By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
NXT Hits
Bron Breakker attacks Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams: Overall, the post NXT Stand & Deliver show delivered where the Raw after WrestleMania came up far short. But is it really a heel turn when a wrestler attacks two men who cheated him out of a championship? As much as I dislike the way Hayes won the championship and how Breakker acted like he’d simply been beaten by a better man in the post match scene at Stand & Deliver, I like the idea of Breakker turning heel. And I can’t be the only one who still has flashbacks to Paul Orndorff turning on Hulk Hogan whenever there’s a hand raise followed by a clothesline turn.
Dragon Lee vs. Nathan Frazer: A terrific ten-minute television match. Lee shined by getting the decisive win after a competitive battle, and Frazer looked good in defeat. Frazer’s backstage interview about his moment of enlightenment was intriguing. Meanwhile, I barely recognized Noam Dar with long hair, but it was good to see him back.
Wes Lee vs. Axiom for the NXT North American Championship: Poor Axiom finally got his singles match title shot. It was worth the wait, as he and Lee produced a very good match that added to the impressive list of Lee title defenses. Here’s hoping that the creative forces have more in mind for the Axiom character. The initial mathematical based gimmick was a dud, but there’s still plenty of interesting things they could do to develop his character.
Indi Hartwell vs. Zoey Stark for the NXT Women’s Championship: The fun thing about Hartwell being the NXT Women’s Champion is that she feels vulnerable. When a new champion is crowned, there’s typically a period of time where fans don’t really buy into the possibility of title change occurring. That’s not the case with Hartwell. No one really expected her to win the title and most people assume that it will be a short, transitional title reign. In fact, I couldn’t even rule out the possibility of Hartwell dropping the title in her first defense against Stark. So while Hartwell feels like a soft champion, her title matches should be suspenseful.
“Pretty Deadly” Elton Prince and Kit Wilson vs. Tony D’Angelo and Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo: A quality tag team match with a clever finish to put the heels over. I’m over the Don of NXT schtick and Stacks continues to come off as an underling despite some recent attempts to give him a boost. But I do enjoy watching D’Angelo’s matches and his impressive array of suplexes. Prince and Wilson are one of the best teams in all of WWE and I’m surprised they haven’t been called up to the main roster.
Dijak vs. Odyssey Jones: A good battle of the big men. They kept it brief and action packed. Dijak really needed a win and got one using a moonsault rather than his usual Feast Your Eyes.
NXT Misses
Ivy Nile vs. Tatum Paxley: That’s it? Paxley turned on Nile and then got her comeuppance in their first match? Between this feud appearing to be wrapped up quickly, and Axiom taking out Scrypts before their feud even started, I can’t help but wonder if they are writing some characters out for a post WrestleMania talent purge. After all, they also had a video package that touted the arrivals of Oba Femi, Dani Palmer, and Tank Ledger to the already crowded NXT TV roster.
I hope we get Noam Dar vs. Dragon Lee for the Heritage Championship
I assume that’s the plan given that Dar came out for Lee’s match with Nathan Frazer. That would be fun. For that matter, I wouldn’t mind seeing Dar vs. Frazer.