NXT Tag Team Championships: The Family VS Angel Garza and Humberto Carrillo
This week’s edition of NXT kicked off with Championship Gold on the line as The Family looked to retain their NXT Tag Team Championships against Angel Garza and Humberto Carrillo. This match was pretty evenly fought and the action only swung in one direction after Heel tactics were used. After Angel low-blowed Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo behind the referee’s back, Garza went to pin Stacks only for The Underboss to deliver a low blow of his own whilst kicking out in a style that Roman Reigns would be proud of. Tony D’Angelo and Stacks then dropped Garza with the Bada Bing, Bada Boom and that was enough for The Family to retain their Gold. This was totally fine, but it also wasn’t the most inspiring contest.
Grade: C+
Women’s Iron Survivor Challenge Qualifying Match: Kiana James VS Kelani Jordan, Andre Chase Breaks His Silence, Bron Breakker VS Eddy Thorpe: Men’s Iron Survivor Challenge Qualifying Match
Nathan Frazer said that he’d rather have Baron Corbin’s lifestyle over Ilja Dragunov’s and this ticked off the NXT Champion who challenged Frazer to a match. Jerry “The King” Lawler then chose his 4 picks for the final two Iron Survivor Challenge Qualifiers before we got a great video package recapping Johnny Gargano as NXT North American Champion. Lexis King then trash-talked Brooks Jensen backstage (a segment that set up a match between the two for later in the show) before it was time for either Kiana James or Kelani Jordan to book their ticket to NXT Deadline. This was a decent contest that highlighted why both women deserved an opportunity to qualify for this year’s Women’s Iron Survivor Challenge. However, the ending was very silly as when it looked like Kiana was going to get the win, Roxanne Perez just appeared and started ringing the bell which distracted James enough for Jordan to hit their Split-Legged Moonsault to get the victory. If we’re being fair, Roxanne should probably get suspended after this!
Grade: C
We then got a nice video package highlighting Cameron Grimes’ run as the NXT North American Champion before Alpha Academy challenged Meta-Four to a six-person Tag Team match for next week’s show. NXT Anonymous then posted a video that showed Lexis King following and running after Trick Williams on the night that Trick was found laid out. I don’t think this really proved anything, to be honest. If anything, it just proved that NXT needs to improve its security systems. We then cut to a video “Live” from Chase University as Andre Chase addressed the recent investigation that’s been taking place. Mr. Chase revealed that the University is in debt due to “Gambling Problems and misuse of College Funds”. Chase then took full responsibility for everything and said that everything they’ve worked for could be undone if they can’t find enough funds again. This wasn’t at all what I was expecting and it begs the question as to who has a history in this University of gambling.
Grade: C+
Anyway, it was then time for another Qualifying match as Bron Breakker and Eddy Thorpe battled to try and gain their entry into the Iron Survivor Challenge at NXT Deadline. There’s genuinely been a couple of surprise winners in the Qualifying matches for the Iron Survivor Challenge over the past few weeks. However, I didn’t believe for one second that Eddy Thorpe was going to knock off Bron Breakker and I was proved right as a Breakker Spear to the injured ribs of Thorpe was enough for The Badass to get the victory. I tell you, Bron’s Spear never gets old!
Grade: C+
Ilja Dragunov VS Nathan Frazer, Arianna Grace VS Karmen Petrovic, Brooks Jensen VS Lexis King
Both Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams were furious with Lexis King and Melo suggested going out to the ring and getting payback on him in King’s match with Brooks Jensen. However, Trick told Hayes that “attacking people from behind is beneath us” and “We don’t do that anymore”. It’s safe to say that the former A-Champion didn’t seem convinced by his buddy’s statement. Ava then told Roxanne Perez backstage that there will be two “Second Chance Qualifiers” next week for both the Men’s and Women’s Iron Survivor Challenge before Roxanne got into a brawl with someone (I had no idea who it was) which ended up with Kiana James attacking The Prodigy as well. We then got a video package for Bronson Reed before it was time for Ilja Dragunov VS Nathan Frazer. If I was to look at the NXT Roster, this is probably the match I would want the most. Whilst it didn’t go particularly long (about 5-to-6 minutes), I thought it was great! Every strike that Dragunov hits is on point whilst Frazer is definitely in my Top 5 when it comes to “Most exciting in-ring competitor (to watch)”. However, I think what made this match even better is there was actually a story behind it. The Mad Dragon was clearly pissed off about what Nathan said earlier in the night so after he delivered a Powerbomb and then the H-Bomb, Dragunov wasn’t finished as the NXT Champion then wrecked Frazer with a second and then a third H-Bomb before he finally pinned his opponent to get the win. After the match, Baron Corbin appeared on the titantron to cut a really good promo where he said the line “After I beat you for the NXT Championship, I’ll improve your ticket back to Germany to First Class as an early Christmas present”. I really, really enjoy Corbin’s gimmick at the moment.
Grade: B+
Lyra Valkyria told McKenzie Mitchell that she’s excited to see what goes down at NXT Deadline before Fallon Henley walked in and said that she’ll be Lyra’s next challenger. However, Tatum Paxley disagreed with this in the background and all I can say to this is it’s cool to see PAX back on TV. Karmen Petrovic then talked about fighting (and other things like that) before it was time for Petrovic to go one-on-one with Arianna Grace. The action here wasn’t amazing, but the fact it got time should help both Grace and Petrovic’s careers going forward. However, one thing that genuinely made me laugh in this match is Joe Gacy, who’d filmed a video from underneath the ring just moments before, got out of the ring and just stole the ring bell. Where is the security around this bell because it happened twice on the same night. Anyway, a rake of the eyes and a slam from Grace was enough for her to get the victory before Joe Gacy was back ringing the bell like a “madman”. This was completely random, but I laughed so who cares?!
Grade: C+
Wes Lee told McKenzie Mitchell that it wasn’t about luck in regards to the upcoming Main Event, but before that, we got a match between Brooks Jensen and Lexis King. This was average in-ring action, neither man did anything bad, but there also weren’t any standout moments. The interesting part came when Carmelo Hayes ran down to ringside and whilst Josh Briggs was able to stop him from getting into the ring, this distracted Brooks and allowed King to hit a nice-looking move to get the 3 count. I get the feeling that Trick Williams isn’t going to be very impressed with Mr. Carmelo Hayes.
Grade: C
Wes Lee VS Bronson Reed VS Cameron Grimes VS Johnny Gargano
The Main Event of NXT saw former NXT North American Champions Bronson Reed, Cameron Grimes, and Johnny Gargano all return to face Wes Lee in a Fatal 4-Way Match that Wes had to win if he wanted a match with Dominik Mysterio at NXT Deadline. I have to be honest, I wasn’t super excited for this match simply because it didn’t really make much sense plus I didn’t really want to see Johnny Gargano back in NXT. However, I now want all 4-guys to stay in NXT permanently because this flubbing ruled! Bronson Reed is awesome, he shouldn’t be able to do the moves that he does, but he does it and makes it look easy in the process. Cameron Grimes is fantastic, this just showed that he could and should be a major player on Friday Night SmackDown because he’s far too good to be doing nothing. Johnny Gargano is simply “HIM” (sorry Melo). I cannot actually explain just how brilliant Johnny Wrestling is and the crowd absolutely loved him throughout this contest (whilst also cheering heavily for everyone else). As for Wes Lee, he is a terrific underdog Babyface who has honestly earnt a run as the NXT Champion, let alone the North American Champion. For now though, thanks partly to Ivar taking out Bronson Reed, Lee will have another opportunity at “Dirty” Dom as a Kardiak Kick to Grimes was enough for The Kardiak Kid to get the victory. When you add in Mysterio and Booker T on commentary, this was truly splendid! I should also mention that NXT went off the air with Kiana James and Roxanne Perez brawling in the Parking Lot.
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