Joe Hendry Interrupts Ethan Page, Tony D’Angelo VS Charlie Dempsey: NXT Heritage Cup
After Wes Lee refused to explain his actions, NXT kicked off this week with Ethan Page as the NXT Champion cut a promo about how after beating Oro Mensah last week, it is definetly NX-ME! Joe Hendry then came out to say he wants a piece of the NXT Championship before Page responded by saying he hates Joe’s song. This very much looked like it could be leading to a Title match being made, but Wes Lee arrived instead to floor Hendry with another perfect Superkick! All of this was well executed, and Ethan Page continues to impress!
Grade: B-
Wren Sinclair was hanging out in the No Quarter Catch Crew’s training room before Ava announced that Wren Sinclair, Adrianna Rizzo, and Sol Ruca would be 3 of the 6 women competing in next week’s Number 1 Contender’s Gauntlet Match. It was then time for the first match of the night as Tony D’Angelo put his NXT Heritage Cup on the line against Charlie Dempsey. The first round was pretty even, with neither man taking big risks, but the second round ended early after D’Angelo delivered Forget About It. Round 3 took place in the ad break before Wren started to hit Dempsey! This fired Charlie up and allowed him to ultimately make it 1-1 with a nice bridge before, in Round 5, after Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo and Myles Borne’s antics had distracted the referee, Sinclair tripped Tony D up and this allowed Charlie Dempsey to drop The Don with a nice suplex to pick up the surprising victory and recapture the NXT Heritage Cup! This was a surprise to me, but I liked it, and I think CD works better in this role.
Grade: B-
Eddy Thorpe VS Lexis King, Lola Vice VS Tatum Paxley, Wes Lee Explains His Actions
Lola Vice spoke to Tatum Paxley (which Tatum didn’t seem to like) before Eddy Thorpe clashed with Lexis King. This was a really weird match as it was really short, very one-sided, and just ended abruptly with The King winning following the Coronation. I genuinely don’t know what else to say about this other than it felt very rushed.
Grade: C
Trick Williams had a really good video promo where he talked about always finding a way to overcome obstacles before Pete Dunne laughed at this and said he has bigger things to worry about. In the background, Meta-Four and the trio of Jacy Jayne, Fallon Henley, and Jazmyn Nyx got into an argument before it was time for Lola Vice and Tatum Paxley to collide. Kelani Jordan was on commentary for this one as the NXT Women’s North American Champion got to watch some solid in-ring action. Lola is definitely getting better whilst Tatum has always been one of the better performers in the Division. Rather interestingly, outside the ring, Wendy Choo arrived and choked out Lani and this distracted Paxley enough for Vice to pick up the W following a back-fist. All four of these women are good so this could definitely be good!
Grade: C+
Ava announced that Jaida Parker, Kendall Grey, and Karmen Petrovic will be the final 3 competitors in next week’s Gauntlet Match, and this really ticked off Izzi Dame. Wes Lee was then out next as The Kardiak Kid had some explaining to do. Wes said that The Rascalz had let him down countless times and that he was sick and tired and quite frankly done with being Zachary Wentz’s “caretaker”. Lee then sort of challenged Wentz to a match at NXT No Mercy, but he also made it clear that he wants the NXT Championship which is when Pete Dunne arrived and Joe Hendry appeared to start a brawl. So firstly, Wes Lee felt a little bit off with his promo here, but that’s not the end of the world as this is his first week playing a Heel. Secondly, I believed everything Wes was saying, so that’s a big W! And thirdly, Lee’s “future endeavours” line at the end was a killer!
Grade: C+
NXT North American Championship: Oba Femi VS Otis, Brinley Reece VS Izzi Dame
Axiom and Nathan Frazer confirmed that they are actually on the same page this week before Oba Femi stole Tony D’Angelo’s spotlight. Ridge Holland then thanked the rest of Chase University for believing in him before Oba Femi arrived to defend his NXT North American Championship against none other than Otis! This was a fun encounter, you knew what the result was going to be, but they still did a good job making it entertaining. Whilst Oba is an absolute machine, Otis is a terrific Babyface and he showed that with a late rally following Femi wrecking Akira Tozawa! Otise even came close to the win following a splash, but in the end, The Ruler of NXT was able to drop Otis with an insane Powerbomb to score the victory and retain his North American Title!
Grade: B-
Brooks Jensen cut a promo that was basically him praising Shawn Spears before Edris Enofe and Malik Blade said they needed to help him. Hank and Tank then confirmed that they will be facing The O.C. next week before Izzi Dame made her way down to the ring to go one-on-one with Brinley Reece. This match actually got more time than I expected, and I thought they did a decent job. For two people that only signed with the company 2 years ago, they’re doing alright, and I liked that Brinley Reece brought more fire to this one than her usual “bubbly” personality. In the end, though, it was Izzi Dame who scored the win following her finisher, and I genuinely get the same vibes from her that I got from Raquel Gonzalez (so let’s see how that goes)!
Grade: C+
NXT Tag Team Championships: Axiom and Nathan Frazer VS Chase University
After Roxanne Perez took shots at Ava and the rest of the NXT Women’s Division, and Ashante “Thee” Adonis got jealous of Dion Lennox, it was Main Event time as Axiom and Nathan Frazer put their NXT Tag Team Championships on the line against Chase University! Whilst this match wasn’t as good as their contest from NXT Heatwave, this was still a great match that I had a ton of fun with. Axiom and Frazer were just diving left, right, and centre whilst the pairing of Andre Chase and Ridge Holland was actually working quite well! In a nod to the previous two matches, Axiom nearly Superkicked his partner, but Nathan caught in and assisted Axiom with a kick to Ridge. We then got this great near-fall following a ridiculous Superkick/Brain-buster combo before I genuinely thought Chase U had won the belts after Frazer narrowly kicked out. The funny thing about FRAXIOM’s Title reign is I keep expecting them to lose, but they don’t. Going into this match, I expected the Champions to retain which is why that near-fall was so good! However, unbelievably, after Mr. Chase took out Nathan Frazer, Ridge Holland planted Axiom with a nasty-looking driver to score the win and bring Championship Gold back to Chase University! I genuinely couldn’t believe this, this absolutely stunned me, and I’m honestly so glad! Axiom and Frazer have been incredible as Tag Team Champions, but I’m now very excited to see how this Chase U dynamic gets on.
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