Melo and Trick open the show, Sol Ruca VS Zoey Stark
After a recap of what went down at NXT Vengeance Day, this week’s show started with Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams. They were of course over the moon about the fact that Melo defeated Apollo Crews 2-0 and as he was about to call his shot on the NXT Championship, JD McDonagh’s music hit. JD told Melo that even though he is the coolest guy on the roster, he can’t lay a candle to the Irish Ace’s in-ring ability. This ended with the two men agreeing to have a match later on in the show. I thought both men cut good promos (Trick as well) and I was definitely hyped up to see the match.
Grade: C+
Backstage, Fallon Henley wasn’t very happy with Kiana James as she’d gone back and watched the match from NXT Vengeance Day. She told James that they had to give Katana Chance and Kayden Carter a rematch before Henley made it clear that James needed to tell Brooks Jensen about the phone call she took last week. As they walked into a room, Briggs and Jensen had planned a massive surprise celebration party. We then got a video of Grayson Waller going mad at Shawn Michaels backstage after NXT Vengeance Day and that resulted in the Arrogant Aussie getting suspended for a week. I definitely think Waller has quite a strong case for being screwed over by NXT. We then got our first match of the night as the up-and-comer Solo Ruca took on the veteran Zoey Stark. This match was relatively short and Zoey Stark was on top for most of it. However, Sol Ruca did get some offense in and she once again looked impressive. In the end though, Zoey Stark picked up the win with the best finisher in all of WWE (I genuinely think that’s what she should call it). After the match, Stark continued to beat down her opponent, but this backfired on her as Ruca hit the Sol Snatcher to stand tall (definitely in the top 5 for best finishers in all of WWE).
Grade: C+
Dabba-Kato VS Dante Chen, Isla Dawn VS Tatum Paxley
We returned to the party where Pretty Deadly looked like Seth Rollins after Money in the Bank 2020. They were clearly devastated at the fact that they failed to recapture their NXT Tag Team titles and they got into an argument with Chase University who were also at the party. Andre Chase was not happy with the lads from Essex so he started swearing at them. We then got the in-ring return of Dabba-Kato as he took on Dante Chen. Dabba-Kato needed to put on an impressive performance and he absolutely destroyed Dante Chen. The good thing about this is the former Commander looked good doing it. Also, when Dante Chen got in a bit of a streak, the crowd was into him. I genuinely wonder where he would be on the NXT card if he didn’t suffer an injury so early on in his run. In the end, Dabba-Kato got the win with a really cool finishing move. After the match, Kato explained that Apollo Crews knows what he did wrong. I’m intrigued to find out what he meant by this.
Grade: C+
We were shown an old clip of the Diamond Mine all sitting in the medical room, checking on Ivy Nile. Isla Dawn and Alba Fyre then came up to them and questioned whether Tatum Paxley really is a member of Diamond Mine before Dawn made it clear that she believes that Paxley was the one who attacked Nikkita Lyons. They clearly have something big planned with this attacker storyline because it gets mentioned in most of the women’s segments. Roxanne Perez was then interviewed backstage by McKenzie Mitchell and she said she can’t wait to see who her next challenger is going to be. Katana Chance and Kayden Carter walked in and they weren’t happy with the fact that they got screwed out of their record-setting NXT Women’s Tag Team Championship reign. This ended with them challenging Roxanne to a tag team match if she had any friends. We then got a match between Isla Dawn and Tatum Paxley. I’ve been impressed with Isla Dawn since she’s arrived from NXT UK and I think she had another solid showing here. I also think that Tatum Paxley deserves more TV time so overall, I thought this was a solid match. Isla was on top for most of it and that was mainly due to the fact that Pax didn’t have any coaches in her corner. In the end, Dawn picked up the win with her finisher. After the match, it looked like Alba Fyre was about to attack Paxley, but Ivy Nile came out and ran them off. Could be a solid tag team match incoming.
Grade: C
Carmelo Hayes VS JD McDonagh, Lyra Valkyria VS Valentina Feroz
NXT cut to the parking lot to see a person getting out of a fancy car whilst wearing a suit. We only really got to see his shoes so I have absolutely no idea who this was. The only person I could think of is Von Wagner as he looked pretty tall. We then got the match that I was very much waiting for as Carmelo Hayes took on JD McDonagh. In my opinion, these two men have been NXT’s best wrestlers over the past 7 months. They showed that here in a fantastically fun match. Both Melo and JD brought out a bunch of high-flying, fast-paced maneuvers and it was just a joy to watch. I knew Carmelo was going to win this match, but I was a bit concerned that McDonagh would just get beaten. However, that didn’t take place as after both men went down, Ilja Dragunov’s music hit and his distraction allowed Carmelo Hayes to pick up the win with a roll-up. After the match, Dragunov attacked the man who injured him before he chased McDonagh off. This was all really good and I now want to see Hayes VS Dragunov.
Grade: B+
Tiffany Stratton was in a locker room backstage and Thea Hail was getting mad at her for disrespecting Chase University. Stratton then told Hail to leave and as she turned around, Ava Raine appeared and abducted Hail. That actually makes sense given what transpired at the end of last week’s NXT. We then returned to the party to see Fallon Henley go up to Brooks Jensen to tell him about Kiana’s phone call. Before she could do that, Brooks said that he is super excited about his first-ever Valentine’s date next week. I now think that the best possible ending to this story is that Kiana James was on the phone with Josh Briggs. That would be an amazing twist. We then got a match between Lyra Valkyria and Valentina Feroz which was set up at Vengeance Day. Lyra Valkyria was on top for the most part here, but Feroz was getting in a bit of offense. Wendy Choo was on the outside cheering Feroz on, but the real turning point of the match was when Elektra Lopez came out. She handed the brass knuckles to Valentina before Valkyria picked up the win with a kick. I have absolutely no idea what’s happened to Cora Jade, but I am enjoying the Lopez-Feroz dynamic.
Grade: C
Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo VS Odyssey Jones, Chase University VS Pretty Deadly
We got a sort of vlog next showcasing Wes Lee’s Vengeance Day weekend. This time last week, I genuinely believed that Wes Lee’s run as the NXT North American Champion has been awful. However, his match with Dijak and this video here showcased why he is the brand’s top babyface. Wes Lee then tried to cut a promo backstage before Tony D’Angelo and Stacks came up to him and asked for their payment as a result of what happened at Vengeance Day. Lee told them that he was holding a North American Championship open challenge next week so he’d be happy for either man to accept the challenge. I’m guessing it won’t be either of them. Tyler Bate then cut one of his passionate video promos where he defended Shawn Michaels and challenged Grayson Waller to a match for next week’s show. That should be fun. Odyssey Jones was then in the ring as he was about to go one-on-one with Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo. This match was strange as Stacks was presented as the bigger star despite Jones’ massive size advantage. The two did alright together, but Odyssey Jones still doesn’t feel like he’s performing on a level par with what he was before his injury. Lorenzo ended up picking up the victory with his own version of the stomp.
Grade: C
Indus Sher and Jinder Mahal had a pre-taped video where they said that step 1 was the Creed Brothers and step 2 is tag team gold. Roxanne Perez was then leaving NXT before a cameraman asked her if she had found a tag team partner for next week. Roxanne replied by saying it was none other than Meiko Satomura. I think that’s pretty cool, but it would’ve been better had it been kept as a surprise. Chase U then came down to the ring (without Thea Hail) for their tag team match with Pretty Deadly. Pretty Deadly came out in the same clothes that they’d been wearing for about 3 days and they were completely despondent for most of this match. At one point, Kit Wilson sat on the floor and said “what’s the bloody point”. However, as the match went on, PD grew in confidence, but there was still something missing. However, Thea Hail came running out and she was clearly scared to death after what Ava Raine did to her. Also, her entire shirt was covered in the Schism’s smiley faces. As Duke Hudson checked on Hail, Pretty Deadly capitalised to hit Spilt Milk onto Mr. Chase to get the win. After the match, Gallus stepped onto the podium so I’m guessing that’s where the next tag team championship feud is heading. I thought both teams, particularly Pretty Deadly, did a really good job at telling an interesting story. I hope Pretty Deadly keep being like this until they have a real standout moment and then they should become even more ridiculous than ever before (good luck)!
Grade: B
Ding Dong Hello featuring Jacy Jayne and Gigi Dolin
After a quick backstage segment involving Drew Gulak, Hank Walker and Charlie Dempsey, it was time for the return of my favourite talk show, Ding Dong Hello. Bayley welcomed two of her favourites down to the ring in Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne and because they walked through the door, Bayley let them sit on the nice chairs. Both Jayne and Dolin blamed each other for losing out on the NXT Women’s Championship before they seemed quite happy to go their separate ways. However, Bayley convinced them that it would be easier for them to make it to the top if they had backup and this made Dolin and Jayne think about going after the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championships again. However, in a really cool twist, they made it seem like they were instead going to go after Damage CTRL and the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships. Bayley didn’t seem too impressed by this and it ended with Gigi and Jacy hugging one another. At this point, I fully expected they’d either both take out Bayley or Damage CTRL would show up. However, neither of those things happened as Jacy Jayne kicked Gigi Dolin right in the face before she threw her into the door. It was such a big impact part of the door broke. The show ended with Jacy Jayne standing over a crying Gigi Dolin. I thought this was great. It was a twist I didn’t see coming and having Bayley there is great as she knows all about turning on her “best friend”. Even though Toxic Attraction are a great team who could’ve been champions on the main roster, I’m not so sure they are ready for the main roster yet. Having Jacy turn on Gigi makes a lot of sense as Dolin is massively over whilst Jayne is the better wrestler. I really hope they get to have their match in LA as they’ve both earnt it.
