By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
NXT Gold Rush Night Two Hits
Kelani Jordan vs. Jordynne Grace vs. Lei Ying Lee in a Triple Threat for the TNA Knockouts Championship: The live crowd seemed a bit drained by the time this match was taped after last week’s live NXT show. It took them some time to get into the match, but the hard work of the wrestlers pulled them in. The title change was surprising in that Jordan was doing well and wasn’t even a month into her title reign, although she only got a run with the belt because Ash by Elegance relinquished the title. Meanwhile, new champion Lee has improved a lot since her days as Xia Li. Winning the championship out of nowhere was fun in the moment, but the lack of build-up to her title win is concerning. She hasn’t fully connected with the fans yet, and a title chase would have been a good opportunity to get the fans invested in her.
Jackson Drake vs. Sean Legacy for the Evolve Championship: A strong show-opening match from two of WWE’s standout developmental wrestlers. The Evolve matches were wisely taped before last week’s live NXT show. The live crowd was more vocal and invested in the Evolve matches than they would have been had they been taped after the live NXT show.
Kendal Grey vs. Lainey Reed for the Evolve Women’s Championship: Good work from both wrestlers. The creative forces could have done a better job with the presentation of the Evolve title matches. We don’t know much about the Evolve wrestlers just from watching NXT, so promo time and/or strong video packages leading up to this show would have gone a long way. Will the Ava character punish Jacy Jayne and Fallon Henley for coming out despite her edict that they were banned from ringside?
Myles Borne vs. Trick Williams for a spot in the men’s Iron Survivor Challenge: A soft Hit. While it was odd to have a non-title match headline a show with four title matches, the added stipulation gave it a boost. The NXT creative team seems committed to pushing Borne. There’s a lot to like about him. He’s good in the ring and looks the part, but he’s struggled to fully connect with the fans. Creative seems to have pulled back on having him say that he doesn’t want to be known as the deaf wrestler, only to have him repeatedly mention that he’s a deaf wrestler. Giving him this win over Trick can’t hurt, but beating Trick doesn’t mean as much as it would have six months ago because he’s taken some high-profile losses since then.
NXT Gold Rush Night Two Misses
Fallon Henley vs. Zaria in the finals of a tournament for the vacant WWE Women’s Speed Championship: The match ending in a draw would have been the perfect way to eliminate this worthless title from NXT. Thanks for nothing, Ava.
(Jason Powell, founder and editor of ProWrestling.net, has covered pro wrestling full-time dating back to 1997. He hosts a weekly podcast, Pro Wrestling Boom, and also appears regularly on the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast. Reach him via email at dotnetjason@gmail.com and on social media via @prowrestlingnet.bsky.social or x.com/prowrestlingnet. For his full bio and information on this website, click here.)
The continuation of the match for the Speed title was asinine. EVERY match is “sudden death” and continuing the match because “we have to have a winner” completely negates the only thing that makes the title different.
Can we dump Ava and get Stevie back?