NXT Tag Team Championships: Axiom and Nathan Frazer VS The Street Profits
NXT kicked off this week with the NXT Tag Team Championships on the line as Axiom and Nathan Frazer defended against The Street Profits. The Profits replaced The Rascalz who were originally meant to be in this slot, and the crowd were very excited to see them! The action here was decent, you know how much I enjoy Axiom and Frazer by now, but I will say that I feel like Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins were in control of this far too much. I know they’re an established Main Roster act and former NXT Tag Team Champions, but FRAXIOM have been the best Tag Team this year so they should’ve been made to look like that. However, the most important part of all of this came when The Bloodline arrived to cause a DQ finish as Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa, and Jacob Fatu completely wrecked house! This was a massive surprise, but it’s so, so cool to see The Bloodline appear on NXT! What this means going forward is anyone’s guess!
Grade: B (For The Bloodline)
Chelsea Green VS Giulia, Charlie Dempsey VS Je’Von Evans: NXT Heritage Cup, Oba Femi VS ?
Tony D’Angelo gave a guy some money to take out Oba Femi before a video package for Giulia led to her NXT debut against none other than Chelsea Green! This was a decent first showing for Giulia, she hit her moves right and delivered a vicious knee at one point. It also helped that she faced someone in Chelsea Green who is amazing at making others look good, and Chelsea deserves an awful lot of praise herself. In the end, Giulia hit her finisher to win on debut!
Grade: B-
Trick Williams talked about stepping into the unknown when it comes to Last Man Standing Matches before we got a brilliant video with Lexis King! This actually led to Oro Mensah attacking him in the Barber’s Shop before Lola Vice got into an argument with The Fatal Influence (in the always-crowded NXT Women’s Locker room)! We then headed into the second Championship match of the night as Charlie Dempsey put his NXT Heritage Cup on the line against Je’Von Evans! Round 1 was very much a feeling-out process as both guys were pretty even before Charlie Dempsey took a fall early in Round 2 following a nice suplex! Towards the end of Round 3 and it was 1-1 as Je’Von hit his new finisher before the ending of Round 4 saw Dempsey refuse to let go of a sleeper hold. This led to Cedric Alexander and Myles Borne having a brawl which is when Wren Sinclair distracted the referee in Round 5, opening the door for a returning Tavion Heights to drop Evans and gift Dempsey a victory and more importantly, a Title retention! I thought this was good, and as always, Charlie Dempsey’s facial expressions are amazing!
Grade: B-
We got a creepy video for Rosemary and Wendy Choo before Ethan Page cut a great promo about how he’s rooting for himself in the Main Event! Oba Femi was then out next as he was ready to take on Tony D’Angelo’s newest recruit. That recruit was none other than TNA’s Hammerstone, and my goodness is that guy massive! This was actually another example of Oba Femi taking on a big guy, and looking great whilst doing it! Oba is such a machine, the way he carries himself is amazing, and despite the best efforts of Hammerstone, Femi delivered Fall From Grace to score the 3 count to the annoyance of The Don!
Grade: C+
Duke Hudson VS Ridge Holland, Jordynne Grace’s TNA Knockouts Championship Open Challenge
Hank and Tank were delighted when Mr. Stone booked them in another match against Gallows and Anderson before Wren Sinclair set her sights on Kelani Jordan’s NXT Women’s North American Championship. Jaida Parker was then pretty rude to Lola Vice before Duke Hudson looked to get some revenge as he went one-on-one with Ridge Holland! This match was fine, the action was alright, and it was interesting that Riley Osbourne got took out after a collision with his own partner (thanks to Ridge). However, for a match that’s actually pretty personal, the fire just wasn’t there, and Holland scored the win with his Redeemer. However, after the match, Ridge took out his anger on The Duke by planting The MVP head-first onto a broken part of the barricade as an emotional Thea Hail watched on!
Grade: C+
Pete Dunne talked about how he’s going to beat Trick Williams and move on to the NXT Championship before Wes Lee confirmed that he’s the reason why The Rascalz weren’t able to face Axiom and Nathan Frazer tonight! Wes then challenged Zachary Wentz to a Street Fight for NXT’s first show on the CW! Jordynne Grace was then in the ring as she was about to host an Open Challenge for her TNA Knockouts Championship! That Open Challenge was answered by one Sol Ruca, and that’s pretty exciting given Sol’s one of the best performers in NXT’s Women’s Division! I actually thought that this was the best match up to this point, the action was smooth and well-timed, and both women looked good. However, before we could get a proper finish, the lights went out and Wendy Choo choked out Jordynne Grace to leave the Knockouts Champion laid out! I’m not against that part, I think it was a cool look for Wendy, but to have two disqualification finishes in two different Title matches is a little bit too much!
Grade: B-
Tatum Paxley was showing Lyra Valkyria her dolls before we got a funny moment where Tatum said Wendy was just using her for a Championship (Lyra wasn’t impressed)! Funaki was then back as he was talking to Giulia and this seemed to rile up Roxanne Perez before Shawn Spears made it clear to Brooks Jensen that he needs to be the one who decides how he feels! Ashante “Thee” Adonis was then annoying around Eddy Thorpe, and I didn’t like any of this, particually because of the fact that Karmen Petrovic was in this segment!
Pete Dunne VS Trick Williams: NXT Championship Number 1 Contender’s Last Man Standing Match
And in the Main Event, Pete Dunne and Trick Williams collided in a Last Man Standing Match where the winner would earn an opportunity at Ethan Page’s NXT Championship on the CW in Chicago, Illinois! This was a lot of fun, it was hard-hitting and there was actually a bit of drama which I don’t always feel like exists in a Last Man Standing Match (certainly not how it should anyway). There were points were you could genuinely by into both men winning, and we got a crazy spot where both men went flying off of the Podium/Platform area and into a pair of tables! This led to Ethan Page arriving to scream at Pete Dunne to get up, but as All Ego charged at Trick Williams, Trick flipped Page over and through the announce table, and that action alone was enough for Trick Willy to rise to his feet by the count of 10! This was such a great ending to the match, it felt very unique, very smart, it fits very well with Ethan Page’s character, and it’s just amazing to see how over Trick Williams is with the crowd still! Oh, and Ava announced at the end of the show that CM Punk is appearing next week!
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