The April 7, 2021 episode of WWE NXT aired live on the USA Network from Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center.
WWE NXT Results
- Pete Dunne def. Kushida
- Bronson Reed Wins Gauntlet Eliminator Match
- WWE NXT UK Champion WALTER def Tommaso Ciampa
- MSK def. Grizzled Young Veterans & Legado del Fantasma to win NXT Tag Team Titles
- Raquel Gonzalez def. Io Shirai to win NXT Women’s Title
Here are the takeaways from this week’s show:
Gauntlet Eliminator Match
WWE booked Bronson Reed, Dexter Lumis, Cameron Grimes, Isaiah “Swerve” Scott, Leon Ruff, and LA Knight in a Gauntlet Eliminator Match.
Scott and Ruff started things off. Reed entered the match third and caught Ruff, who attempted a dive during his entrance, but he tossed him into the ring. Grimes was out at #4. As Lumis was making his entrance, Ruff got eliminated by Scott.
Knight eliminated Lumis. Reed hit a backsplash to Knight for the elimination. Grimes was eliminated before Reed hit his finisher to Scott for the win.
As a result, he has earned the right to challenge North American Champion Johnny Gargano for the title on the second night of TakeOver, which is tomorrow.
Pete Dunne vs. Kushida
Pete Dunne vs. Kushida took place in a singles match. It was an excellent choice for an opener. Dunne won with the Bitter End after injuring the hands of his opponent.
Last week on NXT TV, Dunne and Kushida worked the battle royal to determine the participants for the Gauntlet Eliminator match at TakeOver: Stand & Deliver night one.
This is where Dunne and Kushida simultaneously eliminated each other from the match. After the eliminations, Kushida put him in the Hoverboard Lock but refused to let go of it until he was forced to do so.
Earlier in this show, Dunne interrupted an interview with Kushida because he took exception to Kushida calling himself the best technical wrestler in the world. Dunne stated that he holds that crown and dared Kushida to answer his challenge and try to prove him wrong.
WWE NXT UK Title Match
WWE NXT UK Champion WALTER vs. Tommaso Ciampa aired on this show.
Ciampa was telling the story of his old self being back as he went back to wearing trunks and shaved his head again so he doesn’t like a 60-year-old man as he had been with hair. The match was just as advertised, a hard-hitting bout. These guys brought it.
Throughout the match, Ciampa was working over the right hand of the champ after he missed a chop on the announce table. A back and forth match with Ciampa hitting near fall spots towards the end. WALTER hit a big chop for the finish.
WALTER will defend the NXT UK Title against Rampage Brown at NXT UK: Prelude on Thursday.
Vacant NXT Tag Team Titles
MSK vs. Grizzled Young Veterans vs. Legado del Fantasma in a Triple Threat Match for the vacant NXT Tag Team Titles.
Of course, the titles were declared vacant once Danny Burch suffered a separated shoulder while teaming with Oney Lorcan against Finn Balor & Karrion Kross in the main event.
These were the top three injury free teams and so it made sense for them to battle it out to see who should become the new champions.
The match had a wild start with MSK getting the majority of the offense. There was a brilliant spot where Lee’s hand was placed in the turnbuckle and Drake hit a drop kick in the corner. Of course, Lee previously hurt his hand. The finish came down to MSK hitting a double cutter to Drake and a tag team move out of the corner to Gibson for the win.
Main Event
WWE NXT Women’s Champion Io Shirai vs. Raquel Gonzalez was the main event of this show.
First off, this was the perfect match to headline the first night. Io is one of the best workers in NXT and not just in the women’s division. Coming into this bout, Raquel was someone that fans could buy in and think was a real contender and someone who could dethrone Io as the champion.
Io got the early advantage before there was some outside interference by Dakota Kai, who ended up getting ejected from ringside. This was a sprint and no downtime whatsoever.
Io made a comeback after being dominated. Io hit a moonsault off the top rope to the floor then a running knee strike. Near the end, Io hit a dive off the skull, which was part of the stage. Raquel hit her finisher for the win.