Melo’s Championship Challengers, Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn VS Fallon Henley and Kiana James: NXT Women’s Tag Team Championships
Carmelo Hayes kicked off this week’s NXT and he talked about how he let his guard down and got punished for it. Trick Williams then said that “it won’t happen again” before Melo demanded that Bron Breakker enter the Fatal 4-Way Number 1 Contenders match tonight. Dragon Lee then came out and told Melo that he wants to face the best and the belt clearly proves that Hayes is the best before JD McDonagh walked out and said that he doesn’t need the flashy entrances to be the best in the ring. Grayson Waller then returned to NXT to say that he’s the third man in the Fatal 4-Way tonight and he called everyone “El Stupido” for thinking that Stand and Deliver was going to be the end of Grayson Waller. This was a fine opening segment between 4 talented competitors.
Grade: C+
Kiana James told Fallon Henley backstage that they must win tonight “by any means necessary” before James told both Fallon and Josh Briggs that Brooks Jensen isn’t here because he’s not happy with either of them. Sol Ruca and Dani Palmer were then doing a TikTok for some reason before Tiffany Stratton pulled up and said they hadn’t asked for permission to use “her car park”. If I was Tiffany, the last thing I would want to say I owned in NXT is the parking lot because a lot of bad things have gone down in that area. It was then time for the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championships to be on the line as Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn looked to defend against Fallon Henley and Kiana James. I actually enjoyed this match, I thought it had a good pace to it and nobody put a foot wrong. It is probably the best match/performance both James and Henley have ever put on and that is down to both women improving their game whilst always being up against really good competitors like Fyre and Dawn. During the match, Brooks Jensen pulled up and late on in the match, he jumped in the ring with Kiana’s bag and demanded that Fallon use it to try and win the tag team titles back. Henley wouldn’t and after the referee sent Brooks to the back, he pushed his tag team partner Josh Briggs to the ground. This distracted Henley which allowed Alba Fyre to get the victory after delivering a perfect Swanton Bomb. Even though the Brooks stuff was a bit goofy, it’s nice to see that NXT are building on this storyline and I’m intrigued to see where it goes next. Also, Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn have the potential to have a pretty great run with the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championships.
Grade: B-
Chase U’s MVP Award Ceremony, Eddy Thorpe VS Javier Bernal
Noam Dar announced that will be defending the now named “NXT Heritage Cup” in America at some point before he also explained the rules. Chase University were then in the ring as it was time for Duke Hudson to be crowned MVP. Andre Chase cut a speech beforehand thanking his student before “the Duke” cut a pretty decent promo. One line was particularly great as Hudson said “it’s never been about Chase Me, it’s always been about Chase U”! Bron Breakker then arrived in all black before he said he was giving his spot in tonight’s Fatal 4-Way Number 1 Contenders match to Duke Hudson as the NXT Championship “is a curse he doesn’t want back”. He also called the crowd “scumbags” which was quite funny before he absolutely destroyed Andre Chase with a huge Spear. Interestingly, Duke Hudson then decided it would be better to get out of the ring and protect his trophy rather than fight Breakker. This was a solid segment.
Grade: B-
Gigi Dolin revisited her old home and she talked about how she just wants to be happy and loved by people which is why Jacy Jayne cost her the NXT Women’s Championship at Stand and Deliver. We then got a video from earlier in the day showing Tony D’Angelo and Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo beat up Pretty Deadly before they chucked Kit Wilson in the boot and drove off. We then got the first singles match of the night as Eddy Thorpe looked to get a victory over Javier Bernal. Damon Kemp watched on from the ramp as Eddy Thorpe did just that in pretty comfortable fashion. I really like Javier Bernal, I think he’s generally quite entertaining, but he cannot win a match to save his life. It clearly seems like NXT wants to push Thorpe higher up the card, but right now, he hasn’t really shown any signs of being capable of hanging with the top guys in NXT. However, it’s only his second match on NXT TV (not including Level Up) so he has plenty of time to sharpen his skills.
Grade: C
Tiffany Stratton VS Sol Ruca, Cora Jade calls out the NXT Women’s locker room
Gallus got into an argument with Tank Ledger backstage which resulted in Joe Coffey challenging Ledger to a match. The Schism then walked up to them and said they were sick of being ignored by the NXT Tag Team Champions. A thing I really liked about this exchange was when Wolfgang said “we’ll beat you like we did in Europe”, a call-back to the battles the two teams had in NXT UK. Scrypts did another one of his vignettes and these things never excite me before Tiffany Stratton went one-on-one with Sol Ruca. This match was ok for a midcard match on NXT, but it felt like it could have been so much better. I’ve been quite open and honest in these reviews about just how much I rate both women and I think this could genuinely be a great match on either Raw or SmackDown one day. However, this didn’t quite feel right. Stratton got the victory with her always-good moonsault.
Grade: C
Chase University spoke backstage and whilst Andre Chase looked to be in quite a bit of pain (that’s how devastating the spear was), both Duke Hudson and Thea Hail seemed super pumped for the opportunity that the MVP of the University has later on in the main event. Diamond Mine were then interviewed by McKenzie Mitchell before the Creed Brothers challenged Gallus to an NXT Tag Team Championship match for next week’s show. Julius, Brutus and Ivy all then left before Tiffany Stratton walked in and demanded that she should be the Number 1 Contender to Indi Hartwell and the NXT Women’s Championship. Cora Jade then came out to cut her first promo in months. She spoke about all the main contenders in NXT (Roxanne Perez, Zoey Stark, Gigi Dolin, etc) and she actually complimented all of them before she took a shot at each one of them for not being good enough before she called Indi Hartwell the “most beatable champion ever”. Lyra Valkyria then came out and said she won’t let Cora Jade become the NXT Women’s Champion before she threatened to “rip her eyes out” which seemed a bit much. Valkyria then sent Jade to the outside with a big kick. Considering the crowd kept shouting at Cora, I thought the resident mean girl of NXT did a pretty good job. I’ve also been impressed with Lyra since she’s arrived on NXT and the two could have a pretty decent match. After that, I really want to see Bron and Cora team up and run through their respective divisions.
Grade: B-
Ilja Dragunov VS Von Wagner, Joe Coffey VS Tank Ledger
Wes Lee spoke about being one of the best NXT North American Champions ever before Drew Gulak and Charlie Dempsey came up to him and questioned this statement. Wes Lee will put his belt on the line against Dempsey next week. Ilja Dragunov then battled Von Wagner in a match that if Wagner loses, Mr. Stone will no longer be his manager. Von started off hot as he got a lot of shots in, but as soon as Dragunov hit a big blow, he was in complete control. A few minutes later and the Czar picked up the victory with Torpedo Moscow. Mr. Stone then left ringside so it’s fair to say that that duo completely failed, but something that really excites me came afterwards when Dijak came out and starred down the former NXT UK Champion. Gosh, that match could be great!
Grade: C
Hank Walker went up to Tank Ledger to hype him up for his match with Joe Coffey. That match happened straight after this and it was ok. Neither Coffey nor Ledger did anything wrong, but it also wasn’t at all something to really go out of your way to watch. Ledger didn’t do anything special whilst I like Gallus as a team, but I’m still not convinced of Coffey as a singles star. Joe did get the victory though after he hit “All the Best for the Bells” which is a long name for a finishing maneuver. The Creed Brothers then ran down to the ring after the match before the Dyad arrived to have a brawl. The NXT Tag Team Championships will be on the line in a triple-threat match next week.
Grade: C
Fatal 4-Way Number 1 Contenders Match: Dragon Lee VS JD McDonagh VS Grayson Waller VS Duke Hudson
Tony D’Angelo and Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo asked Roxanne Perez how she was doing before Zoey Stark came over and questioned her. Roxanne responded before she high-fived the Family and walked off. Stacks then went to ask Zoey a question before Pretty Deadly attacked them and laid them both out. I’ve said this in the past, Pretty Deadly being more serious when it comes to fighting only makes them better. I’ve also just thought that this could lead to a six-person tag team match which would be interesting as the Family doesn’t act particularly friendly. It was then time for the main event as Dragon Lee, JD McDonagh, Grayson Waller and Duke Hudson all fought for the opportunity to face Carmelo Hayes for the NXT Championship at Spring Breakin’. I thought this match was great, everyone brought it and then some. Duke Hudson looked amazing and he was so over with the crowd, JD McDonagh continues to be one of the best in-ring workers NXT has and Dragon Lee is clearly a special talent. As for Grayson Waller, he is just so good at playing his character and stealing things from his opponents. As Dragon Lee hit an amazing powerbomb on “the Duke”, Waller rolled in and hit Lee with his roll-in Stunner before he pinned Chase U’s MVP to get the victory. Funnily enough, he did a similar thing at Roadblock except that time, he stole the win from Carmelo Hayes. The two starred down to end the show and that should be a hell of a match at Spring Breakin’.
Comments