NXT Women’s North American Championship: Kelani Jordan VS Wren Sinclair
The final NXT on the USA Network kicked off with Kelani Jordan putting her NXT Women’s North American Championship on the line against Wren Sinclair. This all came from Charlie Dempsey telling Wren that she needs to bring her own sort of Gold to No Quarter Catch Crew, and to be fair to her, she looked pretty good here. In fact, Sinclair controlled the proceedings over Kelani Jordan for most of the match, with the NXT Universe very much behind her. Unfortunately for the “leader” of the WreNQCC, she accidentally wiped out Myles Borne and Tavion Heights which allowed Lani to hit her Split-Legged Moonsault to retain her Title! I can tell you that the crowd didn’t seem particually happy about the result.
Grade: C+
The Grayson Waller Effect (Featuring Axiom and Nathan Frazer), Hank and Tank VS Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, Lexis King VS Oro Mensah, Ridge Holland VS Riley Osbourne
Ethan Page praised himself in the NXT Press Conference before CM Punk was chatting to Je’Von Evans. Trick Williams then spoke to Punk about his concerns over Ethan Page trying to cheat, but Punk made it clear that he’s going to call things right down the middle. The Grayson Waller Effect was then back on NXT as A-Town Down Under welcomed out their guests, Axiom and Nathan Frazer! This was very much the “Main Roster” version of The Grayson Waller Effect in that it’s just a basic talk show rather then what it used to be in NXT. Nathan Frazer did have a couple of lines, and he definetly got into Austin Theory’s head when he questioned why the show doesn’t also include his name. Waller responded by saying “it’s for trademark reasons” before Grayson delivered a cheap shot to leave the Champions laying.
Grade: C+
Lexis King showcased a different side of himself in the Meta-Four Lounge as he said he can sort of relate to Oro Mensah before he shook hands and said “May the best man win!” Hank and Tank then got excited for their upcoming match before Ashante “Thee” Adonis continued to try and impress the women of NXT. Tatum Paxley and Brinley Reece didn’t seem at all interested, but I don’t think you could say the same about Karmen Petrovic. Hank and Tank had then made their way down to the ring to clash with Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. This was the second time these two teams have faced off, and it was a decent little match. I really enjoy Hank and Tank, they are very good in their roles, and The O.C. are veterans. Amazingly, it was Hank and Tank that scored another win to keep their momentum rolling!
Grade: C+
Je’Von Evans and Cedric Alexander were talking about Randy Orton before A-Town Down Under appeared and talked trash about them. Je’Von wasn’t happy about this so he challenged Theory and Waller to a Tag Team Match. Lexis King was then out next to take on Oro Mensah. This was a pretty even contest, with neither guy fully able to gain control. Oro is very quick, but Lexis is technical enough to keep Mensah’s speed to a minimum. Interestingly, King was going to win after putting his foot on the ropes, but he let go off the pin because he didn’t want to win like that! However, Mensah then put his feet on the ropes and scored the sneak victory! I didn’t see any of this coming, but it’s interesting development in the story of both Mensah and The King!
Grade: B-
Tony D’Angelo did a bunch of training to prepare himself better for his upcoming match against Oba Femi before Ridge Holland went one-on-one with Riley Osbourne. Riley actually got more offense in here than I anticipated, his speed was a genuine problem for Ridge to handle. However, despite some good offense from Osbourne, it only took one DDT from Holland for the former Brawling Brute to win. After the match, Ridge Holland tried to take out Riley Osbourne for good, but Thea Hail actually did a good job of protecting her Family this week!
Grade: C+
Wes Lee and Zachary Wentz’s Sit-Down Interview, Karmen Petrovic and Brinley Reece VS Rosemary and Wendy Choo, A-Town Down Under VS Je’Von Evans and Cedric Alexander
The Miz announced that Oba Femi and Tony D’Angelo will be his guests on Miz TV next week before Oba answered two questions in the Press Conference and then left! I love this guy! We were then supposed to have a sit-down interview between Wes Lee and Zachary Wentz, but instead of getting it live, we were shown what took place during the commercial break as both guys got personal with each other! Zachary Wentz kept swearing at Wes Lee whilst Wes ended things by saying “make sure that Gigi isn’t watching next week!” This made Wentz snap as the 2 found each other and brawled through the back! Whoever came up with this idea is a genius! Because they were “off-air”, they spoke not as their characters, which is why Zachary Wentz kept swearing and why Wes Lee brought up Wentz’s real-life fiancé Gigi Dolin! I thought this was terrific, well done to all!
Grade: A-
With it being NXT’s final show on the USA Network, we got a video package highlighting some of the best bits from the past 5 years! This was terrific, I had a lot of fun with this, NXT’s my favourite show of the week so it was awesome to see things like Keith Lee becoming double Champion, The Way, InDex’s Wedding, and even Pat McAfee’s Heel run (which is still super underrated)! Ava then told Jaida Parker and Lola Vice that they will be teaming up to take on Fatal Influence next week before it was time for Karmen Petrovic and Brinley Reece to team up to take on Rosemary and Wendy Choo! This match was fine, the in-ring action was decent, and I think Rosemary and Wendy Choo are growing as a Tag Team. However, the ending was very odd. See, Ashante “Thee” Adonis arrived to hand out a flower to a girl in the front row, and this seemed to bother Karmen Petrovic who left Brinley Reece alone to get pinned by Rosemary and Choo! There was no reason for Petrovic to get distracted unless she’s genuinely interested in being with Mr. Adonis.
Grade: C
Sol Ruca was chatting with CM Punk before Ethan Page made it clear to Punk that he’s worked far too hard for Punk to screw him out of his NXT Championship. CM Punk made it clear that he will call things down the middle. Fatal Influence weren’t interested in being nice in the NXT Press Conference before it was time for the Main Event match of the night as A-Town Down Under took on the duo of Je’Von Evans and Cedric Alexander. The in-ring action here was good, everyone involved is talented, and it wasn’t clear which team was going to pick up the W! Unfortunately, for the second-straight match, the ending was odd! For some reason, Nathan Frazer came to ringside very angry, and then Axiom’s attempt to calm his partner down led to Je’Von Evans getting tripped up on the top rope which opened the door for Theory to deliver an A-Town Down for the win! I know this was to protect Evans, but I don’t get what Frazer was doing!
Grade: C+
NXT Women’s Championship Press Conference
After Trick Williams spoke about giving his heart to the NXT Championship, the final part of the NXT Press Conference moved into the ring as Roxanne Perez and Giulia addressed their upcoming NXT Women’s Championship Match! Giulia initially spoke in Japanese which was why Funaki was there to translate, and Roxanne Perez made it crystal clear that she’s the only person that deserves to take NXT into the new era. Giulia then fired back by saying that this is her time to be Champion before the closing question came from one Stephanie Vaquer who made it clear that she’ll be waiting for whoever walks out of Chicago as the NXT Women’s Champion! It’s hard to grade this segment because it was pretty standard, and it didn’t feel like anything notable was said. However, Stephanie Vaquer appearing on the screen at the end was a sign that NXT’s Women’s Division is only getting stronger!
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