Trick Williams Starts the Show, Josh Briggs VS Brooks Jensen: No Disqualification
NXT kicked off this week with Trick Williams storming into the arena as he made it clear that he wants his NXT Championship back. However, Cedric Alexander arrived and told Trick that he needs to take emotions out of his decision making process before Ashante “Thee” Adonis also came out and said that Cedric was wasting his time. Williams then took shots at both Adonis and Alexander before a match was set up for later in the show! This was fine, but the inclusion of Ashante wasn’t needed.
Grade: C+
Tyson Dupont and Tyriek Igwe decided it would be funny to take the mick out of Ethan Page for some reason before the first match of the night saw Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen collide in a No Disqualification Match! This was really good I thought, both guys brought it to one another, and there were a couple of great spots surrounding the announce table. A good bit of foreshadowing with the white steel chair ultimately played into the finish as Shawn Spears arrived and this led to Brooks pulling the trigger before he nailed Briggs with a DDT (onto the chair) to score the win! Good job by both men!
Grade: B
Eddy Thorpe VS Lexis King, Ashante “Thee” Adonis VS Oro Mensah, Carlee Bright VS Wren Sinclair
Axiom and Nathan Frazer were talking backstage before The Rascalz came up to them and challenged them to a Six-Man Tag Team match! The NXT Tag Team Champions agreed before Frazer got annoyed at Axiom for entering the new WWE Speed Tournament! This made me laugh! Meta-Four then got into an argument with Sol Ruca and Karmen Petrovic before it was time for Eddy Thorpe to take on Lexis King. This was a decent little match, but it was probably too short to be anything more than that! I like Lexis King, he makes me laugh, whilst I could definetly see Eddy Thorpe fighting for Championship Gold in the future which is why, in the end, Thorpe secured the win with a DDT (another one)!
Grade: C+
Trick Williams spoke to Kelly Kincaid backstage about wanting his NXT Championship back before Pete Dunne just decided to be rude to him again (for literally no reason)! Ashante “Thee” Adonis was then out next as he was ready to return to in-ring action against Oro Mensah. This was solid, I think both guys are better in the ring than what they’re given credit for, but I do feel like this was a weird match to book. Oro needed the win to establish himself as a challenger for Ethan Page whilst Ashante couldn’t really afford to lose in his first match back. In the end, Adonis did lose after he got way too distracted looking at Jakara Jackson! After the match, Mensah challenged Page to an NXT Title match!
Grade: C+
No Quarter Catch Crew were talking with The D’Angelo Family backstage as Wren Sinclair continued to blackmail them! This then led into the next match as Wren Sinclair went one-on-one with Carlee Bright. This was very much a developmental match, but in fairness to them, this was much better than a developmental match we saw back in the 2.0 Era. There was also a story here as Sinclair kept trying to convince Charlie Dempsey to let her in the group, and in the end, Wren managed to score the win after a little assistance from CD! Also, after the match, Kendall Grey just suplexed Myles Borne which was actually quite impressive!
Grade: C
Cedric Alexander VS Trick Williams, Meta-Four VS Sol Ruca and Karmen Petrovic, Ethan Page Segment
Hank and Tank were talking backstage before Je’Von Evans agreed to be Axiom and Nathan Frazer’s partner for the show’s Main Event! Ridge Holland then gifted the rest of Chase University brand new T-shirts before Thea Hail had a sit-down interview where she talked about her growth in the past year and how she trusts Ridge Holland. The overarching point of this is Thea feels ready to be NXT Women’s Champion, and I thought this was well done! The crowd then went crazy again as Trick Williams returned to take on Cedric Alexander. This match felt like it was in two parts; the first part was quite sloppy, but the second part was quite good. I haven’t seen Cedric Alexander wrestle for quite a long time, and I’m not sure if it’s because of the muscle he gained or not, but he just seemed a bit off. However, once it got rolling towards the end, the action was strong, with both men coming close to victory. In the end, it was Williams who scored the win with Trick Shot before Trick got attacked by Pete Dunne after the match was over. What is this guy’s problem?!
Grade: C+
Ethan Page got absolutely nowhere trying to talk to Mr. Stone and Stevie Turner before Kelani Jordan was shown a video of Tatum Paxley playing with a doll that looked eerily similar to the NXT Women’s North American Champion. Ashante “Thee” Adonis then showed up faking an injury so he could get some help from some young women! Anyway, Meta-Four were then out as they were set for a Tag match against the duo of Sol Ruca and Karmen Petrovic. This was actually a fun little contest between four of the more important women on the NXT Roster. Lash and Sol looked particually good here, but Meta-Four deserve some praise as Legend and Jakara Jackson do come across as a good and genuine Tag Team! In the end, despite Ruca taking out Miss Jackson, Legend only needed to nail Petrovic with one move to secure the W before Meta-Four challenged Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn to a WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships match for next week! Cool!
Grade: C+
Trick Williams made it clear to Shawn Michaels that he wants a match with Pete Dunne before Roxanne Perez just arrived and berated The Heartbreak Kid! Shawn Michaels is just the best! Joe Hendry then had a great introduction video to his character that was genuinely very funny, especially the line about his song beating Taylor Swift in the UK Billboard charts! In fact, Hendry will host a live concert next week which I’m looking forward to, but the same could not be said for Joe Coffey and the rest of Gallus! Ethan Page then grabbed a referee to make it clear that he wasn’t pinned last week, but Oro Mensah then showed up and rolled up the NXT Champion which the referee did count! This was so odd, but fair enough I guess!
Grade: C
Axiom, Nathan Frazer, and Je’Von Evans VS The Rascalz
After Tony D’Angelo gifted Tavion Heights a shot at the NXT Heritage Cup, it was Main Event as Axiom and Nathan Frazer teamed up with Je’Von Evans to take on The Rascalz! This was so damn great, it was exactly the type of wrestling I enjoy! It was fast-paced, it was high-flying, and it was very high-octane action! Axiom and Frazer are just amazing, Je’Von is great, Wes Lee is a star, and The Rascalz are just so much fun to watch! The triple teams that Lee, Wentz, and Miguel brought out were particually special, but it would then be beaten by a crazy dive that one of them pulled out. However, Axiom, Frazer, and Evans would then come back with their own, only for Zachary Wentz to pull out the best spot of them all with a ridiculous Spike Cutter! In the end, it was The Rascalz who picked up the W as Wentz pinned Axiom following Zachary and Wes hit the old MSK finisher! After the match, Ethan Page asked Ava for a match with Oro Mensah which she accepted for the second week of NXT The Great American Bash!
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