Ava Starts the Show, Michin VS Tatum Paxley: NXT Women’s North American Championship Qualifying Match
NXT kicked off with Ava in the ring as she welcomed out hip-hop star Sexyy Red who did the honours of unveiling the brand-new NXT Women’s North American Championship! I think it looks great! Tatum Paxley then arrived and acted all weird before the show properly kicked off with Tatum taking on Michin in a Qualifying Match. This was a decent contest, both women are good in the ring, and it was pretty clear who was going to get the win. However, I bring that up because maybe that shouldn’t have been the case as Paxley definitely deserves to head to NXT Battleground whilst Michin just getting a spot in the Ladder Match seems a bit odd. Anyway, The HBIC dropped Pax with Eat Defeat to score the 3 count!
Grade: C+ (Overall)
Ridge Holland VS Riley Osbourne, Edris Enofe and Malik Blade VS Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, Roxanne Perez’s Next Challenger is Revealed
Gallus made it clear to Meta-Four that they weren’t the ones who attacked Noam Dar before Arianna Grace annoyed Lola Vice backstage. I feel sorry for Arianna cause she’s always telling the truth and everyone seems to hate her! Anyway, we then went into a match between Ridge Holland and Riley Osbourne which told a good story surrounding Chase University. Chase U were clearly on Riley’s side, but you could also tell that both Andre Chase and Thea Hail had a soft spot for Ridge. Towards the end, Holland listened to Thea when it came to not using the steel steps as a weapon before he scored the win with a nice DDT! After the match, Riley Osbourne refused to shake Ridge Holland’s hand.
Grade: C+
Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson called out Axiom and Nathan Frazer backstage before we saw Oro Mensah laid out on the floor. The O.C. then headed down to the ring to take on Edris Enofe and Malik Blade. Early on, Edris was knocked to the outside and wiped out Brinley Reece in the process in another instance of bad luck before we actually got a decently competitive match, but the outcome was clear and it resulted in Gallows and Anderson picking up the win via a Magic Killer. After the match, Axiom and Nathan Frazer jumped The Good Brothers from behind before Axiom agreed to face Gallows and Anderson for the NXT Tag Team Championships at Battleground!
Grade: C+
We got a really good video package/promo for Dante Chen before Lexis King called Chen’s win a fluke. Trick Williams and Je’Von Evans were then introduced to Sexyy Red backstage before Roxanne Perez headed to the ring to find out her next opponent for NXT Battleground. The Prodigy called her treatment from NXT General Manager Ava disrespectful given she’s the only person who cares about the NXT Women’s Championship before Ava arrived to welcome Roxanne’s next challenger, the TNA Knockouts Champion, Jordynne Grace! The NXT Universe went absolutely berserk for this and Grace made it clear that she wants to prove that she’s the best which is why she’s challenging Roxy for the NXT Women’s Title at Battleground! I’ll be very honest, this was awesome, and the main reason for that is this was a genuinely massive surprise! This has now massively raised my excitement levels for Battleground, and it makes me wonder if we could maybe see some more TNA Champions appear down the line!
Grade: A-
Arianna Grace VS Lola Vice, Dante Chen VS Lexis King, Kelani Jordan VS Wren Sinclair: NXT Women’s North American Championship Qualifying Match
Eddy Thorpe said he feels “whole” again before everyone left Andre Chase except Ridge Holland. Interesting. Arianna Grace was then in the ring as she had a match scheduled with Lola Vice. This went how you would expect; Arianna kept trying to escape or win via roll-up whilst Lola just kept nailing her opponent with strikes. In the end, it was a back fist that scored Vice the W, and to be fair, it did look pretty good! After the match, Lola called out Shayna Baszler, but the referee’s stopped it from going any further. Their match will be the Main Event of NXT Battleground, but I’m not sure if it should be anymore!
Grade: C
Carlee Bright talked about how much she loves gymnastics and wrestling before Izzy Dame got into a fight with Karmen Petrovic (in the NXT Women’s locker room). Charlie Dempsey then demanded more from the No Quarter Catch Crew before Jakara Jackson told Lash Legend that she needs to speak to Trick Williams. Dante Chen was then back as he went one-on-one with Lexis King. This was very short, and whilst it’s nice to see Dante back on tv, he really needs to be doing more. What I mean by this is he once again won via roll-up, but that doesn’t exactly help him in the long term. However, the aftermath was quite good as Lexis attacked from behind before he dropped Chen with the Coronation onto the exposed floor which was quite cool to see! We need more of this from The King!
Grade: C+
Josh Briggs got a great video promo (this was genuinely really good) before Shawn Spears talked about “nurturing the youth”. The D’Angelo Family then talked about needing to deal with the No Quarter Catch Crew for good before Kelani Jordan took on Wren Sinclair in the final Qualifying Match for the NXT Women’s North American Championship. This was actually good fun, it didn’t go very long so I can’t rate it too highly, but I did genuinely enjoy it! In the end, it was Kelani Jordan who scored the win with her Split-legged Moonsault, and don’t count out Kelani from winning the whole thing!
Grade: B-
Trick Williams and Je’Von Evans VS Gallus
After Stevie Turner (yes, Stevie Turner) got herself a match with Jordynne Grace for next week, it was Main Event time as Trick Williams and Je’Von Evans teamed up to take on Gallus! This was a pretty normal Main Event, the Heels got in a decent amount of offense, but this was all about the Babyfaces and their entertaining styles. Evans is particularly fun to watch whilst Trick is still very much over. After Joe Coffey landed on his head, he tried to steal the NXT Championship. However, Sexyy Red stopped this from happening before Je’Von took him out with a ridiculous dive and Williams nailed Mark Coffey with the Trick Shot to score the win! After the match, Lash Legend arrived to ask if Trick was the one who’d attacked the rest of Meta-Four before the lights went off, and when they came back, the NXT Champion (and incidentally Legend) were both floored by the debuting Ethan Page! This was another big surprise on this show, and that’s why NXT is so much fun to watch!
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