NXT returns tonight (Feb. 26) from Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida. They are building towards TakeOver: Tampa on April 4th.
- Charlotte vs. Bianca Belair
- Tommaso Ciampa vs. Austin Theory
- Watch Finn Bálor’s next move.
As per usual, here are our five questions about NXT tonight:
1) What’s next for Finn Bálor?
Finn has been on a roll since returning to the black and gold.
He only has one loss under his belt, and that was a defeat at the hands of NXT Champion Adam Cole in a championship match because of a distraction from Johnny Gargano. So a loss against a high profile opponent that was somewhat protected.
Otherwise, he has won all his big matches, including his TakeOver match against Johnny Gargano the other week. So what’s next?
It really could be anything. And it should be big.
One option is a NXT title match. He’s surely positioned well enough for it. The only issue is it looks like Velveteen Dream has that spot. They could go with a triple threat match if they want him in the title picture sooner than later.
The North American title is an option, though Finn competing for the promotion’s secondary title seems beneath him. A feud with Keith Lee isn’t beneath him though. So if there’s a personal issue added to it, that could be a way they go.
With Tommaso Ciampa tied up with Johnny Gargano, there’s not another top guy for Finn to feud with. It doesn’t leave many other options and given how strong he’s been booked, the next thing for him needs to be something big. Tonight’s announcement should be interesting.
2) Is this going to be the end of the line for Bianca?
It was surprising when they announced Bianca Belair vs. Charlotte Flair so quickly. I figured they’d tease it out a couple weeks or even run it at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view. Instead, Bianca challenged last week and the match happens this week.
If the Queen picks up a clean win here, that’ll be it for the EST of NXT in this program. So if Belair is going to be part of this program for longer, this finish will need to leave some question. Maybe Rhea Ripley interferes. Maybe it isn’t a clean finish in general and instead they go with something like a double count out.
If tonight is the only match, hopefully they give it plenty of time because this is a match I’m really looking forward to.
3) Does Johnny return tonight?
After costing Tommaso Ciampa at TakeOver: Portland, Johnny Gargano decided to skip last week’s episode of NXT. That allowed Ciampa to get the first words in, and make an enemy out of rookie Austin Theory.
Ciampa will fight Theory tonight. Will Gargano return to continue targeting his friend turned enemy turned friend turned enemy?
We are still waiting an explanation from Johnny Wrestling. Yes, we can assume it’s because of all the bad things Tommaso did to him in the past. But that wouldn’t explain why Johnny turned his back on who he is to do so.
4) How does Theory fare?
This is no doubt Austin Theory’s biggest match in his early NXT career.
Last week, he kind of played the clown, continuing to step to Ciampa and never learning his lesson. That’s something I had no problem with. His motives made sense, not wanting to be upstaged by anyone. He just should have exercised caution. It was kinda dumb on his part to keep trying to attack a focused Tommaso.
Austin’s not winning tonight. The best he can hope for is a DQ finish if Gargano interferes. But he could still look good.
He’ll surely hang with Tommaso. There aren’t many matches within the WWE that aren’t very competitive unless they are squash matches. (This is actually a mini-gripe I have as I feel there should be matches in between to help create that parity between levels of talent.) This probably won’t be a squash match, though after last week, I wouldn’t completely bet against it. So Theory will likely end up hanging with one of NXT’s best tonight.
5) Are we getting a Dominik Dijakovic heel turn?
Keith Lee and Dominik Dijakovic left their North American title match still respecting each other. There was always a possibility that another loss would cause Dominik to snap. But that didn’t happen.
However now he’s channeling his inner Christian and asking for one more match, something that Keith Lee is more than happy to give him.
If they wrestle again, and the ending is the same, the heel turn is even more likely. Because there’s only so many times you can lose that match and not eventually snap because of it. Just look at what happened to Christian.
We’ll see if we get answers to any of these questions tonight at 8 PM ET on USA Network.