Fallon Henley VS Tiffany Stratton
NXT kicked off this week with Fallon Henley and Tiffany Stratton colliding inside the squared circle. To my surprise, this contest only went about 3-to-4 minutes and it resulted in Fallon scoring the victory with a roll-up. However, Stratton didn’t react well to this so she dragged Henley under and past the Podium/Platform area before Tiffany poured a bunch of trash over her rival. This was strange, but I’m hoping that their match at NXT New Year’s Evil (which got announced later in the show) will be a much better showing for both competitors.
Grade: C
Ilja Dragunov Promo, Dion Lennox VS Lexis King: 2023 NXT Men’s Breakout Tournament (Round 1), Chase University VS Kiana James and Izzi Dame
Carmelo Hayes suggested to Trick Williams about making the NXT Championship match at NXT New Year’s Evil a Triple Threat match (what a stupid idea) which Trick laughed off before Ilja Dragunov came down to the ring to talk about Melo’s accusations from last week. Ilja said it obviously wasn’t him who attacked either Williams or Hayes before Ridge Holland arrived from out of nowhere to say he’s now back in NXT. Holland said he wanted to test himself against the best and this ultimately set up a match for the show’s Main Event. There isn’t really much else to add if I’m being honest.
Grade: C
Trick Williams found Ilja Dragunov and questioned why Ilja had agreed to have a match with Ridge Holland. Dragunov responded by telling Trick that as the Champion, he dictates his challengers, not the other way around. It was then time for First Round action in the 2023 Men’s Breakout Tournament as Lexis King entered the fray as he took on Dion Lennox. This was a fine match for what it was, it was never going to be amazing, but it also wasn’t bad. However, I didn’t necessarily come out of this match thinking that Lennox is going to be a key player on NXT which is kind of the whole point of these things, and as for the match itself, Lexis King got the victory after dropping Lennox with the Coronation before Trey Bearhill chased King off with a steel chair.
Grade: C
Eddy Thorpe challenged Dijak to an NXT Underground match before it was time for Chase University’s Thea Hail and Jacy Jayne to take on the team of Kiana James and Izzi Dame. This was decent enough, Jacy Jayne is a Tag Team specialist whilst Thea Hail has had a really good Breakout Year. Kiana James is also improving as she gains more experience whilst Izzi Dame looked pretty decent here. In the end, after Hail was too focused on Riley Osbourne in the Chase U Student Section, Dame dropped Thea with a Big Boot to get the victory for her team. This was all completely harmless.
Grade: C+
NXT North American Championship Open Challenge, Luca Crusifino VS Tavion Heights: 2023 NXT Men’s Breakout Tournament (Round 1), Nikkita Lyons VS Tatum Paxley, Gallus VS Hank and Tank
Roxanne Perez seemed very annoyed about Kiana James and Izzi Dame winning their match before Roxanne just slapped Arianna Grace for really no reason. To be honest, I was more focused on the fact that Stevie Turner was just sitting there more than anything else. Andre Chase was then gambling again with OTM before Mr. Chase told Scrypts that he and Duke Hudson would like a match with Bronco Nima and Lucien Price next week, and if they win, they double what they won tonight whilst if OTM win, they get their money back and they also earn themselves an NXT Tag Team Championships opportunity. Dragon Lee then came down to the ring to put his NXT North American Championship on the line against 1 member of the “No Catch Quarter Crew”. However, Joe Coffey then randomly arrived to accept Lee’s challenge before Dragon agreed to defend his Title in a Triple Threat Match against both Coffey and Charlie Dempsey. The action in this match was pretty decent and Dragon Lee is particularly enjoyable to watch. However, the fact that Joe Coffey was able to enter himself into this match made no sense, and neither did the referee throwing out Gallus for interfering in a match where there’re no rules! Anyway, Joe Gacy then appeared and dragged Coffey under the ring with him before Lee dropped Charlie Dempsey with Operation Dragon to retain his Championship. After the match, the No Catch Quarter Crew started to beat up Dragon Lee before The LWO’s Joaquin Wilde and Cruz Del Toro ran down to make the save.
Grade: C+
Trick Williams was concerned about Ridge Holland beating Ilja Dragunov and forcing the NXT Championship match at NXT New Year’s Evil into a Triple Threat. Melo liked the sound of that before Trick said he’s the only one capable of dethroning The Mad Dragon. Cora Jade then took her old locker back which upset/annoyed Karmen Petrovic before it was time for the final First Round match in the 2023 Men’s NXT Breakout Tournament as Luca Crusifino went one-on-one with Tavion Heights. This match felt like it had the least stakes to it in a weird way, but I thought the action was still decent enough. Crusifino has got the crowd to a point where they want to boo him so that’s a good thing whilst this Heights fella could be something good in the future if he keeps training hard. In the end, it was Tavion Heights who picked up the victory and he will face Oba Femi in the Semi-Finals next week.
Grade: C
We got a great video package showcasing how similar, yet different Lyra Valkyria and Blair Davenport’s paths have been before Nikkita Lyons told Lyra that she’ll deal with Tatum Paxley tonight. Nikkita also told Valkyria that whilst she has come back to get revenge on Davenport, she’s also come back to win the NXT Women’s Championship. Meta-Four were then very much in the Christmas spirit as Noam Dar gifted Josh Briggs an NXT Heritage Cup match before it was time for a singles match between Nikkita Lyons and Tatum Paxley. Both of these women are usually quite decent in the ring, but for whatever reason, Lyons just seemed a bit off here. To be fair, you can’t be too critical of Nikkita as she’s been out for a long time with a pretty horrible injury, but yeah, something just didn’t seem quite right here. In the end, Lyons picked up the victory with her finisher before Tatum Paxley started kissing one of Lyra Valkyria’s feathers again.
Grade: C
Hank and Tank were excited for their upcoming match before Fallon Henley told Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen that she’s not finished with Tiffany Stratton. Brooks then told his partner that he and Fallon would be at ringside next week to deal with Meta-Four in the NXT Heritage Cup match, but Briggs turned the offer down. It was then time for some Tag Team action as Hank and Tank faced a tough task when they faced off with Gallus. I don’t know what it is, but it really feels like Gallus have gone massively backwards since Joe Coffey returned at NXT Stand and Deliver in April. Mark Coffey and Wolfgang just simply aren’t as cool as they were back then, but they were still able to pick up the victory after dropping Hank Walker with their finisher. What I also didn’t like about this is the referee told Tank Ledger that he needed to hold the tag rope to tag in, but I’ve seen plenty of matches where people tag in when they’re not holding that rope.
Grade: C-
Ilja Dragunov VS Ridge Holland
After Dijak accepted Eddy Thorpe’s challenge and Tiffany Stratton told Fallon Henley that she’ll be forced to be her servant if Stratton beats her at NXT New Year’s Evil, it was Main Event time as Ilja Dragunov took on Ridge Holland. For the most part, Ilja dominated proceedings whilst Ridge would get in a few shots using his quick agility. However, this contest was all about the storyline as after Holland dropped Dragunov with a DDT, the NXT Champion clutched his shoulder before the referees had to call the match off. They then put The Mad Dragon onto a stretcher whilst Ridge Holland looked on knowing he’d “injured” another person. I thought this was really good storytelling and Ilja Dragunov’s selling was absolutely superb. Also, Holland’s acting was by far the best I think I’ve ever seen him do.
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