The NXT Championship gets addressed, Mandy Rose VS Fallon Henley
This week's NXT started with Ilja Dragunov. Dragunov talked about how the last time he was in NXT, he managed to conquer an unstoppable beast and he looks to do that again. JD McDonagh then came out and referenced their history and even took credit for Dragunov’s injury which I liked. The Number 1 contender then made it clear to Dragunov that he earnt an opportunity at Bron Breakker and as he said, the NXT Champion entered the arena. Breakker decided that both men deserved a shot at the championship, so he issued a challenge for a Triple Threat Match at Halloween Havoc. A little bit harsh on JD but it should be a good match.
Grade: C+
After the opening segment, we went backstage to see a brawl taking place between Gallus and Briggs and Jensen. Since they’ve come over to America, Gallus have caused absolute chaos. The Schism then cut a video promo talking about how they aren’t giving Cameron Grimes any more chances and will make him pay later on tonight. After this, it was time for Fallon Henley to take on the NXT Women’s Champion Mandy Rose. Due to Briggs and Jensen’s earlier brawl, Henley was on her own. The match was fine, but Henley was no match for Rose. She looked alright in the ring, but Rose is too good right now to lose. After the match, Alba Fyre was on the titantron and set the words “And New” on fire. A potential spoiler for what’s to come.
Grade: C for the match
NXT North American Championship Qualifier: Wes Lee VS Tony D’Angelo
Another Apollo Crews vignette aired, and he was talking about his rivalry with Grayson Waller. He then had a vision about how Grayson Waller would start having problems with his eye site. These Crews videos are really strange. After, Xyon Quinn and Ilja Dragunov came face to face backstage, this set up a match between the two for later on in the night. After this, it was time to see who would qualify for the NXT North American Championship ladder match between Wes Lee and Tony D’Angelo. Wes Lee was accompanied by Quinn “The King Crusher” Molitor and the two danced on the entrance stage which was nice. The match got underway, and Wes attempted to hit his flying moves whilst D’Angelo attempted to stop this. Sadly, the match had to stop before it really got going as when Wes Lee threw Tony D into the corner, Tony D looked to have hurt his knee which ultimately saw the match being stopped. Wes Lee going through is a positive, but it would be a big shame if Tony D has suffered a major injury given how he has been one of the main guys on the 2.0 roster.
Grade: C
A day in the life of Pretty Deadly, Sol Ruca debuts, Joe Gacy VS Cameron Grimes
Carmelo Hayes was backstage, and his interview was interrupted by Oro Mensah. Both guys talked about how they are going to become the new North American Champion. We then saw a ridiculous “Day in the life” of Pretty Deadly. All I can say about this is that these two might be my favourite tag team in all of WWE. They are so funny. We then saw the return of Amari Miller as she took on the debuting Sol Ruca. Really, this should have been on NXT Level Up. I understand that Ruca needed to make her debut and she is only going to get better with more matches but, this wasn’t great. If you want to put Ruca on tele, let her fight against more experienced talents that can carry her through it.
Grade: D
Gallus were back again having more problems with the security guards. The best part of this was when the leader (I don’t know his name) head butted the security guard which was quite funny. How have they not been fired yet. After this, it was time for Cameron Grimes to take on Joe Gacy. This match was alright, The Dyad continued to interfere and that ultimately allowed Gacy to win. Grimes losing again was a shame, but Gacy is clearly improving from when he first started in NXT. Overall, the biggest takeaway I got from this is that Cameron really has nothing left to do on NXT and he’s just staying around, kind of like how Tommaso Ciampa was a couple of years ago.
Grade: C-
Kayden Carter VS Nikkita Lyons, Xyon Quinn VS Ilja Dragunov
Grayson Waller talked about how not all of Apollo’s visions come true. When McKenzie Mitchell told him to take next week off if he is so scared, Waller said that he couldn’t because he has Roxanne Perez and Cora Jade booked for Episode 2 of the Grayson Waller effect. That should be quite good fun. After, it was time for a singles match between Kayden Carter and Nikkita Lyons. There wasn’t anything amazing in this match, but the biggest takeaway was the fact that there weren’t any problems. They wrestled with cohesion and worked well together as a result. Nikkita ended up picking up the victory over ½ of the NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions. That match looks like it could potentially go down at Halloween Havoc.
Grade: C+
Chase U were celebrating after beating Carmelo Hayes on last week's NXT. Mr. Chase announced that his victory means he is now taking part in a qualifying matchup against Von Wagner. Chase then asked for some questions from the press but really wasn’t impressed with Dave’s question. I hope Andre Chase wins next week, he’s a lot better in-ring than Wagner. Nathan Frazer was then talking about his experiences of being level at 1-1 in sport. He also mentioned that the winner of next week’s matchup will go onto Halloween Havoc to fight for the North American Championship which is definitely the right call. The best part about this series is not only do you know that the match is going to be good, but you also don’t actually know who’s going to win. We then saw Ilja Dragunov’s first wrestling match in a while as he took on Xyon Quinn. Dragunov is clearly a super talent, and he is great fun to watch but for whatever reason, this match didn’t work. Xyon started off really hot when NXT 2.0 started but he has cooled down so much since and I have no idea where he is going to go next. Dragunov got the win to build him up, but I feel like he needs to beat a bigger name to really make him a credible challenger to Bron Breakker.
Grade: C- for the match
Backstage segments, Brutus Creed VS Damon Kemp
Wendy Choo and Lash Legend both talked about the reasons why they don’t like each other. The two will face off in a match next week in one Legend needs to win if she is to be built up into a star. Brutus Creed then came down to the ring with a horrible mark on his face, apparently battle scars from the steel cage match with Pretty Deadly. Damon Kemp didn’t have any time to do his entrance as Brutus brawled with him straight away. This match wasn’t great because it wasn’t really a match. We saw a lot of technical wrestling which makes sense given their history in college, but it felt like there was too much and as soon as Brutus took control, Kemp hit him with a steel chair for the disqualification loss. Kemp could have won this clean, so it was a strange decision that he didn’t and also, where was Julius? Why didn’t he come to the aid of his tag partner. A strange segment in total.
Grade: C
Quincy Elliott gave Sanga some advice that he clearly needed to hear before he downplayed Xyon Quinn’s ability in the ring. I’m guessing that that is going to be a match in the next couple of weeks. Nikkita Lyons and Zoey Stark were then talking about how they are going to become the next NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions before Toxic Attraction said that those belts still belong to them. Alba Fyre then nearly literally set the trio on fire and next week Fyre will team up with Lyons and Stark to take on Toxic A in a six-woman tag team match which should be pretty decent.
Pub Rules Match: Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen VS Gallus
The Main Event saw Briggs and Jensen take on Gallus in a Pub Rules match. This match was basically the four men beating each other up for about 15 minutes were tables, chairs, trash cans and belts were all used. The belt shots were particularly unpleasant, they made a pretty loud noise whenever they connected onto the back of Briggs and Jensen. At one point, B+J also smashed their opponents with glass before putting them through multiple tables. They hit their tag team finisher to get the win. It’s arguably Briggs and Jensen biggest non-championship win but, Gallus losing again doesn’t seem right. After the match, Gallus attacked more refs and were arrested. They have since been suspended so expect them back next week.