NXT Review: 24/02

Linus O'Howell
57 minutes ago
5 min read

NXT Tag Team Championships: DarkState VS The Vanity Project

A supersized edition of NXT kicked off with The Vanity Project challenging DarkState for the NXT Tag Team Championships! I was unaware that this show wasn’t taking place in Atlanta anymore, so all of this felt a little bit odd! It was a huge night when it came to stakes, and yet it was just a normal episode of NXT in terms of names and/or hype! Anyway, this was a decent start to the show, with DarkState seemingly becoming more over with the crowd, mostly because nobody seems to like The Vanity Project! Jackson Drake got involved in front of the referee at one point, but he decided to do nothing as Dion Lennox and Cutler James cut him off! However, what all of this did do was distract the referee, opening the door for Tony D’Angelo to floor Saquon Shugars with a chokeslam onto the ring apron, meaning Brad Baylor and Ricky Smokes were able to take advantage to get the shock win! Yes, that’s right, The Vanity Project are the brand-new NXT Tag Team Champions! Cool!

Grade: B-

Keanu Carver VS Sean Legacy, Jasper Troy VS Eli Knight VS Elio Lefleur: NXT Speed Championship, Jacy Jayne VS Sol Ruca: NXT Women’s Championship

After Myles Borne made it clear that he will end the night as the new NXT North American Champion, Sean Legacy was looking to get some revenge on Keanu Carver! I’m not exactly sure what Sean’s plan was here, as he got beaten up pretty easily by Keanu! I’m not going to say that this was a full-on squash match, but I’m not sure it was that far off! Ultimately, Carver did score the win, and like most matches on this show, it was over pretty quickly!

Grade: C

Kendal Grey was hyping up Wren Sinclair ahead of her NXT Women’s Speed Championship Tournament matchup with Nikkita Lyons next week, before Kelani Jordan’s mouth got her into another brawl with Lola Vice! From the women to the men, the NXT Speed Championship was on the line next as Jasper Troy was forced to defend his Title against both Eli Knight and Elio Lefleur in a historic Triple Threat Match! I am very glad that we got a Triple Threat here, firstly because I’ve always wondered whether WWE would actually do this or not, but secondly because this was a good match! Whilst it didn’t exactly fit the “speed description” based on the 7-minute time limit, Knight and Lefleur wrestle at such a fast pace that this felt far better than the usual Speed matches we get! Interestingly, we also got a shock Title change, with Eli Knight nailing Jasper Troy with a Moonsault, only for Elio Lefleur to steal the pinfall to become the latest NXT Speed Champion! Like I said earlier, cool!

Grade: B-

Ethan Page and Ricky Saints are clearly in love as The Vanity Project walked in to talk about how all 5 of them are going to be carrying around gold come Vengeance Day! We then got Part 1 of the “Joe Hendry Chronicle”, with Joe talking about his life before he made it to TNA, before an angry DarkState were quickly stopped in their tracks by Lola Vice! Yes, you read that right, as Lola stormed into Mr. Stone’s office first to get herself an NXT Underground Match with Kelani Jordan at NXT Vengeance Day! Now, despite me saying that (in another world) this match should Main Event this year’s Stand and Deliver, Jacy Jayne and Sol Ruca’s big-time NXT Women’s Championship clash was up next! I’ve talked about how great the story of these two women are, and yet it feels like a background story for the big ZaRuca split! Wouldn’t you know it, that’s exactly what it was here too, as Zaria wrecked Sol with a Spear before the match had even begun! The bell then rang, with Jacy nailing Sol with a Rolling Encore to successfully retain her NXT Women’s Title, before Zaria continued her beatdown of Ruca on the outside! Honestly, I really liked this! Whilst there are parts of this storyline that have really frustrated me, having Zaria attack Sol Ruca before the match was something I never saw coming (I expected it to happen either during or after the match), and also, Jacy Jayne just beat Sol Ruca; that’s a big deal (she’s a Heel so it doesn’t matter how she won)! Nicely done NXT!

Grade: B

NXT Women’s Speed Championship Tournament (Semi-Finals): Blake Monroe VS Thea Hail, Kale Dixon VS Uriah Connors

After Tatum Paxley and Izzi Dame got into a war of words in the crowd, Blake Monroe arrived to take on Thea Hail at the start of a new NXT Women’s Speed Championship Tournament! This match barely went 90 seconds, as a SUSPENDED Jaida Parker decided to show up and wreck Blake with a Hipnotic, allowing Thea to once again defeat Monroe! This is definitely not allowed, but Blake Monroe is going to be a wreck after losing to Thea Hail again!

Grade: C

After Joe Hendry talked about going viral, as well as winning gold in both NXT and TNA, we came back from an ad break to just see Kale Dixon going one-on-one with Uriah Connors! I’d honestly forgotten that this match had been booked a week prior after all of the chaos that occurred on this show, but as expected, it also didn’t last long! Charlie Dempsey and Tavion Heights were both shown watching the action from backstage, but that didn’t lead to anything, with Connors just defeating Dixon clean to “prove himself” to Lexis King and co! The only thing I have to say about this match is I’m glad that Uriah won clean!

Grade: C+

NXT North American Championship: Ethan Page VS Myles Borne

After Zaria challenged Jacy Jayne, Shiloh Hill and Hank and Tank destroyed The Vanity Project’s car, and Izzi Dame agreed to have a sit-down segment with Tatum Paxley next week, it was Main Event time as Ethan Page looked to make history with one more successful defense of his NXT North American Championship against Myles Borne! This was clearly built as a big deal, with this match even receiving a dramatic video package beforehand! What that video package told/reminded us of is the fact that this story has actually been going on since May last year, when Myles shockingly defeated Ethan just two weeks before All Ego became NXT North American Champion! This felt like one of those moments that had perfectly aligned for everyone involved, with NXT reaping the rewards in the best way possible! However, there was more to this than just the Page-Borne story, with the ending setting the stage of what’s potentially to come on NXT’s biggest stage! See, after Myles managed to kick out despite being smashed in the face with Jackson Drake’s Evolve Championship, Ricky Saints appeared on the apron to rip off the turnbuckle padding! However, Joe Hendry intercepted Saints, leading to Page being the one who went face-first into the exposed steel! This then opened the door perfectly for Myles Borne to drop Ethan Page with a Borne Again to get the win, meaning yes, we do now have a brand-new NXT North American Champion! Firstly, congrats to Myles Borne; what a journey he’s been on since before he even got to WWE, let alone when he was Drew Gulak’s janitor! Secondly, what an insane run that Ethan Page has had as the NXT North American Champion; top-tier throughout, and he will rightly go down as one of the greatest to ever hold that Title! Speaking of Title, Joe Hendry might have to start looking over his shoulder (and Ricky Saints, for that matter)!