Powell’s NXT Homecoming Hit List: Will there be a clean finish to next week’s title vs. title match, DIY vs. Trick Williams and Carmelo Hayes, Fatal Influence vs. Rhea Ripley, Stephanie Vaquer, and Lyra Valkyria

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

NXT Homecoming Hits

Opening video: What a fun look back at everything from Sami Zayn with short hair to Triple H with long hair to Triple H with short hair to Triple H with no hair (my bald brother). It was good to see shots of Sasha Banks/Mercedes Mone and, of course, the late Dusty Rhodes.

Triple H, Shawn Michaels, and William Regal: Paul Levesque’s show-opening speech was clearly more heartfelt than his typical “Are You Ready?” routine. The skit that followed with HBK and Regal was cute, and hearing Regal call for WarGames never gets old. It was also nice to hear Charlotte Flair mention Paige and Ember Moon, even though they don’t work for the company.

TNA World Champion Trick Williams and Carmelo Hayes vs. “DIY” Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa: A fun tag team match despite the oddness of Gargano and Ciampa playing babyfaces in NXT while being main roster heels. The Miz showing up to help Hayes was not the finish I hoped for, but it was fun to see Trick and Melo teaming together again.

Rhea Ripley, Stephanie Vaquer, and Lyra Valkyria vs. “Fatal Influence” NXT Women’s Champion Jacy Jayne, Fallon Henley, and Jazmyn Nyx: A straightforward showcase for the main roster babyfaces. There are situations where it would be wrong to have the NXT wrestlers look inferior on their own show, but Jayne is a vulnerable heel champion, and it’s not like the Fatal Influence trio are booked like world beaters.

The Grayson Waller Effect talk show with NXT Champion Oba Femi and Ricky Saints: The verbal exchange between Oba and Saints heading into their title match at No Mercy was solid. TNA World Champion Trick Williams interrupting the segment and being goaded by Waller into facing Oba in a title vs. title match on next week’s show was an unexpected development. I suspect we’ll get a cheap finish next week based on the way they played up the TNA roster being triggered by the match. Showing the angry TNA wrestler tweets was a nice touch, but having Matt Hardy tweet that the TNA Championship should always be defended against TNA wrestlers made him look hypocritical, because he and Jeff Hardy defended the TNA Tag Team Titles against Nathan Frazer and Axiom earlier this year. Oops. Regardless of how the match plays out next week, it was a smart move to give any infrequent viewers who watched this show because of the Homecoming theme a hook to come back for more.

Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair vs. Izzi Dame and Tatum Paxley for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles: Flair’s match with Natalya at the first NXT Takeover event felt like a major turning point for women’s wrestling in WWE, so it was great to see her on the Homecoming show teaming with a fellow NXT alumnus. It’s a shame that Natalya doesn’t get as much credit for that match as she should, but I digress. Although there was no mystery regarding the outcome of this tag team title match, Paxley and Dame looked pretty good in defeat.

Ethan Page vs. Tyler Breeze for the NXT North American Championship: A soft Hit due to the weak presentation. I’m not opposed to returning wrestlers getting title shots, but there should be an angle that explains why the returning wrestler is getting a title shot. Furthermore, we really should have heard something from Breeze to establish what winning the title would mean to him. Despite these flaws, it was cool to see Breeze back in an NXT ring for one night, and he had a quality match with Page.

NXT Homecoming Misses

Shayna Baszler: While it was great to see the Queen of Spades, she should be wrestling, not playing therapist for Sol Ruca and Zaria. Obviously, if Baszler is happy not wrestling full-time, then good for her. But if she still wants to wrestle, it’s crazy that she hasn’t been signed by one of the companies.