Fallon Henley VS Kiana James VS Thea Hail VS Roxanne Perez: Women’s Iron Survivor Challenge Last Chance Qualifying Match
NXT kicked off this week with a Last Chance Qualifier to see who would join the Women’s Iron Survivor Challenge field at NXT Deadline as Fallon Henley, Kiana James, Thea Hail, and Roxanne Perez all looked to book their ticket to the final Premium Live Event of the year. The focus for this contest was heavily on the hate-driven feud that is currently taking place between Kiana James and Roxanne Perez and that ultimately cost both women a spot in the match as they took each other out through a table. This left Thea Hail and Fallon Henley to fight over the one remaining spot, and in the end, a Shining Wizard was enough for Henley to pick up the win. Whilst this wasn’t an amazing match, it is great to see just how far the NXT Women’s Division has come since the start of NXT 2.0. Also, Fallon winning makes sense even though I do feel like Thea Hail deserved the spot more.
Grade: B-
Wes Lee Makes an Announcement, Lola Vice VS Tatum Paxley, Meta-Four VS Alpha Academy: Six-Person Mixed Tag Team Match
Lyra Valkyria said that she’s so excited to find out who her next challengers going to be that she’s going to be in attendance at NXT Deadline this Saturday. This brought in Lola Vice who reminded Lyra that she has a Championship match whenever she wants it before Tatum Paxley walked in to defend The Morgen. Wes Lee then made his way down to the ring whilst holding a crutch in his hand. Wes talked about his amazing run in NXT and thanked all the fans for their continuous support. Lee then unfortunately broke the news that not only is he unable to compete against Dominik Mysterio for the NXT North American Championship at Deadline, he will also have to have back surgery and will be out for at least 8-to-12 months. Given everything this man’s been through, that’s incredibly sad. Dominik Mysterio then came out to mock his rival and say that he’ll just have the night off at Deadline before Rey Mysterio appeared on the screen to announce that Dominik will be defending his Championship on Saturday against none other than Dragon Lee. First of all, Dom’s only clean win as Champion was against Dragon Lee so how on earth as he got an opportunity, and second of all, I’m starting to get the feeling that this NXT North American Championship is cursed.
Grade: Ungradable
Kiana James was being talked to in the trainers’ room before Roxanne Perez just decided to attack her. This really angered Ava who said she was going to find Shawn Michaels to come up with a solution. We then got an announcement that the NXT Men’s Breakout Tournament will begin next week before it was time for the winner of this year’s NXT Women’s Breakout Tournament Lola Vice to go one-on-one with Tatum Paxley. This wasn’t really much of a match, but I was happy to see Tatum Paxley back on TV again. In the end, though, Pax couldn’t quite keep up with Vice who nailed her opponent with the Roundhouse Kick to get the victory. Not much else to add really.
Grade: C+ (Mainly because I like Paxley)
Axiom and Nathan Frazer got into a small argument/bit of miscommunication which resulted in the two agreeing to have a match later on. I was so pumped when this happened! Baron Corbin then said he’s got Ilja Dragunov exactly where he wants him before we got a clip from NXT Anonymous showing Carmelo Hayes texting someone on the same night that Trick Williams was attacked. Interesting. It was then time for some Mixed Tag Team action as Alpha Academy’s Chad Gable, Otis, and Maxxine Dupri took on Meta-Four’s Oro Mensah, Lash Legend, and the NXT Heritage Cup Champion Noam Dar. There are so many things I could say about that, but honestly, the word fun sums up it. Chad Gable is an incredible Professional Wrestler whilst Otis and Maxxine Dupri are so entertaining. I also think Lash Legend is a very underrated in-ring competitor, but she might not be anymore after she just picked up Otis and delivered a body slam in an incredible feat of strength. Elsewhere, we had Maxxine punching Oro Mensah and towards the end of the match, Dupri just took everyone out with a dive (including Otise). Back in the ring, Chad Gable reversed Noam Dar’s attempt at the Nova Roller into a horrific-looking anklelock which left the NXT Heritage Cup Champion with no choice other than to tap out. I also forgot to mention that Otis caught Lash Legend outside the ring at some point and I don’t really know what else to say!
Grade: B-
Women’s Iron Survivor Challenge Summit, Axiom VS Nathan Frazer, Carmelo Hayes VS Eddy Thorpe VS Joe Coffey VS Tyler Bate: Men’s Iron Survivor Challenge Last Chance Qualifying Match
After we got a match set up between Gallus and Hank and Tank for next week, Ava came out of Shawn Michael’s office to announce that Kiana James and Roxanne Perez will fight inside a Steel Cage at NXT Deadline this Saturday. That should be fun and I’m also glad to see Ava still being used on TV as she’s a very good talker. It was then time for a Women’s Iron Survivor Challenge Summit which was hosted by none other than Byron Saxton. To be honest, this wasn’t very good and I think Fallon Henley was the only one who actually cut a good promo. Blair Davenport’s was decent and straight to the point, but Tiffany Stratton, Lash Legend, and Kelani Jordan all seemed to struggle which was a shame. The segment ultimately ended with all 5-women brawling before security guards broke it up.
Grade: C-
I then got super excited as it was time for Axiom and Nathan Frazer to “Run it Back”. However, after a fun opening few sequences, chaos ensued as the women from the previous Iron Survivor Challenge Summit reappeared and brawled all the way into the ring which forced the match to be called off. At first, I was very annoyed about this. However, it was announced later in the show that Axiom-Frazer (4?) will take place on the NXT Deadline Kickoff Show which made me smile as those two both deserve a bigger spotlight. Also, when Blair Davenport looked to escape the wrath of her competitors, Nikkita Lyons returned to NXT to drop BD with a devastating strike. It’s nice to see Nikkita Lyons back as the timing of her injury was incredibly unfortunate.
Grade: C
We then got a Chase University Assembly where Andre Chase revealed that the reason the school is in debt is because when he couldn’t afford to pay for things at home, he took money out of the school. Chase then said that he got money back into the school from a third party, but he’s no longer in a position where he can pay them back. I’m assuming that third-party is the D’Angelo Family? Also, Duke Hudson saying he won’t sell his trophy was hilarious! Trick Williams then confronted Carmelo Hayes about the video posted by NXT Anonymous which Melo replied to by telling Trick they’d talk about it later. Lexis King then popped onto the screen to make it out like him and Hayes are friends and that they’ve been working together the whole time before it was time to see who would qualify for the final spot in this Saturday’s Men’s Iron Survivor Challenge as Carmelo Hayes looked to focus against Eddy Thorpe, Joe Coffey, and Tyler Bate. Before the match started, Eddy Thorpe said he still wants revenge on Dijak, but he won’t be getting that anytime soon as he was taken out of the match thanks to Joe Coffey dropping him onto the steel steps. This left Coffey, Bate, and Hayes to fight it out, and in the end, a Tyler Driver 97 on Coffey was enough for the Big Strong Boi to pick up the win. I thought this match was fine, but it wasn’t anywhere near as good as last week’s Fatal 4-Way. Also, after the match, Dijak appeared and just booted Eddy Thorpe over for absolutely no reason before Bron Breakker, Josh Briggs, and Trick Williams all made their cases for why they’re going to win at NXT Deadline. Predictability, this all broke out into a big brawl.
Grade: C+ (Match and Post-Match Combined)
Ilja Dragunov and Baron Corbin Come Face-to-Face
After Carmelo Hayes spoke to Ava about getting a match with Lexis King at NXT Deadline (to the confusion of Trick Williams), we then cut to the ring where Ilja Dragunov and Baron Corbin were already sitting at a desk. However, Ilja didn’t sit for long as he got very angry very quickly after Baron not only brought up his kid, but also his father. Dragunov then said that he would try to keep calm as otherwise, there wouldn’t be an NXT Championship match at Deadline. Baron then mocked Ilja some more before the segment ended with The Mad Dragon hugging Corbin in a weird and unpredictable turn of events. Whilst the ending was odd, I liked this segment overall and I’m genuinely looking forward to their match on Saturday, especially because either guy could and arguably should win. Also, the competitors in the Men’s Iron Survivor Challenge were then back and it ended with Tyler Bate standing tall so we definitely know that Bate’s not winning.
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