Carmelo Hayes VS Apollo Crews, Axiom VS Trick Williams
NXT kicked off 2023 with a cool video package highlighting what had happened on the brand in 2022. This was really good. It was then time for their first match of the year as Carmelo Hayes took on Apollo Crews. This was a solid match that highlighted just how good Hayes is. Early on in the match, Carmelo injured the left leg of Apollo Crews and he targeted for the rest of the match. In the end, Crews’ knee went and this allowed Melo to hit “Nothin but Net” to get the victory. This was the victory that surely sets Carmelo up as the next challenger for the NXT Championship.
Grade: B
After the match, Axiom showed up and laid out both Hayes and Williams and when we came back from the ad break, Axiom was battling Trick Williams in a one-on-one contest. I actually thought this was pretty decent; Axiom is fantastic whilst Trick Williams has improved massively from when he first showed up in NXT. In the end, Axiom was able to pick up the win with the Golden Ratio but he was then attacked by Trick and Melo after the match. Apollo Crews came out to make the save so I’m guessing we’re going to get a tag match in a few weeks' time.
Grade: B-
Dijak VS Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo, NXT Women’s Division
The New Day were backstage asking Pretty Deadly for more gifts before The Schism came up to them and demanded why they hadn’t spoken to them yet. The New Day took the mick out of their looks before Joe Gacy took a dig at Big E. After a little bit more back-and-forth talking, Kofi Kingston challenged Joe Gacy to a match for later on in the night. Gacy accepted. We then cut to footage from earlier on in the day where we saw that Dijak had kidnapped Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo. Dijak said he would make Stacks suffer before Lorenzo challenge Dijak to a match. I love how NXT management didn’t care about the fact that Stacks was missing for a week. Drew Gulak was then teaching some of the Chase U students some in-ring techniques and this seemed to bother Andre Chase before he made them all leave. It was then time for that match between Dijak and Stacks. Dijak was mostly on top for this match as expected and he ended up getting the win with the “Feast Your Eyes”. I’ve been very impressed with how much better Stacks has gotten inside the ring but I’m still not convinced with Dijak. Anyway, he went to attack Stacks again after the match but D’Angelo ran him off before he challenged him to a match for next week's New Year’s Evil show. No triple-threat match then.
Grade: C
Oro Mensah was finally back and he was being interviewed by McKenzie Mitchell before Javier Bernal announced that he has now released a Christmas album. When Mitchell asked why he’s done it so late, Bernal said that “anyone could release a Christmas album in December but I’m not anyone”. He then said that his album has 15 songs on it and it includes songs called “Have a Big Body Christmas” and “Feliz Javidad”! I genuinely think that Bernal has one of the best characters on this entire show. Toxic Attraction then came out and said that they are going to rebuild their “Toxic Empire” and that starts with taking the NXT Women’s Championship off of Roxanne Perez. Indi Hartwell then came out and said that there should now be some new blood at the top of the women’s division before Cora Jade came out and made the argument that she’s already beaten Roxanne Perez. Nikkita Lyons then said that she deserves the opportunity before Zoey Stark took the mick out of her. Wendy Choo then dissed both Zoey Stark and Cora Jade (whilst wearing a mermaid onesie) before Thea Hail screamed “Girl Fight”. Pretty much every female member of the roster then came out and started to brawl in the ring before Roxanne Perez stood on the platform and said that there will be a 20-Woman Battle Royal next week where the winner will get a shot at the champ at NXT Vengeance Day. Overall, this wasn’t very good. Not one of the promos that were cut was particularly good which was a shame. In terms of who I think is going to win, I’m picking a returning Tiffany Stratton.
Grade: C-
Alba Fyre VS Isla Dawn: Extreme Resolution Match, Oro Mensah VS Javier Bernal
During the women’s brawl, Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn went off and fought in the parking lot. We then came back from the ad break and the two were fighting in their warehouse area. Alba won out here by dropping her off of a platform before she put her opponent in a wheelbarrow and carried her down to the ring so the match could officially start. Dawn kept attempting to break Fyre’s fingers with different tools from a toolbox but Fyre was just about able to stay out of dodge. In the end, Fyre set Dawn up on the table on the outside of the ring and as she went to the top rope, Isla just started to smile at her. Fyre hit her Swanton bomb onto Dawn but it didn’t break so Alba hit the “Gory Bomb” through the table before she rolled her into the ring and picked up the victory. This was a pretty decent match altogether and I am impressed with Isla Dawn’s in-ring ability. I’m also not 100% sure if this feud is over or not.
Grade: B-
Grayson Waller was backstage taking the mick out of both Bron Breakker and McKenzie Mitchell before we got an inside look into the feud between Indus Sher and the Creed Brothers. Veer and Sanga cut a promo about how they are celebrities in India but nobody cares about them in America before the Creed Brothers said they are pushovers to nobody. I actually thought this was pretty good, I really like Indus Sher and the Creed Brothers are excellent. Also, the fact that Indus Sher were putting over the Creed’s as the best NXT tag team in 2022 but made it clear that that wouldn’t be the case in 23 was pretty cool. I’m looking forward to their match next week. Oro Mensah made his return to the ring on NXT tv but he was quickly attacked by Javier Bernal during his entrance. Big Body Javi got a decent amount of offense in this match but he wasn’t going to pick up the win against the returning superstar. In the end, Mensah got the victory with his corner dropkick thing. Javier Bernal is one of my favorite acts in NXT, but he does need to start winning whilst Oro Mensah needs to show a lot more if he is going to become a main focal point on NXT television.
Grade: C-
Andre Chase VS Drew Gulak, Kofi Kingston VS Joe Gacy
Josh Briggs, Brooks Jensen and Fallon Henley were celebrating Henley’s victory from last week before Kiana James came up to Fallon and congratulated her on her victory last week. Kiana then asked Jensen to text her later. After a quick thing with Katana Chance and Kayden Carter, it was time for two teachers to do battle as Andre Chase took on Drew Gulak. At multiple points in the match, the two would shake hands after a bit of technical offense but a certain move that Chase did pissed off Gulak to the point where he adopted a more aggressive style before he locked in the Gu-Lock to get the victory. This was an alright match that showcased that Gulak is a tremendous technical wrestler whilst Mr. Chase continues to be over with the crowd.
Grade: C
Wes Lee was backstage and he was talking about how D’Angelo and Dijak clearly can’t stand each other before Wes said that the winner of the Tony D V Dijak match will earn a shot at the North American Championship. Wes’ title run hasn’t been very good. We’ve had two big NXT shows since Halloween Havoc (when he won the belt) and he hasn’t/won’t be on either of them. It was then time for a match between Kofi Kingston and Joe Gacy. Xavier Woods was on commentary and he did a good job of winding up Booker T. Also, it was nice to see someone being on Vic’s side for once. The match itself was pretty solid, Kingston is a really good wrestler whilst Joe Gacy is one of NXT’s best. In the end, Kofi Kingston was able to pick up the win with “Trouble in Paradise”. It was nice to see Gacy getting a match with a former WWE Champion but I do have to question it. The Schism were on a roll before this and a loss could hurt them. Hopefully, they hold off on a match with the Dyad.
Grade: B-
The Grayson Waller Effect
Drew Gulak was celebrating backstage with Hank Walker before Hank asked Gulak why he didn’t let go of the submission (after he beat Chase). Gulak said that it doesn’t matter because he won before Charlie Dempsey came up to him and said that whether he is injured or not, he will fight Walker on next week's show. The New Day once again told Pretty Deadly that they needed to get everything on their list before they get a tag team title shot but the boys from Essex said that they had had enough and would win a gauntlet match next week to earn a shot at the titles. I’m guessing they’re going to lose that match. I was then happy as it was time for another edition of the Grayson Waller Effect. As always, I talk about some of the best live comments that come up and this week there were: “Waller is too good for this world”, “Grayson is an elite Chess player” and “I can’t wait to listen to Feliz Javidad”. When Bron Breakker came out, Grayson kept trying to get under Breakker’s skin but the champ was playing it pretty cool. Waller then read out a question from a guy called @GraysonWallerWWE before Bron talked about all the viral moments that Waller has done in his time in NXT. Waller finally made Breakker snap by saying “all you’ve done is steal your dad’s gimmick” and Bron laid Waller out with his military press powerslam before he did a dive over the top rope. Overall, this was good. Waller is fantastic and Bron cut a good promo too. I’m looking forward to their big match next week at NXT New Year’s Evil.
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