By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
NXT Hits
Tony D’Angelo vs. Nathan Frazer for the NXT Heritage Cup: This was one of the better Heritage Cup matches since the round style format was brought to the North American version of NXT. A lot of damage was done by having the comedic Noam Dar win the Cup when it was reintroduced. They made it worse by having so much interference in the early Cup matches. Conversely, D’Angelo and Frazer had a competitive match with no nonsense. Perhaps NXT can still make the Cup matter if they take this approach for the vast majority of the Cup matches and keep the interference to a minimum.
Andre Chase and Duke Hudson vs. Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows vs. Edris Enofe and Malik Blade vs. Angel and Berto vs. Tyler Bate and Pete Dunne in a Tag Team Turmoil for a shot at the NXT Tag Team Titles at NXT Heatwave: A good gauntlet match. Bate and Dunne are main roster wrestlers who would surely have a banger style PLE match with Nathan Frazer and Axiom. But it was actually refreshing to see NXT regulars win a match that involved a few main roster teams.
NXT Women’s Champion Roxanne Perez vs. Karmen Petrovic in a non-title match: A simple showcase win for the champion. Petrovic got some offense in, and there’s nothing wrong with giving a heel champion a clean win on television. The push of Lola Vice has been aggressive. She is talented and is clearly a rising star. It’s just hard to get a sense of whether they want fans to boo or cheer her from week to week.
Tavion Heights vs. Damon Kemp: Heights continues to make a good early impression. With the win, Heights earned a spot in the No Quarter Catch Crew. I really want to like that faction, but they seem to lose more than they win and the silliness of Charlie Dempsey impersonating Tony D’Angelo’s leadership was a turnoff.
Wes Lee vs. Joe Coffey: I have given up on the Gallus trio ever being featured as more than good hands in NXT. As such, Lee going over quickly and decisively was better than watching a needlessly long match with a predictable outcome.
NXT Misses
NXT Champion Trick Williams vs. Shawn Spears in a non-title match: The work in the match was fine. It was easy to see the way they were working toward the four-way main event at NXT Heatwave. They basically told viewers it was going to happen last week when Je’Von Evans went out of his way to make sure the NXT Championship belt was in the right spot for the camera shot of the belt in between all four wrestlers. But it was not a welcome development for this viewer. The four-way match should be good, but the straight up Williams vs. Evans match that was initially advertised was more appealing for a lot of viewers. The weekly spots with Brooks Jensen showing up and being escorted out of the building by security didn’t seem to generate much buzz, but perhaps the way this one distracted Williams and set up Spears stealing the pin will make viewers take notice.
Sol Ruca vs. Arianna Grace for a shot at the NXT Women’s North American Championship: Ruca slipped multiple times, including at the end of the match when she was going for her finisher. To Ruca’s credit, she quickly regrouped by hitting the impressive Sol Snatcher finisher.
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