NXT Women’s Championship: Roxanne Perez VS Lyra Valkyria VS Tatum Paxley
After we saw Ava, Adam Pearce, and Nick Aldis discussing the upcoming draft, Week 1 of NXT Spring Breakin’ 2024 kicked off with Roxanne Perez putting her NXT Women’s Championship on the line against both Lyra Valkyria and Tatum Paxley. I thought this was a really good way to start the show, Roxanne Perez is for me the Women’s Wrestler of the Year (so far), Lyra Valkyria is pretty good, and Tatum Paxley showed out when she needed to the most! That’s honestly not surprising though, as I’ve rated Tatum for a while! The crowd was also right behind Paxley who hit an amazing 450 onto Valkyria for what would’ve been the win, only for Perez to sneak in and roll Pax up for the 3 count to retain her NXT Women’s Championship! This was a good match with a great ending!
Grade: B
No Quarter Catch Crew VS The D’Angelo Family, Fallon Henley VS Jaida Parker, NXT Underground Contract Signing
We got a video showcasing a bunch of wrestlers and fans (including Jade Cargill and A-Town Down Under) giving their picks for tonight’s NXT Championship match before Fallon Henley and Jaida Parker got into it in the Women’s Locker Room after Fallon stuck up for Thea Hail. We then got a video package for a new team which debuts next week before Diamond Mine were here as they gave their thoughts on Dragunov-Williams to Kelly Kincaid. We then got some Six-Man Tag Team action as the No Quarter Catch Crew took on The D’Angelo Family. This was a fine match, Tony D looked pretty good, but it didn’t feel that important which is a shame given the groups involved. The Heels got plenty of offense in, but as soon as The Don tagged in, he ran wild before D’Angelo dropped Charlie Dempsey with a massive spinebuster to get the win!
Grade: C+
Baron Corbin was talking to NXT production backstage before Lexis King came up to him and gave him a “gift basket” as a farewell to NXT. This set up a match between the two because why not?! We then went straight into another match as Fallon Henley clashed with Jaida Parker. I’ve said this a few times, but I think Fallon Henley should win the NXT Women’s Championship this year. I also like Jaida Parker, she’s the only good thing in OTM, and she has a good presence about her. However, I’m not sure Henley losing clean is a good move and that’s exactly what happened here as Parker delivered the Teardrop Hip Check to score the big W! Happy for Jaida, but Fallon deserves better!
Grade: C+
Jacy Jayne made it clear that she was going to make Thea Hail regret everything next week before we got a good video promo from Lola Vice. JD McDonagh was then on NXT as he made a great point as to why Ilja Dragunov will retain his NXT Championship tonight before the New Catch Republic disagreed over their selection. Ava was then in the ring as she was about to host a Contract Signing for next week’s NXT Underground Match! Natalya arrived first and happily signed the contract before Lola Vice came out and did the same thing. Both Nattie and Lola then took shots at each other before Vice revealed that her “corner person” is none other than Shayna Baszler. Shayna got in the ring and talked trash on Karmen Petrovic before a brawl started, leaving the Faces standing tall. This actually wasn’t too bad, but this only furthers the fact that Vice has to beat Natalya next week!
Grade: C+
Blair Davenport VS Sol Ruca: Beach Brawl, Baron Corbin VS Lexis King
Ridge Holland ignored Shawn Spears’ words of “encouragement” in the NXT Parking Lot before we got a really good video promo from The Final Testament. Axiom and Nathan Frazer didn’t seem very happy about this before Edris Enofe accidentally dropped a mirror (I’m guessing this is going to lead to something). Blair Davenport then made her way down to the ring as she was about to face Sol Ruca in a Beach Brawl! At times this was very silly, but I like that, because NXT does silly great! Beachballs, Footballs, Rubber Rings, and Ball pits were all used as weapons, but when it got serious, it got proper serious! Not only did Blair put Sol through a surfboard, but Ruca followed it up late on by sending them both crashing from the barricade through a picnic table! They then rolled back into the ring and Ruca delivered the Sol Snatcher on BD onto a mini surfboard to score the win! This was good fun, I really like Sol Ruca, and I kind of expect to see Blair get drafted to the Main Roster now!
Grade: B-
Trick Williams was on the phone with his Mom backstage before Johnny Gargano walked in to give Trick some words of wisdom. I want to be able to hire Johnny Wrestling as a life coach, because this was awesome, and got me properly pumped for the Main Event! Before that though, we had a rather strange Meta-Four TikTok before Baron Corbin went one-on-one with Lexis King. This was totally fine, it felt a bit random, but it was a good way to test Lexis against someone with the talent and experience of Baron. Amazingly, when the referee wasn’t looking, King delivered a low blow to Corbin before he hit the Coronation to score by far the biggest win of his NXT career so far! I’m guessing we’ll get a rematch at some point, but yeah, I was surprised by this!
Grade: C+
NXT Championship: Ilja Dragunov VS Trick Williams
And in the Main Event of NXT Spring Breakin’ 2024 Week 1, after a great video package and a moment where the NXT Champion came face-to-face with the World Heavyweight Champion Damian Priest, Ilja Dragunov put his NXT Title on the line against Trick Williams! This was a literal spot fest, it was super fast-paced and frantic action, with big moves followed by big strikes and so on! The crowd were going absolutely wild throughout, particularly when Trick delivered a massive Rock Bottom to send both him and Ilja crashing through the announce table! We then got Williams hitting both a H-Bomb and the Torpedo Moscow for near-falls before Dragunov delivered a H-Bomb, a Super H-Bomb (from the middle rope), and a Super, Super H-Bomb (from the top rope) only for Trick Willy to still kick out! And then, just like NXT Vengeance Day, both men ran at each other, but unlike VD, Trick Williams connected with the Trick Shot first to pin The Mad Dragon meaning Trick Williams is the new NXT Champion! The NXT Arena was quite literally shaking, and after Dragunov hugged Williams in the ring, Trick celebrated with the crowd to close the show! This match was awesome, everything about it was so great, and I’m so happy for Trick because he’s earned this right to call himself a Champion! Also, I was thinking about this really hard, and I don’t think Ilja Dragunov is on the Mount Rushmore of NXT, I think Dragunov is the Mountain!
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