Josh Briggs VS Wes Lee
After a really well-put-together video package, NXT kicked off this week with Wes Lee making his in-ring return against Josh Briggs. I thought this was a good way to start the show, Briggs is a decent competitor whilst it was so nice to see Wes back in the ring. However, some of the backbreakers that Josh hit on Lee looked absolutely horrendous before Ivar made his way down to the commentary desk. This ultimately played into the finish as Briggs and Ivar accidentally collided before Lee hit his awesome Diving Corkscrew Senton to score the win. After the match, Ivar and Josh Briggs brawled before The Kardiak Kid dove onto them to end the segment as Oba Femi watched on rather pleased by what he’d seen! Again, it’s terrific to see Wes back as he’s genuinely one of the best Babyfaces in the world!
Grade: B-
Karmen Petrovic VS Shayna Baszler, No Quarter Catch Crew VS Tyson Dupont and Tyriek Igwe, Arianna Grace VS Michin
Things in the Tag Team division heated up as No Quarter Catch Crew got into an argument with Tyson Dupont and Tyriek Igwe before Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson made it clear that they will take the NXT Tag Team Championships away from Axiom and Nathan Frazer. We then went into the first women’s match of the night as Karmen Petrovic took on the challenging task known as Shayna Baszler. This was an alright match, it wasn’t anything special, but as a fan of NXT Shayna Baszler, it was cool to see The Queen of Spades being a bit more ruthless. However, there’s also an argument to be had that Shayna should’ve been disqualified a couple of times, but anyway, Baszler scored the win via the Kirifuda Clutch to the delight of Lola Vice. I do think Shayna Baszler is above this, but at least she’s winning!
Grade: C+
Kelani Jordan and Fallon Henley got into a heated argument in the women’s locker room (because of course they did) before we got the first part of the NXT Women’s Combine to determine the 12 women that will compete in Qualifying matches for NXT Battleground. The first round was all about speed, and Thea Hail and Kelani Jordan were the two standouts here. We then headed back to the ring to see the No Quarter Catch Crew’s Charlie Dempsey and Myles Borne take on Tyson Dupont and Tyriek Igwe. Before the match even started, The D’Angelo Family arrived to announce that the referee “wasn’t available” so Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo stepped in instead! That means that that referee is probably dead, and in terms of this match, it was okay, Dupont and Igwe look promising, but this wasn’t about them at all. In fact, Stacks’ desire to keep screwing over the NQCC kind of ruined it a bit, and it ultimately led to the faces picking up the win via roll-up.
Grade: C
We got a brilliant backstage bit where Chelsea Green and Arianna Grace were delighted to be in one another’s presence (I so need them to be a Tag Team down the line) before Roxanne Perez talked about her disdain towards Ava and why she will remain NXT Women’s Champion come the end of the night. Michin then made her in-ring return to NXT as she took on one Arianna Grace. I think Michin is an underrated talent so having her have a run on NXT is a really positive thing in my book. I also really like Arianna Grace, but I do have to question how and/or why Michin is allowed to go for the NXT Women’s North American Championship. Anyway, The HBIC ultimately scored the win with Eat Defeat, and yeah, this was alright.
Grade: C+
Supernova Sessions (Featuring Trick Williams), Fallon Henley VS Kelani Jordan, NXT Women’s Combine Results, Duke Hudson VS Lexis King
Thea Hail and Ridge Holland connected backstage before Lexis King came over and insulted them. This set up a match between King and Duke Hudson for later in the show. It was then time for another edition of Supernova Sessions as Meta-Four welcomed out their latest guest, the NXT Champion, Trick Williams. Trick didn’t really care for any of this and just wanted to know what was in the envelope which is when Lash Legend revealed a picture of Noam Dar’s foot being under the rope in their match a while back. The funniest thing about this is I remember mentioning that! Trick then sort of got Lash to reveal that they are in fact together, and this really angered Noam Dar who wrecked Williams with a massive strike to end the segment with the NXT Title in hand. I said this before NXT Stand and Deliver, Williams-Dar is a good first feud for Trick, and Williams and Legend do work really well together. However, this was all very odd (again)!
Grade: C+
We returned to the NXT Women’s Combine to see that Michin and Jaida Parker had nailed the “Power” round before we heard someone snoring. At first I thought I’d put the wrong thing on, and then I remembered about a certain Wendy Choo! Karmen Petrovic then booted a guy right in the face backstage for being weird before Fallon Henley headed to the ring to take on Kelani Jordan. Both Fallon and Kelani are two of the better wrestlers in the NXT Women’s Division, so I thought they were able to put on a rather fun match. I’m all for Henley giving it a go as a Heel, and if booked right, she could be a genuinely awesome badass! Jordan is also a great shout for becoming the inaugural NXT Women’s North American Champion, but in the end, some cheating with the turnbuckle from Fallon followed by a lovely Shining Wizard was enough for the Cowgirl to get the win!
Grade: B-
No Quarter Catch Crew accepted Tony D’Angelo’s challenge for an NXT Heritage Cup Match next week before we got the “Speed and Conditioning” rounds of the NXT Women’s Combine. After all of this was done, Ava announced the results and the 12 women that had qualified for the Qualifying Matches! The important thing to note is Sol Ruca and Thea Hail were the “clear” Top 2 whilst Wren Sinclair snuck in at 12th! I have so many questions about this, I cannot work out if this was actually real or was fixed! Like, some parts felt like they were, others didn’t! Also, most importantly of all, they announced that Sol Ruca will take on Izzi Dame next week, and I want to know how they got to this as it really should be 1st VS 12th and so on! Anyway, Chase University then arrived as Duke Hudson went one-on-one with Lexis King. This was an alright match, the crowd were behind The Duke which is good to see, and I feel like Lexis King is slowly starting to improve. In the end, though, it was the story that mattered as Ridge Holland chased King back into the ring (King was trying to escape) with a steel chair, but he then “accidentally” threw the chair into this ring and this distracted Hudson enough for Lexis to hit the Coronation to score the win! This guy man!
Grade: C+
NXT Women’s Championship: Roxanne Perez VS Chelsea Green
After Jazmyn Nyx announced that Jacy Jayne has broken her nose and Ridge Holland apologised to Chase U for costing Duke Hudson his match, Chelsea Green walked past her old manager Mr. Stone as she battled Roxanne Perez in a Main Event with the NXT Women’s Championship on the line. I like to think this was a sign that Heels VS Heels do work as matches, especially in front of an NXT crowd that tends to cheer for both more often than not anyway! Roxanne Perez is great, she’s continuously proved that, but it was also really nice to see Chelsea Green wrestle a long-ish match as her matches on Raw only tend to go a couple of minutes. We got a couple of close-ish near-falls, including Chelsea hitting a Rough Ryder (shout out to Matt Cardona), but in the end, Perez was able to drop Green with Pop Rox to score the win. Another good result for The Prodigy, and we then cut to the NXT Parking Lot to see The D’Angelo Family kidnapping Myles Borne and Damon Kemp. I don’t know why they did that, those guys are useless!
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