Generation NXT - NXT recap for August 17, 2021

Malcolm Bivens and Diamond Mine (Roderick Strong and ???) are in the ring. Bivens says KUSHIDA is a coward and a liar who does not want to defend his Cruiserweight Championship against Roderick Strong, who wants a match while he wants his payday. (Earlier in the day, it had been reported that KUSHIDA is not medically cleared and therefore will not be able to compete tonight.) Bivens says that whatever Roderick Strong wants, Roderick Strong gets, and issues an open challenge that is answered by Ilja Dragunov.

Ilja Dragunov beats Roderick Strong. After the match, Dragunov calls out Walter, but to no avail.

We see a Prime Target video package for Adam Cole vs. Kyle O'Reilly at NXT TakeOver 36.

Hit Row (Isaiah "Swerve" Scott, Ashante "Thee" Adonis, Top Dolla, B-Fab) head to the ring. B-Fab talks about how Santos Escobar ripped the grill out of Swerve's mouth and thought Hit Row would play games, then Adonis and Top Dolla tell Escobar not to play with them before Swerve tells Escobar he will beat him down on sight. Escobar shows up on the TitanTron and says that he got the message that he disrespected Hit Row's culture after Hit Row burned a luchador message, and while he wants to return Swerve's grill, he does not trust the rest of Hit Row. After Escobar says that he is alone in the parking lot and willing to give the grill back, Swerve takes him up on his offer, but sees Joaquin Wilde and Raul Mendoza coming and turns around to fight them only to be ganged up on. The rest of Hit Row show up and even the odds, and B-Fab has to use a metal pipe as an equalizer to help Hit Row come out on top in the brawl and help Swerve get his grill back from Escobar, who gets slammed repeatedly into a steel door.

In a WWE digital exclusive, LA Knight offers Josh Briggs $10,000 to hurt Cameron Grimes before NXT TakeOver 36 at the Performance Center.

We hear from Imperium (Walter, Fabian Aichner, Marcel Barthel). Walter says it is about Aichner and Barthel, and Barthel says that teams like MSK (Nash Carter and Wes Lee) do not belong in the same ring as Imperium, who the fans need for a brighter future for NXT. Aichner says that their brighter future will have no room for MSK, whom he and Barthel will make an example out of tonight. Walter says they are here to protect and restore the honor of professional wrestling.

"The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase guests on commentary for the next match, with LA Knight also joining soon afterwards.

Cameron Grimes beats Josh Briggs. After the match, LA Knight attacks both "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase and Cameron Grimes.

Backstage, Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae endure Indi Hartwell's details about her date with Dexter Lumis before Indi says she is taking their relationship to the next level. Lumis shows up, and Gargano is surprised to hear that Lumis enjoyed the cake from last week.

Backstage, McKenzie Mitchell interviews Zoey Stark and Io Shirai. Zoey says they are two very different people trying to understand each other, but Io Shirai says it is not about liking her and about defending the women's tag team titles.

Dexter Lumis and Indi Hartwell beat Robert Stone and Jessi Kamea after Indi makes Jessi tap to Silence. After the match, Indi gets some advice from Beth Phoenix and proposes to Dexter Lumis. Lumis takes off his left glove, and Indi puts a ring with an eyeball on it on his ring finger before Indi kisses him. Indi and Dexter are now engaged.

Backstage, McKenzie Mitchell interviews Roderick Strong. Malcolm Bivens says that Ilja Dragunov is a heavyweight and that tonight's match never happened, and that Roderick Strong is still in line for the Cruiserweight title before telling McKenzie that she talks to him next time, not Roderick Strong.

Beth Phoenix interviews both Raquel Gonzalez and Dakota Kai. Raquel says that when she first showed up, she knew what she was walking into and knew it was only a matter of time before Dakota Kai would betray her. After Dakota tells Raquel that her crystal ball will not help her against her, and Raquel says that while Dakota is the last one left, she will not take the NXT Women's title off of her. Dakota says Raquel is more delusional than she thought, saying that she kicked her in the face before she got her hands up and that she didn't teach her everything she knows, then says she made her and that she can break her and take the Women's title from her. Raquel says that Dakota Kai is one of the best, but she has no bones in her body and gets jealous when someone is a bigger star than her. She says she solved so many of her problems, but she is on her own for this one. Dakota tells Raquel that she can call her whatever she wants, but in five days, she will call her "NXT Women's Champion." Raquel simply tells Dakota "Good luck...psychic."

Carmelo Hayes beats Duke Hudson to advance to the finals of the NXT Breakout Tournament. After the match, Samantha Irvin interviews Carmelo Hayes, who says that he called his shot two weeks ago and kept his word against men two or three times his size, and tells Odyssey Jones that he is "the final boss." Odyssey Jones shows up and says that after he wins, the fans are going to sound the alarm.

We hear from Jacy Jayne, who tells to step aside or become roadkill. She says that she and Gigi Dolin have been caged for far too long and that they are about to break free.

Backstage, "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase meets with Cameron Grimes in the trainer's room and apologizes for the situation he put them in. Grimes says he put himself in this situation after he took DiBiase's opportunity to become a champion and dropped the ball. He then says that when he stopped believing himself, DiBiase was there to believe in him. He then rips his shirt off and says he is a champion, not a butler, and after NXT TakeOver 36, they will be Million Dollar Champions going to the moon. DiBiase laughs and says "That's my Cameron!"

MSK (Nash Carter and Wes Lee) retains the NXT Tag Team Championships against Imperium (Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel) after Walter shows up to watch the match from up close only to brawl with Ilja Dragunov, which distracts Aichner and Barthel. After the match, Walter single-handedly decimates MSK. Dragunov fights Imperium, but the numbers game quickly takes over and Imperium comes out on top. As Imperium is about to celebrate, Walter puts Dragunov in a sleeper hold.

We hear from Pete Dunne and Ridge Holland. Dunne says that what happened to Ilja Dragunov last week are why people should not stand up to them, and Ridge Holland says that he does not care about Tommaso Ciampa or Timothy Thatcher, but he respects being challenged by them. After saying that he has pushed past tough men to get to a fight, Dunne says that it has been ten long months and it is time for Ridge Holland to make a name for himself. Ridge Holland then says that next week, he will be seeing Ciampa and Thatcher.

Samoa Joe heads to the ring. Joe says that venom seeps through his lips when he talks about Karrion Kross, and says that he has been expecting one more face-to-face meeting in which to verbally eviscerate him, then says it is pointless as he is a man who is here to hurt him. He tells Kross to tuck his clock in his back pocket and get in the ring, and Karrion Kross shows up and says it is not about either of them, but about the future of NXT, and that Joe will not become a champion after more than a year off. He then summons security over to the ring and calls it protection for Samoa Joe, then says that Joe doesn't have a chance and that he will drop him quickly. Joe quickly punches Karrion Kross and levels all of the security guards before beating Karrion Kross around the ring. Referees and more security arrive as Kross rams Joe into the ring steps. Kross tries to put Joe through the announce table, but Joe fights back and puts Kross through some fencing on the barricade, and at this point, even members of the locker room have to help separate both men as they break through the barricade back to ringside.

Here are the top ten moments from tonight's show!