WWE NXT Results - March 3, 2021: Women's Tag Team Title Match, Finn Balor Vs. Roderick Strong
Interference from the main roster and much more...
Mar 4, 2021
Last night's edition of NXT was supposed to be dominated by two tag team title matches, but Wes Lee's hand injury meant fans only witnessed Dakota Kai & Raquel Gonzalez vs. Shayna Baszler & Nia Jax for the Women's Tag Team Championship.
Kai and Gonzalez being members of the NXT roster meant they were very much treated as the babyfaces throughout the match despite their heelish personalities and they had to fight from underneath for much of the 13-minute bout.
The NXT team eventually managed to fight back, though, but all seemed lost down the stretch as Shayna Baszler countered Kai's finisher into the Kirifuda Clutch. The Captain somehow managed to crawl and make the tag to Gonzalez, but it all went downhill from there as Raquel charged across the ring and booted Jax off the apron, unintentionally taking out the referee in the process. Gonzalez continued her offence, though, and she Speared Jax over the announce table to put them both out of commission for the rest of the match.
This left Kai and Baszler in the ring and The Queen Of Spades locked in the Kirifuda Clutch on the NXT Superstar. Adam Pearce then suddenly entered the Capitol Wrestling Center and ordered a Raw official to the ring, who then called for the bell as Kai passed out, despite her not being the legal woman.
This meant Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax ultimately retained the Women's Tag Team Championship, but the main roster interference looks set to develop into an ongoing storyline as Adam Pearce and William Regal could be seen arguing later in the show.
While they weren't able to face MSK, Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan were still in action on NXT against Tommaso Ciampa and Timothy Thatcher. Both teams battled back and forth in an impressive nine-minute match, but storylines were more important in the finish as Imperium minus WALTER stood on the ramp in the final moments and distracted Thatcher from making the hot tag to Ciampa. This allowed the NXT Tag Team Champions to take advantage and they knocked Ciampa off the apron before they connected with the Assisted Spike DDT on Thatcher to pick up the win.
Thatcher was seen talking to Marcel Barthel before the match, but the former Ringkampf member and Ciampa stated later in the show that Thatcher's history with Imperium was all in the past. Whether that is actually the case remains to be seen.
The dissolution of The Undisputed ERA and it's connection to the NXT Title picture also continued on this week's NXT. Roderick Strong made his way to the ring following the opening match and demanded Adam Cole come to the ring. The Master Of The Backbreaker had about as much luck as Kyle O'Reilly did two weeks ago, though, and he was greeted by Finn Balor instead.
The two men had a brief back and forth about who or what was to blame for the dissolution of The Undisputed ERA before Balor challenged Adam Cole to an NXT Championship match on next week's show. The Prince then told Roddy that he would never be a leader and lacked killer instinct before Strong shut him up with a sucker punch and the two men had to be separated to end the segment.
The confrontation ultimately set up the main event of the show and both men battled back and forth in an excellent 13-minute match, during which Strong almost pinned the NXT Champion on multiple occasions. Roddy then looked to put Balor away in the closing stages with the Fireman's Carry Double Knee Gutbuster but Balor countered into a Double Foot Stomp while in mid-air.
The NXT Champion then followed up with some of his signature offence before cementing his victory with a Coup De Grace and 1916 DDT for the 1-2-3.
Following the match, Adam Cole stood on the entrance ramp and Balor and the former NXT Champion stared each other down as the show went off the air.
Earlier in the episode, The Way entered therapy following Austin Theory and Indi Hartwell's revelations on last week's NXT. The segments were broadcast at regular intervals and featured some funny comedy moments as Indi Hartwell doodled "Mrs Indi Wrestling Lumis" and declared she would like to be Lumis' friend with benefits. Austin Theory also continued to claim he was just on vacation with The Tortured Artist which only incensed Gargano and the NXT North American Champion was ejected from the room after he took exception to the psychiatrist analysing his deep-rooted issues with Lumis.
After further interruptions, everyone but Theory was ejected and it all ended in tears after the psychiatrist told the former Raw Superstar that she spoke to Lumis and he told her that he couldn't wait to get rid of Theory after he kidnapped him. This ultimately emotionally shattered Theory who left the room in tears and ran straight into the waiting arms of Gargano.
Everything wasn't as it seemed, though, as Gargano entered the room while LeRae led Hartwell and Theory away and he proceeded to admit it was all a set-up before giving the psychiatrist several hundred dollars.
The antics of Cameron Grimes also continued on this week's NXT but William Regal tried to shut The Technical Savage up by booking him in a match with Bronson Reed.
The match didn't go how The Colossal One would have wanted, though. LA Knight cut a promo immediately before the match and the former IMPACT World Champion made his presence felt during the bout's closing stages as he distracted the official and knocked The Aus-Zilla from the top rope. This gave the battered Grimes the opening he needed to connect with the Cave-In for the 1-2-3.
Elsewhere on the show, Legado Del Fantasma regained some heat by beating down Ever-Rise and Breezango before their scheduled match, Shotzi Blackheart blocked interference from the Robert Stone Brand which allowed Ember Moon to defeat Aliyah, and Isaiah "Swerve" Scott appeared in a pre-taped promo and recalled his recent attacks on Leon Ruff.
Kayden Carter also challenged Xia Li to a match on next week's show and William Regal revealed he will make a major announcement on March 10.
Check out the results from the March 3 episode of NXT below: • Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch def. Tommaso Ciampa & Timothy Thatcher • Ember Moon def. Aliyah • Shayna Baszler & Nia Jax def. Dakota Kai & Raquel Gonzalez - Women's Tag Team Championship • Cameron Grimes def. Bronson Reed • Finn Balor def. Roderick Strong