Note on the above photo: Even the NXT photo section didn’t have anything interesting to add this week so here’s some bonus Oney Lorcan.

Hi, and welcome to NXT. The last time we spoke was Sunday and Adam Cole had just become the last member of Undisputed Era to hold a title, Rhea Ripley and Bianca BelAir were attacked by Charlotte and Reina Gonzalez changed her name to Raquel. So, what would any of this mean for the future and could NXT ever be the same again? Let’s find out…

The Undercard

Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson & James Drake) def. Raul Mendoza & Joaquin Wilde // Pinfall (Ticket to Mayhem lungblower-tombstone combo to Mendoza) SQUASH! After the match, Gibson ran down the yanks and neckbeards of NXT. This would lead to the Forgotten Sons making a challenge to them for next week via Twitter. Sure, fine.

Broserweights (Matt Riddle & Pete Dunne) def. Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch // Pinfall (Bitter End-high knee combo to Burch) A solid, little sprint with some nice intensity by Lorcan and Burch. It just never felt like it got out of low gear.

Keith Lee def. Kona Reeves // Pinfall (Big Bang Catastrophe fireman’s carry twisting powerslam) SQUASH! After the match, Dominik Dijakovic turned up to declare he wants one more match with Keith Lee. Sure, fine.

Promos & Packages

The Undisputed Era opened the show talking about murdering Velveteen Dream for trying to make a cuckold of Roderick Strong or something like that. Also, Adam Cole said he’s the greatest NXT Champion of all time again which might be him trying to call out the man we all know as the great NXT Champion of all time, Bo Dallas. I bolieve.

Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez were asked not about why Reina Gonzalez would willingly give up being called Queen but about why she attacked Tegan. They spoke about kinship and people jumping the queue. William Regal turned up as Dakota Kai said she’s unstoppable to say in two weeks, she and Tegan have a Steel Cage match because THEY ALWAYS KEEP OUT INTERFERENCE DON’T THEY REGAL?

Rhea Ripley commented on Charlotte accepting her challenge for WrestleMania. Hooray, I guess.

Austin Theory was set to have a match I assume or was just coming out for some reason but was interrupted by Tommaso Ciampa who came out to address that he’s not really surprised that Johnny Gargano would do what he did but that doesn’t mean he isn’t going to end him. Then he beat up Austin Theory a bit.

Finn Bálor spoke about how he’s beaten every challenge presented to him since returning and asked what’s next? Clearly, he doesn’t remember Adam Cole beating him.

NXT Cruiserweight Championship: Lio Rush vs Jordan Devlin (c)

This was a first-time singles encounter, Devlin and Rush had previously met in a Three-way Dance with Tony Nese on 205 Live two weeks ago. I think you could tell these two were new opponents as their chemistry took till after the second ad-break to really click into place. Early on we saw Devlin dominating with Rush getting occasional hope spots. Once the match moved into its final stretch and became more of a 50/50 affair, it picked up a little bit but perhaps we’ve been spoilt by cruiserweight action in recent weeks on NXT as this never really seemed to click into something exciting for me. Technically very good but somewhat emotionally hollow. That said at one point Lio Rush went for his rebound springboard stunner and Devlin turned it into an elevated backbreaker and that was pretty sick. Devlin got the pin off a headbutt and the Devlin Side Saito suplex. It’ll do.

Winner: Jordan Devlin

Kayden Carter vs Chelsea Green w/ Robert Stone

I think we all know I’m not here to talk that much about the match but thew frankly bonkers decision to have Bianca Belair turn up in the middle of the match to call out Charlotte for an ‘ass-whooping’ and then roll out again, having no effect on the match at all. Just have her turn up before or after the match,  just don’t understand what they thought they’d achieve, is it meant to make her look like the cool ‘I play by my own rules’ badass? I don’t really know. Anyway, Green got her win back after Carter rolled her up a few weeks ago by using a distraction from Robert Stone to hit an inverted backdrop Unprettier neckbreaker. Let’s see where this is going before we start judging it too harshly, ok?

Winner: Chelsea Green

Roderick Strong vs Velveteen Dream

After promos threatening to murder Velveteen Dream, this was an oddly lackadaisical match with Roddy bringing no fire against the man who threatened to take his wife and child away from him (consensually mind, I continue to look at you, Damian Priest). As a result, there is basically nothing to say about this match here other than man, this was not a great return match for Velveteen Dream. Looking a little rusty after a few months of recovery, this was an interesting choice as Dream’s last prior televised match had been him losing the NXT North American Championship to Strong but this match just paled in comparison to that one which was almost a masterclass in underdog babyface fire by Dream. Here, Strong seemed to be working with more fire against Bronson Reed last week. The Dream got the pin off a Dream Valley Driver. After the match, Cole and the Gang would attack and while Dream fought them off briefly, eventually the numbers advantage overwhelmed and O’Reilly and Fish hit Total Elimination to stand tall, ending the episode. Another match that was technically solid but emotionally meh.

Winner: Velveteen Dream

One of the least essential episodes of NXT in a long time. When Adam Cole said “This is going nowhere” he wasn’t kidding. Ladies and Gentlemen, with Gargano vs Ciampa, Lee vs Dijakovic and Nox vs Kai continuing, welcome to a holding pattern.

Next Week:

Tommaso Ciampa vs Austin Theory

Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson & James Drake) vs Forgotten Sons (Steve Cutler & Wesley Blake) w/Jaxson Ryker

Finn Bálor vs ???

All images courtesy of WWE.com