NXT Review: 22/07

Hank and Tank, and ZaRuca VS The Culling

After Booker T returned home, NXT kicked off with an 8-person Mixed Tag Team match as Hank and Tank teamed up with ZaRuca to take on The Culling! Zaria seemingly loved teaming up with Hank and Tank, she had a great old time as Sol Ruca once again stood out as the best! However, that actually didn’t matter too much as after Sol took out Niko Vance, Shawn Spears handed a doll to Tatum Paxley before the lights went out for the arrival of DarkState! When the lights came back on, Zaria was laid out cold as Paxley scored the win to the delight of Spears! Whatever Tatum did worked a treat!

Grade: C+

Jacy Jayne Celebrates, Jasper Troy VS Ricky Saints, Trick Williams Calls Out The Undertaker

Ava made it clear to Jordynne Grace that she was banned from the building before Fatal Influence’s music hit as Jacy Jayne celebrated being a double Champion! From being a “third wheel” to the NXT Women’s and TNA Knockouts World Champion, Jacy is the star of women’s wrestling, and she has the Titles to prove it! This brought out Lash Legend who gave props to Jayne for seizing her moments, but she said that her performance at Evolution shows that she too is good enough to be Champion! One person who didn’t agree with this was Jaida Parker as Jaida also believes it’s her right to challenge for the NXT Women’s Championship, and this started a brawl which Fallon Henley and Jazmyn Nyx weren’t too pleased to get involved with! Right now, I do think that Lash Legend is the best choice to dethrone 2 Belts Jacy!

Grade: C+

Wren Sinclair was getting support from her No Quarter Catch Crew teammates, including Myles Borne, before Je’Von Evans hyped up Ricky Saints as Saints was ready to get some revenge on Jasper Troy! This match was totally fine, it was nothing special, I’m really not sure about this Jasper guy, he’s not clicking at all so far! What also wasn’t clicking was the stage, as for whatever reason, a part of it broke with Saints crashing through it, eventually leading to Troy winning by count out! Honestly, I don’t think this was meant to happen because they didn’t show the incident on the broadcast, and the match just ending in a count-out seemed very lame!

Grade: C

After Wes Lee told Trick Williams he’d deal with Je’Von Evans, Trick Williams headed down to the ring to do 2 things: celebrate his successful retention at TNA Slammiversary and call out The Undertaker! Trick made it clear that he is the greatest TNA World Champion of all time, that no one in NXT, TNA, or WWE can touch him, and that includes The Deadman! This brought out The Undertaker who praised Trick for having everything except one thing: respect! Taker pointed out the fact that Williams is a lot different with the TNA World Title than he was with the NXT Title, and that he likes to teach his LFG Students about just how important respect is! Trick Williams then responded by saying he doesn’t care about his LFG Students, and then Williams’ attempted sucker punch resulted in The Undertaker flooring Trick with a chokeslam to close out the segment! This was so bizarre, but Trick Williams was terrific here, him being alongside The Undertaker says all you need to know about just how well he’s performing right now!

Credit: Wrestling PT

Grade: B

Blake Monroe VS Wren Sinclair, Ethan Page Segment

Michelle McCool tried to give some advice to Fatal Influence, but all this proved is none of them like each other before Blake Monroe was set for her NXT singles debut as she went one-on-one with Wren Sinclair! Considering this was built up as happening in Wren’s hometown, they really didn’t make her look strong, she was easily second best as Blake just delivered a headbutt followed by a DDT to pick up an incredibly straightforward victory! After the match, Jordynne Grace showed up and attacked a bucket load of security, only to get dropped head-first onto a steel chair by Monroe! At least that bump looked nasty because the rest of this was pointless!

Grade: C

Ethan Page was out next to celebrate being the greatest North American to ever hold the NXT North American Championship, stating that the reason for that is because he comes from Canada! Ethan was so adamant that Canada’s the best that he doesn’t even want to represent North America anymore, only Canada, and that’s why he’s binned off the old Title for a new, all Canadian design! Honestly, the belt looks terrible, but that’s why it’s so good! All Ego then started to sing the Canadian National Anthem (to a chorus of boos) before Santino Marella showed up and said he raised his family in Canada, and Page doesn’t speak for any of them! In fact, the NXT North American Championship deserves to be held by someone with honour, and that’s why Santino challenged Page to a North American Title shot for next week’s show! Marella even got the cobra out! Honestly, this whole segment felt like a fever dream, and it was absolutely fabulous!

Credit: Wrestling PT

Grade: A

NXT Championship: Oba Femi VS Josh Briggs VS Yoshiki Inamura

Credit: Tuttowrestling

After Yoshiki Inamura asked Je’Von Evans for some advice, and Bully Ray made another match between Charlie Dempsey and Tavion Heights, it was Main Event time as Oba Femi once again defended his NXT Championship in a Triple Threat match against both Josh Briggs and Yoshiki Inamura! For whatever reason, Briggs and Inamura started this match working together, and more importantly, trying not to hit each other, and apologising for every time that they did! This honestly made no sense, especially given Josh’s promos the last couple of weeks, but anyway, eventually they did fall out as they started to fight each other, but it was almost too late! See, after Briggs cost Inamura the Title, Oba Femi rose back up, delivered an insane uppercut to Briggs followed by a Fall From Grace to get the win and successfully defend his NXT Title! After the match, Je’Von Evans was again seen taking more notes, but this time The Undertaker told him to stick with going after the biggest prize, meaning we’re probably going to get Femi-Evans at NXT Heatwave!

Grade: C+