Grayson Waller VS Tyler Bate, Jacy Jayne explains her actions
Grayson Waller made his NXT return after his 1-week suspension to battle Tyler Bate. Tyler Bate is such a good professional wrestler whilst Grayson Waller plays his character so well meaning this was a good start to NXT. The story of the match was that Grayson Waller kept mocking/taking shots at Shawn Michaels and he was determined to win by any means necessary. This ended up costing him as when he rolled up Bate, he held onto the ropes. The referee saw this and this allowed Tyler to perform his own pinfall to get the victory. This is why NXT is such a good show to watch; put two talented people in the ring and let them have time to showcase what they’ve got.
Grade: B
Josh Briggs asked Brooks Jensen if he was lucking forward to his valentine's date, but Jensen was clearly worried as he’s never kissed a girl before. Briggs tried to explain to him how it works before Fallon Henley walked in and she still isn’t happy about the whole situation. Brooks then left as it was time for him to take Kiana James out to dinner. We then cut backstage to see Grayson Waller going mad at Shawn Michaels. Officials eventually got him out of there before HBK cut straight to commercial. I’m really intrigued by this Waller-Michaels storyline and it’s such a simple and clever way to cut to a commercial break. Apollo Crews was then not in the best of moods and he told Dabba-Kato that he is coming for revenge before it was time for Jacy Jayne. Jacy cut a solid promo where she talked about how she’s always been made to feel like the third wheel in Toxic Attraction, but now she’s the only one left standing. I still think Jayne has a while to go in terms of her she delivers her promo. However, I always like heels who have reason to be angry and whilst Toxic Attraction was in its glory days, the fans were chanting for Mandy and Gigi, not Jacy so it’s a good story arc for her to have.
Grade: C+
Tiffany Stratton VS Thea Hail, Axiom VS Damon Kemp
Duke Hudson and Andre Chase were trying to support Thea Hail backstage after what happened on last week’s show. Thea Hail made it clear that she was going to try and forget about it and focus on her match with Tiffany Stratton as that is the Chase U way. Sol Ruca then talked about how much her family has helped her and all the hobbies she enjoys. I did find it interesting that she brought up getting out of school a lot, that doesn’t really feel like the best thing to be pushing. We then got the match between Tiffany Stratton and Thea Hail and I thought it was pretty solid. The story of this match was that every time Hail looked to be getting back into the match, a member of the Schism appeared. She was particularly freaked out by Joe Gacy and Ava Raine appearing also didn’t help her cause. Tiffany Stratton took advantage of this by hitting her brilliant moonsault for the victory. This did a good job at getting Stratton another win whilst furthering the Schism-Chase U storyline.
Grade: C+
Ivy Nile and Tatum Paxley were talking in the Diamond Dojo before Javier Bernal walked in and asked Tatum if she wanted to be his Javi-tine. When Tatum said she was already taken, Bernal straight away asked Nile and this resulted in Ivy locking in her submission on the hit artist. Isla Dawn’s voice then came over a speaker as she tried to sow seeds of dissension in the group. This segment went on for about a minute and it was excellent. Bernal’s gift was a love heart-shaped box with his face on it and him asking Tatum is genius as they’re together in real life. I’m now curious to know who Paxley’s taken by though. It was then time for more in-ring action as Axiom looked to get revenge on Damon Kemp. This match was pretty short, but I thought both men did well with what they had. Axiom is a really good performer whilst it’s clear that Damon Kemp can wrestle. Axiom rightly picked up the victory with the Golden Ratio, but I do think that if Kemp can improve his acting and his overall character performance, he could be an important part of Tuesday Nights in WWE.
Grade: C+
Bron Breakker returns, Wes Lee’s NXT North American Championship Open Challenge
Brooks Jensen sent out a bunch of pictures that showcased he was having a great time with Kiana James before we cut to Josh Briggs and Fallon Henley. Briggs look delighted for his buddie but Henley wasn’t impressed and she told Briggs that they were going to tell Brooks the truth. We then got a video of Grayson Waller being forced out of the Performance Center before Bron Breakker made his return to NXT. Bron was about to talk about Carmelo Hayes before Jinder Mahal interrupted him. Mahal told Bron that he understands what it’s like to be on top and it ended with Mahal challenging Breakker to a championship match for nexDt week which the champ accepted. This was not a good segment. Jinder kept stumbling over his words whilst the fans continuously chanted “Bron Breakker Sucks”. Also, this isn’t a match that anyone really wants to see and that was shown when the crowd started chanting “someone save us”! It almost feels like Stand and Deliver can’t come soon enough for NXT as the crowd have really turned on the young champion.
Grade: D
Katana Chance and Kayden Carter found Roxanne Perez and Meiko Satomura and told them that they were sorry for the way they spoke to them last week. They then said it will be an honor to face the final boss. Indi Hartwell then cut a promo where she said that she doesn’t feel sorry for Gigi Dolin, but she sure is going to teach Jacy Jayne the lesson that you have to go through Indi Wrestling to get to the top. Wes Lee then came out to the ring as he was ready to put his NXT North American Championship on the line in an open challenge. It was originally accepted by Tony D’Angelo, but he was quickly taken out by Dijak before the three men (including Stacks) brawled to the back. This allowed Von Wagner to come from behind and deliver a big boot to signal that he was answering the challenge. This was the usual big man-little man bout, but it was still interesting. Von Wagner still has a long way to go if he is to be taken seriously, but Wes Lee has done an excellent job at reminding people just how good he is. He showed it again in this match as he was able to pick up the victory with the Cardiac Kick. That’s a cool name for a finisher.
Grade: C
Charlie Dempsey VS Hank Walker, lots of other segments
Hank Walker showed off his brand new gear to Drew Gulak before Gulak gave Walker a pair of his boots for the match. We then headed straight into the match and it was really short. After just a few minutes, Dempsey picked up the win with his submission move. The interesting part came after the match as when Dempsey re-locked in the submission, Drew Gulak didn’t do anything before the two men walked off together, leaving Walker in the ring. Gulak-Dempsey definitely works better as a partnership than Gulak-Walker so I’m intrigued to see just how far they can go together. However, the match wasn’t great as it was just too short.
Grade: C-
Mr. Stone told Von Wagner that the reason why he lost against Wes Lee is that he isn’t connected to anyone. Mr. Stone is a funny guy. Gallus were in their pub and they were interrupted by Pretty Deadly who told them that they could beat them at Billiards (they were playing Pool). Gallus then continued to beat Pretty Deadly who had no idea what they were doing and after every game, Wilson and Prince kept getting Coffey and Wolfgang more drinks so they could keep playing. This backfired on them as the NXT Tag Team Champions told their next challengers that they had to pay for the bill. I can tell you that the list was long. This was simple and funny because Elton Prince and Kit Wilson are excellent. Ilja Dragunov then attempted to cut a backstage promo before Trick Williams called him out in the middle of the ring. Dragunov eventually came out and after a back-and-forth promo, Dragunov dropped Trick Willy before JD McDonagh’s music hit. The Irish Ace came out with something covering his entire right eye and this distracted the former NXT UK Champion which allowed Trick Williams to lay him out. I like everyone in this segment so this was good. Trick Williams then came up to Carmelo Hayes who was in the locker room and they laughed about what Trick had just done. Brooks Jensen then dropped off Kiana James at her home and when it looked like Jensen was about to get his first kiss, Fallon Henley appeared and told Brooks about the phone call where James said she loved Zack. Kiana made it clear that she wasn’t cheating on Brooks as Zach is her brother. She then walked into the house pretty cross whilst Josh Briggs comforted a pretty despondent Brooks Jensen. I think this storyline is good, but I still don’t get why they needed to win the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championships at Vengeance Day.
Grade: B for Pool, B- for Dragunov, Williams and McDonagh, B- for Brooks/James
Roxanne Perez and Meiko Satomura VS Katana Chance and Kayden Carter
The main event of this week’s edition of NXT saw the NXT Women’s Champion Roxanne Perez team up with the former NXT UK Women’s Champion Meiko Satomura to take on the former NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions Katana Chance and Kayden Carter. In my opinion, the KC’s are the best women’s tag team that I’ve ever seen whilst Meiko Satomura is clearly one of the all-time greats. Add in a superb talent like Roxanne Perez and you have the recipe for a fun tag match. That’s exactly what this was and in the end, Roxanne picked up the win after hitting Pop Rox on Kayden Carter. After the match, Meiko Satomura requested an NXT Women’s Championship match which Roxanne happily accepted. I think that match should be the main event of Roadblock in 3 week's time.
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