got in the ring and everyone took each other out with signature moves to leave all four men lying. The Grizzled Young Veterans, James Drake and Zack Gibson, showed up at ringside.
Tommaso Ciampa and Timothy Thatcher showed up and brawled with the Grizzled Young Veterans to the back. Nash Carter and Wes Lee took out their opponents with flip dives at ringside heading into the picture-in-picture commercial.[c]
[Overrun] Mendoza took Lee off the top rope with a gamengiri for a two count. Mendoza and Wilde traded tags to isolate Lee away from Carter. Wilde and Mendoza worked on Lee with tandem offense. The camera also cut to Santos Escobar nodding in approval of his boys dominating the match. Wilde and Mendoza got a few nearfalls in during their advantage. Lee managed to slam Mendoza to the mat to tag in Carter who intercepted Wilde. Lee tagged back in and MSK hit Wilde with Hot Fire Flame for a two count.
Mendoza got the blind tag in while Lee was working on Wilde. Mendoza showed up and hit Lee with a missile dropkick and Final Cut Suplex for a good nearfall. Wilde and Mendoza traded rapid tags and pummeled Lee with corner lariats. Wilde gave Lee a Frankensteiner into Mendoza’s power bomb for a two count. Mendoza kicked Lee to ringside and distracted the referee by saying his mask was falling off. Escobar tossed Lee into the ringsteps. Legado hit Lee with their finisher leg lariat.
Carter broke up the pin. Bronson Reed showed up and body pressed Escobar into the plexiglass. MSK hit Wilde with their Hart Attack Blockbuster to give Lee the win over Wilde.
MSK defeated Legado Del Fantasma via pinfall in 15:25 to retain the NXT Tag Team Championship.
Highlights from the match aired. Bronson Reed, Wes Lee, and Nash Carter stood tall with their title belts in the ring to close the show…
John’s Thoughts: A good match for what it was, but this was more about dragging out the feud also involving Bronson Reed as opposed to ending in anything conclusive. My guess is that they might be considering a four way tag match also involving Thatcher and Ciampa and the Grizzled Young Veterans at In Your House, but I hope not. I hope note because they already have a five way world title match to the point that it would be overkill with multiple multi-person championship matches on the show.
This week of NXT was solid as usual. You will come out of the show satisified. At the same time, this wasn’t the hottest of shows either and it might even be missable given that the only thing this show really did was lay the foundation for their In Your House show (which you can also view by simply seeing the show card they’ll eventually advertise). I would say the most notable thing on this show was probably Adam Cole coming back on TV and cutting an almost-babyface promo (which was a bit odd). I’ll have more thoughts on this show in my NXT audio review for the Dot Net Members.
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