NXT is LIVE from the warehouse!
We’ve got a big night ahead of us! Trick Williams and PETE settle the score! Chelsea Green ends Giulia’s rise to WWE NXT Superstardom before it can even begin! Jordynne Grace is here for an open challenge for her TNA “Knockouts” title! Street Profits have been on Twitter acting like they want to win the NXT tag titles and be on NXT every week for some reason, they face “Fraxiom”! A Heritage Cup match! Duke Hudson vs Ridge Holland!
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Street Profits vs Nathan Frazer & Axiom (c)
NXT Tag Team Championship
Champs out first because this show doesn’t respect tradition. This is happening because the Rascalz can’t be here. The TV didn’t give a clear reason but apparently Trey Miguel needed to undergo a minor surgery on Sunday that was not expected. Now listen, I may hate the Rascalz, but I don’t wish any physical ill on them, so hopefully Miguel’s OK and all that. But yes this is an upgrade for me as a fan.
Dawkins in here with these little fellas is a hoot. Dawkins in with anyone is a hoot. This is a very fun opener, which is exactly what you’d expect. “Fraxiom” have good tag chemistry, I still don’t really know if they ever work beyond NXT as anything more than roster filler, and Frazer has the terrible 2016 indie energy that the Rascalz also insisted on bringing into my home, but he’s British and they’re from Ohio, in many ways they will always be stuck in 2016, they’re hard-wired.
Profits hit the big Blockbuster and have it won, but TAMA TONGA IS HERE! And then JACOB FATU BLINDSIDES DAWKINS! Obviously we got a DQ. Match was fun! ***¼
Post-Match: Tanga Loa’s also here and the Bloodline put a beating on the Profits. Has a crowd ever received a wilder upgrade than “the Rascalz can’t be here so we’re gonna give you Street Profits and a Solo Sikoa’s Bloodline appearance instead”?
Backstage: Someone called “Blake Howard” is with Trick Williams, who intends to beat PETE later.
Chelsea Green vs Giulia
Nice of them to give the star the second entrance, as is tradition. Chelsea starts it out with a great slap to Giulia and then my internet got messed up. Ah, it’s back and Chelsea is in firm control. Green dumps Giulia on her head with a German suplay and then drops her on her face with another thing.
OK in all sincerity, this is a much more competitive and “better” match than I expected, Chelsea gets a lot in here before falling victim to Giulia’s fluky knee strike and the Northern Lights Bomb. So Giulia does win but honestly think she got a little lucky! I can’t keep track of what I’m doing caricature-wise here but this was legitimately a cool and good match. ***¼
Video: Lexis King talking about something, I don’t know, in a barber shop, this is an all time stupid looking man. And then he gets punched in the face by Oro Mensah leading to the camera being knocked over.
Women’s Locker Room: OOH LA LA no they’re all just standing around. Lola shadowboxes Kelani’s hand. Jacy and Fallon and Jazmyn are here. Everyone wonders who’s going to face Jordynne. So none of you are doing it? Cowards. Lola and Jacy almost fight then don’t. Fascinating.
Charlie Dempsey (c) vs Je’Von Evans
NXT Heritage Cup
I’m not saying this to hate on “gymnastics” like 2015 Jim Cornette or whatever, but I do think it’s very encouraging that Je’Von, on top of being a crazy athlete who can do wild aerial stuff, REALLY seems to want to be seen as more than that, as a well-rounded pro wrestler. So he’s always adding. Most of the guys who have gotten that criticism were, of course, far more than JUST aerial flip guys, but Evans is getting moving on it really young. He gets to use that athleticism to throw a wrench into Dempsey’s preferred approach, too, which I think is cool.
But Chuck gets the first all in round two. Evans evens it up in the third round, right after they get back from a commercial break. Booker vomiting as round four wraps up. Dempsey almost gets a pin then has a good submission on as the bell sounds.
Cedric Alexander gets in there as Dempsey won’t release the hold, so it’s getting chippy. Evans is reeling at the end of the fourth round. But the formula is that the reeling guy tends to come out really fast in desperation for the next round, and indeed that’s what we get. Myles Borne saves Dempsey at one point, Cedric jumps onto him. But Wren is unaccounted for, BUT she has a crush on Je’Von. What dramatic moments these are in round five! AH! There’s Tavion Heights! He helps Dempsey win. Another good match. This show is cooking tonight. ***½
Video: Here’s some horseshit with spooky dolls and whatever. It’s a good Rosemary and Wendy bit that might have worked better before I saw Rosemary get smoked twice on this show already. Although maybe doesn't matter, this is for the Nightmare Before Christmas backpack folks, they like basically anything as long as you check the boxes.
Backstage: Sarah Schreiber is with Ethan Page to do his routine. The basicness of his promo work is starting to really set in, I think. He needs to find another gear or it’s WWE Main Event for him.
Hammerstone vs Oba Femi
Not for Oba’s title, and TNA’s Hammerstone is indeed the man “The Don” hired to take Oba out. Kind of a chickenshit move by “The Don,” actually. Oba sells Hammerstone’s arrival nicely, isn’t all terrified acting like a chump but knows he’s about to have a fight on his hands.
Is this the muscle beefiest match in NXT for the last decade? Another good time of a match, and another match tonight that is nothing like the other matches we’ve seen. Well, not “nothing,” since all these matches have about the same rhythm, just the moves done are different, but you know what I mean. Femi power bombs Hammerstone for the win. “The Don” paid extra for that? Tough night for “The Don.” ***
Backstage: “The Don” looks embarrassed that his hitman he paid extra for got his ass kicked. Makes him look weak in front of his weak crew.
Backstage: Hank/Tank bullshit gives way to Duke Hudson yelling about Ridge Holland. Thea’s gonna turn. I FEEL IT.
Return to the Women’s Locker Room: Wren Sinclair wants to go for the Knockouts title or Kelani’s title. Kelani and Lola are the greatest team of charismatic speakers we have ever seen. Two different types of monotone. Jaida Parker is wandering around with a bat because she is cool like Sting.
Duke Hudson vs Ridge Holland
Ridge kinda beats Duke’s ass here and then just beats him. Doesn’t last all that long. Just kind of a thrashing.
Post-Match: Thea Hail begging Ridge to stop but Ridge will not, he is destroying Duke at ringside. Thea’s melodrama really putting this over the top. Ridge Holland will never have a better friend in his career than Thea Hail making everything he does better.
Backstage: Jordynne Graces crosses paths with Giulia. No words. None needed.
Backstage: PETE’s eye is fucked up after last night. Good promo. PETE is a good promo.
Ringside: Wes Lee challenges Wentz for a street fight at the Chicago CW premiere.
Sol Ruca vs Jordynne Grace (c)
TNA Knockouts Championship
Sol takes the open challenge. Open challenges can have the challenger second, that’s fine. That’s tradition. Now to see if one thing goes slightly wrong in the dance and Sol freezes in place, also tradition.
Booker T makes the expert analysis that Jordynne Grace is strong. Sol really trying here and it’s probably her best showing in a singles match. It’s also a real task for Grace, being honest, and not just because Ruca is still green, but because this is a first meeting. But they have some nice physical chemistry with their different styles. Sol spikes her with a nice DDT counter for two. Ruca kicks out of Grace Under Pressure. Muscle buster hits — lights go out.
It’s Rosemary. Oh. Who cares. Wendy Choo puts her Million Dollar Dream on Grace and the crowd is just sort of annoyed sounding, to be honest. And so am I. The match was good. The Choo story just is not hitting, though, sorry. ***½
Backstage: Tatum Paxley is six and Lyra Valkyria tries to entertain this. Man, again, sorry, this shit sucks.
Backstage: Leather Ava is with Giulia and Funaki. Roxanne Perez is here. Giulia does not seem interested in Roxanne’s attitude. Giulia decides to speak English on her own, which as I understand it is a good idea, as Funaki is reportedly a horribly lazy interpreter.
Backstage: Brooks Jensen asks the book dork what he means by “gaslighting.” Here’s Shawn Spears. The book dork isn’t interested in Spears so he leaves. Spears continues to gaslight Jensen. Brooks has a lot going on that is good and this is not part of it.
NXT Teachers Lounge: Eddy Thorpe and Ashante Adonis continue their awful “story.” Five solid minutes of all the worst stuff in NXT here. Outstanding.
Trick Williams vs Pete Dunne
Last Man Standing
Winner gets a title shot on the Oct. 1 Chicago show.
Good, physical wrestling. I do not care for a last person standing match; maybe one out of five hits the way it wants to with me. I remember an Asuka vs Nikki Cross one I liked, for instance.
Every time this builds momentum we wait for a count. And I never believe in the count. Commentary direction has them laying it on a little thick with the “figuring it out.”
Up to the Eddy Thorpe DJ stand. They both fly off when Dunne does a Russian legsweep and they crash through tables. Ethan Page comes down to yell at them. Trick’s up, Page charges him and gets backdropped through the commentary desk, and that’s the finish because Trick is up and Pete isn’t. So Page vs Trick in Chicago. They should really put the belt back on Trick, man. ***¼
Backstage: Ava is on the telephone (very important) to tell Steve and Bob that CM Punk will be on NXT next week, not just in Chicago, but NEXT week.
GRADE: B+
Thought this was a really terrific show until the last quarter hour and change. The main event was probably better than I think, honestly, but the Tatum/Wendy angle needs to be tossed in the bin and Tatum needs a serious reboot of that tired, dreadful ass character, the Jensen/Spears thing is dragging ass, and Ashante/Thorpe might be my least favorite thing happening between WWE and AEW right now, I could not possibly care less if an unsuccessful playboy and a DJ from 2013 don’t like each other.
But there was a LOT of good-if-not-great on this show, too. Everything before Choo and Rosemary appeared was just firing, really dug it.
Three Stars of the Show
Sol Ruca: Absolutely think this was her best singles match showing, looked really sure of herself compared to normal, never hit a speedbump that threw her off, and meshing that well with Jordynne — someone she doesn’t work out with all the time — was impressive for her experience level. She’s started to click into place more recently, you see the little improvements that add up to her just being a lot more in the moment out there, which is such a huge thing that is hard to put into words.
Chelsea Green: I saw some people a little upset that Giulia didn’t just truck Chelsea like Chelsea’s an Action Zone jobber. Lads, it’s not 1995 anymore. WWE doesn’t really do squash matches and they definitely don’t do them with established main roster people going to NXT. This will also not lead to a rash of actual people actually thinking that Giulia sucks or something. She still won definitively and looked good doing it. They had a competitive match, which is how it was always gonna work, but not so competitive that it wasn’t made clear that Giulia is better.
Ridge Holland: Special nod to Thea Hail, too, but for the moment Ridge really has something, and I think he avoided staring at his hands in disbelief of how violent he has become this week, so that’s nice.
I don't get Paxley's deal AT ALL. Complete garbage. Putting her up against Choo, who I guess they are trying to shake something new out of with Rosemary, is tying an anchor to an anchor.
I really think Lola's face turn has hurt her a lot. Stripped away all of her personality and made her have to ACT. I'm so glad they aren't doing the same thing to Jaida.