NXT Review: 11/11

Tatum Paxley Starts the Show, El Grande Americano VS Jasper Troy: NXT Speed Championship

Tatum Paxley started this week’s edition of NXT by stating that she still wants to be a fighting Champion, even if Izzi Dame keeps telling her to stop giving out so many opportunities! This brought out Fatal Influence, with Jacy Jayne telling Tatum that she wants her rematch for the NXT Women’s Championship, something Paxley was more than willing to give her! This certainly wasn’t a long segment, but it set up a match for next week whilst also continuing to build the foundation of an eventual split between Paxley and Dame!

Credit: WWE

Grade: C+

Credit: WWE

The Vanity Project were annoying Ava before Ethan Page and Chelsea Green walked in, with Ava deciding to book a match between Thea Hail and Alba Fyre! We then headed into the first match of the night as El Grande Americano put his NXT Speed Championship on the line against Jasper Troy! With the Championship being on the line, the Speed format is slightly different, with an extended 5-minute time limit, but it still doesn’t create the most exciting action! Rayo and Bravo tried to get involved, only to get chucked out by the referee, before Troy took advantage and delivered his finishing manoeuvre to score the win and become the new Speed Champion! I don’t mind Jasper Troy winning the Speed Title; this can work for him!

Credit: WWE

Grade: C+

Alba Fyre VS Thea Hail, Je’Von Evans Promo

Joe Hendry fired up Thea Hail backstage, before Sean Legacy was delighted over the fact that he’s going to get a shot at the Evolve Championship at NXT Gold Rush! Sol Ruca then confirmed that she is cleared to compete, meaning she will challenge for the NXT Women’s North American Championship next week, before Alba Fyre was set to try and take out Thea Hail! Both Alba and Thea are very good in the ring, so we got a pretty decent match out of it, although it wasn’t exactly long enough for it to be anything special. Both Chelsea Green and Ethan Page got themselves involved on multiple occasions, but eventually, it didn’t really matter as Thea was able to score some good momentum with the victory!

Grade: B-

Tatum Paxley had information she needed to share with Ricky Saints, but she wasn’t able to as The Culling pulled her away! Blake Monroe then had a sit-down interview with her alter-ego, stating that she needs to forget being glamorous if she wants to successfully retain her North American Title over Sol Ruca next week, before Jordynne Grace made it clear that she has no intention of leaving NXT Gold Rush with anything other than the TNA Knockouts World Championship! Je’Von Evans then headed down to the ring to cut a promo about his upcoming week, with Je’Von going on about how insane it’s going to be for him to face Gunther in Madison Square Garden next week, before Leon Slater appeared on the titantron as the two youngsters confirmed that they will be facing DarkState for the NXT Tag Team Championships at Gold Rush next week! This brought out DarkState, with DS making it clear that they will make Leon and Je’Von pay next week, before Slater showed up out of nowhere to work with Evans to send DarkState packing! This wasn’t a great segment, but at least Je’Von-Gunther is going to be awesome!

Grade: C

NXT Women’s Speed Championship Tournament (Semi-Finals): Fallon Henley VS Skylar Raye, Josh Briggs VS Tavion Heights

Trick Williams and Kelani Jordan showed respect to one another backstage, with Trick calling Lani “HER” before Skylar Raye made her NXT debut against Fallon Henley in a Semi-Final matchup in the NXT Women’s Speed Championship Tournament! This match really didn’t go very long, with us not really being able to get a proper look at what Skylar Raye is capable of! Yes, she won Season 2 of LFG, but that really doesn’t tell us anything! As expected, Fallon scored a pretty easy win with a nice-looking move, and I’m intrigued to see who comes out on top between her and Zaria at Gold Rush!

Grade: C

Jasper Troy cut a fired-up promo about being the brand-new NXT Speed Champion before an irate DarkState said they’re going to punish Leon Slater and Je’Von Evans at Gold Rush! After Lainey Reid said that she knew what she needs to do next, Josh Briggs made his way down to the ring to go one-on-one with Tavion Heights! The crowd was not at all excited about this match, with them not really caring about either superstar, but at least the action was decent enough! It was also unclear as to who was going to win this match, but eventually, Heights managed to “steal” the win over Briggs, meaning this feud probably isn’t over!

Grade: C

NXT Championship Last Man Standing Match: Ricky Saints VS Trick Williams

Credit: WWE

After Ava asked Myles Borne to please not ruin her Main Event, and Lainey Reid started a fight with Kendal Grey, it was Main Event time as Ricky Saints and Trick Williams clashed in a Last Man Standing Match for the NXT Championship! Whilst most of this show wasn’t that great, I thought this Main Event was pretty great! Even though I wasn’t that interested in seeing Ricky and Trick fight again, and I don’t exactly enjoy the Last Man Standing stipulation, this was one of the best versions I’ve seen of it, with both guys going heather-for-leather to come out on top! At one point, Williams went crashing through the barricade, massively busting the side of his face/nose up, but I actually think that added to the spectacle! The one Trick Shot that Trick Willy delivered was fire, and Saints nearly lost after crashing through the Podium/platform area! However, after all was said and done, Ricky Saints was able to retain his NXT Championship, but the way he did it was pretty insane: a Spear from the crowd through the announce table! Oh, and Oba Femi returned too, so I’m assuming that’s going to be our Main Event for Week 2 of NXT Gold Rush!

Credit: WWE

Grade: A-