The Creed Brothers VS The Dyad: Steel Cage Match
This week’s NXT kicked off with The Creed Brothers and The Dyad facing off inside of a Steel Cage. A bunch of the Schism’s followers got involved early and dragged Brutus Creed away as Joe Gacy locked Julius Creed inside the cage with Jagger Reid and Rip Fowler. Julius got a bit of offense in early, but he was mostly beaten down by the Heels before Brutus returned and absolutely destroyed all of the people in yellow Schism masks. Joe Gacy then started to mock BC as he had the key to open the cage, but Brutus didn’t care as he just pulled the door straight off it’s hatches. The Creeds were then able to run wild and do what they do best which is entertain, and in the end, they hit stereo Clotheslines to pick up the victory. I thought this was a good match and some of the moves were absolutely terrific. Unfortunately, I’m incredibly fed up with this feud as The Creeds should’ve already debuted on the main roster by now. However, the action was still good for what it was.
Grade: B-
NXT Global Heritage Invitational (Group A): Butch VS Charlie Dempsey, Ilja Dragunov Promo, Dana Brooke and Kelani Jordan VS Elektra Lopez and Lola Vice
Roxanne Perez cut a video promo where she said she’s coming to take back the title that she never lost before we got a cool video package telling us the rules of the NXT Global Heritage Invitational and the superstars that will be competing in the tournament. There are certainly some very exciting matches to come from this over the next few weeks. The NXT Champion Carmelo Hayes was hanging out with the NXT Tag Team Champions Tony D’Angelo and Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo. The Street Profits then appeared out of nowhere and seemed quite interested in both Melo’s and The Family’s gold before Dana Brooke, Kelani Jordan, Elektra Lopez, and Lola Vice started brawling in the background. Butch then made his return to NXT as it was time for The Bruiserweight to face Charlie Dempsey in the opening match of the NXT Global Heritage Invitational. Both Butch and Charlie Dempsey are in Group A alongside Axiom and Tyler Bate so it was important for both men to start their “campaigns” off with a victory. That’s exactly what the former United Kingdom Champion did as Butch hit the Bitter End onto Dempsey to get the victory. This match wasn’t very long and I’m sure there will be plenty of matches in this tournament that are a lot better, but this was still fine and I like the idea of it. Also, it’s worth mentioning that Meta-Four were watching on from what used to be The Toxic Lounge which was actually quite sad.
Grade: C+
Dragon Lee was being interviewed by McKenzie Mitchell backstage and he talked about how he firmly believes that his victory over Dominik Mysterio last week puts him right back into contention for a shot at the NXT North American Championship. Mustafa Ali must’ve heard this because he wasn’t very impressed and told Dragon that he failed with his singles opportunity so now it’s the Disruptor's turn to “bat”. Ali also brilliantly said “We have to get rid of that outsider” (referring to Dominik) and “the North American title should be represented by someone who bleeds NXT” (Mustafa was referring to himself). I say it every week, but Ali as a Heel is something special. Ilja Dragunov was then in the ring as The Mad Dragon put over Trick Williams after last week’s battle at Heatwave. Dragunov then said that his focus is right back on Carmelo Hayes and the NXT Championship before Noam Dar interrupted him in the knock-off Toxic Lounge. The whole of Meta-Four then tried to trash talk The Czar before Oro Mensah agreed to fight Ilja next week as he doesn’t deserve to face the Heritage Cup Champion. Dragunov and Mensah then brawled which ended with the former NXT UK Champion standing tall. This was ok, this very much feels like a holding pattern before both Dragunov and Dar get their big matches at No Mercy.
Grade: C
Von Wagner said he wanted to put “Badass” Bron Breakker through a table which is why the two are going to compete in a No Disqualification Match next week. I look forward to Bron’s Spear. It was then time for Dana Brooke and Kelani Jordan to team up to take on Elektra Lopez and Lola Vice. This very much felt like a developmental match which isn’t a bad thing as that’s kind of the point of NXT, but it is slightly concerning when one of the wrestlers involved has been with the company for over a decade. Still, I do think the team of Lopez and Feroz has a lot of potential and they picked up the victory here with their tag team finisher which tells me that this is a team that NXT has plans for going forward.
Grade: C
Dijak VS Eddy Thorpe, Joe Coffey VS Nathan Frazer: NXT Global Heritage Invitational (Group B)
Gigi Dolin said in a video promo that she’s going to see Tiffany Stratton next week before Carmelo Hayes caught up with Trick Williams backstage. When Melo asked Trick whether he thought he could beat Ilja Dragunov or not, Trick didn’t exactly give Hayes the answer that he wanted. The NXT Champion then walked off before Trick said “I don’t think you can beat Dragunov, I know you can beat Dragunov” which was a cool line. Dijak then made his way down to the ring (I still love his entrance) as it was time for him to go one-on-one with Eddy Thorpe. The story of this match was Dijak kept trying to use his belt to get one up on Thorpe. However, that barely worked as Eddy kept reversing it before Dijak eventually clocked him with it (behind the referees) to get the victory. This feud just isn’t working for me, Dijak is too cool and imposing to need to cheat to beat someone the calibre of Eddy Thorpe.
Grade: C
Kiana James cut her own video promo and said she’ll win by any means necessary before Baron Corbin was speaking to a stage manager backstage. Bron Breakker then walked in and told Corbin not to get involved in his match with Von Wagner next week, and Baron responded by saying “I don’t care enough to get involved” which was quite funny. Angel Garza then woke up bleeding in his bed with a “tiger scratch” on his chest before Humberto Carrillo arrived and they came to the conclusion that they both had the same dream. If you think this is ridiculous, it was and I loved it because of it! We then got a tribute to Bray Wyatt which looked really cool in the NXT Arena before it was Blair Davenport’s turn to say why she’s going to win the main event. Blair didn’t actually give us a reason, but said she loves to make people suffer which was lovely! The NXT North American Champion Dominik Mysterio announced that he’s going to be the special guest referee for the match between Dragon Lee and Mustafa Ali next week, and the winner of that match will get a shot at Dominik and the NA Title at No Mercy. It was then time for the first match in Group B of the NXT Global Heritage Invitational as Gallus’ Joe Coffey battled the former Champion Nathan Frazer. This was a better contest than the first match in this tournament as both guys looked like they could pick up the win. However, I do have to say that I could only see one person winning this match, which is why I was stunned when Coffey moved out of the way of Frazer’s Phoenix Splash and hit “All the Best for the Bells” for the victory. I was completely stunned by this, and that’s definitely not a bad thing.
Grade: C+
Andre Chase explained the rules of the NXT Global Heritage Invitational to Duke Hudson and the rest of the students of Chase University except for Thea Hail who was nowhere to be seen. Thea then arrived after the class had finished, didn’t seem bothered by the fact that she’d missed it, and told Duke that she was heading out. The person she was heading out with was none other than Jacy Jayne and this genuinely made me laugh as this is literally what happens at schools in real life. Fallon Henley approached Myles Borne backstage and asked him if he wanted to team up with Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen next week to take on Drew Gulak, Charlie Dempsey, and Damon Kemp. Myles was flattered by this and accepted the offer straight away. Wes Lee then said he’s not giving up on the NXT Championship yet before Tyler Bate talked about his history with Butch. He then challenged Dabba-Kato to a match for next week so I now have absolutely no idea when his Global Heritage Invitational Match with Axiom is going to take place.
NXT Women’s Championship Number 1 Contender Fatal 4-Way: Blair Davenport VS Gigi Dolin VS Kiana James VS Roxanne Perez
The Main Event of this week’s NXT saw Blair Davenport, Gigi Dolin, Kiana James, and Roxanne Perez all fight for the opportunity to face Tiffany Stratton for the NXT Women’s Championship next week. I enjoyed this main event, it ran very smoothly which can be rare in both NXT and the Women’s Division in general and everyone looked quite good. Roxanne Perez was definitely the star of this contest which makes sense given her pedigree whilst Blair Davenport had another strong showing. However, I was actually more impressed by both Gigi Dolin and Kiana James who stepped up their game in this one. After Roxanne delivered Pop Rox to BD, she then tried to hit one onto Gigi, but Kiana appeared from nowhere and dropped Perez with the 401K before she hit a really nice move onto Dolin to get the win. Once again, I was very surprised about this outcome, but I actually think it’s a smart decision as the other three women can probably all tell a better story with Tiffany Stratton down the line. The show then went off the air with Carmelo Hayes bursting into Shawn Michaels' office and telling him “We need to talk” which is certainly interesting.
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