Powell’s NXT Hit List: Mariah May debuts, Trick Williams vs. Mike Santana for the TNA World Championship, Charlie Dempsey vs. Myles Borne, DarkState vs. Chase U

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

NXT Hits

NXT Women’s Champion Jacy Jayne promo and the arrival of Mariah May: Jayne delivered a good heel promo and had a ton of heat. I was intrigued by Lainey Reid showing up, but just about the time it seemed like they might be setting her up for a match with the new champion, the segment turned into a phony barrage of potential challengers showing up. It’s one thing to have a few potential challengers show up, but this became downright silly. I was surprised to see Jordynne Grace amongst those challengers, but the big surprise was yet to come. Just when it seemed like the segment was going out with a whimper via the obligatory brawl between the contenders, the lights went out. Mariah May appeared and was really well received by the live crowd. It’s almost as if normal pro wrestling fans enjoy watching multiple companies and don’t blindly root for one brand while obsessively despising the other. Nah, that couldn’t be it. Anyway, just when the NXT women’s division lost star power following the Stephanie Vaquer, Giulia, and Roxanne Perez moves to the main roster, the former AEW Women’s Champion arrived. Fun.

Trick Williams vs. Mike Santana for the TNA World Championship: The interference by First Class made for a weak finish. One can only assume that the idea is to use AJ Francis and KC Navarro to keep Santana busy until he gets his rematch with Williams at Slammiversary. While I wasn’t a fan of the finish, Santana is making the most out of his NXT television time, and it feels like it’s only a matter of time before he becomes the next TNA World Champion.

Je’Von Evans, Dragon Lee, Laredo Kid, and Sean Legacy vs. Ethan Page, Brad Baylor, Ricky Smokes, and Jackson Drake: A big spot-fest match that served as a bit of a teaser for the Worlds Collide show while also setting up next week’s NXT North American Championship match. There were a lot of moving parts in this match, so it was impressive to see the rookies hold their own.

“DarkState” Dion Lennox, Cutler James, and Osiris Griffin vs. Andre Chase, Kale Dixon, and Uriah Connors: A clean and decisive win for DarkState. Chase U2 took another logical loss, as Dixon and Connors are portrayed as green students who still need to be coached up by Chase.

NXT Misses

Myles Borne vs. Charlie Dempsey in a Rounds Match: A minor Miss for a match that dragged. A dropkick finisher? Corey Graves summed it up nicely by saying you never know what will be the knockout blow. That’s how it is in MMA, and it would be nice if that carried over to pro wrestling more often. Finishing moves are great, but having the occasional match end with a non-finishing move would go a long way toward making the matches feel more suspenseful. Unfortunately, this approach seems reserved for use in Rounds matches as opposed to this being a philosophical change in NXT. Borne earning his freedom from No Quarter Catch Crew was surprisingly simple, though I don’t know why he couldn’t just walk away. I like all of the wrestlers who are in the NQCC faction, but I wouldn’t mind if they all went their separate ways.

Tyra Mae Steele vs. Arianna Grace: A minor Miss. Steele was spotlighted, but it wasn’t the most memorable debut match. I would have listed this as an in the middle segment, but I’m not a fan of Grace being a heel in NXT and a babyface in TNA. She plays both roles nicely, but some consistency between the two brands would be helpful. In this case, Grace doesn’t have much of a role on NXT television, whereas she’s all over TNA Impact, so the right thign to do would be for NXT to tweak her character.