NXT Review: 03/02

Linus O'Howell
3 hours ago
6 min read

NXT Women’s North American Championship: Izzi Dame VS Thea Hail VS Lola Vice

After Shawn Michaels appointed Robert Stone as the Interim NXT General Manager, this week’s edition of NXT kicked off with Izzi Dame, Thea Hail, and Lola Vice colliding in a Triple Threat Match for the NXT Women’s North American Championship! I have to say, I was very impressed with Izzi Dame throughout this match; I easily thought she was the MVP of the night! I’ve rated Izzi for a while, for some reason, not a lot of others do, but I feel like she stepped up her game to a whole new level here! Lola Vice and Thea Hail both looked decent too, but I’m honestly not sure what’s left for Lola to do in NXT moving forward (given her attempt at becoming Champion failed last year)! Eventually, Kelani Jordan would show up to smash Vice’s fingers with a ladder, leaving it down to Dame VS Hail, which Izzi eventually won out with Dame Over! Keeping the NA Title on Izzi Dame makes sense right now!

Grade: B

Tony D’Angelo Explains Himself, Charlie Dempsey VS Elio Lefleur: NXT Speed Championship Tournament (Semi-Finals), The Elegance Brand VS ZaRuca: TNA Knockouts World Tag Team Championships

The WreNQCC were hyping up Sol Ruca after her amazing performance in the Women’s Royal Rumble, but the same could not be said for Sol’s Tag Team partner, Zaria! A fired-up Kale Dixon then got Chase University a match with Lexis King and Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo, before Tony D’Angelo finally explained himself after months of attacking people from out of nowhere! Tony talked about how he had everything a year ago, listing off all of his accomplishments whilst bringing up his family, only for DarkState to ruin everything! In one way, this was a good thing as it meant D’Angelo was able to remind himself of who he actually is, and more importantly, what he’s capable of! Tony D then made it clear that he has two main reasons for being back in NXT, but we’ll only find out the second reason once he’s done ending DarkState! I still want to know who appeared behind Tony all those months ago (I will not forget this), but as far as this segment goes, I thought D’Angelo put over his lines well!

Grade: B-

After Shiloh Hill gave an “in-depth” look at all of his opponents in tonight’s massive NXT Championship Main Event, Charlie Dempsey returned to in-ring action on Tuesdays as he went one-on-one with Elio Lefleur in another edition of the NXT Speed Championship Tournament! I’m honestly a little bit fed up of talking about these Speed matches; they feel like they’re always the same, and we keep getting tournaments that lead to nothing! Like, Jasper Troy won this Title ages ago now, but it doesn’t feel like it’s elevated him one bit! Anyway, Elio Lefleur was able to defeat Charlie Dempsey here with about 7 seconds left on the clock, so the Frenchman definitely left it late!

Grade: C

After Joe Hendry talked about his hunger to become Champion again, we were set for our second Title match of the night as ZaRuca looked to dethrone The Elegance Brand to become the new TNA Knockouts World Tag Team Champions! The story of this match was simple: ZaRuca aren’t getting along anymore! Zaria seems furious with Sol Ruca, like she wants nothing to do with her, and honestly, it’s about time! They’re still both great wrestlers, so they were still able to deliver a decent little matchup against a confident Elegance Brand, but yeah, this really was all about the story! Speaking of, the narrative between ZaRuca is only going to get worse after Ruca accidentally nailed Zaria with a Sol Snatcher (the one move that you can hit your partner with accidentally), before Ash By Elegance wiped out Sol, opening the door for Heather and M By Elegance to pin Zaria to retain their KO Tag Team Titles! Also, Daria Rae (previously known as Sonya Deville) was here to hand the Titles to The Elegance Brand, so that was kind of cool!

Grade: B-

Lexis King and Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo VS Chase University, Jacy Jayne Calls Out Sol Ruca

Ethan Page gave some much-needed words of advice to the entire Vanity Project before we got a clip from before the show began of Blake Monroe attacking Jaida Parker in the NXT Parking Lot (the death zone is clearly back)! Lexis King and Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo were then set to team up as they took on Chase University after previous interactions over recent weeks! This match was so odd to me, it lasted probably less than 3 minutes, and it just ended with King getting the win following a Coronation! On top of this, after the match was over, Uriah Connors seemingly walked out on Chase University, with him not appearing to have joined the group of The King, Stacks, and Arianna Grace! What is going on?! Firstly, I don’t think it’s quite that easy to leave an educational setting! Secondly, I was praising Chase U a few weeks ago for being a great in-ring duo, but that didn’t last long!

Grade: C

After we came back from a commercial break, Fatal Influence were in the ring as Jacy Jayne wanted to reminisce on being in her first-ever Royal Rumble Match! Jacy said that Saturday should’ve been her moment to shine, but instead, it got ruined by Sol Ruca! Jacy was so angry about this that she called out Sol, stating that Ruca would be the next person to challenge her for her NXT Women’s Championship, only for Zaria to interrupt! Like we’ve already established earlier, Zaria can’t stand Sol Ruca, so the Aussie was very quick about shooting her shot at the NXT Women’s Title, only for the WreNQCC to interrupt as Kendal Grey still believes that she can beat Jacy Jayne! Eventually, after Sol Ruca came out, Robert Stone arrived to book a Tag Team match for next week’s NXT, and the stipulation is that whoever gets the winning pinfall gets to challenge The Rockstar for the NXT Women’s Title in a few weeks’ time in Atlanta! I quite like that stipulation, but I can’t see it going down well at all, especially for ZaRuca!

Grade: B-

NXT Championship Ladder Match

After Kelani Jordan explained her attack on Lola Vice, and the WreNQCC once again got interrupted by Lexis King’s crew, it was Main Event time as Ricky Saints, Joe Hendry, Dion Lennox, Jackson Drake, Keanu Carver, Sean Legacy, and Shiloh Hill battled in a 7-Man Ladder Match for the vacant NXT Championship! I didn’t really know what to expect coming into this match, given we’d been told that only Ricky and Joe had actually competed in a Ladder Match before! Yes, the star power wasn’t there, but it also wasn’t there the first time that Trick Williams appeared alongside Carmelo Hayes, and I’d say his growth should be telling enough that we will get there with some of these guys! I particularly like Jackson Drake; I think he’s got a lot going for him, and it makes sense to keep him as Evolve Champion for as long as possible! Anyway, what did surprise me was the lack of Ricky Saints in this match; it felt like he barely did anything until the end! Anyway, before we get to that, after initially being buried under ladders like he’s Tommaso Ciampa, Keanu Carver reappeared and decided to wreck everyone, with Sean Legacy being the unfortunate one who had to go through the Podium/Platform area! Carver then fought Saints across two ladders, with Keanu eventually taking the nastiest bump of all to the outside through a ladder! This left Saints with a clear opportunity to win, but he took too long posing, allowing Joe Hendry enough time to send Saints bouncing off a ladder, before he captured the gold to signal a new era in NXT! Firstly, I’ve realised I haven’t mentioned them, but both Dion Lennox and Shiloh Hill had some good moments, with Hill using a broken ladder as stilts being a particular favourite of mine! As far as Joe Hendry winning this match goes, I guess it makes sense; he’s a big, well-known star across many brands and promotions, and NXT has very much been lacking in a proper Babyface Champion recently! Also, I’ll take Joe as Champ if it means we get more of Booker T’s singing!