The February 17, 2021 episode of WWE NXT aired live on the USA Network from Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center.
WWE NXT Results
- Ember Moon & Shotzi Blackheart def. The Way (Candice LeRae & Indi Hartwell).
- Leon Ruff def. Isaiah ‘Swerve’ Scott.
- Kayden Carter & Kacy Catanzaro def. Jessi Kamea & Aliyah.
- KUSHIDA def. Tyler Rust (w/Malcolm Bivens)
- Zoey Stark def. Valentina Feroz.
- Pete Dunne, Danny Burch & Oney Lorcan def. Finn Balor, Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong.
Here are the takeaways from this week’s show:
Johnny Gargano Looks For Austin Theory
Johnny Gargano went on the hunt for Austin Theory after the prospect vanished while walking with other members of The Way (Gargano, Candice LeRae, and Indie Heartwell) backstage to the ring ahead of his North American Title defense against Kushida at NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day.
It appeared Lumis rendered him unconscious after placing a towel over his mouth and nose, implying it was chloroform. Shortly after, Lumis “hacked” Theory’s Twitter account and posted photos of himself.
Gargano had missing posters. During the Ember Moon and Shotzi Blackheart vs. Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell tag team match, a white van had pulled up to the building. Gargano had left ringside to go check it out and got Theory, who had been tied up.
Tag Team Match
Ember Moon and Shotzi Blackheart vs. Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell took place in a tag team match.
This was the first match of the night. The match was solid with the heels dominating the majority of the match with Moon getting the hot tag. Moon got the win with a roll-up on Heartwell off a distraction.
This was a rematch from last week’s episode of NXT that saw Moon and Blackheart go over to advance to the finals of the Women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. The babyfaces lost to Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez in the finals this past Sunday night at NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day.
Undisputed Era Follow-Up
After Finn Balor had successfully retained the NXT Title over Pete Dunne in the main event of NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day, Balor was attacked by Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch in the ring until Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly, and Roderick Strong) ran out and chased them off.
O’Reilly helped Balor up and told him how much he respects him, but Cole superkicked Balor then O’Reilly after O’Reilly was furious with Cole and said what he did to Balor was “bullsh*t.”
The show opened with Kyle doing an interview in the ring about how the Undisputed Era is special and they were supposed to last forever. He said that Cole stabbed him in the back, but he’s still his brother. He wanted to know why Cole did what he did.
He said that he’ll likely punch him in the face, but he’s willing to hear him out. Strong came out and said Cole did what he did due to emotion. He said he knows Cole regrets what he did. Kyle told Strong to not get in the ring because he doesn’t trust him. He demanded for Cole to get out to the ring. Balor came out instead and said he was looking for Kyle. Balor told him to get in line behind him because they have some business to address.
He said that he knew not to accept Kyle’s hand and questioned his intentions behind it. Dunne, Lorcan, and Burch ran out to attack the three men.
Main Event
WWE had been advertising Karrion Kross vs. NXT Cruiserweight Champion Santos Escobar in a non-title match.
That match was pulled and WWE did an angle where Santos did a promo about how he would face Kross on his time. William Regal then announced the match would take place and if Santos didn’t do it then he would be stripped of the title and suspended.
Thus, we got Balor, O’Reilly, and Strong vs. Lorcan, Burch, and Dunne in a six-man tag team match instead.
The match ended when there was a referee bump. Cole kicked Kyle in the head then hit a brainbuster to him on the steel steps. Dunne pinned Balor with the Bitter End. Cole ended the show while standing over Balor with the NXT Title.
Pat McAfee Appears
Pat McAfee appeared in a video while on a private plane. He said that fans now know what he knew about Adam Cole (referencing his attack on Kyle O’Reilly). He said that Cole was a scumbag and called the fans the wrestling internet community. He wants all apologies from fans regarding them being wrong about what he said about Cole. He noted he’s going to a beach while the bums [fans] were sitting at home.
McAfee hadn’t been seen since TakeOver: WarGames last November. In 2020, he worked two matches with Cole.
Triple H recently addressed Pat McAfee’s status in WWE during a recent media call:
“Pat’s limitations are…he’s a busy guy,” Triple H said. “Pat is one of the most successful… I hate to put a title on what he does because I feel like it’s limiting to him, but like you say… podcaster, media personality, sports world personality… almost every weekend that I look online during football season Pat seems to be trending on the weekends. His coverage of football, his association with FanDuel, just everything that he does.”
There’s still no word yet on when McAfee will work another match, but he did respond to Triple H’s comments shortly after the WWE Executive made them.
Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler Confront Challengers
Raquel Gonzalez and Dakota Kai came out to the ring to join MSK to celebrate winning the men’s and women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. As a result of winning their respective tournament, Raquel and Kai are guaranteed a title match.
They were quickly interrupted by WWE Tag Team Champions Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler. Raquel told Shayna that she doesn’t run NXT anymore. Their title match is set for March 3rd. Jax told them to calm down and she came here to honor Dusty.
She recalls him praising her while she was in NXT. She said that he was right when he called her the biggest badest bi*ch in WWE. She said that they’re the most dominant tag team in all of WWE. Raquel said that Dusty never met her. Shayna said in two weeks, they will be coming to their home turf to embarrass them. Raquel said that she was going to take her boot and shove it up Jax’s hole that she will never get it out.