NXT Review: 06/05

Joe Hendry, and Hank and Tank VS DarkState

After a bunch of superstars arrived at the WWE Performance Center, it was time to get straight into some action as Joe Hendry teamed up with Hank and Tank to tackle DarkState! It was actually pretty cool to see the TNA World Champion teaming up with the NXT Tag Team Champions, Joe, Hank, and Tank are all unique individuals that were very fun to watch as a trio! I still haven’t really brought into DarkState yet, they’re not good enough to go toe-to-toe with the Champions, but NXT clearly wants to push them which is at least a good thing for them! Saquon Shugars, the best part of the group, wasn’t even wrestling in this match which didn’t help things either, and it was the arrival of Trick Williams that proved to be the big difference as Trick started a brawl with Hendry to the back, with the referee not calling for the bell (for some reason)! Instead, DarkState were able to take advantage and drop Tank Ledger with their Powerbomb to get the win!

Grade: C+

Kelani Jordan VS Zaria, NXT Championship Number 1 Contender’s Battle Royal, Jaida Parker VS Karmen Petrovic

Thea Hail was having an important conversation with Karmen Petrovic before Jaida Parker walked in and trash-talked them both! The No Quarter Catch Crew were then preparing their gameplan backstage before Kelani Jordan clashed with Zaria! This was a pretty decent match I thought, it flowed well, and I don’t really have any complaints about it! Sol Ruca was watching on the outside throughout, and it was her slight distraction to Kelani late in the match which opened the door for Zaria to Spear Lani through the barricade before the Aussie delivered a Z5 to Jordan to get the win! I think it’s more when, not if when it comes to Zaria dethroning Sol for the NXT Women’s North American Championship!

Grade: B-

Wes Lee was trash-talking Tony D’Angelo backstage about not competing in the upcoming Battle Royal before Lola Vice told Stephanie Vaquer that she would be waiting for her shot at the NXT Women’s Championship following Battleground! Speaking of NXT Battleground, it was then time for a 25-Man Battle Royal to determine the Number 1 Contender for Oba Femi’s NXT Championship! The big surprise entrant for this match was TNA’s Elijah, and that was actually a very cool surprise! The match itself got underway with Lexis King being eliminated pretty early, and this match had guys from NXT, TNA, LFG, and Evolve which is actually quite cool! Yoshiki Inamura accidentally eliminated Josh Briggs from the fold whilst Wes Lee and Zachary Wentz went at it quite a lot! Trick Williams was the favourite heading into this match, being one of only two guys in there to have previously held the NXT Championship (along with Ethan Page), but Trick was ultimately eliminated by Elijah after Joe Hendry came out to cause a distraction! The final 4 came down to Ethan Page, Je’Von Evans, Myles Borne, and Shawn Spears, with Page and Spears working together to eliminate Je’Von! However, in what was definitely not an expected result at the start of the night, Myles Borne was able to dump out both All Ego and the leader of The Culling to earn his spot at NXT Battleground! Fair play, this was very cool for Myles, I said it would be a good year for him!

Grade: B

Jordynne Grace received threats/challenges from both Lash Legend and Izzi Dame before it was time for Jaida Parker to go one-on-one with Karmen Petrovic! This was a totally fine match, there wasn’t anything wrong with it, but it also didn’t have much to it! Jaida was in control for the most part, as expected, but what I did like is the commentary team mentioned how when Karmen’s been struggling recently, Ashante “Thee” Adonis has pulled her out of that whole, but of course that can’t happen anymore which sort of took away any hope that Petrovic might’ve had! In the end, Miss Parker scored the win with a Hypnotic!

Grade: C+

Ava informed Joe Hendry that he will be putting his TNA World Championship on the line against Trick Williams at NXT Battleground before OTM had a video package hyping up their return! Wes Lee was then very happy with himself on the phone as Yoshiki Inamura told Josh Briggs that he was heading back to Japan. This was actually quite a sad ending to what’s been an enjoyable Tag Team, but this just opened the door for Brooks Jensen to get some verbal shots in on his old partner! Chase University then had a new segment as Andre Chase was given some new clothes, and I have to say, Mr. Chase's tracksuit was very cool!

NXT Women’s Championship Number 1 Contender’s Match: Giulia VS Jordynne Grace

Credit: Tuttowrestling

And in the Main Event, Giulia and Jordynne Grace collided for the right to face Stephanie Vaquer for the NXT Women’s Championship at NXT Battleground! This was a great match, this was really good, I was very impressed with both women’s performances, even though it didn’t actually surprise me! Giulia has been strong since she came to NXT, but this was her best match to date whilst Jordynne Grace put in a massive shift! Some of the bumps that Giulia took were nasty, like she landed on her head multiple times, but she kept coming back with offense of her own! In the end, it was a Juggernaut Driver that finally proved enough for Grace to get the win before Stephanie Vaquer joined her in the ring to close the show!

Credit: WWE

Grade: B+