NXT Women’s Championship: Tiffany Stratton VS Thea Hail
After a recap package showcasing what happened on Week 1 of NXT Gold Rush, Tiffany Stratton was ready to put her NXT Women’s Championship on the line against Thea Hail. It became pretty clear early on that Thea Hail was going to target the arm of Tiffany Stratton in an attempt to soften up the champion for the Kimura Lock. She continued to do that for most of the match, but Stratton was able to use her experience to stay on top. However, Hail managed to deliver the Chase U Stomps which is always good fun and when she did finally lock in the Kimura, Charlie Dempsey pulled the ropes away from Stratton. However, Hail didn’t want to win this way so she let go before she locked the move in again on the other side and Tiffany tapped out. However, Drew Gulak had distracted the referee meaning the official didn’t see the tap and this allowed Stratton to steal a roll-up victory. After the match, Drew Gulak and Charlie Dempsey beat up Duke Hudson before Andre Chase made his long-awaited return to make the save. Andre Chase returning was great as he’s so much fun. However, that wasn’t my biggest takeaway from this segment. My biggest takeaway from the start of this week’s NXT was just how good this match between Tiffany Stratton and Thea Hail was. Tiffany and Thea hit every move superbly and they told a really good story. This match proved that there should be no doubts as to why Tiffany Stratton is the top female in NXT whilst Thea Hail pulled out a star-making performance at just 19! Really great stuff.
Grade: B+
NXT Tag Team Championships: Gallus VS Edris Enofe and Malik Blade, Schism Family Meeting
Ilja Dragunov had a video promo where he explained why he loves pain so much. This guy is definitely mad. We then got a video from last week of Dana Brooke being looked at by the medical team before Kelani Jordan walked in and said she appreciates her being in NXT. Dana said thank you before she said she’d show her a thing or two when she’s back to 100%. It was then time for the second Championship match of the night as Gallus looked to retain their NXT Tag Team Championships against Edris Enofe and Malik Blade. This match was weird as whilst there were some good moments, it just felt like the match was happening for the sake of it. Enofe and Blade are fun to watch, but even they struggled at times and I didn’t feel like Gallus did enough to make the match that much better. The interesting part came when Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo arrived and took out Edris Enofe which allowed Gallus to hit their tag team finisher to retain their titles. It was very unclear as to whether Stacks accidentally took out Enofe or if he did it on purpose as he wants to be the one who wins the gold from the Gallus Boys. Either way, whilst none of this was bad, it wasn’t exactly good either.
Grade: C+
The Meta-Four were being interviewed backstage and it became crystal clear that Noam Dar isn’t “emotionally stable enough” yet to talk about losing the NXT Heritage Cup. Whilst this could’ve been a throwaway segment, there was a really cool bit where Jakara Jackson basically challenged Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler. Fair play to her. It was then time for a Schism family meeting to try and sort out the issues that have been going on in the faction. Both Jagger Reid and Rip Fowler made it quite clear to Joe Gacy that their careers haven’t improved since forming the Schism and they’re starting to lose patience with their leader. Joe Gacy fired back with a pretty good promo about how they wouldn’t even be in this position a year ago which is true on multiple levels before Diamond Mine interrupted. The Creed Brothers and Schism went back and forth with each other before Joe Gacy challenged the Creeds to a match against the Dyad where the losing team must leave NXT. Fowler and Reid seemed really unhappy about this, but Julius and Brutus were happy to accept. Next week will probably be the last time we ever see the Dyad in NXT or WWE which would be a shame, but at least they’d be written out of the show in a good way. However, I wouldn’t be disappointed at all if Fowler and Reid were able to pick up the big win and send the Creeds up to the main roster.
Grade: C+
NXT Heritage Cup: Nathan Frazer VS Dragon Lee, Gigi Dolin VS Kiana James
Lucien Price and Bronco Nima talked about their love for American Football before Hank Walker and Tank Ledger told Axiom that him and Scrypts should form a tag team. Axiom didn’t seem too interested in this and he then congratulated Nathan Frazer on winning the NXT Heritage Cup as the Champ walked past. Frazer responded simply “Thanks old friend”. I love stuff like this for some reason, but please don’t make Axiom and Reggie a tag team. Trick Williams was then hyping Carmelo Hayes up as the A-Champion was warming up before Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley walked in and warned Melo of what would happen if he gets involved in Judgment Day business again. Something big is definitely going on here. It was then time for Nathan Frazer’s first NXT Heritage Cup defense as he battled his buddy Dragon Lee. Valentina Feroz was in the corner of Dragon Lee whilst Yulisa Leon was in the corner of Nathan Frazer and I can tell you that these two were hilarious. The action started off solid in the first round and Nathan Frazer was then able to make it 1-0 in the second round with a sunset flip/roll-up combination. The pace then picked up early in the third round and it really got going in the 4th round. Dragon Lee clearly liked this as it allowed him to level the contest up at 1-1 after he delivered his awesome Dragon Bomb. The two then went at it like they were Road Runner and it was so much fun to watch. In the end, Frazer managed to pick up the victory with just a second left on the clock in Round 5. Whilst the ending was a little bit sloppy, they still timed it to perfection and the rest of the match was fantastic. Dragon Lee’s showed his class since arriving in NXT whilst Nathan Frazer continues to be one of the most entertaining guys to watch in all of WWE.
Grade: B+
We got a video package reminding people of what Raw Underground is/was before Olympic Gold Medallist Gable Steveson trained Eddy Thorpe for his battle with Damon Kemp which takes place next week. There wasn’t much to this, but I did like Steveson saying he was going to wave to Kemp’s parents because he knows they’re going to be watching. Wes Lee and Mustafa Ali were then talking backstage and Wes told Ali that he thinks he should stick to being a “dope wrestler” from now on. Ali then responded by saying he thought he did a good job before Tyler Bate walked in and wasn’t very happy with the Heart of 205 Live. The best thing about all of this was Ali saying he’d been fair because he’d fast and slow counted for both men. Even though Ali is a great underdog babyface, there’s something about him as a heel that makes me like him even more. Mr. Stone was then walking around looking for Von Wagner and when he found him, Wagner seemed quite down. Von told Stone that talking about the pictures is too hard for him and he can’t do it anymore. Like I said last week, making Von feel like a real person makes him 100x more likeable than the giant bad guy act that he’s been playing since he debuted in NXT 2.0. Gigi Dolin then made her way down to the ring as she was about to face Kiana James in singles action. This unfortunately wasn’t very good at all. The pace was slow and both women looked very short on confidence. Considering how good Stratton/Hail was, it’s quite concerning that two women that debuted earlier would be so much weaker than two other people that debuted at a later date. Gigi managed to pick up the victory with the Gigi Driver before Kiana James attacked her with her bag and spilled paint all over her.
Grade: C-
Tony D’Angelo was visited by Joe Coffey who revealed to The Don that things aren’t what they seem. He then played a video which saw Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo claim that he’s going to be the new Don. After what took place in the NXT Tag Team Championships match from earlier in the night, I am so confused as to what Stacks motives are. We then got a clip from NXT UP which saw Blair Davenport attack Roxanne Perez. The two will have a match next week and hopefully, that should be a pretty decent encounter. Jacy Jayne was then trash-talking Lyra Valkyria in front of a bunch of people (which included Tatum Paxley) before she turned around and got punched in the face by Valkyria. The Valkyrie then left as Rhea Ripley walked by. Ripley seemed quite impressed by Lyra which is interesting. The Dyad weren’t happy backstage and Ava had to calm them down by telling them that Joe Gacy must have a plan. Rip Fowler and Jagger Reid then said “he must have or else we will”. Cool.
NXT Championship: Carmelo Hayes VS Baron Corbin
The Main Event of Week 2 of NXT Gold Rush saw the NXT Championship on the line as Champion Carmelo Hayes faced Challenger Baron Corbin. Baron Corbin came out to his old entrance theme, old titantron, and in his “Lone Wolf” attire which looked pretty cool, but it’s a shame that he didn’t use the “I Bring the Darkness” theme song as that’s one of my all-time favourites. Carmelo used his quickness to stay in the fight, but it was mostly Baron in control as he used his considerable size and power advantage to full display. At one point, Corbin was absolutely battering Hayes like it was the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home and he nearly picked up the victory with a fantastic Deep Six that looked absolutely incredible. However, Corbin made one error which cost him dearly as Melo dropped him onto the ring apron before he delivered Nothin’ but Net to pick up the victory and retain his NXT title. I thought this was another really good match and whilst it wasn’t as good as some of the other matches that have taken place over this two-week special event, it still told a good story. Also, Baron Corbin looked great which is exactly how someone of his talent should look whilst Carmelo Hayes continues to prove why he’s both the A-Champion and HIM.
Commentaires