NXT Review: 01/04

Linus O'Howell
Apr 2
5 min read

Stephanie Vaquer Relinquishes her NXT Women's North American Championship, Lash Legend VS Zaria

NXT kicked off this week with Ava and Stephanie Vaquer in the ring as Ava talked about how it’s important for both the NXT Women’s and NXT Women’s North American Championships to be defended on a regular basis. Because of this, Stephanie was forced to vacate her Women’s North American Title in order to focus on the main Championship whilst also giving other opportunities! Unsurprisingly, the crowd wasn’t very happy about this, and the segment then continued with both Jordynne Grace and Jaida Parker making their claim for the NXT Women’s Title. Interestingly, Vaquer is able to pick her opponent for NXT Stand and Deliver, but otherwise this segment sucked, and not because of the performances from the people involved, but because it was completely pointless to do the Winner Takes All match in the first place!

Grade: E

After Oba Femi made it clear that he doesn’t answer to Trick Williams, it was time for the opening match of the night as Zaria and Lash Legend clashed for the opportunity to head to Stand and Deliver and compete in the NXT Women’s North American Championship Ladder Match! This was a decent way to start the show, Zaria looked a bit off her game to begin with, but she managed to turn things around and showcase her power against the even bigger Lash Legend! Lash looked good again, she really should be on the Stand and Deliver card, but alas, that didn’t happen as Zaria delivered the Z5 to get the win! I expected Zaria to win here, but I still would’ve preferred for both women to have been in the match!

Grade: C+

Hank and Tank VS No Quarter Catch Crew, The NXT Championship Match is Made, Kelani Jordan VS Roxanne Perez: NXT Women’s North American Championship Qualifying Match

Yoshiki Inamura told Josh Briggs that he really wants to be on the NXT Stand and Deliver card this year, but Wes Lee laughed that off, setting up a match for the two of them next week. Roxanne Perez and Kelani Jordan then got into an argument which made Ava book them as the competitors in the second NXT Women’s North American Championship Qualifying Match before The D’Angelo Family all sat down to discuss the new threat that is Darkstate! Basically, the group is both big and smart, and they’re going to be difficult to stop. However, The Don has a plan! After a pep talk from Pretty Deadly, followed by a video package for The Culling, Hank and Tank were ready to go again as they took on the No Quarter Catch Crew! No Quarter Catch Crew are a very good team, they should have a bright future ahead of them, and Hank and Tank continue to be entertaining to watch. Once again, though, Walker and Ledger seem too focused on being other teams at the moment. See, this week, they kept trying to pull out moves from the old PD playbook, but that didn’t work, and it ultimately resulted in Myles Borne and Tavion Heights hitting their finisher to get the win! Hank and Tank seriously need to just be themselves again!

Grade: C+

Trick Williams was out next to talk about how things have been going for him recently, but despite all of that, this is still the TW Network (which is clever) and he’s still “HIM”! Trick said he wants his NXT Championship back which is when Je’Von Evans came out to say that this time last year, Williams was in his position. Trick then came back at Evans saying he has no idea what it’s like to be the “A-Champion” which is when Je’Von called Trick “Carmelo Hayes” in what was a brilliant line! You could tell this infuriated the former 2-time NXT Champion who had clearly had enough before Oba Femi came out because he was simply angry at both men for not having the guts to say this to the Champion’s face! Ava then arrived to make a Triple Threat for the NXT Championship at NXT Stand and Deliver official, and this is when Darkstate arrived and beat up all 3 men in what was another display of that group getting the edge over NXT’s top superstars! I thought this was a superb segment, one of NXT’s best for a while, I’m all of a sudden fully into this Femi-Williams-Evans feud, and Trick’s character of being similar to Carmelo Hayes is pretty genius!

Grade: A-

Andre Chase was told that he has cracked ribs meaning he’ll be out of action for a bit before Jordynne Grace and Jaida Parker brawled in the back! Nathan Frazer was then pretty rude to Hank and Tank which annoyed Axiom before Evolve’s Swipe Right appeared and put out a challenge to the NXT Tag Team Champions! Roxanne Perez was then out next as The Prodigy was ready to go one-on-one with Kelani Jordan for a spot in the NXT Women’s North American Championship Ladder Match! I was very confused by this matchup at first because Roxanne Perez should be in the Main Event feud (or, more like the Main Roster) so for her to be going for the mid-card Title is a bit odd. However, I do like the reasoning that Perez wants to be the first-ever NXT Women’s Triple Crown winner, that’s pretty cool, and there’s actually a lot of similarities between the careers of Roxy and Lani! However, none of what I said actually matters as Kelani nailed Roxanne with her “one of a kind” Split-Legged Moonsault to get the win and punch her ticket to Stand and Deliver. I mean, I’m happy for Jordan, this is a massive win for her, but I’m now even more confused about The Prodigy’s WrestleMania weekend path!

Grade: B-

NXT North American Championship: Shawn Spears VS Ricky Saints

After Ava booked a 6-Man Tag Team Match for next week and Zaria and Kelani Jordan got into a conversation, it was Main Event time as Shawn Spears put his NXT North American Championship on the line against Ricky Saints! This was a decent Main Event, Ricky had a lot of fire throughout, going after Shawn from the get go whilst also having to fend off the rest of The Culling. There was actually a moment in the match where Spears came close to winning after nailing Saints in the head with his North American Title, but Saints was able to kick out before Mr. Revolution wiped everyone out and nailed Shawn Spears with Rochambeau to get the win! This massively surprised me, I did not expect Ricky Saints to become quite this quickly, but good for him! However, despite his victory, Saints wasn’t the one standing tall to end the show as Ethan Page attacked him from behind meaning that’s probably going to be the match we get at Stand and Deliver!