Baron Corbin arrives at NXT, Diamond Mine VS The Schism
Baron Corbin walked through the WWE Performance Center in Orlando (the home of NXT) before he made his way into the arena. Baron cut a promo about how he’s watched all of the recent NXT call-ups fail because they had too much ego. Corbin then labelled this era of NXT as “soft” and he puts that blame on the NXT Champion Carmelo Hayes. However, one of the richest men in all of WWE was interrupted by Ilja Dragunov who reminded Corbin that he certainly “isn’t soft”. Ilja then challenged Corbin to a match for the main event of tonight’s show after reminding Baron that he’s now the rightful challenger to Carmelo Hayes’ NXT Championship. Corbin accepted and after Dragunov left, Trick Williams arrived and sent the superstar free agent to the outside. I thought this was a pretty solid segment and it’s nice to see Baron Corbin getting to show his talent. I also have to mention Dragunov’s massive bruise that he received in his match against Dijak at NXT Battleground because it looked really nasty.
Grade: B-
Thea Hail walked out of a gym very pumped up with herself over the fact that she was starting to learn new grappling moves from Drew Gulak and Charlie Dempsey. Duke Hudson told Thea that grappling techniques aren’t going to help her win the Number 1 Contenders Battle Royal later tonight. We then cut back to the arena to see Ilja Dragunov laid out on the floor. The person who attacked Dragunov was none other than Bron Breakker and this means that the match between Corbin and the Czar is now off. It was then time for the first match of the night as the Diamond Mine battled the Schism in 6-person tag team action. The Creeds and the Dyad have had good battles in the past and they once again rekindled it in this match as both teams put on a good show. However, the match was also set up to make Ivy Nile look good and that’s exactly what happened as Nile showed why she’s just as much as a powerhouse as her Diamond Mine brothers. In the closing phases of the match, Ivy had Ava locked in the Dragon Sleeper before she cinched in the move on Jagger Reid who tried to interfere. Whilst the referee was trying to get Reid out of the ring, Ava headbutted Nile whilst wearing her entrance mask to pick up her first victory in WWE. I thought all of this was good, but my only concern is Ava’s in-ring ability. She can obviously improve over time (that’s happened to lots of NXT stars over the past few years), but it’s also not a bad idea to have her be the group’s manager as she’s very good in that role. Anyway, Ivy Nile continued to prove why she’s potentially the most underrated talent in NXT which is a good thing.
Grade: B-
Blair Davenport VS Dani Palmer, Baron Corbin VS Trick Williams
Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo went to see Tony D’Angelo in prison and there was two things I got from this segment. One, I like the fact Stacks mentioned “the Legado’s” as people that could’ve “ratted” Tony D out, but the best thing by far was when D’Angelo said the guards had got him a subscription to Peacock so he can watch the wrestling the following day. That genuinely made me laugh! Anyway, D’Angelo told Stacks that it had to be Gallus and he also told the Underboss to “make them pay”. We then got a video package for Blair Davenport before we got a video of Mr. Stone trying to get Von Wagner to go to therapy. We then saw clips of Wagner berating certain therapists throughout the week before Wagner finally agreed to see one. This was utterly bizarre. Blair Davenport then returned to an NXT ring as she took on up-and-coming talent Dani Palmer. Unfortunately for me, I missed the first two minutes of this match due to a “part-recording” meaning I only saw about 45 seconds of action before Davenport picked up the victory. Due to this, I can’t really say much about this other than I like Davenport’s finisher. Stupid Sky Box!
Grade: C
Dana Brooke then arrived at the NXT Parking lot because she wanted to earn herself a shot at the NXT Women’s Championship. I actually thought this was cool until I found out she’s contracted to Monday Night Raw (why)! Tiffany Stratton then cut a promo backstage where she said that Lyra Valkyria is the only woman with any talent in tonight’s Battle Royal. Tiffany then said that it doesn’t actually matter who wins because she’s going to remain the NXT Women’s Champion for a long time. I actually think that may well be the case and I’ll take a punt and say she’ll lose the belt to Sol Ruca (who’s currently out injured for up to a year). Even though Ilja Dragunov was unable to compete, Baron Corbin was still going to have his first NXT match in a long time as he went one-on-one with Trick Williams. Whilst I wouldn’t recommend you to go out of your way to watch this match, I will say that Trick Williams has clearly improved from when he first stepped into NXT whilst Baron Corbin is a “useful tool”. They told the story of Trick Willy’s inexperience as he injured his knee early on in a pretty unnecessary move. This ended up costing Williams as his knee gave out on him at the end of the contest which allowed Baron to hit the End of Days to get the victory. My biggest gripe with this whole contest was how the commentary team didn’t make a bigger deal out of this considering Corbin’s been on a massive losing streak on the main roster. Anyway, Baron said after the match that he’s going to SmackDown to qualify for the Money in the Bank Ladder Match and he’ll then be back next week if Ilja wants to fight. Cool.
Grade: C+
Mustafa Ali VS Joe Gacy, Damon Kemp VS Eddy Thorpe, Dabba-Kato VS Scrypts
Nathan Frazer brought some more “Hard Hitting Home Truths” to the table before Dragon Lee joined him. It became very clear that both men can’t stand Noam Dar and I actually enjoyed this more than I usually do because they were coming up with ridiculous names for Noam Dar’s new faction. Nathan Frazer also challenged Noam Dar to an NXT Heritage Cup match which was quite interesting. Mustafa Ali was then being interviewed backstage by McKenzie Mitchell before Wes Lee walked in and was about to offer Ali an NXT North American title shot. However, Ali said he wants to earn his opportunity and that starts by beating Joe Gacy tonight. That so happened to be the next segment on the show as the leader of the Schism looked to pick up arguably the biggest victory of his career. However, that didn’t happen as the match went a few minutes before Mustafa Ali hit the 450 to get the victory. The match had some good action in it, but it was also a lot shorter than it should have been which sucks for both guys. After the match, the Dyad arrived to take out Ali before Tyler Bate and Wes Lee came down to even the odds. I like the idea of Wes Lee “fanboying” over Mustafa Ali because it makes the Heart of 205 Live feel like a much bigger deal and I’m very intrigued to see where it goes next.
Grade: C+
Edris Enofe wasn’t very happy with Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen for getting Malik Blade into the mindset of wanting to have a match with his tag team partner. Briggs and Jensen said it worked for them before Hank Walker and Tank Ledger also echoed the same thoughts. They all left as Gallus walked in and told Enofe and Blade that they’d never be good enough to take the NXT Tag Team Championships off of them. Edris finally agreed to fight Malik next week and all of this tag team stuff is very odd at the minute. Noam Dar, Lash Legend, Oro Mensah and Jakara Jackson all cut a promo backstage where Noam Dar officially named the group the “Meta-Four”. I actually think that’s quite a cool name if I can work out what it means. It was then time for another match as Damon Kemp and Eddy Thorpe faced off in a rematch from a few weeks ago. This wasn’t the best of matches, it didn’t get much time and I just haven’t seen enough glimpses from these two to rate them at a high level. After dominating for most of the match, Damon Kemp ended up losing to Eddy Thorpe despite having his foot on the rope. I guess they’re going to have a Part 3.
Grade: C-
Gigi Dolin was speaking on the phone with her younger brother before Kiana James told Gigi that she’s got no shot at winning the Number 1 Contenders Battle Royal tonight. Dabba-Kato then walked past both of them before it was time for him to face Scrypts. Dabba-Kato dominated Scrypts until Axiom decided to arrive and cause distractions. This allowed Scrypts to knock his opponent down to a knee before he rolled him up for a shocking victory. After the match, Dabba-Kato laid both men out in the middle of the ring. This was absolutely awful and definitely one of the worst things I’ve seen in WWE in 2023. Scrypts/Reggie hasn’t been a credible character/competitor in his entire WWE run whilst Dabba-Kato is trying to be positioned as a monster that can’t be stopped. To have Dabba lose to Scrypts is just a horrendous booking decision. Also, Axiom getting involved made him incredibly unlikeable and why would Axiom and Scrypts team up, it makes no sense.
Grade: E
NXT Women’s Championship Number 1 Contenders Battle Royal, Bron Breakker issues a Challenge
The Schism were backstage as Joe Gacy was clearly angry about his loss against Mustafa Ali. However, the Dyad reminded Gacy about their big win over the Diamond Mine which Gacy congratulated them and Ava on before he said he has to start pulling his weight as well. Wes Lee and Tyler Bate then spoke to Mustafa Ali in the locker room and they all agreed to team up next week to take on the Schism in six-man tag team action. The interesting part of this was Ali said Wes and Tyler should have a one-on-one match down the line and this felt like the actions of someone that wanted to cause dissension in a group before they can take full advantage of it. Like I said earlier, I’m very intrigued to see which way this storyline goes next.
Anyway; Cora Jade, Lyra Valkyria, Roxanne Perez and Dana Brooke all got entrances before it was time to see who would be crowned the Number 1 Contender for Tiffany Stratton’s NXT Women’s Championship. Gigi Dolin was the first major name to get eliminated from the match and Oro Mensah kept catching Jakara Jackson every time she got thrown over the top rope. However, Thea Hail took Jackson out with a dive (she didn’t go over the top rope) before Lash Legend rolled under the ropes and threw Hail into the steel steps. After being eliminated from the contest, Lash Legend and Jakara Jackson pulled Valentina Feroz and Yulisa Leon to the floor and that looks like that’s going to be a feud going forward. I have no issue with that, but it is a massive shame that Yulisa Leon’s return hasn’t been made into a much bigger deal. Blair Davenport arrived at one point before she got into a brawl with Roxanne Perez. Tatum Paxley then eliminated herself to protect Davenport and this led to Roxanne being eliminated by Jacy Jayne. I really like the pairing of Blair Davenport and Tatum Paxley; I think it can work really well. After Jacy Jayne and Lyra Valkyria were eliminated, the final four came down to Cora Jade, Dana Brooke, Kiana James and Fallon Henley. The most interesting part about all of this was the crowd were booing Dana Brooke which was quite mad. Anyway, Fallon Henley looked really good as she eliminated Kiana James, but she was eventually eliminated by Cora Jade. When it looked like the match was between Cora Jade and Dana Brooke, Thea Hail reappeared and eliminated both women to pick up by far the biggest win of her career. What I loved about this was everyone in the Chase U student section jumped over the barricade and celebrated with the young 19-year-old in the ring. Drew Gulak and Charlie Dempsey also watched on. Overall, I thought this was a good match and Thea Hail winning was a really nice surprise.
Grade: B-
NXT then cut to the Parking lot as the camera crew caught up with Bron Breakker as he was about to leave the arena. Bron Breakker revealed the reason why he attacked Ilja Dragunov was because he wanted to prove to the Czar that he’s the most dangerous man in all of WWE, not Ilja. However, the really interesting part came when Breakker called out Seth “Freakin” Rollins and challenged the World Heavyweight Champion to show up in NXT and put his newly won Championship on the line. This completely surprised me and I thought it was fantastic. This is the way you make new stars whilst also getting more people to tune into NXT.