Powell’s NXT Hit List: Battle royal for a shot at the NXT Women’s Championship, Bron Breakker challenges Seth Rollins, Baron Corbin vs. Trick Williams, Eddy Thorpe vs. Damon Kemp, The Schism vs. The Creeds and Ivy Nile, Mustafa Ali vs. Joe Gacy, Dani Palmer vs. Blair Davenport, Dabba-Kato vs. Scrypts

By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)

NXT Hits

Bron Breakker calls out Seth Rollins: I didn’t think they could top the Chase U celebration for a fun show closing moment, but then Breakker challenged Rollins to a World Heavyweight Championship match in NXT. I’m surprised they are not saving that one for the main roster. That said, I’m really looking forward to that match and it will be very interesting to see what type of ratings it can produce if the match takes place on NXT television.

Baron Corbin promo: This is the Baron Corbin that I enjoy. It’s not King Corbin or Happy Corbin or Bum Ass Corbin or the Modern Day Wrestling God version of Corbin. It’s always been baffling to see Corbin saddled with bad gimmick after bad gimmick while never getting a real shot at simply being a gritty heel. I wish I enjoyed his match as much as I did the promo, but more on that later.

Battle Royal for a shot at the NXT Women’s Championship: Okay, so it was a nothing battle royal with a lot of punching and kicking. Worse yet, there were too many times early on when I wasn’t even sure who some of the eliminated wrestlers were at first glance. But the finish was a lot of fun with Thea Hail winning and the Chase U students rushing the ring, just as college sports fans rush the field or the court after a big victory.

Mustafa Ali vs. Joe Gacy: A clean win for Ali followed by a quick angle that set up a six-man tag team match for next week. I’m still not sure what to make of Ali’s character, but perhaps that’s by design.

Eddy Thorpe vs. Damon Kemp: A solid match with a Thorpe getting the win because the referee failed to spot Kemp’s foot on the ropes. This should lead to a welcome rematch between the two.

Rip Fowler, Jagger Reid, and Ava vs. Julius Creed, Brutus Creed, and Ivy Nile: Ava looked very tentative despite not being asked to do anything complicated. Hopefully it’s just a matter of needing more reps. Either way, the two men’s tag teams worked well enough together to make up for it. I get a kick out of the spot where the Creeds pass off their opponents for suplexes, but it strikes me as something they should do once or twice a year as opposed to using it as a regular spot in their matches.

Blair Davenport vs. Dani Palmer: A good reintroduction match for Davenport, who got a decisive win over Palmer.

NXT Misses

Baron Corbin vs. Trick Williams: Can someone please put together a new entrance for Corbin? And why is he suddenly dressing like he can’t afford proper gear? Putting aside the cosmetics, the match had plenty of clunkiness and felt like it overstayed its welcome.

Dabba-Kato vs. Scrypts: I was happy to see Dabba-Kato return to NXT because he needed to be rebuilt as a monster. Instead, he just lost to renamed Reggie. Really?

Dragon Lee: Who is he? What separates him from all of the other masked luchadores we’ve seen over the years? I’ve actually seen enough of Lee over the years to know that he is special, but his introduction to the NXT television audience has been disappointing.

Von Wagner goes to therapy: Horny Von Wagner is terrifying.