NXT Review: 02/09

Linus O'Howell
2 days ago
5 min read

Lash Legend VS Jaida Parker

NXT kicked off this week with action straight away as Lash Legend and Jaida Parker finally battled each other after weeks of backstage disagreements! These are two of the key women on NXT, so this always felt like a big deal, and a win would probably move them a step closer to a shot at the NXT Women’s Championship! I honestly wasn’t sure as to who was going to win this match; I could’ve seen it going either way, but ultimately, it was Lash who scored the win following a pair of Lash Extensions! Overall, I thought this was a good start to the show; both women performed well!

Grade: B-

Je’Von Evans Returns to NXT, Candice LeRae VS Xia Brookside: NXT Women’s Speed Tournament (Round 1), Trick Williams Gets Interrupted

Blake Monroe seemed to find herself somewhat of a friend in the form of Arianna Grace before Jordynne Grace stormed into the room to the dismay of Kali Armstrong! Je’Von Evans then made his first appearance in NXT since his loss to Oba Femi at Heatwave, and Je’Von talked about how he felt like he let everyone down because this was the perfect moment to become the new NXT Champion! This is when The Undertaker’s bell dinged, but instead of Taker coming out, it was Josh Briggs (which made the crowd super mad)! Briggs told Evans that whilst he’s good, he’s simply not good enough to beat Oba and become NXT Champion! Je’Von had clearly had enough of this, but it was Briggs who landed the first shot before he sent The Young O.G. crashing down onto a steel chair! I have to say, Briggs coming out after the crowd thought it was The Undertaker was quite brilliant Heel work!

Grade: B-

After Hank and Tank fired up Oba Femi and Ricky Saints backstage (whilst also saying they have a Plan B “just in case), it was time for the first Speed Match on NXT as Candice LeRae returned home to take on TNA’s Xia Brookside! This was the first time I’d ever seen a Speed match, and I have to say, whilst the production was well done (I was impressed by the lighting), I’m not sure I particularly like this format! Not only is the match itself too short, but neither of these women should be losing in 3 minutes, like it loses them credibility of having longer matches on SmackDown and TNA (respectively)! Ultimately, Candice LeRae scored the win with 23 seconds remaining, but I don’t know, this just felt kind of flat!

Grade: C-

Josh Briggs was mouthing off at Chase University backstage, resulting in Kale Dixon and Uriah Connors getting Briggs a match with Andre Chase (Mr. Chase wasn’t impressed) before Ava announced that their will be a Triple Threat Tag Team match next week (between Fatal Influence, ZaRuca, and The Culling) to determine future challengers for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships! DarkState then cut by far their best promo to date, listing all the different things in the past that have pushed them to be like this, before Trick Williams arrived to talk about his claims last week that he is the “Greatest NXT Superstar of All Time”! Trick said he was surprised that some old favourites didn’t interrupt his claim last week, saying that it’s probably because they don’t care about this brand anymore! In fact, Williams doesn’t blame them, saying he’s never coming back once he signs his big Main Roster contract (whilst travelling around Europe)! This is when we got the shock return of DIY, with Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano coming out to a raucous reaction from the NXT Universe! Ciampa and Gargano then said that whilst Trick is very good, there are others that are better, hinting at a bunch of stars like Finn Balor, Bayley, Bobby Roode, and even The Undisputed Era! The crowd also started to chant for Carmelo Hayes, only angering Trick Willy even further, before DIY eventually dropped the TNA World Champion with Meet in the Middle! DIY are just excellent on NXT; whatever happens on the Main Roster, their star power on this show never dwindles!

Grade: A-

Kali Armstrong VS Jordynne Grace, Andre Chase VS Josh Briggs

Ava told Je’Von Evans that if he promised not to get involved in Josh Briggs’ match with Andre Chase, she would let him fight Briggs next week before the NXT General Manager then booked a “Flag Match” between Ethan Page and Tavion Heights! All Ego was not impressed! After a video package showcasing her talent on WWE Evolve, Kali Armstrong was out next as she tried to prove herself against Jordynne Grace! This was a battle between two powerhouses: the current Evolve Women’s Champion against a former TNA Knockouts World Champion, but honestly, I found the decision to book this match a little strange! See, Jordynne Grace needs to win matches often, but Kali Armstrong shouldn’t lose, not when she’s Evolve’s Champion! Now, as expected, Grace scored the win with the Juggernaut Driver, but like I said, I feel like Armstrong should be defeating lesser opponents right now! After the match, Blake Monroe ran down to start a brawl with JG, eventually busting her face open (the opposite of Glamorous)!

Grade: C+

We got Part 1 of this mini-series that seems to be taking us through the personal life of Lola Vice, with Lola talking about what it’s like to be a Miami Latina women, and then we got another match as Josh Briggs went one-on-one with Andre Chase! In fairness to Je’Von Evans, he kept his word by not getting involved in this match, leaving it to be a fair fight in which the crowd were very vocal! Mr. Chase nearly scored the win at one point with a diving crossbody, but in the end, Briggs was able to score the win the chagrin of both the NXT faithful and the Chase U students!

Grade: C+

Oba Femi, Ricky Saints, and Hank and Tank VS DarkState

And in the Main Event, DarkState competed in another 8-Man Tag, this time against the team of Oba Femi, Ricky Saints, and Hank and Tank! Once again, Oba Femi worked very well in a random, make-shift Tag Team, in fact, he was even having fun at moments! I honestly thought all of this was fun, the wrestling itself was pretty decent, and it eventually broke down as Oba and Ricky Saints brawled to the back! This left Hank and Tank vulnerable, but remember, they had a back-up plan, and this plan was to “say his name and he appears”, and wouldn’t you know it, Joe Hendry just showed up like the Bat signal had just been displayed in the sky, distracting DarkState to allow Hank and Tank to get their win back! I have to say, this might be the greatest plan I’ve ever seen, everyone should adopt this strategy, and gosh, was this a lot of fun!