Powell’s NXT Hit List: Ethan Page vs. Wes Lee vs. Je’Von Evans for a shot at the NXT Championship at Halloween Havoc, Stephanie Vaquer vs. Wren Sinclair, Lexis King vs. Oro Mensah in a Gentlemen’s Duel

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

NXT Hits

Ethan Page vs. Wes Lee vs. Je’Von Evans for a shot at the NXT Championship at Halloween Havoc: A quality Triple Threat match that had most of the live crowd standing and fully engaged. Page going over to set up yet another PLE match with Trick Williams works for this viewer. They’ve traded singles wins to set up what should be a hot blowoff match. I wonder if the title match will end up being Page’s final bout in NXT. Page is clearly main roster ready and I’d really like to see him get a main roster run. Evans continues to be the rising babyface star of the NXT brand. It’s okay that he came up short in this match, but I hope the creative team doesn’t wait too much longer to pull the trigger on making him a true main event player.

Tony D’Angelo and Oba Femi: This was a short and sweet segment that accomplished what it needed to without overstaying its welcome. They set the stage for the “Tables, Ladders, and Scares” match for Halloween Havoc, and Femi also issued a threat by saying that D’Angelo won’t have his family members with him.

Stephanie Vaquer vs. Wren Sinclair: A nice NXT in-ring debut for Vaquer. The post match angle with Giulia saving Vaquer from an attack by Roxanne Perez and Cora Jade set up what should be a fun tag team team match for Halloween Havoc.

Ridge Holland vs. Riley Osborne: The match was laid out nicely with underdog Osborne throwing caution to the wind by going right after Holland to start, only for the powerhouse to beat him clean in the end. It’s nice to see Holland clicking as a singles act for the first time after so many failed attempts to connect with the audience. The post match attack that led to Andre Chase saving Osborne seemingly set up the Holland vs. Chase match that they have been building toward.

Nikkita Lyons vs. Lola Vice: The wrestlers shaking their asses got a bigger reaction than any of the moves they performed during the match. Hey, whatever works. There were a couple of clunky moments, but both wrestlers showed good intensity and worked at an aggressive pace. The finish with Jaida Parker attacking Vice was weak, but it’s understandable that they didn’t want either one of these wrestlers to take a clean loss.

NXT Misses

Lexis King vs. Oro Mensah in a Gentlemen’s Duel: NXT doubled down on the awkwardness by adding a bunch of clunky rules to the latest match in a feud that’s been tough to follow.

Brooks Jensen vs. Ashanti Adonis: A minor Miss for a match that featured a pair of heels (well, at least I assume that Adonis is playing a heel character given his entertaining Lothario role). Worse yet, they went with a weak distraction finish. Jensen seems to be morphing into an unhinged heel. He hasn’t found the right look or put all the pieces together yet, but here’s hoping that he’s on the right path.