Roxanne Perez VS Tatum Paxley
NXT kicked off this week with action straight away as Roxanne Perez attacked Tatum Paxley before their match could even start. We then got the match, and I thought it was pretty decent. I like both of these people, especially Tatum, and I’ve said multiple times that I’m a fan of this new Roxanne Perez character. I don’t know what it is, but she just comes across sharper which is a good thing in this industry. In the end, despite a strong fight from Paxley, Perez delivered Pop Rox followed by her submission to score the tap-out victory before Lyra Valkyria made her return to NXT, only to also get taken out by The Prodigy. I’m looking forward to their match at NXT Stand and Deliver, it should be good.
Grade: C+
Josh Briggs Calls Out Oba Femi, Axiom and Nathan Frazer VS No Quarter Catch Crew: NXT Tag Team Championships Qualifying Match, Brinley Reece VS Sol Ruca
Noam Dar and the rest of Meta-Four were trying to get Lash Legend to focus before Alpha Academy showed up and Otis tried to flirt with Lash. Otis has a very good history in that building! Anyway, Lyra Valkyria then demanded to Ava that she faces Roxanne Perez for the NXT Women’s Championship at NXT Stand and Deliver before Josh Briggs stormed into the ring to call out Oba Femi. Oba came out and laughed Briggs’ NXT North American Championship challenge off, but he took a little bit more notice when Dijak arrived to throw his hat into the ring (metaphorically, not literally). This ultimately resulted in a brawl that was kind of broken up by referees, but yeah, this was fine, and that’s another match I’d quite like to see at SAD.
Grade: C+
Shawn Spears was laughing at something backstage before Joe Gacy peered his head in whilst lying on the floor. This guy is weird! It was then time for another match in the NXT Tag Team Championship Number 1 Contender’s Tournament (thing) as Axiom and Nathan Frazer took on No Quarter Catch Crew. It was Charlie Dempsey and Myles Borne who represented the NQCC, and I actually think they work quite well as a double team. Of course, so do Axiom and Frazer who I could just watch perform every day, and yeah, this was another decent contest. In the end, after Axiom dropped Borne with a Spanish Fly, the Spanish Superhero nailed Dempsey with the Golden Ratio whilst Nathan Frazer was hitting his ever-awesome Phoenix Splash (on Myles) to get the victory. I know they won’t, but I would leave to see Axiom and Frazer be the ones to challenge for the NXT Tag Team Championships at Stand and Deliver.
Grade: B-
Mr. Stone was very angry with Von Wagner for helping him last week (make that make sense) before Baron Corbin and Bron Breakker were joking about “paying the tab”. Alpha Academy then walked in and challenged The Wolf Dogs to a match next week with the stipulation that if Otis and Akira Tozawa win, they get added to the NXT Tag Team Championships match at NXT Stand and Deliver. I’m very intrigued to see how next week’s match goes now. Sol Ruca then finally made her return to in-ring action as she went one-on-one with Brinley Reece. I really like Sol Ruca, I think she’s a very fun in-ring competitor. Brinley Reece is also decent as well, and I think she has the potential to be more than just a “loser” in NXT down the line. However, Ruca was obviously going to win this match and she did so with the awesome Sol Snatcher (I’ve missed that move) before Blair Davenport attacked Sol after the match to make a statement. Davenport-Ruca should actually be pretty good.
Grade: C+
Tony D’Angelo Promo, Drew Gulak VS Riley Osbourne: NXT Heritage Cup, The Good Brothers VS Hank and Tank: NXT Tag Team Championships Qualifying Match
Gigi Dolin was talking to Wren Sinclair backstage before Arianna Grace walked in and labelled Gigi as “Ms. NXT in Training”. I say it most weeks, but Arianna Grace is a literal joy! Ridge Holland then said he was going to be what people want him to be before Tony D’Angelo arrived as he had some things to say. Flanked by Adrianna Rizzo and Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo, D’Angelo fully welcomed Luca Crusifino into The Family before he said he was going to break Ilja Dragunov at NXT Stand and Deliver. Ilja then popped up on the titantron, but he was quickly cut off by Tony D who announced that The Mad Dragon will be taking on The Underboss next week. This didn’t really work for me, because as much as I don’t mind Tony D’Angelo going after the NXT Championship, it’s not really believable that he’s going to be able to defeat Ilja Dragunov, which is a shame, especially on the road to your biggest show of the year.
Grade: C
Thea Hail and Riley Osbourne worked some things out backstage before we saw TikTok videos of Karmen Petrovic and Lola Vice training. Cool! It was then time for the NXT Heritage Cup to be on the line as Drew Gulak defended No Quarter Catch Crew’s Trophy against “Chase University’s” Riley Osbourne. Amazingly, Riley was able to score the first fall inside the first round with a lovely Shooting Star Press, but Gulak was then able to level things up in Round 2 with a nice roll through. Gulak also then blasted Osbourne after the bell, and I’d really like to know why these referees never disqualify anyone! Anyway, Round 3 then took place in the ad break, but when we came back, Jacy Jayne and Jazmyn Nyx were at ringside and this proved pivotal as after Thea Hail chased Jacy into the ring, Nyx was able to pull Osbourne’s foot which allowed Gulak to steal a second fall and ultimately retain the Heritage Cup.
Grade: C+
Fallon Henley tried to calm Brooks Jensen down as Brooks had clearly had enough of NXT before Kelani Jordan and Fallon Henley agreed to work together. Thea Hail then stormed into Ava’s office to find out that she has a match with Jazmyn Nyx next week before the NXT General Manager told Duke Hudson about a potential spot in the NXT North American Championship match at Stand and Deliver. Yes please! The Good Brothers were then out in the ring as it was time for Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson to take on Hank and Tank. You aren’t going to find many more matches that have as obvious of a winner as this one, but I like Hank and Tank that much that I didn’t really care. I don’t know why, but Walker and Ledger come across as a lot of fun and I hope they get to do more in the future. Of course here though, it was all about Gallows and Anderson who scored the win with the Magic Killer.
Grade: C+
Noam Dar VS Trick Williams
After a Trick Williams promo and Fallon Henley and Kelani Jordan attacking Kiana James and Izzi Dame, it was Main Event time as Trick Willy took on “Meta-Four’s” Noam Dar. This was alright, both guys are entertaining, and the crowd were fully playing along to Trick’s every move. The more important came at the end as Lash Legend tried to distract Williams, but in the end, it was Trick who got the win with the Trick Shot and what’s interesting about this is Legend decided against putting Dar’s foot on the rope when she totally could have. After the match, Williams called out Carmelo Hayes who answered the call disguised as a security guard before Melo dropped Trick with a knee of his own to close the show. NXT said that we’re getting a Prime Target for Melo-Trick next week, and you better believe I’m looking forward to that!
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