WWE NXT TakeOver Vengeance Day advertised the men’s and women’s Dusty Classic tag team finals, Finn Balor vs. Pete Dunne, Io Shirai vs. Toni Storm vs. Mercedes Martinez and Johnny Gargano vs. KUSHIDA.
Last week’s broadcast of WWE NXT garnered one of its lowest numbers of all time with just 558,000 viewers up against cable news coverage of the impeachment trial.
WWE NXT Ratings, Last Five Weeks
- February 10, 2021—558,000
- February 3, 2021—610,000
- January 27, 2021—720,000
- January 20, 2021—659,000
- January 13, 2021—551,00o
WWE NXT Vengeance Day—Key Competition
- NBA Sunday Slate
Pro Wrestling Bits—Is WWE’s Edge Overpowered
WWE NXT Total YouTube Viewership Last Week: 1,585,054 (Down from 2,961,854 views)
- Most-Viewed: Shotzi Blackheart and Ember Moon vs. Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell (285,207 views)
- Least-Viewed: Finn Balor and Pete Dunne Collision Course (36,927 views)
- Median Viewership: 135,786 views
WWE NXT TakeOver Vengeance Day Results—Wednesday, February 14, 2021
Raquel Gonzalez and Dakota Kai def. Shotzi Blackheart and Ember Moon—Women’s Dusty Classic Finals
Josiah Williams had an absolute fire rap in the introductory video package.
Ember Moon and Shotzi Blackheart actually felt like a legit tag team during their entrance where they both wore horror-inspired coveralls and facepaint.
This was easily Ember Moon’s best match since her return.
Kai and Gonzalez will be facing Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler and WWE would be wise to use this opportunity to put Gonzalez over fellow monster heel in Nia Jax.
Johnny Gargano vs. KUSHIDA—WWE NXT North American Championship
This was never going to be the level of a Johnny TakeOver match given the mostly empty arena, but I’ll be damned if these two didn’t try to make it just that.
Johnny Gargano sent The Way to go looking for Austin Theory during his entrance, yet strangely none of that played into the match. I’m glad. The only thing that would have ruined a match like this was outside interference.
MSK def. Grizzled Young Veterans—Men’s Dusty Classic Finals
The Grizzled Young Veterans are usually hit-or-miss during their pre-match promos, but thankfully they saved their best for NXT TakeOver.
The first half of this match was a Grizzled Young Vets match with very little high-flying. That is, until Wes Lee tagged in like a house afire.
In a surprise twist, the most insane high spot came from the Grizzled Young Vets who hit a Doomsdsay Device/Suicide Dive combo.
MSK getting emotional after their wins is slowly becoming part of their gimmick. Their two wins away from becoming Dick Vermeil.
Io Shirai def. Toni Storm and Mercedes Martinez
These women went right into the match, and didn’t even wait for the ring announcements as they knew they had a tough act to follow and needed to get to work immediately.
This match benefited by becoming the first match to use a lighting rig for a high spot.
Io Shirai won this match in the most heelish way possible by vulturing a win from the woman she still hasn’t beaten.
Finn Balor def. Pete Dunne—WWE NXT Championship
From the opening bell this match was determined to be different from anything on the show as these two went heavy on the mat wrestling. It actually played perfectly into the story of who is the best European wrestler with both men working a British strong style.
I feared this entire match would be the type of self-indulgent technical submission clinic that runs NXT viewers off from Timothy Thatcher segments every week, but it deftly built to a crescendo.
Finn Balor ripped Pete Dunne’s mouthpiece right out of his mouth and then kicked him square in the face like a G.
I like Karrion Kross, but WWE NXT really needs to be building this promotion around Pete Dunne.
This postmortem of this match finally saw the beginning of the end of the Undisputed Era with Adam Cole super kicking Kyle O’Reilly.
