Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams VS Apollo Crews and Axiom, Alba Fyre VS Sol Ruca
After a recap package showcasing what went down at NXT New Year’s Evil last week, Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams took on the team of Apollo Crews and Axiom. I thought this match was alright, but I do have some issues with it. I’ve made it clear what I think about Carmelo Hayes and Axiom and I also think Trick Williams is really proving himself as a guy that could compete for the North American Championship. However, I just don’t think that Apollo Crews' run on NXT has worked. He’s a good wrestler, but he just doesn’t come across as a likeable babyface. Also, he picked up the win by rolling-up Carmelo Hayes after Axiom hit the Golden Ratio onto Trick Williams. I understand that they did this finish so Melo and Crews can fight at Vengeance Day, but it would have made more sense if Apollo had pinned Trick Willy.
Grade: C
Tony D’Angelo and Stacks walked across the bridge where D’Angelo threw Two Dimes off. Stacks expected the Don to do the same to him, but Tony D responded by giving him the family jacket. Tiffany Stratton was then being interviewed backstage before we saw a video of Indi Hartwell removing Tiffany’s name off of a door and replacing it with an “NXT Women’s locker room” sign. Stratton wasn’t happy about this. Toxic Attraction were then out in the ring and they talked about how their two minds think alike before Lyra Valkyria came out and said that she would be heading to Vengeance Day if it wasn’t for Cora Jade. Dolin and Jayne then attacked Valkyria before Roxanne Perez came out to make the save. This set up a tag match for the main event. The Creed Brothers were then arguing backstage about who should get the next shot at Jinder Mahal before Ivy Nile came in and asked them what had happened to the best tag team in NXT. It looks like Julius and Brutus are finally understanding what Nile’s been saying for months. We then got another one of those Stevie Turner live-stream videos where she talked about the women’s battle royal from last week’s show before she said she was coming soon.
We then finally got the match between Alba Fyre and Sol Ruca. Alba Fyre is such a good person to have younger, up-and-coming talents face and that showed again here against Sol Ruca who is my pick to be the breakout star of 2023. Alba was on top for most of this and she was being more aggressive than usual before Isla Dawn appeared on the platform area. This distracted Fyre (who didn’t know what to do about it) before Sol Ruca hit her ridiculous finisher to get the major upset victory. This was good for multiple reasons; it furthers the Fyre-Dawn storyline, a loss doesn’t hurt Fyre at all whilst the win for Ruca is a massive moment in her career that could launch her to the next step.
Grade: B (for the storytelling)
Briggs and Jensen VS Gallus, Valentina Feroz VS Thea Hail
Dijak cut a promo about how he is finished with Tony D’Angelo before he said he is going to inflict punishment on Wes Lee at Vengeance Day. Vic Joseph then did a sit-down interview with Grayson Waller and Waller talked about how he beat Bron Breakker at everything that he could control before he said that he would’ve become the new NXT Champion if officials had done their jobs correctly. Also, the best part about all of this was the Arrogant Aussie said he’d brought himself a replica championship title before he put the NXT Championship over his shoulder. Never seen that one before! We then cut to the backstage area where Alba Fyre was holding a baseball bat to a referee’s throat. When Katana Chance and Kayden Carter came over and asked her what was going on, Fyre got angry with them and told them that she wants a shot at the NXT Women’s Tag Team Titles next week. I might be about to get my prediction right!
It was then time for a tag team match as the number 1 contenders to the NXT Tag Team Championships Gallus took on Briggs and Jensen. These two teams have had a lot of history together so this did feel like a bigger deal than any of the other matches on the night. At one point, Gallus showed their usual recklessness by pulling off the protective mat on the outside of the ring meaning a part of the floor was just exposed concrete. This played into the finish as Mark Coffey dropped Brooks Jensen onto the exposed concrete and this left Josh Briggs on his own against the Gallus Boys. Whilst Fallon Henley was checking on Brooks, Kiana James came out to try and help him. Meanwhile, in the ring, Gallus hit their finishing move onto Briggs to get the victory. Gallus are a good tag team and the story surrounding Brooks, Jensen, Henley and James is certainly interesting.
Grade: B-
Andre Chase came up to Duke Hudson backstage and he wanted to know what was going on after a video was uploaded of Duke talking about how Chase U needs to start winning matches. Duke said this was taken out of context before Thea Hail asked them to just focus on her match with Valentina Feroz. When we came back from the ad break, Brooks Jensen was sitting in the medical room before Fallon Henley questioned why Kiana James was out there. When Jensen said it was because they both liked each other, Henley stormed off saying that she wouldn’t be there to mend Brooks’ broken heart. It was then time for a singles match as Thea Hail looked for her first-ever victory on NXT television as she took on Valentina Feroz. This was a short match, but it was actually alright. Both Hail and Feroz have a long way to go if they are to be the faces of NXT, but I’ve seen a lot worse from the NXT Women’s division over the past 18 months. During the match, Elektra Lopez came out and when the referee was distracted, Lopez handed Feroz some brass knuckles. Valentina had no interest in using them and this allowed Hail to hit her finisher to get her very first win on Tuesday nights. I think it would be really cool to see a female faction led by Elektra Lopez.
Grade: C
The New Day’s next challengers get revealed, Javier Bernal VS Tyler Bate
Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams were walking over to their car before Apollo Crews came over and joked to them before he asked whether they knew a good barber around. Nothing that Apollo delivered came across as funny, but Trick Williams talking about Crews not having any hair did get something out of me. Valentina Feroz was then sitting in a locker room backstage before Elektra Lopez came up to her and told her that she needs to forget about Sanga and start focusing on winning matches. If this does become a faction, I’d be very intrigued as to who else joins the group. The New Day then came out dressed in very smart clothes and the reason for that is they finally get to see the back of Pretty Deadly. However, that didn’t last long as the boys from Essex came out and said that they had had enough of the rubbish they have received from the New Day before they demanded a shot at the tag team championships. Gallus came out and laughed at this claim before they told the New Day that they will realise how big of a threat they are at Vengeance Day. Kit Wilson and Elton Prince then attacked the two teams before all six men started to brawl. Officials broke it up and it was later revealed that the three teams will all collide for the NXT Tag Team titles at Vengeance Day. In terms of a setup, this was pretty solid and I think their match could be really good. Also, go and find the time to see what Pretty Deadly were wearing.
Grade: B-
Roxanne Perez and Lyra Valkyria were being interviewed by McKenzie Mitchell backstage and Valkyria talked about how she usually goes alone, but she will make an exception for tonight. Javier Bernal then came in and asked the three women if they would like to hear his hit song “Feliz Javidad” which has now made it into the big top 40! I swear this guy gets better every week! All three of them were clearly disgusted at this idea so they told Bernal to leave. We then got our second sit-down interview of the night, but this time, it was with the NXT Champion Bron Breakker. Breakker talked about how last week’s finish gave him no satisfaction whatsoever and he wants to fully put Grayson Waller behind him at Vengeance Day. Javier Bernal was then in the ring and he still had his guitar with him before he started to sing “Feliz Javidad”. However, he was quickly interrupted by the returning Tyler Bate. I have to say, Vic Joseph had a brilliant line where he said that “Feliz Javidad” isn’t even a top-40 hit in Bernal’s own house. Early contender for commentary line of the year! The match itself was pretty decent; Bernal is getting better and better and Tyler Bate has already proven himself as one of the best the NXT world has ever had. Unfortunately, the finish was a complete mess. Bate just couldn’t get Bernal up for the Tyler Driver 97 for some reason and it eventually ended with a very awkward pinfall victory for Bate. It’s a big shame because it does detract from a pretty solid match.
Grade: C
Roxanne Perez and Lyra Valkyria VS Toxic Attraction
Chase U were celebrating backstage before Fallon Henley came up to Brooks Jensen and apologised to him for being super rude to him earlier on in the night. Henley then told Brooks that she was going to try and support Jensen’s relationship with Kiana James before she told him that she had gotten herself a tag match with James for next week’s edition of NXT. The main event of this week’s NXT was a women’s tag team match between the NXT Champion Roxanne Perez, Lyra Valkyria and Toxic Attraction. All four women are talented professional wrestlers so this wasn’t at all bad, it just wasn’t good either. Near the end of the match, Cora Jade tripped Valkyria up and this led to the two brawling to the backstage area leaving Roxanne Perez alone against Toxic A. When it looked like the former 2-time NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions were about to pick up the win, Jacy Jayne missed Perez and booted Gigi Dolin straight in the face and this allowed Roxanne to hit Pop Rox onto Dolin to get the victory.
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