NXT Review: 14/07
NXT Tag Team Championships: The Vanity Project VS Sean Legacy and Dorian Van Dux
After it was confirmed that Layla Diggs injured herself on the weekend, this week’s edition of NXT kicked off with Sean Legacy and Dorian Van Dux challenging The Vanity Project for the NXT Tag Team Championships! I thought this was a pretty good way to start the show, with the action fast and frantic throughout! Legacy and Van Dux make quite a good team, although I can’t imagine that this was the original plan for them! The Vanity Project are also great, playing their roles as Heels perfectly, with both Jackson Drake and Myka Lockwood making their interference count! Eventually, after Lockwood sent Van Dux spilling to the outside, The Vanity Project were able to get the win to successfully retain their NXT Tag Team Titles!
Grade: B
Tristan Angels Speaks, Naraku VS Tate Wilder
Tavion Heights seemed rather keen on him and Myles Borne teaming together to challenge The Vanity Project for the NXT Tag Team Championships, whilst Kam Hendrix made it clear that he has his eyes set on Myles’ NXT North American Title! OTM then quickly rejected Saquon Shugars’ request to team with him next week, whilst Lexis King and the rest of BirthRight decided to try and cause tension between Bronco Nima and Lucien Price! Tristan Angels was then out next to explain why he decided to steal Shiloh Hill’s tooth last week! See, Tristan has had enough of everybody acting like Shiloh is a normal person; it angers Angels to the point that he decided to steal the tooth in order for people to stop getting fooled! Angels then decided to stomp on the tooth, completely shattering it into pieces, as Shiloh Hill then appeared on the screen with a deranged laugh as he kept saying “The Fog is Coming” like a complete and utter maniac! Once again, I’m asking what on earth is the fog?! On a serious note, I have enjoyed this feud a lot!
Grade: B-
Both Izzi Dame and Lizzy Rain felt like Mr. Stone should give them a shot at the NXT North American Championship tonight (because they technically weren’t pinned in last week’s Number 1 Contenders match), whilst Nattie felt like the spot should remain in her group, handing it to Nikkita Lyons! Out of all of these, Nikkita had by far the most compelling argument, and yet Robert Stone decided to just book a Fatal 4-Way instead! How is this fair on Zaria?! Anyway, Tate Wilder was then out to shock the world next when he faced Naraku! The only thing shocking about this match was the fact that it got an ad break, as I kind of expected this to be somewhat of a squash match! Tate actually got in a decent amount of offense, but like always, his inexperience cost him! Naraku, on the other hand, is by far the most experienced member of the NXT Roster (alongside Shawn Spears), so he was eventually able to score the win! After the match was over, Tony D’Angelo jumped Naraku from behind, leading to a bunch of referees and security guards having to pull the two men apart! More on these two later…!
Grade: C+
NXT Women’s North American Championship Fatal 4-Way: Zaria VS Nikkita Lyons VS Izzi Dame VS Lizzy Rain, Jackson Drake VS Tavion Heights
After Hank and Tank (as well as EK Prosper) rejected Saquon Shugars, Zaria was forced to defend her NXT Women’s North American Championship in a Fatal 4-Way that included Nikkita Lyons, Izzi Dame, and Lizzy Rain! I don’t get time to watch Evolve; it’s the only WWE “affiliated” programme that I don’t watch (I’m including both AAA and TNA in this), so I actually haven’t had a chance to see Nikkita Lyons wrestle for what feels like years! I have to say, she’s improved a lot, with it being clear to see why WWE gave Lyons the Evolve Women’s Championship! I definitely feel like Nikkita should be used a lot more frequently on NXT moving forward (as in not just in backstage segments), whilst Izzi and Lizzy have a good amount of chemistry! Of course, the star of this match was Zaria, with the destructive Aussie delivering this ridiculous German Suplex at one point! Dame and Rain would then brawl off to the back as Nattie and Karmen Petrovic tried to help Nikkita Lyons, only for Jaida Parker to take care of them! Zaria would then take advantage, nailing Lyons with a Spear/Z5 combo to successfully retain her Women’s North American Title! Zaria is a beast!
Grade: B-
Whilst Kendal Grey clearly doesn’t like Saquon Shugars, Wren Sinclair seemed happy for Saquon to join the “WreNQCC”! Lola Vice then told Kendal that she’s coming to reclaim her NXT Women’s Championship, before Mr. Stone agreed to give Tony D’Angelo Naraku next week! Tony said that whilst that’s good, he’s still not waiting 7 days! The Vanity Project were then back at ringside as it was now Jackson Drake’s turn to go one-on-one with Tavion Heights! I’ve been very open about just how highly I rate Jackson Drake; the guy is just 22 years of age, and yet he performs at such a high level! I also said when these two last wrestled one another that I think Tavion Heights is good too, and I stand by that, although I do feel like Tavion is somebody who is still yet to reach the ceiling of what he can achieve in NXT! Once again, interference played out, but unlike last time where Myles Borne came and dealt with The Vanity Project, the reigning NXT North American Champion was nowhere to be seen, meaning Heights got distracted, opening the door for Drake to steal the victory! Surely we’re getting Borne VS Drake soon?
Grade: C+
Reina Volcan is set to make her NXT debut next week, whilst Romeo Moreno managed to convince Noam Dar to team up with Saquon Shugars to face DarkState! I actually quite like the fact that nobody wanted to team with Saquon, but Moreno knew that this was a good opportunity for them to move a step closer to Tag Title opportunities! Kali Armstrong would then get in the face of Kendal Grey; those two have plenty of history from their Evolve days, whilst Jaida Parker told Kali that she needs to start being more than just a nickname! This led to Miss Parker getting attacked from behind by Nattie, Nikkita Lyons, and Karmen Petrovic! The next “NXT Focus” was all about Shawn Spears, and all I have to say on this is the fact that Shawn cut this promo outside of Full Sail University was pretty cool!
NXT Women’s Championship Number 1 Contender’s Triple Threat: Lola Vice VS Kali Armstrong VS Kelani Jordan
The Main Event of this week’s edition of NXT saw Lola Vice, Kali Armstrong, and Kelani Jordan battle for the right to face Kendal Grey for the NXT Women’s Championship! With Heatwave not for another month and a half, it was safe to assume that whoever won this match was probably going to challenge Kendal on a regular episode of NXT, just like Nattie did last week! As a result, that kind of meant that Lola Vice was the only person who should win this match, as Kelani is good enough to Main Event a PLE with Grey (just like Vice did at The Great American Bash), whilst Grey-Armstrong should be saved for a much bigger event! However, of course, that doesn’t mean that that was what was going to happen, with all three women coming close to scoring the victory on different occasions! Eventually, though, after the referee screwed Kelani Jordan over, Jordan delivered One of a Kind onto Kali Armstrong, only for Lola Vice to nail Lani with a back fist as she pinned Armstrong to secure herself a rematch with Kendal Grey! Good, this was the right decision! Before the show could end, however, Mr. Stone had to sort out a situation in the parking lot as Tony D’Angelo and Naraku were still fighting! As a result, Stone said that next week’s NXT Championship match will now be contested as a Street Fight!
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