WWE NXT Results, Grades & Opinion: January 27, 2021

WWE NXT Results: January 27, 2021

A.K.A. The One Where Pete Breaks Finn’s Fingers

Results:

• MSK def. Killian Dain & Drake Maverick to advance to the Dusty Rhodes Classic Semi-Finals
• Raquel Gonzalez & Dakota Kai def. Aliyah & Jessi Kamea to advance to the Women’s Dusty Rhodes Classic Semi-Finals
• Tyler Rust def. Enhancement talent
• Grizzled Young Veterans def. KUSHIDA & Leon Ruff to advance to the Dusty Rhodes Classic Semi-Finals
• Bronson Reed def. Isaiah “Swerve” Scott
• Finn Balor & Kyle O’Reilly def. Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch

The Main Event: Balor Era? Undisputed Club?

Our main event this week featured Finn Balor teaming with recent enemy Kyle O’Reilly to face the NXT Tag Team Champions Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch. Balor’s issues with Lorcan & Burch’s running mate Pete Dunne seem to be coming to a head soon, so this was Balor getting backup from Undisputed Era for this feud. The match, as could be expected, was good.

After the match, Dunne attacked and snapped Balor’s fingers. Every time he does joint manipulation it makes me cringe because it feels so painful. Undisputed Era arrived to provide back up, and Balor even stood with the UE boys.

Truce?#WWENXT @FinnBalor @AdamColePro @KORcombat @roderickstrong pic.twitter.com/6gNtuaZpE7

— WWE (@WWE) January 28, 2021

This feud is strange to me. Undisputed Era has taken a back seat and doesn’t seem to have a lot of direction. They’re in the Dusty, which is good, but I think they may have done all they can on the black and gold brand. Balor and Dunne will be a fine match, but the build has felt just a little slow.

The Undercard:

Io Shirai has two different challengers stepping up to face her, so is a triple threat in our future? Both Toni Storm and Mercedes Martinez want a shot at the champ and both confronted her this week. Of the two, I think Toni is more likely to dethrone Io. If she loses the belt, could Io be part of the next round of call-ups?

Two Dusty Classic Men’s matches were on the card, and both matches were probably the best offerings on the card. MSK moved on after beating Dain & Maverick. The former Rascalz have an outside shot at winning the whole tournament. It would be a strong debut and make them instant title contenders.

In the other, Grizzled Young Vets took out Leon Ruff & KUSIHDA. After coming in second last year, GYV could make the leap and win it all this year. Some really strong tag teams left in the tournament.

Curt Stallion didn’t get his title shot at Santos Escobar this week. He was attacked before he could get to the match. Escobar was confronted by Regal about the attack, and will have to defend the title next week instead.

Escobar also found a little tarot card while he was in his locker room. Is he the next target of Karrion Kross?

⏰ ⏲⏱🕰⌛️🤣 🤣 🤣 pic.twitter.com/VeAi0egsBw

— SANTOS ESCOBAR💀🇲🇽 (@EscobarWWE) January 28, 2021

Grade: C

This week’s NXT was not terribly memorable. The Dusty Classic matches continue to be fun, but I’m a sucker for tag team wrestling. Raquel Gonzalez & Dakota Kai may be the favorites to win the entire Women’s tournament. Still, the rest of the feuds are either losing steam or still finding direction. Balor-Dunne hasn’t hit all the right notes, Undisputed Era are fairly directionless, and other major stars like Kross are still figuring out who they’re going after. All in all, not the best episode of NXT.