NXT Review: 17/06

Jaida Parker VS Thea Hail: Evolution Eliminator

This week’s edition kicked off with Jaida Parker and Thea Hail clashing in the first of four Evolution Eliminators! This was a decent match between two promising performers, I rate Thea very highly and feel she should be doing more whilst the crowd is fully behind Miss Parker! Whilst Jaida was able to weather the early storm, Hail came back with a number of different submissions, and in fact, Jaida actually tapped out to one of Thea’s holds, but the referee didn’t see it! This screwed Thea Hail over massively as she relinquished the hold to celebrate, and this opened the door for Jaida Parker to deliver a Hypnotic to get the win!

Grade: B-

Lash Legend VS Kelani Jordan: Evolution Eliminator, Tony D’Angelo Calls Out Luca Crusifino, Trick Williams, AJ Francis, and Wes Lee VS Elijah, Josh Briggs, and Yoshiki Inamura

Credit: AIPT

Elijah was chatting strategy with Josh Briggs and Yoshiki Inamura before Hank and Tank came over to wish them luck! Hank and Tank also showed their respect to Oba Femi before The Ruler came face-to-face with Trick Williams! Seeing the NXT Champion and the TNA World Champion in the same scene was pretty cool! Blake Monroe was then sorting out her outfit for her NXT Contract Signing before Lash Legend faced Kelani Jordan in another Evolution Eliminator! Both Lash and Kelani have history together, they know each other well, so their chemistry was pretty strong to begin with! You could’ve gone either way with the winner here, they’re both good enough to fight for the NXT Women’s Champion, but in the end, it was Legend who advanced after she dropped Lani with a Lash Extension!

Grade: B-

Tony D’Angelo wanted answers in the next segment as he called out Luca Crusifino! Tony D asked Luca what really happened in the desert, and if Luca was against Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo, why did he cost him at Battleground! Luca was about to explain his actions, but this is when Stacks arrived to try and sow more seeds of dissension between The D’Angelo Family, but Crusifino was the one who came to D’Angelo’s aid as a brawl broke out! However, it was also Luca who ended up dropping The Don “by accident” whilst trying to take out Lorenzo! This story needs to end soon!

Grade: C+

AJ Francis told Trick Williams that KC Navarro is no longer medically cleared for tonight’s match, so instead they’d found a replacement in Wes Lee! Chase University then had a segment where Kale Dixon and Uriah Collins walked out of Mr. Chase’s class as Ricky Saints made it clear that once he’s healed, he’s coming back after Ethan Page and the NXT North American Championship! Charlie Dempsey then agreed that if Tavion Heights beats Je’Von Evans next week, he can leave the No Quarter Catch Crew before it was then time for that 6-Man Tag Team Match as Trick, Wes, and AJ Francis took on the trio of Elijah, Josh Briggs, and Yoshiki Inamura! My favourite part of this match was definitely Trick Williams, he’s on absolute fire right now, and Wes Lee is so good too! Josh Briggs and Yoshiki Inamura brought plenty of fire to this contest, bringing up the pace significantly, and amazingly, the match ended with Inamura pinning Williams with his trademark Splash! I didn’t expect this finish at all, but it was nice to see!

Grade: C+

Izzi Dame VS Zaria, Jordynne Grace VS Lola Vice: Evolution Eliminators

Sol Ruca and Zaria were talking as Tatum Paxley watched from the shadows before Tony D’Angelo asked Ava to give Luca Crusifino a match with Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo! However, Ava said she couldn’t do that as Stacks already has a match with Noam Dar next week for the NXT Heritage Cup! The Culling’s music then hit as Izzi Dame was set to go one-on-one with Zaria! Out of the four Evolution Eliminators, this was probably the weakest, it wasn’t bad by any means, but it just didn’t flow as well as the others. I expected Zaria to win here, that would’ve made the most sense, but instead, Tatum Paxley arrived and hugged Sol Ruca, distracting Zaria enough to open the door for Izzi to take advantage to get the win! Distracted by a hug, now that’s a new one!

Grade: C

Credit: Solowrestling

After Yoshiki Inamura handed his TNA World Championship opportunity over to Josh Briggs, it was time for the Main Event match of the night as Jordynne Grace faced Lola Vice in the final Evolution Eliminator of the night! This whole tournament was made to set up a Fatal 4-Way for next week, with the winner of that match going on to face Jacy Jayne for the NXT Women’s Championship at Evolution! This was a match where the winner felt pretty obvious, but there’d already been a couple of “surprise” results, so it wasn’t fully clear, and Lola did come very close at one point, that near-fall was very strong! However, in the end, Beast Mode was activated as Grace scored the win to send herself to next week’s Number 1 Contender’s Fatal 4-Way!

Grade: C+

Blake Monroe Signs Her NXT Contract

After Sol Ruca and Zaria shared different thoughts on Tatum Paxley and Noam Dar cut a promo about being the greatest NXT Heritage Cup Champion of all time, this week’s edition of NXT ended with Blake Monroe officially signing herself as NXT’s newest star! Blake made her way down to the ring, said some things about how WWE has always been her dream, and that the spotlight is now firmly shining on The Glamour! Monroe then signed her contract before Fatal Influence’s music hit, with Jacy Jayne making it clear that this is still their Division! Blake Monroe then slapped Jacy, resulting in a brawl that ended with Jayne and Fallon Henley sending Monroe crashing through a table! I didn’t expect this is how we’d end the show, but it certainly wasn’t a bad thing!

Credit: WWE

Grade: C+