NXT Review: 03/06

Je’Von Evans Starts the Show, Chase University VS DarkState

NXT kicked off this week with Je’Von Evans in the ring as Laredo Kid was also already there! Things then quickly got busier as Ethan Page interrupted to tell his opponents at World’s Collide to get out of his ring before Ethan made it clear that it was Ricky Saints who agreed to this match, not him (which I actually quite like)! Sean Legacy then arrived to say his piece about challenging for the NXT North American Championship next week before The Vanity Project (from Evolve) showed up and started a brawl with the 3 Babyfaces! This segment was to set up an 8-Man Tag Team match for later in the show, so in that sense, it served it’s purpose!

Grade: C+

We then headed straight into the first match of the night as Chase University were set to take on DarkState! DarkState are being positioned as this giant force that’s pretty unstoppable, so it’s a good thing that NXT booked them as that here! I mean, this current version of Chase U is not a team, Andre Chase clearly doesn’t like Uriah Connors and Kale Dixon, and it ultimately meant that DS were able to pick up a rather easy victory! This was just there!

Grade: C

Charlie Dempsey VS Myles Borne: Rounds Match, Arianna Grace VS Tyrae Mae Steels

Credit: Tuttowrestling

Ava told Je’Von Evans, Sean Legacy, and Laredo Kid that they needed another partner for their match later tonight which they got in the form of Dragon Lee! Trick Williams then cut a great promo on why Mike Santana will fall to him tonight before Tyrae Mae Steels got some unwanted advice from Arianna Grace! It was then time for Charlie Dempsey and Myles Borne to clash in a Rounds Match where if Myles won, he would be allowed to leave the No Quarter Catch Crew! Round 1 was pretty evenly matched, even though it was won by Myles Borne who took the lead before most of Round 2 took place in an ad break! However, after the bell rang at the end of the second round, Charlie Dempsey delivered a cheap shot which annoyed both Wren Sinclair and Tavion Heights! Charlie clearly benefited from this as he was able to level the scores up after about 20 seconds in Round 3, but in the end, a dropkick from Borne was enough for him to get the win before Dempsey refused to shake his hand after the match is over! I still think this is very rushed, but we’ll see how things play out over the next few weeks and months!

Grade: C+

In an interesting turn of events, Izzi Dame smashed Brooks Jensen in the back with a steel chair so now Brooks is out of The Culling, very random indeed! It was then time for the NXT in-ring debut of Tyrae Mae Steels as she went one-on-one with Arianna Grace! This wasn’t the best match, it wasn’t the greatest first impression for Tyrae Mae Steels, she wasn’t the most entertaining to watch, and I don’t think wrestling Arianna Grace helped either! I like Arianna a lot, I think her character work is great, but she’s still not the best in-ring competitor, and that really didn’t help Tyrae out! Steels eventually picked up the win with a German Suplex, but I’d like to think she has a lot more left in her!

Grade: C

Jacy Jayne Gets Interrupted, Ethan Page and The Vanity Project VS Je’Von Evans, Dragon Lee, Sean Legacy, and Laredo Kid

Mike Santana cut a fiery promo saying he is fighting for not just himself, TNA, but also to keep his promise to his daughter before Fatal Influence’s music hit as Jacy Jayne was ready to address her shock victory over Stephanie Vaquer last week! The brand-new NXT Women’s Champion was delighted with herself, saying that whilst everyone else was shocked, she wasn’t, and her and Fallon Henley decided last week was the right time to “call the play”! Lainey Reid then decided to jump over the barricade to interrupt the Champion before Lola Vice, Jordynne Grace, Jaida Parker, Kelani Jordan, Lash Legend, and Thea Hail all followed suit! This led to a massive brawl breaking out before the lights went out, and Mariah May appeared on the Podium/platform area to make her NXT debut! Mariah made it crystal clear that she is going to be the next NXT Women’s Champion, and given by the crowd’s reaction, I wouldn’t be surprised! Whilst Perez, Giulia, and Vaquer might have moved up, NXT still has an incredibly strong and exciting Women’s Division which continues to be the heartbeat of the show!

Credit: Wrestling PT

Grade: B-

After Stevie Turner was hyping up her Women’s Division over on Evolve, it was time for an 8-Man Tag Team match as Ethan Page and The Vanity Project took on the team of Je’Von Evans, Dragon Lee, Sean Legacy, and Laredo Kid! This was a decent match that had some good moments, Ethan Page is such a good Heel whilst Je’Von Evans is terrific to watch! NXT’s version of Dragon Lee is also so much better than the Main Roster’s version because he’s portrayed as a star, and Sean Legacy looks really promising too! The Vanity Project were kind of just here, I need to see more of them whilst I’ve seen Laredo Kid in TNA, so I knew he was pretty good! Unfortunately, Laredo did slip and fall hard when attempting a suicide dive, but he later made up for it with a great springboard Moonsault before Dragon Lee delivered Operation Dragon to get the win!

Grade: B-

Oba Femi and Jasper Troy were not interested in waiting for Ava as they signed a contract for their NXT Championship match for next week’s show before Sol Ruca and Zaria again tried to show support to Tatum Paxley! However, Izzi Dame then tried to get into the head of Tatum, telling her she can’t trust ZaRuca before Luca Crusifino told Tony D’Angelo that he’d gotten them a Tag Team match with High Ryze next week to show Tony that he can still trust him! Let’s just say that The Don wasn’t too pleased!

TNA World Championship: Trick Williams VS Mike Santana

Credit: WWE

It was finally Main Event time as Trick Williams put his TNA World Championship on the line for the first time against Mike Santana! I’ve felt like this was an odd match to put on an episode of NXT because Mike Santana is one of TNA’s top stars, so it feels like this match should’ve been saved for either a big TNA or NXT show! However, I will say that this was a really good match, Mike is such a talented performer, he’s great to watch, and I’ve always enjoyed Trick Williams’ work! The crowd were also brilliant here, they really added to the contest, and the best moment was probably when Santana delivered a terrific 450 Splash, only for Williams to put his finger on the bottom rope! Trick then got angry for some reason as he smashed Elijah’s instrument (he was sitting on the front row) and this distracted the referee, allowing First Class to appear out of nowhere and take out Santana! This opened the door for Trick Willy to nail Mike Santana with a pair of Trick Shots to get the win and retain his TNA World Title! This was well done!

Credit: WWE

Grade: B