By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
NXT Hits
Mandy Rose vs. Roxanne Perez for the NXT Women’s Championship: A feel good title win for Perez. It felt a little premature in that she would have benefitted from a longer chase, but now we know why given that WWE has released Rose from her contract. The match finish was the latest example of Perez’s Pop Rocks finisher looking more like a light sunset flip than a Canadian Destroyer, so hopefully that gets cleaned up. Rose had a really good reign as champion and has definitely improved during her time in NXT. I thought the entire Toxic Attraction faction was main roster ready. It will be interesting to see what comes next for Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne now that the faction lost its leader.
NXT North American Champion Wes Lee vs. Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo in a non-title match: A Hit for match quality. Lorenzo is talented, but it’s hard to take him seriously when he’s in the ring with wrestlers who are higher on the food chain simply because he’s cast as Tony D’Angelo’s minion. The post match angle with Dijak showing up and inadvertently (maybe?) distracting Lee while D’Angelo attacked Lee was solid. That said, I’m surprised that Dijak has been thrust into the North American Title picture when he seems like a strong opponent for Bron Breakker.
JD McDonagh vs. Brutus Creed: McDonagh continues to be the workhorse of the NXT brand. While Creed it a tag team wrestler, this still felt like an impressive singles win for McDonagh. I like the ongoing bit with Indus Sher stopping opponents from harming the Creeds illegally because they want the Creeds to be 100 percent when the two teams have their first match together.
Ikemen Jiro vs. Javier Bernal: Bernal’s recent promos have made him stand out as a fun undercard pest heel. Jiro’s jacket gimmick does nothing for me, but he’s a good wrestler and the live crowd got behind him.
Lyra Valkyria vs. Amari Miller: It’s hard to say whether the Valkyria cloud and rain graphics or Miller’s pre-match dancing were worse. Fortunately, it got better once the bell rang and this turned out to be a solid showcase for the debuting Valkyria.
NXT Misses
Von Wagner vs. Odyssey Jones: Wagner has lost so many matches lately that Jones beating him didn’t feel like much of an accomplishment. Malik Blade’s cheap shot was logical given that Wagner destroyed his sweater vest (yes, really), but it also made Jones’s win feel even less impressive.
Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne vs. Ivy Nile and Tatum Paxley: A quick match that served as a painfully obvious set up for next week’s Triple Threat tag team title match. Nile strikes me as a singles wrestler. Paxley has been aligned with Nile for months and yet I still don’t feel like I know anything about her character. I wonder if NXT will rush the tag titles back onto Dolin and Jayne to give them a boost now that Mandy Rose has been released.
Duke Hudson vs. Damon Kemp: I get a kick out of Chase U. And while I feel Hudson would be a better fit in something more serious, it’s nice to see him cast in a consistent role in NXT. But I wasn’t crazy about seeing Kemp take a clean loss to a wrestler from the comedy faction. I assume that Kemp will join forces with Drew Gulak and will start winning more, so hopefully this loss will be forgotten quickly.
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