Powell’s NXT Hit List: Roxanne Perez and Bayley, Nathan Frazer and Axiom vs. OTM for the NXT Tag Titles, Stephanie Vaquer vs. Shotzi for a shot at the NXT Women’s North American Title

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

NXT Hits

Opening segment with Oba Femi, Tony D’Angelo, Ridge Holland, and Eddy Thorpe: Oba came through with a solid promo during his first appearance as NXT Champion. D’Angelo interrupting to remind Oba that he has beaten him twice was a logical move that likely sets an eventual premium live event match. The attacks of Holland on D’Angelo and Thorpe on Oba quickly established next week’s title matches.

Nathan Frazer and Axiom vs. “OTM” Bronco Nima and Lucien Price for the NXT Tag Team Titles: Another good title defense for Frazer and Axiom (I’ll pass on using their corny team name). Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa showing up to watch the match seems like it will lead to an eventual showdown between the WWE Tag Team Champions and the NXT Tag Team Champions, which looks like a lot of fun on paper.

Ethan Page vs. Dante Chen: A spotlight match for Page. The post match attack on Chen added to the new sadistic side of Page’s personality. Je’Von Evans going after Page was well done. Evans threw several punches, yet it only took one punch from Page to the damaged jaw to put Evans down. They’ve done a great job of making this the most heated feud in NXT in just a matter of weeks.

Dion Lennox and Oba Femi: Lennox called his shot when he told Femi that he will challenge him for the NXT Championship someday. This actually came off like the creative team was calling its shot by essentially telling viewers that Lennox is a future star. Here’s hoping that this means Lennox will start wrestling more often and stop treating the backstage area like it’s his personal library.

Cora Jade vs. Kelani Jordan: It’s encouraging to see a rare women’s program that doesn’t involve a title belt. Jade cheating to win seemed designed to extend the feud. The true highlight of the segment was that TNA Knockouts Champion Masha Slamovich was shown sitting in the crowd.

NXT Misses

Roxanne Perez and Bayley: Did someone miss a time cue? Perez sounded wooden before she flipped into heel mode. The Bayley appearance was a fun surprise that was really well received by the live crowd (one night after she made a surprise appearance on Raw). This segment seemed like it was on its way to landing in the Hit section when the show ended right in the middle of their verbal exchange. That said, having watched the non-televised footage that was released on social media, we didn’t miss much.

Stephanie Vaquer vs. Shotzi for a shot at the NXT Women’s North American Championship: As if Shotzi’s popularity hasn’t taken enough of a hit, she was booked to beat the more popular Vaquer thanks to outside interference by Fatal Attraction. There was no indication that Shotzi was working in cahoots with the faction, but the finish didn’t exactly endear her to the fans, nor did it provide her with any momentum heading into the title match.

Lash Legend and Jakara Jackson vs. Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn for a shot at the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles: A mediocre match that played to a quiet crowd. Part of the problem with the lack of crowd reaction to the match seemed to be that the fans didn’t really know which team they were supposed to root for, so they stayed fairly quiet until they came to life for the finish.

Booker T: It was bad enough when some of Booker’s lines from the Trick Williams’ entrance routine started trickling into the rest of his commentary. But his latest gimmick of saying “Here We Go” repeatedly in some short of a weird homage to Dallas Cowboys’ quarterback Dak Prescott’s pre-snap cadence is just plain obnoxious. I feel bad for Vic Joseph.

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Readers Comments (13)

  1. NXT is a reasonably good show each week, but their “great” women’s division is borderline unwatchable right now.

    Roxanne Perez might be the worst cosplay wrestler in the business today, Shotzi isn’t much better, and the tag teams are dead.

  2. NXT has a big digital clock like 3 feet from the ring. It shouldnt be hard to stay on time.

    I think Roxanne was feigning “humbled former heel champ” in the beginning, then heeled it up.

    • She’s a better heel than a babyface. I wasn’t impressed with her mic work throughout most of her babyface run. It doesn’t help that they had her act like a child who was playing to young children.

      • Agreed, she’s a natural fit as a heel, with the makeup and delusion.
        But for some reason she always says “woman” even when “women” is right and it drives me crazy. Are they afraid to correct her?

  3. I mentioned it on the recap and I’ll say it again here, the timing issues are intentional to drive fans to the socials

    It’s not different from David Crocket screaming “we’re out of time” on the old 6:05 NWA show when those shows WERE TAPED and edited.

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