Meta-Four VS The Fatal Influence
NXT kicked off this week with some Tag Team action as Meta-Four took on the team now known as The Fatal Influence! This actually got quite a bit of time which is nice to see, and I thought the action was decent enough. Lash Legend’s power game makes her so impressive to watch whilst Jacy Jayne and Fallon Henley already feel like veterans in this business (certainly in NXT anyway). Jakara Jackson also looked decent here which is important, and after some helpful interference by Jazmyn Nyx, Fallon and Jacy hit their new Tag Team finisher to score the victory! A positive start to the show!
Grade: C+
Izzi Dame VS Karmen Petrovic, No Quarter Catch Crew VS The D’Angelo Family, Wes Lee and Zachary Wentz Come Face-to-Face
We had a terrific video package highlighting Wes Lee and MSK before Ashante “Thee” Adonis decided to annoy Eddy Thorpe. Brooks Jensen then destroyed Edris Enofe with a steel chair in the background before Karmen Petrovic looked to get a measure of revenge on Izzi Dame. This was a solid matchup, nothing to write home about, but there weren’t really any mistakes which is always a positive sign on a show like NXT. Dame used her power to control most of the proceedings, but Petrovic’s striking ability kept her in the game. In the end, it was Karmen who stole the victory away from Izzi with a smart roll-up!
Grade: C+
Jaida Parker had a sit-down interview where she explained to Sarah Schreiber why she’s going to win the NXT Women’s Championship on Sunday. Roxanne Perez then interrupted the interview to say that nobody’s on her level before Miss Parker just viciously slapped The Prodigy! The most interesting part of this however is there was someone clearly important watching this as both Parker and Perez starred at them! Anyway, after backstage segments for both, it was time for some 6-person Mixed Tag Team action as No Quarter Catch Crew took on The D’Angelo Family. A lot of this match saw Charlie Dempsey and Myles Borne work on the injured leg of Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo so Luca Crusifino could eventually run wild with the hot tag. The women’s action in this was also alright, with Wren Sinclair looking strong whilst Adrianna Rizzo works well in her role. Earlier in the match, Tony D’Angelo had to leave to take care of some business, but weirdly, that didn’t play into the finish at all as The Family just won! I didn’t get that, the NQCC needed this win a lot more!
Grade: C
Pete Dunne called out Trick Williams and said he’d face him next week before Ava made it clear to Ethan Page that she will make a few changes to Sunday’s NXT Championship match! We then headed back to the ring as it was time for a face-off between Wes Lee and Zachary Wentz! I thought this was a really good segment, with both men making their feelings clear. Wes Lee was hurt by Zachary Wentz leaving him, but it’s ultimately led to him doing bigger and better things which is why he doesn’t need him anymore. As for Wentz, whilst he may not have been his on-screen Tag Team partner, he’s still been his brother off camera, and he even said that Wes inspired him to pick himself up and keep going! Zachary also had a great line about how Lee always tries to quit whenever something goes wrong, and yeah, I thought this was all really good!
Grade: B
Kelani Jordan VS ?, Brooks Jensen VS Malik Blade, Je’Von Evans VS Joe Coffey
Trick Williams and Joe Hendry had a nice interaction backstage before Kelani Jordan headed down to the ring to face a “friend of Wendy Choo”. That friend turned out to be none other than TNA’s Rosemary (which was pretty cool), and they had a decent little match. Rosemary looked alright in the ring, even though I’d say her character work is her biggest strength, and this was a genuine test for the young NXT Women’s North American Champion. However, as we’ve seen in the past, no one does it like Lani, and that’s exactly what happened here as Jordan scored the win with her Split-Legged Moonsault. However, after the match, the arena went dark and Wendy Choo arrived to choke her NXT No Mercy opponent to sleep!
Grade: C+
Lexis King got into an argument with Meta-Four backstage which resulted in a brawl with Oro Mensah before Chase University’s class got interrupted by Axiom and Nathan Frazer who said they’re coming back to win their NXT Tag Team Championships! Malik Blade was then out next as it was time for him to go one-on-one with Brooks Jensen. This was probably the weakest bit of wrestling on the show, and for whatever reason, Brooks and Malik just didn’t click. Eventually, Jensen was able to score the win with a nice elbow drop, but yeah, this wasn’t that great.
Grade: C
Je’Von Evans spoke about getting bouncy in a backstage promo before Hank and Tank got rudely interrupted by OTM. It was then time for the Main Event match of the evening as Je’Von Evans clashed with Joe Coffey. The in-ring action here was decent, with Evans once again showing that he is a Superstar of the future! However, this was another match on this show where the booking was slightly odd. For some reason, Joe Coffey kicked out of Je’Von’s amazing Cutter, and after interference from the rest of Gallus, Coffey was able to hit All the Best for the Bells to pin The Young O.G.! Honestly, I really don’t get that decision at all, especially Coffey kicking out of Evans’ finisher.
Grade: C-
Joe Hendry’s Live Concert Closes the Show
After Oba Femi scared people in The D’Angelo Family Restaurant (he’s literally the coolest guy I’ve ever seen), the final segment before NXT No Mercy saw Joe Hendry perform another one of his famous Live Concerts! Hendry sang a song about Ethan Page collecting toys and not wearing enough clothes before the NXT Champion arrived as he’d had enough of that. However, the NXT Universe hadn’t so they continued to sing his song throughout Page’s entire promo before Ava arrived to announce that due to All Ego’s actions last week, there will now be a Special Guest Referee for their Title match on Sunday, and that ref is none other than Trick Williams! This made Ethan Page even more mad before he got dropped by Joe Hendry to end the segment. This was honestly superb! The crowd absolutely made this segment, but Ethan Page is also fantastic. Joe Hendry is extremely popular, as is Trick Williams, and Trick being involved adds another layer of questions entirely, especially given the fact that Pete Dunne sent a warning shot during all of this!
Comments