20-Man Battle Royal
The first match of the night was a 20-man Battle Royal where the winner would earn themselves the final opportunity at Wes Lee’s NXT North American Championship at Stand and Deliver. Quincy Elliott was the first man to be eliminated before the first shock came as Dijak was eliminated early by Odyssey Jones. The former Retribution member wasn’t happy about this so he pulled Jones out of the ring and threw him into the steel steps. He then chucked Odyssey back into the ring only for Dabba-Kato to eliminate him. Dabba-Kato actually had a good showing in this match and his highlight was definitely eliminating Apollo Crews. Charlie Dempsey then sort of got a double elimination as he eliminated Hank Walker whilst Walker was holding onto Drew Gulak. The two brawled to the back. The final 5 in this match were Axiom, Charlie Dempsey, Dabba-Kato, Jinder Mahal and Nathan Frazer. Axiom and Frazer worked together to eliminate Jinder before Dempsey helped them to eliminate Dabba-Kato from the match. After a tussle on the ring apron, Axiom was able to eliminate Charlie Dempsey leaving just him and Frazer to fight for a spot on Stand and Deliver. These two have a lot of history together, but there’s also a whole lot of respect between the two men so they shook hands before they went to battle. The whole last 2 minutes of this match were awesome, I genuinely could watch these guys wrestle all of the time. In the end, Axiom delivered a big Superkick to Nathan before he chucked the rising star out of the ring to earn his way into Stand and Deliver. After the match, Axiom, Wes Lee and Dragon Lee all shook hands in the middle of the ring whilst Ilja Dragunov and JD McDonagh stood on the ring apron. That match should be really good.
Grade: B (mainly because of Axiom and Frazer)
Tyler Bate VS Von Wagner, Elektra Lopez VS Valentina Feroz
Pretty Deadly did their first of many Stand and Deliver previews and the first match they talked about was the NXT North American Championship bout. Elton Prince predicted a victory for JD McDonagh due to his cleverness whilst Kit Wilson backed Dragon Lee as he’s a complete unknown. Both are very fair points. Andre Chase and Thea Hail were backstage hyping up Tyler Bate for his match with Von Wagner whilst Duke Hudson looked bored in the background. Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen were then in another locker room before Kiana James and Fallon Henley came up to them. As soon as it looked like Kiana was going to tell Brooks the truth, she said that she’s got them a match tonight and if they win, they’re added to the NXT Tag Team Championship match at Stand and Deliver. Both Briggs and Jensen looked delighted, but Fallon Henley definitely wasn’t. We then got the first singles match of the night as Tyler Bate took on Von Wagner. Tyler definitely looked like the better wrestler and bigger star in this contest, but Mr. Stone tried to change that when he held onto Tyler Bate’s leg. The Big Strong Boy wasn’t happy about this so he threw Stone into the ring before Thea Hail started beating him up. Duke Hudson then held the ropes to help Tyler Bate hit a dive onto Mr. Stone and even though the high-fived, “the Duke” still looked disinterested. Tyler Bate ended up picking up the win with a lovely dive. After the match, The Schism came on the screen and they were showing what’s going to happen to Chase University after Saturday. I still have no idea who’s going to win that match.
Grade: C
Roxanne Perez was back on NXT TV and she went into Shawn Michael’s office. The NXT Women’s Champion told HBK that she’s now cleared to compete and she needs to be allowed to defend her title at Stand and Deliver. Michaels didn’t seem too interested in this idea and told Roxanne that there’s always next year. However, Perez fired back saying that she knows that he never thought like that when it comes to being on WrestleMania. In the end, Shawn agreed to let Roxanne defend her NXT Women’s Championship at Stand and Deliver. Elektra Lopez then made her way down to the ring as she was about to go one-on-one with Valentina Feroz. Lopez and Feroz were involved in a storyline a month or so ago, but nothing’s happened since. The match itself was pretty short and Lopez won clean with a nice new finisher. I’m fine with the outcome, but I’m surprised that given the whole story between the two, it surely would’ve made more sense for Elektra to win the match by cheating.
Grade: C-
Eddy Thorpe VS Myles Borne, Stand and Deliver Last Chance Qualifier: Sol Ruca VS Ivy Nile VS Indi Hartwell
We then straight into another match as Eddy Thorpe made his NXT TV debut against Myles Borne. Thorpe actually had a pretty cool and unique entrance and whilst his wrestling style is quite basic, it is effective. Unsurprisingly, he got the easy victory after he hit a nice-looking finisher. I’m intrigued to see how far Eddy Thorpe can go on NXT because they clearly rate him.
Grade: C
Pretty Deadly were back and this time they were on the set of the “Grayson Waller Effect” as it was now time to preview Johnny Gargano VS Grayson Waller. Neither man made a prediction for this match, but Kit Wilson did say the only way he would ever agree to an Unsanctioned match would be to defend Elton’s honor. Why can’t these guys host WrestleMania as well? Gallus were being interviewed backstage by McKenzie Mitchell and the reigning NXT Tag Team Champions said they agreed to the triple threat match as they are happy to face as many people as possible which includes Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen. I expect Gallus are going to retain their titles this Saturday. It was then time to find out who take the final spot in the NXT Women’s Championship Ladder match as Sol Ruca, Ivy Nile and Indi Hartwell all battled for the final spot in a Last Chance Qualifying match. This match was pretty short which was a shame, but it was still decent enough. You could tell all three women really wanted to win this match and Ivy Nile looked in a great position to do so after she locked in the Dragon Sleeper on Hartwell. However, Sol Ruca then delivered the always-crazy Sol Snatcher onto Nile before Indi kicked Ruca to the outside. Indi Wrestling then connected with a big shot to the back of the head of Ivy Nile to get the victory. Indi winning is great as she’s earnt the opportunity and given how she acted on her entrance before this match, it could well be her last outing on NXT. Zoey Stark, Lyra Valkyria, Gigi Dolin, Tiffany Stratton and Roxanne Perez all then arrived to remind people who’s fighting for the gold.
Grade: C+
Prime Target, Drew Gulak VS Hank Walker, Tony D’Angelo and Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo VS Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen
Pretty Deadly were once again back and this time, they were both standing on a ladder as it was time to talk about the NXT Women’s Championship match. This was probably my favourite PD skit of the night as both men predicted a Tiffany Stratton victory and the best part was when they said she’s “the third best-dressed person in all of NXT”. These guys deserve everything! Grayson Waller then announced he was on his way to the ring before he called Johnny Gargano “Johnny Cosplay” which made me laugh. We then got the return of “Prime Target” and this time it was highlighting the match between Bron Breakker and Carmelo Hayes. Usually, these are done for big matches/feuds and the difference with this one is Bron and Melo haven't come into combat against one another. That only made this video feel even better as it felt like something out of a Creed movie. I really enjoyed this and this match could be the one I’m most excited for out of the entire WrestleMania weekend. Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn then tied their arms together for some ritual before they said they are definitely going to walk out of Stand and Deliver with the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championships. I totally agree. Hank Walker then took on Drew Gulak in singles action. This was made after what happened earlier on in the battle royal and Hank Walker looked pretty decent in this match. You can tell he’s been working hard to improve and you can tell that he’s learnt a lot from Drew Gulak. He even came close to picking up the win as he locked in a submission on Gulak, but the master technician was able to get his foot on the ropes. Charlie Dempsey then punched Walker in the back of the head whilst the referee was distracted and this allowed Gulak to pick up the roll-up win. Solid stuff.
Grade: A- for Prime Target, C+ for the match
Pretty Deadly returned for the fourth time of the night and this time they were “in a bar” as it was time to talk about the NXT Tag Team Championships. PD said they don’t like the Creed Brothers, they didn’t want to talk about Gallus and they also said there are no fairy-tale endings in this industry. They also previewed the Women’s tag title match too. Overall, I thought Pretty Deadly were excellent on this show. We then went into a tag team match that had stakes for Stand and Deliver as Tony D’Angelo and Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo took on Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen. This was another solid match on this week’s NXT and there were moments where Briggs and Jensen came close to winning. Backstage, Fallon Henley told Kiana James that she was going to tell Brooks the truth and when we came back from the commercial break, the NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions were at ringside. In the end, the Don of NXT kept the tag team title match on Saturday a triple threat match as he beat Jensen with “Bada Bing Bada Boom”. What a name for a finishing move. After the match, Fallon Henley got in the ring and said Kiana has something to tell Brooks. James said she had to show him instead before she kissed him. This was quite smart by James and you could argue that this is long-term storytelling as they’ve been talking about Brooks having a first kiss for well over a year. Josh Briggs and Fallon Henley did not look pleased and that doesn’t seem very nice.
Grade: C+
Grayson Waller signs the Contract for NXT Stand and Deliver
Grayson Waller came out to the ring with security all around it. He took the contract from commentator Vic Joseph before he got in the ring. He then cut a brilliant promo about how he walked into War Games in 2021 as the “fourth best member of team 2.0”. Despite then jumping off of the cage and through a table, “everybody was talking about Johnny Wrestling”. He then called Johnny the “greatest NXT Superstar of all time” before he reminded everyone that it’s Gargano who wants this match, not him. “That just shows how big Grayson Waller’s become”. Waller then signed the contract before Gargano’s music hit. We then cut to a camera shot before that camera was placed down on the ground. Johnny Cameraman then revealed himself before the two men got into a big brawl that actually resulted in Gargano getting busted open. I find with WWE brawls, they’re either really good or just a bit off. This felt a bit off as the security guards around them made it feel quite clumsy. However, Grayson Waller’s promo ruled! Why, because he gave a reason why he did what he did. He put over his opponent and he made himself feel like a bigger star. It was that good, I’m questioning whether his match with Johnny Gargano at Stand and Deliver could be his last match as a part of the NXT brand.
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