Grayson Waller VS Apollo Crews
NXT 2.0 kicked off this week with a match between Grayson Waller and Apollo Crews. This match was fine but didn’t feel as big as it maybe should have. Earlier on in the match, Waller accidentally poked Crews in the eye which affected him. Waller definitely meant to do it the second time though and he got the victory because of it. Waller is a good heal and could potentially be the next challenger for either Bron Breakker or Tyler Bate. So far, Apollo’s return to NXT hasn’t gone as well as I thought it was going to.
Grade: C
Balor and Breakker, NXT Women’s Tag Team Championship match
Bron Breakker was backstage before he was interrupted by Finn Balor. The Prince told the young champion to not underestimate his opponent on Sunday.
Back in the ring, NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions Katana Chance and Kayden Carter defended their titles against Diamond Mine’s Ivy Nile and Tatum Paxley. Paxley was wrestling with a face guard due to an injury she suffered in training. The match was fine but the angles where more important. Toxic Attraction’s Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne distracted Nile allowing the KCs to get the win. By the looks of it, Dolin is still suffering with an injury as she didn’t get involved in anything physical. After the match, Raw’s Doudrop and Nikki A.S.H. came out and challenged the champions to a match at Worlds Collide. That should be pretty decent.
Grade: C+
The Schism and Cameron Grimes
Kiana James was in her office and announced that she would be exposing Zoey Stark later on in the night in their match. In the ring, Joe Gacy was holding a sort of celebration of the Schism. He gave both Rip Fowler and Jagger Reid pins with happy faces on because of their victory over Legado Del Fantasma last week. Gacy then asked Grimes to join them and after coming down to the ring, the richest man in NXT said he doesn’t need anyone. As Grimes was about to leave, Gacy mentioned Grimes father, and this angered him to the point where he attacked Gacy’s men. I don’t really understand where this feud is going to be honest.
Grade: C
Roxanne Perez had her own video package talking about her friendship with Cora Jade and why it is time to move on. After this, Tyler Bate was talking to BUTCH on a video call. The former Pete Dunne told Bate that he needed to win for the legacy of NXT UK. This was cool as these two faced off in the inaugural WWE United Kingdom Championship match.
Briggs, Jensen and Henley VS Pretty Deadly and Lash Legend, more backstage segments
Josh Briggs, Brooks Jensen and Fallon Henley took on Pretty Deadly and Lash Legend. This match wasn’t great but there was a really cool dive from Fallon which was assisted by the NXT UK Tag Team Champions. The more important part of this was Gallus got involved which meant that Pretty Deadly where able to take advantage and picked up the win. Progressed the story but that’s about it.
Grade: C-
Backstage, Mandy Rose was on the phone asking where her fellow Toxic Attraction members where before Shayna Baszler told Rose that a loss would not only be costly for NXT but also for Mandy herself. This was good. JD McDonagh then cut a backstage promo on how emotionally weak Wes Lee is.
Andre Chase VS Charlie Dempsey, Backstage segments, Stark VS James
Andre Chase took on the debuting Charlie Dempsey. This was a very technical match, a very different one to the normal Andre Chase matches and he managed to get the win with a roll up. Dempsey looks like a pretty decent talent and him losing doesn’t hurt him too much. Chase is a massive fan favourite and is definitely improving. This was solid developmental wrestling.
Grade: C+
Meiko Satomura was shown entering the building before an interaction with Alba Fyre. They both referenced their feud in NXT UK and Fyre told her to win for NXT UK. All of these segments where cool and it got even better when Tyler Bate came face to face with the Ring General Gunther. Gunther said he wanted to see a performance from Tyler Bate like the one he delivered against Gunther in Cardiff. All of this was great.
Grade: A
Zoey Stark had her first match back after her defeat against Mandy Rose and she won with her really cool knee strike finisher. After the match, James attempted to attack Stark from behind, but her attempt was thwarted by Nikkita Lyons. It looks like these two may genuinely become a proper unit.
Grade: C-
Backstage segments and Gallus VS Diamond Mine
Blair Davenport was backstage cutting a promo saying she was going to make history before Rhea Ripley told her too not screw up her opportunity. Rhea was a good fit for this as she is the only person to have held both the NXT and NXT UK Women’s Championships. Nathan Frazer and Axiom then had a fun segment where Frazer was reading a Seth Rollins comic which is a nice touch and he said to Axiom that it’s a shame that he never got to take part in the UK Brand which is funny as Axiom is a rebranded A-Kid, who did a lot on NXT UK. They then agreed to compete in a rounds match, and this was also good as he said that Axiom probably doesn’t know what that is, and the superhero laughed as he was the first ever heritage cup champion (the trophy is defended in Rounds matches).
Gallus took on Diamond Mine in a solid 3-on-3 encounter. The Creed Brothers are a really good team and Gallus look pretty good too. Roderick Strong came down to the ring which ultimately cost his fellow team members as Joe Coffey beat Damon Kemp. A massive brawl then started between Gallus, Diamond Mine, Pretty Deadly and Briggs and Jensen and it had to be broken up by both security guards and other members of the roster. They all compete in a fatal 4-way match on Sunday which should be pretty good.
Grade: B-
Ciampa and Breakker, Melo and Ricochet
Ciampa returned to NXT to have a chat with his former ally and rival Bron Breakker. He told Bron that this brand and the NXT Championship means so much to him and Bron better win on Sunday. All of these segments where really cool as they made both NXT and NXT UK feel like bigger deals than before the show started. Also, not having any interaction between the competitors in the two World Championship matches was something different but I think it worked well.
Carmelo Hayes then stormed to the ring and was furious that the A Champion was not going to be on Worlds Collide. Just as he was about to leave, the one and only Ricochet returned home and challenged Hayes to a match on Sunday. This means that Worlds Collide features superstars from NXT, NXT UK, Raw and SmackDown which is pretty cool. These two are both super talented and this could be a major victory for Hayes. Ricochet laid both Trick Williams and the A Champion out to stand tall holding up the championship. A good way to end NXT.
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