NXT Women’s Championship Tournament: Cora Jade VS Fallon Henley, Carmelo Hayes calls out Bron Breakker Part 1
The first match of the night saw Cora Jade take on Fallon Henley in the first round of the NXT Women’s Championship Tournament. This match didn’t go as long as I expected, but what did happen was pretty decent. Cora Jade is one of the better parts of the NXT Women’s division whilst Fallon Henley deserves massive props for how much she’s improved since she first arrived in NXT. At one point, a slight error happened, but both Jade and Henley were able to transition straight into another move which made it look sort of deliberate (which is a good thing). In the end, though, Cora Jade hit a chop-block on Henley before she nailed her with her DDT to advance to the Semi-Finals. I’m intrigued to see who NXT chooses to have win between Cora Jade and Lyra Valkyria next week.
Grade: C+
A bunch of superstars were watching this match backstage and Kiana James laughed when Thea Hail said she thought Fallon was going to win. The two then got into a back-and-forth argument which resulted in Hail challenging James to a match. Duke Hudson then approved it. Tyler Bate and Wes Lee were then meditating in the locker room before The Dyad attacked them. The one move to take out Tyler Bate’s arm looked brutal. Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams then arrived in a lovely-looking car as the A Champ made his way to the ring. Carmelo Hayes talked about how impressive he was with Trick Willy’s performance last week before he called out Bron Breakker. However, it was Drew Gulak and Charlie Dempsey who answered the call after Melo and Trick had annoyed them early on. After a back-and-forth conversation, a tag team match was made for later on in the night. This was totally fine for what it was.
Grade: C
The Creed Brothers VS The Dyad, Supernova Sessions, Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams VS Drew Gulak and Charlie Dempsey
Dijak said he could break any man in a video promo before Ilja Dragunov walked in and said he was unbreakable. Ok! We then got a video from an NXT Live Event showing Dani Palmer being attacked by the same hooded figure who I’m guessing attacked Nikkita Lyons, Wendy Choo and Sol Ruca before the Creed Brothers took on the Dyad. This was definitely the match of the night, it was really good. The Creed Brothers are definitely one of the best tag teams in all of WWE right now whilst the Dyad have been criminally underrated for years now. There was one spot in the match where Julius Creed and Jagger Reid hit stereo 450s on their opponents and it looked great. Rip Fowler then tried to distract Ivy Nile so Ava could attack her, but it resulted in Nile locking in the Dragon Sleeper on Ava before Julius wrecked Reid with the Clothesline to get the victory. Really good stuff.
Grade: B
We then went to everyone’s favourite Italian restaurant (if you’re a member of the NXT roster) as Tony D’Angelo and Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo were having a chat. Stacks had to go to take a phone call before two police officers walked in and told D’Angelo he had to come down for questioning. We then went back to the NXT arena to see Julius Creed challenged Gallus to a tag team title match for NXT Battleground. This was definitely a creative way to get the Family away from the tag team picture for now. It was then time for the first “US addition” of the Supernova Sessions. Noam Dar welcomed his guest Dragon Lee to the show before he tried to start learning Spanish from a book he brought. The two then went back and forth over Dragon Lee getting a shot at the NXT Heritage Cup before Nathan Frazer arrived and convinced Dar to put his trophy on the line against Lee at NXT Battleground. Dar agreed before he challenged Frazer to a normal match for next week. This wasn’t great, I’ve never rated Noam Dar as a talker and I don’t really get Nathan Frazer’s character at the moment. Instead of “revealing truths”, he should just get back in the ring and have the match of the week like he’s so capable of doing.
Grade: D
We cut back to Dijak’s room to see that he’d beaten up Ilja Dragunov. Jacy Jayne then cut a backstage promo where she talked trash about Gigi Dolin before she said that she’s going to be the next NXT Women’s Champion. It was then time for another tag team match as the NXT Champion Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams battled Drew Gulak and Charlie Dempsey. This match was decent, Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams are a really good team whilst Drew Gulak and Charlie Dempsey can become genuine challengers to the tag titles in the future. Trick Willy looked good here once again as he took out Dempsey before the A-Champion hit Nothin’ but Net to get the victory. After the match, Melo once again called out Bron Breakker and Breakker answered by showing he was in CutWiz. You know a feud is serious when someone turns up at someone’s house and I would argue Bron turning up at Melo’s barbers is the same thing.
Grade: B-
Thea Hail VS Kiana James, Wes Lee’s NXT North American Championship challengers get revealed
Noam Dar bumped into Lash Legend and Jakara Jackson backstage and Lash Legend didn’t hold back on how terrible all of these NXT talk shows are. However, she then said that she’s thinking of bringing back “Lashing Out” which is definitely the worst talk show. Thea Hail reminded Duke Hudson that it was time to go out to the ring as the young Chase U prospect took on Kiana James in singles action. This match was fine for what it was, Kiana James is much improved from this time last year whilst Thea Hail is always entertaining. However, with Duke Hudson more worried about marking test papers, Hail didn’t have the support she needed which allowed Kiana James to get the win with the 401K.
Grade: C
Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen came up to Hank Walker and Tank Ledger and said the battle they had a few weeks ago has only made their bond stronger. Tank then took this quite literally as he challenged Hank to a match for next week's show in order to help them bond more. Doubt it’ll work, but who knows? McKenzie Mitchell then spoke to both Wes Lee and Tyler Bate who were in the trainers' room before Wes said he was coming to the ring to address what happened earlier in the show. Dabba-Kato then got a video promo where he said he’s got lots of people left to beat in NXT and he’s coming for singles gold soon too. The NXT good guys locker room were all watching this and everyone seemed to be scared except Axiom. On one hand, this made Axiom look tough. On the other hand, it was quite sad to see a guy as good as Axiom with what you would call the undercard (or NXT Level Up). Wes Lee’s music then hit as the NXT North American Champion made his way down to the ring. The Kardiak Kid called out the Schism before Joe Gacy and Ava appeared on the platform area. Gacy told Wes that he wanted a shot at the North American Championship at NXT Battleground before Ava told the champ that Tyler Bate has been deceiving him the whole time. The Big Strong Boi then arrived and told Gacy to shut the hell up before he told Wes that he’d be lying to himself if he said he doesn’t want a shot at the NA title. Lee was shocked at this before he said he’d fight both men in a triple-threat match at Battleground. This was a solid segment, but the end line of “I thought I could trust you” from Wes to Tyler definitely brings the rating up.
Grade: B-
NXT Women’s Championship Tournament: Roxanne Perez VS Jacy Jayne, Carmelo Hayes calls out Bron Breakker Part 3
Roxanne Perez showed off a board of all of her moments in her first year in WWE, from winning basically everything there is to win in NXT to appearing in the Royal Rumble. The Prodigy then said that the only proper thing she could put on her second board was a question mark. Von Wagner was then talking to a girl backstage before he noticed that the guy in the suit was back and he was messing with Mr. Stone. Wagner didn’t like this so he once again threatened the guy that nobody knows the name of. Von then told Mr. Stone that he only stuck up for him because he’s the only one who's believed in him. Even though I don’t think Von Wagner is charismatic at all, making him feel like a real person definitely helps him feel more likeable. It was then time for the final first-round match in the NXT Women’s Championship tournament as Roxanne Perez battled Jacy Jayne for a spot in the Semi-Finals. This match was probably better than the first match of the night and that was mainly down to the fact that this contest got more time. It was also a more even contest as Jayne came close to winning on a couple of different occasions. In the end, though, it was Roxy who picked up the victory with the Pop Rox. After the match, Roxanne Perez and Tiffany Stratton starred down which on paper is NXT’s two best female competitors. However, their battle when Indi Hartwell got injured at Spring Breakin’ wasn’t the best. Meanwhile, in the ring, Gigi Dolin arrived and brawled with Jacy Jayne before Carmelo Hayes’ music hit as Vic Joseph struggled to keep up with all of the action that was unfolding.
Grade: C+
Carmelo Hayes called out Bron Breakker once again and finally, the former NXT Champion arrived. However, lots of security guards appeared in front of him as Bron had brought them here to protect “Melo and Trick”. Bron, Melo and Trick then had a decent back-and-forth promo where Breakker told Melo that he was going to turn him into just another Boston sports team. What Bron meant by this was Melo was a star, but now he’s going to drop off like the New England Patriots or the Boston Celtics. However, this didn’t work as clearly all the fans in attendance hate the Patriots so Bron was almost being cheered. In the end, Melo dived onto the security guards before the A Champ and the former Champ battled in the ring. It resulted in Hayes low-blowing Breakker before he smashed him with the championship to end the show. I thought this was all decent, but I still don’t get why Bron is always coming out on top in these brawls and when he’s not, it’s because Melo’s had to resort to old heel tactics.
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