Indi Hartwell VS Roxanne Perez
This week's edition of NXT kicked off with a match between Indi Hartwell and Roxanne Perez. Tension has been growing between these two over recent weeks, so it was nice to see the two getting a spotlight on this show. Indi Hartwell is a very powerful wrestler whilst Roxanne uses her speed to get ahead. The match was smooth throughout until the end where Roxanne couldn’t get Indi over for the Pop Rox. However, she repositioned Hartwell well before she delivered the Pop Rox to get the victory. It was a good win for a rising star in Perez whilst Indi Wrestling looked like she was back to her best. Need more of this on this show.
Grade: B-
Dijak VS Dante Chen, Men’s Iron Survivor Challenge
Andre Chase was sitting backstage reading through a paper before Duke Hudson and Thea Hail came up to him. Duke apologised for booting Chase in the face, saying there was no way to stop his momentum. Remember that for later. The Duke then said that he got a bunch of signatures from students in the school who believe Mr. Chase should be in the Iron Survivor Challenge match before Grayson Waller came up to them and warned Chase of who Duke Hudson really is. As always, this was good. The Former T-Bar now named Dijak came out for his first match in a long time. He took on Dante Chen in a basic squash match. Chen got a bit of offense in and the match went longer than you would expect but that was only because Dijak let it. After he hit a few of his big moves, Dijak managed to pick up the win with the “Feast Your Eyes”. After the match, Dijak picked up the microphone and told everyone that he will bring everyone to justice. He sounded like he could be a very convincing Batman. The match wasn’t anything to really talk about, but Dijak looked good which was the point.
Grade: C
We cut backstage to the Diamond Dojo where Ivy Nile was being spoken to by none other than JD McDonagh. The Creed Brothers then walked in and asked why McDonagh was there before the Irish Ace said that the Creed’s are stupid for picking a fight with Veer and Sanga. The Creed’s said that they were going to prove him wrong before Julius Creed told McDonagh to get out which he did (after he waved goodbye to Nile). We then went to a hall of fame panel consisting of Shawn Michaels, Road Dogg, X-Pac, Alundra Blayze and Molly Holly where they were talking about who they thought should be in the Men’s Iron Survivor Challenge at NXT Deadline. Michaels said that he wants the top 5 stars of the past year to be in this match meaning Carmelo Hayes was clearly everyone’s number 1 pick before Tony D’Angelo was mentioned. That was a good shout but unfortunately, Shawn Michaels didn’t believe that D’Angelo would be ready in time given his recent injury. JD McDonagh and Joe Gacy were then both mentioned and the reasons given pretty much made it impossible for HBK to ignore them. Von Wagner then got mentioned before Axiom. However, they also weren’t fully sure on the injury status of Axiom. The Arrogant Aussie was then the last person to be mentioned and him being involved makes total sense. The only name that I fought was missed was Nathan Frazer. However, I’m pretty sure he is also injured which is a shame.
Grade: B
Duke Hudson VS Grayson Waller, Henley VS James, Women’s Iron Survivor Challenge
We were then back to in-ring action as we had an all-Aussie battle between Duke Hudson and Grayson Waller. This was a solid match and I thought the story telling was excellent. All Duke knows is to cheat but Andre Chase repeatedly told him that he couldn’t which lowered his chances of winning this match massively. Then, outside the ring, Hudson went to boot Waller in the face but as the Arrogant Aussie got out the way, The Duke’s boot stopped just before Thea Hail. He then threw Waller into the ring before he told Hail that he can stop his momentum at any time. Chase was baffled at this statement and as he got back into the ring, Waller met him with the rolling Stunner to get the victory. Waller continues to be an asset to this whole show whilst the Chase U storyline is the best one in NXT and to be honest, it’s one of the best in the whole of the WWE. NXT has so many options with this storyline, you could have Hudson and Chase become the tag team champions or you could have Duke destroy Mr. Chase at some point. Storytelling at its finest.
Grade: B+
Javier Bernal was back doing another interview with McKenzie Mitchell where he announced he was opening a brand-new shop. He had a bunch of items like baseball bats, pillows with his face on it and a cologne that was meant to smell like him. Axiom then came up to him to tell him that he was now medically cleared to compete meaning Bernal will get the match that he has been asking for, for ages. I genuinely enjoy these Bernal segments a lot, he’s hilarious and McKenzie Mitchell is brilliant in her role too. It was then time for a match between Kiana James and Fallon Henley. These two women got quite a bit of time and to be fair to them, this was the best either of them have looked in their entire careers here in NXT. However, the ending made no sense. James threw her bag at Henley and this “distraction” allowed James to throw Henley into the ring-post before she connected with the 401K to get the win. Why this wasn’t a disqualification I’ll never know. However, James made her finisher look pretty cool so fair play for that.
Grade: C
Malik Blade was sitting in the locker room holding his Dad’s sweater that Von Wagner had ripped last week. Enofe and Jones then did a good job of telling Blade to take his anger out on Von Wagner in their match later on in the night. These guys are all solid faces. The Hall of Fame panel was then back and this time, they were discussing who should be in the Women’s Iron Survivor Challenge. Roxanne Perez was mentioned first before Zoey Stark. Roxanne Perez should definitely be in this match and even though I wouldn’t have mentioned Zoey so early, she is definitely in the top 5 women on this show. Indi Hartwell was brought up, but the panel didn’t seem overly keen on this before Cora Jade name was brought up. For me, Jade is the number 1 in this match. Fallon Henley and Kiana James were then both talked about which seems a bit ridiculous before the final name mentioned was Alba Fyre. However, Road Dogg said that Fyre needs to deal with Isla Dawn before she goes back after the NXT Women’s Championship. I thought Wendy Choo not getting a mention was strange and I didn’t have a clue as to why Nikkita Lyons wasn’t in the conversation. That makes no sense. Also, were has Tiffany Stratton gone? Overall, though, I enjoyed the way NXT shot this, I hope they do this more often.
Grade: B-
Zoey Stark attacks Nikkita Lyons, Javier Bernal VS Axiom
After a quick video where Cora Jade was taking the mick out of Wendy Choo, it was time for a 6-Woman Tag Team match. However, during Nikkita Lyons’ entrance, she was attacked by Zoey Stark who targeted her leg. Officials broke this up before the Women’s Tag Team Champions Katana Chance and Kayden Carter had to carry Lyons to the back. Watching on was Toxic Attraction who just laughed at them. A video then aired for former NXT UK Star Lyra Valkyria who is coming soon to NXT before Elektra Lopez cut a backstage promo talking about Indi Hartwell. She said that it seems to be a trend to support Indi Hartwell before she called Mrs. Lumis the heart of this division. La Madrina then claimed that she is going to stomp out the heart and build an empire of her own. I thought Elektra made this promo feel convincing. After all of this, it was time for the matchup between the returning Axiom and Javier Bernal. Overall, I thought this was a pretty decent encounter. It’s great to see Axiom back in the ring, he is easily one of the best on this entire roster and after a hard-fought encounter where he had to fight against the pain of his knee, Axiom managed to pick up the win with the Golden Ratio. Also, it’s worth mentioning how much Javier Bernal has improved. I didn’t rate him at all when he first started on NXT but after his excellent promos and his level of competitiveness in this match, I definitely think Bernal can go far on Tuesday Nights.
Grade: B
Apollo Crews and Bron Breakker, JD McDonagh VS Julius Creed
Nikkita Lyons knee was being tested out by a member of the NXT medical and after asking Lyons how it felt, he deemed she was medically able to compete. She then told the NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions that nothing is going to stop them from beating Toxic Attraction. Pretty Deadly were then talking to McKenzie Mitchell where they said they are bigger than the World Cup and that they love Christmas. They then announced that they are going to perform their very own Christmas story next week. I’m really looking forward to that. Apollo Crews was once again sitting down in his favourite diner before he was joined by Bron Breakker. Breakker talked about how he has had to train harder than ever in preparation for his match with Apollo before Crews said that their styles are so similar, something has to give. I thought this was alright, both men put over strong cases as to why they are going to win their match at NXT Deadline and hold the NXT Championship for a while. Also, Breakker asked Crews if his visions are always true and when Crews nodded at him, Breakker said “first time for everything”. I’m glad that was brought up.
Grade: B-
After all of this, it was time to get back to in-ring action as JD McDonagh took on Julius Creed. This was a match between two rising stars with contrasting styles. Creed is both quick and powerful whilst McDonagh is quick and technical. Also, McDonagh has been built up as one of the main stars on NXT whilst Julius Creed is clearly going to be a main event guy at some point. As Sanga and Veer watched from the outside, JD McDonagh attempted to injure his opponent and as he went to hit Creed with a chair, Sanga pushed Creed out of the way and this caused the DQ. Sanga was angry so JD smartly ran off before Indus Sher told the Creed’s that they want them at 100%. McDonagh is great, Julius is great and the storytelling was great.
Grade: B
Von Wagner VS Malik Blade, The NXT Iron Survivor Challenge Competitors are revealed
A video aired for Alba Fyre and she talked about how the demons who gave Isla Dawn the orders to attack her clearly don’t like Dawn too much. She then said she is going to make Dawn pay for costing her the NXT Women’s Championship. After this, Tony D’Angelo confronted Dijak and thanked him for softening up Wes Lee. These two both clearly want to take the belt off of Wes Lee and if this is done right, the heels shouldn’t like each other either. Malik Blade then came out to try and get some revenge on Von Wagner. This wasn’t very good sadly, both men didn’t really work well together and there was way more than just 1 mistake. Wagner ended up getting the victory over Blade before he continued to beat him up after the match. Enofe came out and suffered the same fate before Odyssey Jones proved to be too much for Wagner as he clotheslined him out of the ring. If you are going to watch anything from this week's NXT, make sure it isn’t this.
Grade: D
Shawn Michaels was then back to confirm who is going to compete in the Iron Survival Challenge match at NXT Deadline. For the men, it’s going to be Carmelo Hayes, JD McDonagh, Grayson Waller and Joe Gacy whilst Von Wagner, Axiom and Andre Chase will take part in a wildcard match for the final spot at Deadline. I agree with all four men that are definitely in the match; Melo is a star, McDonagh has been so impressive this year, Waller is a terrific heel whilst Gacy deserves a lot of credit when it comes to just how far he has come since last year. In terms of the wildcard match, I would love to see Andre Chase win and I’d be happy to see Axiom win as he would bring so much to that match. If Von Wagner wins, face palm emoji.
As for the Women’s match, Zoey Stark, Cora Jade, Roxanne Perez and Kiana James are guaranteed to be in this match and as for the final spot, that will go to the winner of next week's triple threat match between Wendy Choo, Indi Hartwell and Fallon Henley. Cora Jade and Roxanne Perez should 150% be in this match. If they aren’t going to do a single’s match between Zoey Stark and Nikkita Lyons, Stark should be in it. Speaking of Lyons, she’s been completely shafted here. Kiana James being in it is a joke, I thought the criteria to be in this match was to be in the top 5 stars in the division, not the worst 5 and as for the wildcard match, I hope Choo or Hartwell wins. Arguably, Choo should already be in it.
Grade: A for the men’s picks, B- for the women’s
Toxic Attraction VS Nikkita Lyons, Katana Chance and Kayden Carter
Due to the attack from Zoey Stark earlier on in the night, it meant that this 6-Woman Tag Team match got moved to the main event. This match wasn’t particularly great, Mandy Rose wasn’t involved in this too much which was a detriment to the overall quality of the match. Chance and Carter always pull out some nice tag team manoeuvres and I thought that Nikkita Lyons sold her leg injury well. However, the focus on this match was mainly Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne and unfortunately for them, this didn’t go as well as hoped. Toxic A managed to get the win after “hitting” the high-low combination onto Lyons but the problem with this was the fact that they actually missed it meaning it looked pretty rubbish. After the match, Toxic Attraction were celebrating on the entrance way whilst Zoey Stark was standing on the podium looking down at an injured Lyons. This match unfortunately proved that even though Toxic Attraction are a great act, Dolin and Jayne have a lot of work to do to get their in-ring ability up to main roster standard.
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