NXT Review: 26/05

Linus O'Howell
1 day ago
6 min read

Wren Sinclair VS Kelani Jordan

The final NXT of May kicked off with Wren Sinclair looking to get some payback on Kelani Jordan! One of my favourite things about NXT is the pacing of the show, with it almost always starting with a match, rather than promo segments like Raw and SmackDown! This makes the opening match feel even more important than it normally is, with NXT emphasising the fact that this is one of the two biggest things on this show! There was also a story involved here, with Wren still struggling with knee issues after the onslaught of offence by Kelani weeks ago, only to keep fighting on due to her true Babyface grit! Unfortunately for Sinclair, that still wasn’t enough, with the Women’s Speed Champion eventually having to tap out after Jordan locked in a pretty impressive-looking submission manoeuvre! Kelani Jordan has now beaten Wren Sinclair twice, but Lani still has no intention of belittling herself to the Speed Title-level!

Grade: B

DarkState Explain Their Actions, Dorian Van Dux VS Sean Legacy: NXT Speed Championship Number 1 Contender’s Tournament (Semi-Finals), Jaida Parker VS Layla Diggs

Lizzy Rain wasn’t very happy with Zaria using her as “collateral damage” last week in an attempt to get to Tatum Paxley, whilst Tristan Angels is still losing his mind over Shiloh Hill’s campaign to become “Mr. NXT”! Apparently, even Timothee Chalamet has signed the petition (I love this show)! Anyway, DarkState were then out next to explain their actions at the end of last week’s show! If you don’t remember what happened, DarkState wiped out Saquon Shugars after they lost to The Vanity Project in an NXT Tag Team Championship match, and according to the remaining members of DarkState, Saquon was the dead weight of the group! Their reason for this is simple; he’s just an independent wrestler, whilst Dion Lennox, Osiris Griffin, and Cutler James are all pro-athletes! This is, without a doubt, one of the silliest and also stupidest things I’ve ever heard, and so is this group acting like they’re the best thing in NXT. Trust me, they’re not!

Grade: C-

Lola Vice offered some kind words of encouragement to Wren Sinclair in the trainers’ room, whilst Kali Armstrong has her sights set firmly on the NXT Women’s Championship! It was then time for a new NXT Speed Championship Tournament to begin, as Sean Legacy went at it against Dorian Van Dux! I quite liked the new presentation of the Speed format, with the flags of each competitor’s homeland being on display! I’m not sure if this has only been done due to the imminent FIFA World Cup (which will be held in North America), but I hope it stays because I liked it a lot! Anyway, the match itself was pretty decent, with Sean and Dorian going at each other whilst also showing one another plenty of respect! I did feel going into this match that this was a hard one to call, and seemingly, NXT felt the same way as this ended up as a draw, with neither man scoring a pinfall/submission victory within the 3-minute time limit! This was also unique, so I’d say that all in all, this was one of the more effective matches since this concept was introduced!

Grade: B-

After Nattie hyped her up backstage, Layla Diggs made her NXT in-ring debut when she faced off against Jaida Parker! I have seen a little bit of what Layla Diggs is about in recent days; her Moonsault is absolutely incredible, and she may well be another performer set to break out in the era of opportunities that is NXT right now! However, in this match, this was more about putting a spotlight on Jaida Parker, who’s probably lost more matches already than she should in the entire year! Thankfully, that didn’t happen again here, with Jaida delivering a Hipnotic/Powerbomb combo to get the win, before Miss Parker stared a hole into Nattie to end the segment! I really don’t need to see a Parker-Nattie match!

Grade: C+

Tony D’Angelo Speaks, Nathan Frazer VS Romeo Moreno: NXT Speed Championship Number 1 Contender’s Match, Charlie Dempsey VS Shiloh Hill

Lexis King wasn’t surprised to see Sean Legacy VS Dorian Van Dux end in a draw, whilst Nathan Frazer now knows that he only needs to defeat Romeo Moreno in order to get a shot at the NXT Speed Title! Tony D’Angelo was then out next to kick off the second hour of the show, with the reigning NXT Champion addressing his upcoming challenge, Kam Hendrix! See, Kam’s victory over Myles Borne last week earned him a shot at the NXT Championship (that logics definitely not flawed), but Tony isn’t worried at all! In fact, he’s more interested in calling out Naraku, which brought out the former IWGP Heavyweight Champion to tell D’Angelo that he’s here to make sure that he keeps hold of his NXT Title! The reason for this is that it’s destiny for Naraku and Tony D to go to war, meaning he won’t let anyone disrupt that! This then brought out Kam Hendrix, who called himself “the fastest-rising star in NXT history”, and yep, that was enough for me to decide that I don’t like this guy at all! Hendrix then attempted to floor D’Angelo from behind, only to get dealt with by “The Evil One”! No wonder Mason Rook beat this guy up last week; he’s not World Championship material!

Grade: C

Myles Borne still isn’t happy with Tavion Heights costing him his match last week, but the former No Quarter Catch Crew members are seemingly reuniting the band next week after a vicious backstage assault by DarkState! The Vanity Project then took the mick out of Tate Wilder, leading to Tate challenging Jackson Drake to a match next week, before Nathan Frazer returned to NXT to face Romeo Moreno in the Final of the NXT Speed Championship Tournament! Nathan Frazer can be added to the list of Main Roster stars who do nothing, only to come back and look like the best wrestler you’ve ever seen in NXT! Frazer was flying here, clearly making up for his lack of work on SmackDown, and he had a good opponent to go off in the form of Romeo Moreno! Due to the draw earlier in the night between Dorian Van Dux and Sean Legacy, this match was upgraded to a Number 1 Contender’s Match, meaning the stakes were even higher! For a while, I actually thought that this match might end up as a draw as well, meaning Lexis King doesn’t have to defend against anyone, and funnily enough, The King was only 2 seconds off that reality coming true! Impressively, Moreno actually managed to win this match with a roll-up on Frazer, and this actually isn’t that surprising when you consider that FRAXIOM are set to take part in the upcoming WWE European Tour!

Grade: B-

Izzi Dame and Niko Vance seemed to have no idea where Shawn Spears was, whilst Mason Rook feels that he deserves an NXT Title opportunity more than Kam Hendrix! You can tell a part of Mr. Stone agreed with this statement, but when Rook said he’ll have to get involved next week, Naraku made it clear that that won’t be possible! OTM were then out next to have a scheduled Tag Team match against The Culling, but that never went ahead as Shawn Spears floored both Bronco Nima and Lucien Price with a steel chair! This felt like a smart move by Spears, although Niko Vance clearly didn’t agree! Kali Armstrong then laughed off Thea Hail, which I’m assuming will lead to a match next week, before Shiloh Hill attempted to get Zaria to sign his petition as he needed more “Australian signatures”! As expected, Zaria was fuming about this, but she’ll be even more annoyed after getting into a brawl with Lizzy Rain! Shiloh Hill, who’d escaped the scene of the crime just in time, was out in the ring as he was set to go one-on-one with Charlie Dempsey! It’s nice to actually see Charlie Dempsey wrestle for once, as in-ring-wise, he’s probably the best member of BirthRight! As a result, this match was pretty decent, with Shiloh Hill easily being one of the most engaging characters in NXT right now! As expected, Shiloh was able to find a way to score the win before Tristan Angels interrupted to state that Mr. Stone has agreed to hold a “Mr. NXT pageant” in two weeks’ time! YES BOY!

Grade: C+

NXT Women’s Championship: Lola Vice VS Izzi Dame

After The Culling lost their mind at Shawn Spears for taking OTM (I genuinely thought that it was a good plan), Izzi Dame challenged Lola Vice for the NXT Women’s Championship in this week’s Main Event! With there not being any NXT Premium Live Events or specials at the moment, we’re having to have big matches on regular NXT programming, with I’m assuming this match being the culmination of a feud that started post-Stand and Deliver! I think both Lola Vice and Izzi Dame have improved a lot, with Lola deserving a run as NXT Women’s Champion, whilst Izzi doesn’t really have too much left to do on this brand! However, Dame shouldn’t be called up yet! Anyway, The Culling's presence on the outside was nullified, as OTM showed up to brawl with Shawn Spears and Niko Vance to the back! You should've finished the job, Spears! There were a couple of decent near-falls following a ref bump, with Izzi almost certain that she was about to become Champion, but in the end, a second back-fist was enough for Vice City to keep hold of Championship Gold! Who’s next?!