6 Ups And 2 Downs For WWE NXT (Feb 10)

1. Soooooooon To Be Recognised As 2021 Dusty Cup Winners?

Putting Undisputed Era in the rear-view mirror last week, NXT's resident odd couple, Timothy Thatcher and Tommaso Ciampa, found themselves going up against last year's finalists The Grizzled Young Veterans in a Dusty Cup semi final main event.

Zac Gibson quickly ripped apart the two's "fake friendship" on the mic, leading to an all-out brawl before the bell had even rang. Luckily, things died down long enough for the teams to get the match underway, with Thatcher quickly grounding Gibson with some devastating knees to the mid section. Before long, though, GYV's experience as a unit paid dividends as the two took out both Ciampa and Thatcher individually, taking full control of the contest.

This left Thatcher with the tall order of having to fight off the former NXT UK Tag Team Champions on his lonesome, something 'Toothless Timmy' found to be an arduous task. Arduous, but not impossible as Thatch was able to hold the duo off long enough for Ciampa to recover his strength and bulldoze through the grizzled twosome. Yet, just when it looked like the pair were about to repeat the trick that scored them the victory against UE, nailing their rival with a Willow's Bell out of nowhere, Gibson defended James Drake from being drilled. This ultimately set up a Ticket To Mayhem conclusion, securing GYV their ticket for the Dusty Cup final.

MSK soon arrived to talk smack against their Vengeance Day opponents, with the rest of the Vengeance Day line-up all taking a moment to bark at each other on the ramp as the NXT commentators hyped up the Sunday show.

The last-gasp attempt to drum up anticipation for TakeOver may have felt a bit forced, but the match preceding it deserves to be celebrated as a moment of NXT doing what it does best; throwing two hard-hitting units at each other and letting the lot of them beat lumps out of each other for our entertainment. You love to see it.