NXT Review: 01/09

Linus O'Howell
12 minutes ago
5 min read

Zilla Fatu Starts the Show, Naraku VS Shiloh Hill

The fallout from NXT Heatwave started with Zilla Fatu, as The Real One was disappointed that he wasn’t able to become NXT Champion in his debut! Zilla felt like all of the stars aligned for him to win on Sunday, but it just wasn’t meant to be, which brought out Tristan Angels to trash-talk Fatu! The two would then agree to have a match later in the show, with Fatu sending Angels packing! Zilla VS Tristan should be fun!

Grade: C+

EK Prosper, Saquon Shugars, and Keanu Carver all made their own cases to Mr. Stone about why they should get a shot at Grayson Waller and the NXT Championship, whilst Myles Borne cut a promo explaining his actions from Heatwave! According to Myles, he knew that Tavion Heights was going to take him out at some point, so he decided to do it first! Definitely an interesting storyline development, but it does make sense! It was then time for the opening match of the night as Shiloh Hill looked to get payback on Naraku! Wrestling-wise, this was a pretty solid match. However, the problem is Naraku’s aura has completely gone; he doesn’t feel special at all, and that’s what happens when you have him lose to Tony D’Angelo not once, but twice! Shiloh is popular; he’ll be a good part of the NXT Roster for years to come, but this wasn’t as big as it may have been a few months ago! Despite this, I did really like the ending, as Naraku fooled both Hill and the referee by spitting the mist onto his hand, meaning that when both men ducked at the “fake” mist attempt, Naraku was able to blind Shiloh with his hand, taking advantage to score the victory! I appreciate how well thought out this finish was!

Grade: C+

Noam Dar and Romeo Moreno VS Sean Legacy and Dorian Van Dux, Kelani Jordan Celebrates, Nikkita Lyons VS Thea Hail

After a backstage segment between the four competitors, Noam Dar and Romeo Moreno took on Sean Legacy and Dorian Van Dux in Tag Team action! All four of these guys teamed together last week to take on BirthRight in what was an entertaining contest, and in fairness, this was also good fun! Dar and Moreno work well together, whilst I quite like Legacy and Van Dux! It also felt like a must-win match for Noam and Romeo, given the fact that they’ve never won a match as a duo yet, so it wasn’t a good sign when Dar “accidentally” floored Moreno with a back-fist! However, Supernova 11 would fight back on his own to pin Sean Legacy with a smart roll-up, and all I’ll say about this is I hope Legacy is okay, as he looked to be struggling with his arm!

Grade: B-

Zaria was pretty quick to hand over the NXT Women’s Speed Championship to Mr. Stone, meaning the Men’s Speed Title is also now redundant! For some reason, Stone didn’t give another Title opportunity to Lexis King (which felt like the least he could do), whilst Cruz Montana believes that he deserves a match against Grayson Waller for the NXT Title! Keanu Carver then decided to show up in Robert Stone’s office once again, before Kelani Jordan headed down to the ring to celebrate becoming the brand-new NXT Women’s Champion! Kelani proved once again on Sunday that she only needs one shot to become a Champion, with Jordan making history as the first person to ever win the NXT Title, the NXT North American Title, and the TNA Knockouts World Title on her first attempt! Lani then talked about how she’s better than everyone else, which brought out Jaida Parker to remind the new Champ that she’s already beaten her in the past! Jaida would then challenge Kelani to a match tonight, which Jordan deflected to next week! Jordan-Parker for the NXT Women’s Title is a big match, so to have it straight away next week feels a bit strange!

Grade: C+

Following Jaida Parker being in the ring, Thea Hail joined her as her rivalry with Nikkita Lyons continued! These two fought over the Evolve Women’s Championship (in Evolve) a couple of weeks ago, and it made sense to have the match here after what went down during the Nattie-Parker match at Heatwave! I’ve praised Nikkita every time I’ve seen her wrestle over recent months; she’s improved a lot, whilst I do like Thea! However, this wasn’t the greatest of matches; something wasn’t clicking, and as much as I like the “Hail Yeah” as a move, it shouldn’t be a finisher! On the flip side, I suppose this means we’ll get Lyons VS Hail for the Evolve Title again down the line!

Grade: C

Kam Hendrix VS Mason Rook, Tristan Angels VS Zilla Fatu

Incredibly, we once again headed straight into in-ring action as Mason Rook went one-on-one with Kam Hendrix! These two have been feuding for a while now, with Kam winning the first encounter a few weeks ago! As a result, there was always a good chance that the scores were going to be settled here, and wouldn’t you know it, that’s exactly what happened! Whilst Kam attempted to cheat by pulling the turnbuckle pad off, it was he who went into the exposed steel, with Rook dropping Hendrix with a Powerbomb to finally win a match in NXT! It’s about time!

Grade: C+

Tavion Heights feels completely betrayed by Myles Borne, whilst The Vanity Project were happy to rub everything in Heights’ face! Tavion will now challenge Jackson Drake for the NXT North American Championship next week, and that can only go one way! It was then time for the Main Event match of the night as Zilla Fatu wrestled in the Performance Center for the first time against Tristan Angels! As expected, this was a fun clash that saw the big new thing take on a comedic Heel who plays his role very well! However, the thing that made all of this better was that Zilla got busted open at one point, with blood surrounding his mouth as he beat Angels up! Eventually, Fatu would score the win before BirthRight showed up to try and convince Zilla to join their group! Obviously, Zilla Fatu said no, before he floored Lexis King with a Superkick to close the show! I assume all of this was done to keep Fatu away from the NXT Title scene for a bit, which does make sense!

Grade: B-

Grayson Waller is NXT Champion!

The closing segment on this week’s edition of NXT saw Mr. Stone welcome out Grayson Waller as the brand-new NXT Champion! Grayson was in a wonderful mood, stating that he was the one who took the risk to come back to NXT, and it’s paid off in a big way! Waller also took shots at commentator Vic Joseph, whilst he called Cruz Montana “TNA-good” (which is a crazy line)! Waller would then go on to say that he’s welcoming all challengers, which brought out Saquon Shugars, Montana, EK Prosper, Mason Rook, and Tony D’Angelo, before Keanu Carver weirdly showed up again to suggest to Stone a 6-Man Tag match next week, with the winning team moving onto a Triple Threat where the winner of that match becomes the Number 1 Contender to The Arrogant Aussie’s NXT Title! Is Carver’s gimmick that he wants Stone’s job? Like, what is this?! However, I will say that it’s a decent concept, especially given the fact that none of them are actually Heels (at least properly, anyway)!