Carmelo Hayes Appears, Axiom and Nathan Frazer VS Edris Enofe and Malik Blade
NXT started this week with Carmelo Hayes arriving to a chorus of boos. Melo originally sat down on the same steel chair he used to attack Trick Williams at NXT Vengeance Day, but he then decided to leave after the crowd started swearing at him. We then got Baron Corbin and Bron Breakker celebrating their NXT Men’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic victory before Alicia Taylor announced them as The Wolf Dogs to the delight of Bron and the distain of Baron. Corbin and Breakker then decided to stick around on commentary for the first match of the night as Axiom and Nathan Frazer took on Edris Enofe and Malik Blade. Amazingly, this contest got nearly 20 minutes which was really cool to see and I had a pretty good time with it. I’ve praised Axiom and Frazer so much since I started this website, but Edris and Malik also deserve some praise because they’re a pretty entertaining tandem. Baron and Bron were also quite funny on commentary, and in the end, a second Phoenix Splash from Nathan Frazer followed by an Axiom Golden Ratio was enough for the talented high-flyers to get the victory. After the match, Corbin and Breakker attacked the winning team before The Family came out to set up next week’s NXT Tag Team Championship match. Nice job from everyone involved!
Grade: B
Ilja Dragunov Promo, Lexis King VS Riley Osbourne, Carmelo Hayes Explains His Actions
Ilja Dragunov arrived as it was time for the NXT Champion to make his feelings clear. Ilja started his promo by putting over Trick Williams as a worthy challenger and even a worthy Champion before he fired shots at Carmelo Hayes and demanded Melo to make his way down to the ring. However, it was actually Dijak who appeared to a lot of stick from the crowd (including “Shut up T-Bar”) before Dijak and Dragunov started to brawl. Officials amazingly did their job and broke this up, but not before The Mad Dragon found himself busted open again. This was good, everything Ilja Dragunov does is superb.
Grade: B-
Jacy Jayne told Thea Hail that she needs to calm down in regards to Riley Osbourne and that’s why she shouldn’t go out to ringside for his match tonight. We then got a nice video where “The Bash Brothers” convinced Mr. Stone to team up with Von Wagner against Meta-Four. It was then time for the second match of the night as “Chase University’s” Riley Osbourne took on Lexis King. The action here was solid, both guys didn’t really put a foot wrong, but it didn’t really feel that important. The story being told here was one that Riley Osbourne seemed confused about why Thea Hail wasn’t around watching and that confusion ultimately distracted him enough for King to hit the Coronation to score the 3 count.
Grade: C
Kelani Jordan had a good hype package before we cut to the NXT Women’s locker room who all seemed like big fans of Miss Jordan. However, the same could not be said about Kiana James and Izzi Dame and this ultimately led to Kiana pouring Brinley Reece’s coffee into the bin. At least she didn’t through it at her! Carmelo Hayes was then back in the ring as it was time for the former A-Champion to explain his actions. With just a single light shining on Melo, Hayes talked about how him and Trick had an agreement regarding which Championships they would be fighting for before Williams started to believe his own hype after buying into the crowd's reactions. Melo then said “How can you compare a 2-time NXT North American Champion with a 2-day North American Champion” in a great line before Trick Willy’s music hit to the delight of the crowd. However, this was all a ruse before Melo said the line “Trick’s sitting in a hospital bed next to Booker T singing their stupid little song!” Hayes then ended his promo by telling Williams that he’s a sidekick “And that’s all it is, and that’s all you’ll ever (gonna) be!” This ruled, Carmelo Hayes in two days has become one of the best and most dispisable (in a good way) Heels in the company. Everything Hayes said made sense, the way Melo delivered his lines was superb, and yeah, this Melo-Trick feud is going to be one for the ages!
Grade: A-
Lola Vice VS Roxanne Perez, Fallon Henley and Wren Sinclair VS Meta-Four
After a cool Oba Femi video, Riley Osbourne asked Thea Hail why she wasn’t at ringside for his match. Thea said she was busy, but she’s still very much on for their Valentine’s Date next week. Roxanne Perez then made her way down to the ring as it was time for The Prodigy to go one-on-one with Lola Vice. Given what went down at NXT Vengeance Day, this match felt kind of personal and I thought Perez and Vice did a really good job of showing that throughout. This was arguably and probably the best I’ve seen from Lola Vice which is a credit to both her and her opponent. Lola actually looked like she could be about to score a big victory, but that changed when Tatum Paxley ran down trying to “cash in” the NXT Women’s Breakout Tournament Contract and this distraction ultimately allowed Roxanne Perez to hit Pop Rox for the win.
Grade: B-
Meta-Four were hyping themselves up in a backstage interview before The No Quarter Catch Crew walked in and said they have their eyes on the NXT Heritage Cup. I think Drew Gulak would be a great Champion. The other half of Meta-Four Lash Legend and Jakara Jackson were then in action as they took on the pairing of Fallon Henley and Wren Sinclair. I thought this was another good match on this week’s NXT and I was particularly impressed with Meta-Four. Not only did Lash Legend and Jakara Jackson look like a Tag Team, but they wrestled like they’d been together for years. The same could not be said about Fallon and Wren and that’s what ultimately cost them as Sinclair’s rash decision to tag herself back in ultimately allowed Legend to drop her with a Slam Dunk to get the victory to the annoyance of Fallon Henley.
Grade: B-
Josh Briggs was talking to Dion Lennox backstage before Brooks Jensen walked in to see how his buddy was doing. Brooks told Briggs that he’s struggling without both him and Fallon Henley which resulted in Briggs nearly attacking his former Tag Team partner and telling him to grow up. This seemed very harsh and honestly quite odd. Anyway, Jaida Parker was then talking to “NXT General Manager” Ava about getting a match with Adrianna Rizzo next week. Ava agreed to this, but only if OTM doesn’t show up. They’re definitely showing up! Ridge Holland then walked in asking for Gallus once again, so Ava decided to make a compromise by telling Ridge that he can go through Gallus one by one, but only if he keeps winning matches.
Ilja Dragunov VS Dijak
And in the Main Event, a rivalry renewed as Ilja Dragunov took on Dijak. The fact that these two performed in pretty intense matches on Sunday only to be fighting here was incredibly impressive and admirable. In fact, parts of this were also pretty intense and it led to Dragunov bleeding yet again! Both guys came close to winning, but the big turning point came when Joe Gacy appeared from underneath the ring to “bonk” Dijak right in the face with a “boxing glove stick” before the NXT Champion delivered a H-Bomb to his opponent to get the victory. However, we weren’t done there as after the match, Carmelo Hayes appeared (again) and delivered a chop block to The Mad Dragon before Melo stood tall with the NXT Championship lifted above him to end the show. I liked the match, I thought Gacy was genuinely quite funny, and I’m all for seeing Dragunov-Melo 4!