NXT Review: 17/03

Linus O'Howell
Mar 18
6 min read

NXT Women’s Championship: Jacy Jayne VS Sol Ruca VS Zaria

This week’s edition of NXT, live from Houston, Texas, kicked off with a Triple Threat Match for the NXT Women’s Championship as Jacy Jayne attempted to retain her Title over both Zaria and Sol Ruca! The fact that this match wasn’t the Main Event caught me a little bit off guard, but I guess it made sense when you consider the logistics of the actual Main Event! Anyway, what that did do is make the winner feel a little bit clearer; the same winner who I firmly thought was going to lose her gold here! Zaria and Sol were super focused on one another here, with Zaria pulling Ruca out of the ring after Sol had originally nailed Jacy Jayne with a Sol Snatcher! A Z5 on the outside floored Sol, but the rest of Fatal Influence became a hindrance for Zaria, opening the door for Jayne to steal away with another successful Title defence! I absolutely love Jacy Jayne’s selling; her facial expressions are priceless, and I assume that this will lead to Sol VS Zaria at Stand and Deliver (but not for the Title)!

Grade: B-

Ricky Saints Gets Interrupted, The Vanity Project VS Los Americanos, Booker T Appreciation Night

Charlie Dempsey explained to Wren Sinclair that he’s just doing the exact same thing that she’s done (which is find people that are a better fit for them), before Kendal Grey’s declaration to challenge Jacy Jayne for the NXT Women’s Championship at Stand and Deliver was shut down by Lola Vice! It only really makes sense if Kendal wins, but even that feels rushed! Anyway, Ricky Saints was then out next to talk all things “2-time”, with Ricky still believing that he’s going to become a “2-time” NXT Champion, whilst his “good friend” Ethan Page is going to become a “2-time” NXT North American Champion! However, this is when Saints finally smartened up to everything that’s been going on, as Ethan interrupted to state that he, in fact, has his eyes firmly set on Joe Hendry and the NXT Title! Speaking of Joe Hendry, the reigning NXT Champion came over to seemingly say that he would rather face Page than Saints, before the two Heels attacked Hendry! However, none of these three ended this segment standing tall, with Tony D’Angelo showing up to lay everyone out! I do feel like there’s no need for Tony D to be involved in this feud right now, but clearly, NXT wants him as their Champion!

Grade: B-

After William Regal praised Mr. Stone for the work that he’s been doing as NXT Interim General Manager, Los Americanos appeared on NXT for a 6-Man Tag Team Match against The Vanity Project! This was such a weird match to have; there was no backstory to this whatsoever, and yet it didn’t really matter as the crowd loved El Grande Americano! I personally find “The Real” Americano far more exciting than “The Original”, so it’s good to see him getting cheered! Eventually, Los Americanos were able to get the win, but I’m assuming that this won’t lead to any future Title bouts between the two teams!

Grade: C+

Unfortunately, Sean Legacy picked up an injury in last week’s Triple Threat match, meaning he’s no longer able to compete in the NXT Tag Team Championships Number 1 Contender’s Tournament! However, Elio Lefleur stepped up as Eli Knight’s new partner, before Sol Ruca told Mr. Stone that she needs to have a face-to-face confrontation with Zaria next week! Vic Joseph was then in the ring next as he was ready to host “Booker T Appreciation Night”! Booker’s family, as well as some of his Reality of Wrestling students, were in attendance as we got to watch a lovely tribute video dedicated fully to a wrestling legend! Shawn Michaels, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Jasper Troy, and current NXT Champions Joe Hendry and Jacy Jayne all had nice things to say about Book, before we even got some nice words sent in from Roxanne Perez, Trick Williams, and Stephanie Vaquer! This was all very well done, with Booker clearly getting quite emotional as Vic handed him his own plaque! However, the segment wouldn’t end there, as an enraged Keanu Carver stormed down to the ring to beat up Booker T’s students, with Jasper Troy having to run down to make the save! This is honestly how I expected this segment to go, but despite that, I’m not sure it was needed as the segment was nice enough as it was!

Grade: B

NXT Women’s Speed Championship: Fallon Henley VS Wren Sinclair, Birthright VS Hank and Tank: NXT Tag Team Championships Number 1 Contenders Tournament (Semi-Finals)

Fatal Influence were back out at ringside, but this time in support of Fallon Henley as Fallon was set to go one-on-one with Wren Sinclair for the NXT Women’s Speed Championship! Both of these women are talented, and I actually feel like a proper match between Fallon and Wren would be pretty good fun! Instead, it was constrained to a frustrating Speed match, and I use the word frustrating because that’s what all of these Speed matches are! Anyway, there was at least a positive ending, with Sinclair forcing Henley to tap out, meaning Wren is now the new NXT Women’s Speed Champion! I’m very happy for Wren Sinclair; she deserves it!

Grade: C+

Neither Ricky Saints nor Ethan Page were particularly happy with Tony D’Angelo taking them both out, but Ricky would find himself even more annoyed when Page got him a match with D’Angelo! Birthright were then out next as they were ready to face Hank and Tank in the opening match of the NXT Tag Team Championships Number 1 Contenders Tournament! Uriah Connors and Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo were the duo that Birthright decided to field in this match, and I thought the story had been set up for Connors and Charlie Dempsey to team together?! Anyway, I suppose that tells you everything that you need to know when it comes to how NXT rates Stacks, but in fairness to him, it was Birthright who scored the win here, advancing to NXT Roadblock in two weeks’ time! Hank and Tank for the Main Roster soon?

Grade: C

Joe Hendry made it clear to Mr. Stone that he wants to get his hands on Tony D’Angelo, but Stone told Joe that he’d have to wait as Ricky Saints is facing him first! Behind all of this, DarkState destroyed OTM outside of the arena, before Tatum Paxley praised Thea Hail, only for Kelani Jordan to trash Thea! Jaida Parker then came over and said something about how rich it is for Kelani to say this when she got knocked out by Lola Vice, but the last time that I checked Jaida, you lost to Blake Monroe on the same show! Anyway, Fallon Henley seemed quite annoyed at Jacy Jayne over the fact that she lost her NXT Women’s Speed Championship, whilst Mr. Stone told Myles Borne that he’ll be holding a Gauntlet Eliminator next week to determine Borne’s challenger at Stand and Deliver! Lexis King wants in!

NXT Women’s North American Championship Steel Cage Match: Tatum Paxley VS Izzi Dame

And in the Main Event of this week’s edition of NXT, Texas’ own Tatum Paxley put her NXT Women’s North American Championship on the line against Izzi Dame, inside a Steel Cage! Before the match could even begin, Izzi viciously attacked Tatum outside of the cage, to the point where I thought the match might get called off! Thankfully, it didn’t, and we were treated to quite a fun match! I was very positive about these two’s battle at Vengeance Day, and whilst this wasn’t quite on that level, I still thoroughly enjoyed it! Tatum Paxley is so good; I can’t say that enough, whilst I very much rate Izzi Dame! The superplex off the top rope was insane, as was the moment where Dame was just grating Paxley’s body onto the steel, and yeah, this is well worth a watch! Eventually, Tatum Paxley was once again able to beat Izzi Dame with a Cemetery Driver, before the show went off the air with Blake Monroe “kidnapping” both Paxley and her Women’s North American Title! Fair enough!