Powell’s NXT Hit List: Jasper Troy vs. Yoshiki Inamura for a shot at the NXT Championship at the Great American Bash, Joe Hendry vs. Wes Lee, Myles Borne vs. Lexis King

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

NXT Hits

Joe Hendry vs. Wes Lee: A quality opening match that played into the TNA World Championship three-way at Slammiversary by having Trick Williams on commentary, and Mike Santana coming out to help Hendry by fending off Tyriek Igwe and Tyson Dupont. It was good to see some tension between Hendry and Santana later in the night.

Jasper Troy vs. Yoshiki Inamura for a shot at the NXT Championship at the Great American Bash: Mixed feelings. Ultimately, I gave this a Hit for being an enjoyable television match, but I really could have done without Troy taking another loss. It was one thing to take an early loss to NXT Champion Oba Femi, but I’m not a fan of Troy being used as a setup man for Inamura’s title shot. Granted, few people will remember that Troy lost two of his first three NXT television matches by the time he reaches the main roster, but I’m just not a fan of a monster taking losses in two of his last three television matches. Meanwhile, it seems like fans like Inamura, but the creative staff has a lot of work to do next week if they hope to get fans truly invested in him going after the NXT Championship.

Luca Crusifino: Crusifino punching Tony D’Angelo was a good tease that he was aligned with Stacks. Crusifino followed up by dropping Stacks with a punch and declaring that his loyalty is to himself. The mob story still feels like it’s running on fumes, and I couldn’t care less about the NXT Heritage Cup, but this was a satisfying end to the mystery of where Crusifino stands. I like the idea of it being every man for himself rather than having a lopsided two-on-one feud.

Myles Borne vs. Lexis King: A soft Hit for a solid, yet fairly forgettable, television match. It doesn’t seem like there was much of a follow-up plan for Borne after his surprising and enjoyable NXT Championship match beyond him breaking away from No Quarter Catch Crew.

Thea Hail vs. Lainey Reid: A soft Hit. The lack of fan support for Hail was surprising, though perhaps that’s attributable to the live crowd sitting through back-to-back shows, or even because Hail was working with a fairly ambiguous newcomer. Well, at least Reid felt that way going into the match. That changed when she held the bottom rope while getting the pin and barked at the referee after the match.

NXT Misses

Sol Ruca and Zaria vs. Izzi Dame and Tatum Paxley: Paxley has been less cartoonish lately, but the story of Ruca and Zaria trying to talk her out of aligning with Dame is cold. It’s also tough to be excited about Paxley possibly joining The Culling. I want to see a heel Zaria, and I’m high on babyface Ruca, but the “ZaRuca” alliance isn’t as precious as the creative forces seem to think it is. Here’s hoping that Zaria unintentionally spearing Ruca is the start of their split.

Chase U: Uriah Connors and Kale Dixon trying to change Andre Chase is a turnoff. I’ll change my tune if we’re supposed to think Connors and Dixon are preachy d-bags, but I don’t think that’s what they are going for.