WWE NXT preview (Nov. 2, 2021): Make or breakk

NXT 2.0 returns tonight (Nov. 2) live from the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida!

Advertised for the show:

• Johnny Gargano & Dexter Lumis vs. Carmelo Hayes & Trick Williams
• Von Wagner & Kyle O’Reilly vs. Legado Del Fantasma (Joaquin Wilde & Raul Mendoza)
• Cameron Grimes bets it all in Duke Hudson’s Poker Room
• Tony D’Angelo finally appears on Lashing Out with Lash Legend

As usual, here are our five questions about NXT tonight:

1) What’s the next step in Bron Breakker’s development?

After a show with four championship matches, it’s always worth wondering what’s next for the wrestlers involved. But that’s of particular importance for young Master Breakker.

We already know he’s headed across the pond to work on some main roster house shows with the man who bested him at Halloween Havoc, NXT titleholder Tommaso Ciampa, and former NXT champ Sami Zayn. Bron’s probably not headed to Raw or SmackDown full-time just yet, though (I’m guessing he’s a surprise entrant in the 2022 Royal Rumble and a post-WrestleMania 38 call-up, but we shall see). That means he’ll need another program on Tuesday nights. It needs to start soon, and it needs to pull off the hat trick of being entertaining, making him look like a star, and providing his trainers with a look at his development.

Putting Breakker in another face vs. face feud doesn’t make a ton of sense, but there actually aren’t a ton of established heels on the 2.0 roster. It’s probably a little too risky to see if Bron can carry another newcomer in a feud, so that pretty much leaves the choices as guys like LA Knight or Santos Escobar.

Either could be good, and would give us a look at different aspects of Rick Steiner’s son’s game. I’d probably go with Knight first, which would give Breakker plenty of mic time, and matches with a safe opponent who’s at a stage in his career where he should be putting over up-and-comers. Then move him into an Escobar rivalry that’ll let him spread his wings in the ring a little more.

But I don’t have the pencil, or nearly as much invested in Bron’s future. We’ll see what the folks who do decide.

2) Are we actually going to get more Dakota Kai vs. Raquel González?

This would seem pretty obvious after Kai was the “Mysterious Superstar” who returned, costing her old partner her NXT Women’s title in the process. New champ Mandy Rose should be headed off to feud with big names like Kay Lee Ray and (the somehow still on the developmental show) Io Shirai, leaving the dance floor clear for Dakota and Raquel to renew hostilities.

But González was working dark matches before SmackDown last Friday, and this wouldn’t the first time NXT built up to a return that seemed to restart something only to promote one of the wrestlers and forget all about it.

It’s not clear where Kai fits in as veteran heel in the Toxic Attraction era, but if she’s sticking around in 2.0, having the Diesel to her HBK put her over before Raquel heads to the main roster would make sense. Speaking of Raw and SmackDown...

3) Should MSK head to the main roster?

Wes Lee & Nash Carter dropped their NXT Tag belts to Imperium last Tuesday, right around the time we got confirmation that the boos the duo get at the PC started with a pair of disgruntled showbiz parent-types. So why not move them up?

The pair have television with experience via their days on Impact, and have been in WWE long enough to learn what the company expects. Their offense will get them over with pretty much any wrestling audience that doesn’t have a grudge against them. And while tag wrestling isn’t exactly the focus of Raw or SmackDown, it’s not like they’re main eventing on Tuesdays, either.

MSK have won the Dusty Classic and been Tag champs, so there’s not much more for them to do in NXT. Rather than use social media to try to convince the Orlando faithful to cheer them, why not share them with crowds that will.

4) Could we be headed to a Lash Legend/Tony D’Angelo alliance?

While my partner in blog is focused on Duke Hudson’s poker gimmick (which I don’t love, but competing with cards transfers to competing at anything else well enough for me, and it’s not like plenty of violence hasn’t sprung from poker tables throughout history), I’m more fixated on whatever’s going on Tony D and NXT’s daytime host.

D’Angelo is supposed to finally appear on Lashing Out tonight, after kidnapping Legend’s producer when he was turned away from the set a couple weeks back. This would be a workable set-up for a feud, but it would have to an intergender one. Neither performer’s introduced a partner that could wrestle the other in their stead. So what exactly is going on here? Help me understand what wanting to be a guest on a talk show has to do with pro wrestling.

The only thing I can think of is that these two are going to decide they love each other when they finally meet, and maybe Lash will manage our favorite heir to a waste management empire.

5) When will people realize they can’t take on Diamond Mine one at a time?

To their credit, Kushida and Ikemen Jiro have at least started to figure this out. But if they really think they’re gonna get a straight-up tag match against The Creeds without Malcolm Bivens, Roderick Strong, Hachiman and/or Ivy Nile getting involved? We’re gonna need Wade Barrett to bust out his old gimmick to make a delivery.

But if these cats teams up with Odyssey Jones? They’d still be outnumbers, but I’d like their chances a lot more.

Give us your questions and answers in the comments below. Then join us in our live blog, and we’ll see what Qs and As tonight’s show gives us.