Ethan Page Starts the Show, Arianna Grace VS Karmen Petrovic
After a recap of what went down at NXT Heatwave, NXT kicked off this week with Ethan Page in the ring. The brand-new NXT Champion basked in his own glory, saying that he is what NXT needed and he is now the face of the brand! Mr. All Ego was then going to carry tooting his own horn until Trick Williams interrupted and demanded a rematch for the NXT Title. However, Shawn Spears then arrived and said that Williams should go to the back of the line before Je’Von Evans came out and a brawl started, with Trick and Je’Von ultimately standing tall. I thought Ethan Page once again proved that he’s pretty good on the mic, and this did a good job of setting up the Main Event Tag match.
Grade: B-
We then went straight into the first match of the night as Arianna Grace collided with Karmen Petrovic. These two women teamed up on the weekend in their home country of Canada, but they clearly don’t like each other and that showed here. The action itself was solid, it wasn’t anything amazing, but they didn’t put a foot wrong which is a good thing to build on when you’re in NXT. In the end, it was Karmen Petrovic who scored the win with a strong kick before she got attacked from behind by Fallon Henley.
Grade: C+
NXT Heritage Cup: Tony D’Angelo VS Lexis King, Gallus VS Tyson Dupont and Tyriek Igwe, Wes Lee Promo
Brooks Jensen sat down with Ava as the NXT General Manager told Brooks she’d give him a second chance, but he has to act like a WWE Superstar from now on. Jensen was very relieved. It was then time for the NXT Heritage Cup to be defended as Tony D’Angelo battled Lexis King. Not too much happened in the First Round with both men being pretty equal, but just 12 seconds into Round 2 and it was 1-0 to The Don following Forget About It. Whilst Round 3 mostly took place in the ad break, Lexis King was able to make it 1-1 after delivering the Coronation before we got a pretty good back-and-forth Round 4. In the end, though, King got distracted by Eddy Thorpe (who was DJ’ing for some reason) and this allowed Tony D to win off a spinebuster. What I will say is I think D’Angelo does work quite well in these style of matches.
Grade: C+
We headed backstage to see that Brooks Jensen had attacked Je’Von Evans (Josh Briggs wasn’t impressed) before Ridge Holland praised Chase University’s efforts at NXT Heatwave. Holland then said that he thinks Thea Hail should go back after the NXT Women’s Championship whilst he’d gotten Duke Hudson a match with Oba Femi for the NXT North American Championship next week! Duke’s reaction was pretty funny! Gallus were then making their way down to the ring before they were attacked by Tyson Dupont and Tyriek Igwe, and this all led into a chaotic, but fun match. I’ve liked what I’ve seen so far from Tyson and Tyriek, they look quite decent in the ring. However, I haven’t seen them win anything so far and that came true again as some interference from Joe Coffey allowed Mark Coffey and Wolfgang to hit their Tag Team finisher to score the win!
Grade: C+
Trick Williams confirmed that Je’Von Evans is out of the Main Event meaning he needed to go and find a new Tag Team partner. Wes Lee then headed down to the ring to cut a really good promo about how much losing to Oba Femi hurt. You could tell that Wes was genuinely emotional, and just before he was about to say he quit, MSK’s music hit as The Rascalz’s Trey Miguel and Zachary Wentz appeared! You could tell how much this meant to the three men, especially Wentz, and he told Lee that it might be the right time to not only get MSK back together, but also The Rascalz as a trio. The three men then all hugged to close out what was a really nice segment for all involved, but also a really good one.
Grade: B+
Izzi Dame VS Thea Hail, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson VS OTM, Fallon Henley VS Sol Ruca
Ethan Page and Shawn Spears were laughing about the fact that they don’t think Trick Williams will find a Tag Team partner before it was time for a singles match between Izzi Dame and Thea Hail. This was looking like a decent little contest, to begin with, but it really didn’t go for very long as Tatum Paxley arrived on the outside and Izzi decided to go after her. This ultimately led to Dame running into the ring post before she got back into the ring and tapped out to a Thea Hail Kimura. After the match, Oba Femi appeared on the Podium/Platform area to laugh at Duke Hudson before The Duke fired back with a great promo on how you should never underestimate an MVP! I’m actually quite excited for that match, but the Dame-Hail match felt a little bit pointless.
Grade: C
The Rascalz were clearly delighted to have been reunited backstage, but Gallus soon tried to spoil the party, setting up a six-man Tag for next week! Josh Briggs and Ava were then furious with Brooks Jensen for attacking Je’Von Evans before the NXT General Manager told Brooks that he will have to face Je’Von next week. OTM then cut a promo as they headed down to the ring to take on Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. All of this was totally fine, but I have to admit that I wasn’t exactly invested as neither team excites me. It ultimately resulted with OTM picking up the win which is a pretty big deal, but it isn’t helped by the fact that The O.C. always lose.
Grade: C+
Sol Ruca cut a backstage promo on Fallon Henley before we saw the No Quarter Catch Crew sticking Damon Kemp in the car boot. Wren Sinclair was then weirdly here to say “I didn’t see anything”. Her character is strange! Fallon Henley was then out next as it was time for The Cowgirl to go one-on-one with Sol Ruca. The action here was pretty decent which doesn’t surprise me as these are two of the best women on the whole roster (they actually both Rank in my Top 3). However, what did surprise me is how rushed this contest was because to be honest, it would’ve been way more effective to build this up for a couple more weeks before they face off at the start of a show (or maybe even The Great American Bash). Anyway, it looked like Sol was going to win following a Sol Snatcher, but she was then attacked by Jacy Jayne and Jazmyn Nyx meaning the match ended in a DQ!
Grade: C+ (It could’ve and should’ve been higher)
Tatum Paxley was speaking to a doll about how she hates people who think they’re too good for her (I.e. Izzi Dame). Tatum then ripped the head off of said doll before Wendy Choo picked it up and smiled! Now that would be some Tag Team! Brooks Jensen was then talking to someone behind a door (I think it was Shawn Spears) before Ava was delighted with Stevie Turner’s work to officially bring Cedric Alexander to the NXT Roster. I’m very excited about this, but weirdly after, Mr. Stone brought in Ashante “Thee” Adonis as a potential Superstar too. What?!
Ethan Page and Shawn Spears VS Trick Williams and ?
And in the Main Event, Ethan Page and Shawn Spears teamed up to take on Trick Williams and a mystery partner. And after plenty of teasing throughout the night, the NXT Universe erupted as Trick’s mystery partner was revealed to be none other than TNA’s Joe Hendry! I could talk about the match, it was solid enough, but this was all about the crowd who were going absolutely bonkers to the point where I’m not sure they knew what to do. Williams and Hendry might well be the two most-over men in all of Professional Wrestling, and that’s all there really is to say. Ethan Page, the NXT Champion might I remind you, was chased out of the arena by Oro Mensah leaving Shawn Spears to go alone. This didn’t work out for Spears as he got dropped by the Trick Shot followed by a Chokeslam as Joe Hendry scored his first NXT W! Maybe the best thing about NXT is the crowd reactions, and my goodness were they loud here!
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