Roxanne Perez Starts the Show, Fallon Henley and Kelani Jordan VS Kiana James and Izzi Dame
After a recap of a historic NXT Stand and Deliver, NXT kicked off this week with Roxanne Perez. The brand-new NXT Women’s Champion gloated about her victory over Lyra Valkyria before she said she’s going to give up her Title in a few weeks time when she gets drafted to either Raw or SmackDown. This brought out Lyra who wasn’t at all pleased by this statement before The Morgen demanded her Championship rematch. Tatum Paxley then arrived to say Lyra isn’t ready before Pax through Valkyria into the ring steps in a genuinely surprising moment. Natalya then arrived and demanded a Title shot of her own, which Ava decided to grant. I don’t really get how Natalya gets a Title shot personally, but I thought Roxanne Perez did well here whilst Tatum taking out Lyra genuinely surprised me!
Grade: C+
Axiom and Nathan Frazer talked about having one more opportunity to win the NXT Tag Team Championships before we got a clip from Chase University where Jacy Jayne revealed that the reason why Chase U was in debt in the first place was because Andre Chase put a large bet on Thea winning the match (the same match that Mr. Chase through the towel in). Weird! It was then time for the first match of the night as Fallon Henley and Kelani Jordan teamed up to take on Kiana James and Izzi Dame. This was a decent contest, and I have to say, all four of these women could and maybe should be in Championship contention during this next year. Fallon and Kiana are definitely good enough to fight for the NXT Women’s Championship, whilst Kelani and Izzi are both decent shouts for the brand-new NXT Women’s North American Championship. In terms of this match, Henley took the bullet for Jordan which ultimately set KJ to deliver the 401K onto her former Tag Team partner to seal the W!
Grade: C+
Je’Von Evans VS Scrypts, Roxanne Perez VS Natalya: NXT Women’s Championship, No Quarter Catch Crew VS The D’Angelo Family
We got a video package for the debuting Je’Von Evans before The D’Angelo Family (minus Tony D) confronted No Quarter Catch Crew (minus Drew Gulak). It was then time for Je’Von Evans to make his NXT debut as he took on “OTM’s” Scrypts. This was all about showcasing Evans, and boy did he show out! Je’Von looked really good here, his dives looked effortless, and the move he hit at the end of the match to win was awesome! I’m already calling it, Je’Von Evans will be the man to dethrone Oba Femi for the NXT North American Championship! Ridge Holland seemed very “Jekyll and Hyde” backstage before he “accidentally” trapped Cruz Del Toro’s fingers in a closing door. It was then time for the first Championship match of the night as Roxanne Perez put her NXT Women’s Title on the line against Natalya. To be honest, this was a good match. I’ve been impressed with Roxanne Perez recently, but I thought she stepped it up even more here! Natalya also looked decent which is a good thing, and in the end, “The BOAT” probably would’ve won the match if it wasn’t for Lola Vice interfering at the end. This allowed The Prodigy to hit Pop Rox to retain her Championship.
Grade: B-
Baron Corbin and Bron Breakker were once again playing around backstage before Natalya started a brawl with Lola Vice. We then went into Tag Team action as the “No Quarter Catch Crew’s” Myles Borne and Damon Kemp took on “The D’Angelo Family’s” Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo and Luca Crusifino. There wasn’t much to this other than it started a new “Faction warfare” feud which I honestly don’t really care about. In the end, The Family were able to get the win despite plenty of attempted interference by Charlie Dempsey, and yeah, this felt very filler.
Grade: C
Oba Femi Promo, Brinley Reece VS Jaida Parker, Baron Corbin and Bron Breakker VS Axiom and Nathan Frazer: NXT Tag Team Championships
Oba Femi was out next as the NXT North American Champion talked about his great victory at NXT Stand and Deliver. Oba also talked about how he is an immovable mountain before Ivar of The Viking Raiders showed up to challenge Femi to a Championship match before he dropped Oba to end the segment. I didn’t Ivar to show up here, but what I like about this is Oba’s reign seems to be him defending and ultimately retaining his Title over men just as, if not bigger than him. That’s a cool twist on the usual “David V Goliath” tale.
Grade: C+
Meta-Four were celebrating how well they hosted Stand and Deliver before Dijak walked in and gave them a stern warning. Brinley Reece then made her way down to the ring as it was time for her to go one-on-one with Jaida Parker. This contest was fine, I think Jaida Parker’s got something, but I can’t see Brinley Reece ever really winning anything. That came true as a hip attack from Parker was enough for her to get the win as the rest of OTM celebrated.
Grade: C
Arianna Grace and Sol Ruca were happy to talk about the brand-new NXT Women’s North American Championship before Lola Vice stormed in being angry about Natalya. It was then time for the Main Event match of the night as Baron Corbin and Bron Breakker once again put their NXT Tag Team Championships on the line against Axiom and Nathan Frazer. For me, these might be the two best Tag Teams in WWE right now. Baron and Bron have worked unbelievably well together whilst I could watch Axiom and Frazer every day of the week! There were some great spots here, and in actual fact, this was probably slightly better than their NXT Stand and Deliver match from Saturday which is impressive really! In the closing stages, Bron Breakker nearly whipped out his own partner with a Spear, and Bron then checking on his partner ultimately cost him as Axiom delivered the Golden Ratio before Nathan Frazer hit a beautiful Phoenix Splash onto Corbin to score the win meaning we have brand-new NXT Tag Team Champions! If you’ve read my blog from the start, you will know how much I enjoyed Axiom and Nathan’s Best of 3 Series so I’m delighted to see them win Tag Team Gold together. However, The Final Testament clearly weren’t pleased as they arrived to leave the new Champs laying!
Grade: B+
Trick Williams Ends the Show
Before the show ended, Trick Williams arrived to a massive ovation from the NXT Universe. Trick talked about his huge win over Carmelo Hayes at NXT Stand and Deliver before he set his sights back onto Ilja Dragunov and the NXT Championship. Ilja then came out and initially rejected Williams’ challenge for a Championship rematch at NXT Spring Breakin’, but The Mad Dragon then changed his mind under one condition; If Trick loses, he must leave NXT! Trick Willy agreed to this before Carmelo Hayes made a surprise appearance to lay out both of the Babyfaces before he challenged Trick Williams to a Steel Cage Match! I thought Trick looked really good here, I thought Dragunov looked great here, but I was disappointed to see Carmelo Hayes (what a strange thing to say). Unless Melo wins next week to set up a Triple Threat match at Spring Breakin’, this seems a bit pointless as Hayes’ story ended somewhat perfectly on Saturday.
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