By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
NXT Hits
Tony D’Angelo’s promo: This was a smooth transition from mob boss to a lone wolf persona. D’Angelo played the mobster role to perfection, but he got everything he could out of the role. He has big league talent, but the gimmick didn’t feel like something that would fit on the main roster. The casual references to his impressive amateur wrestling credentials were effective in establishing that he was successful on his own before he arrived in NXT. Hopefully, this new persona goes well enough to lead to a well-earned main roster call-up.
Izzi Dame vs. Lola Vice vs. Thea Hail in a Triple Threat for the NXT Women’s North American Championship: A quality three-way. The only thing working against the match was that it was hard to believe that Dame would drop the title this early in her run, especially since the accidental Hail title reign that preceded it was so brief. Kelani Jordan’s interference took Vice out of the match and added some juice to their feud. Jordan has shown impressive versatility by going from a girl-next-door type to a ruthless heel.
Rob Stone named interim general manager: Stone is a good talker who has proven that he can get the most out of whatever he’s booked to do. He was also Ava’s storyline assistant, so promoting him to the interim position is a logical move from a storyline standpoint. I just hope this doesn’t lead to Stone playing a heel authority figure.
Heather by Elegance and M by Elegance vs. Sol Ruca and Zaria for the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Titles: For the love of God, pull the trigger on the Ruca and Zaria split. The friction seems close to boiling over, so hopefully it will finally happen next week. Putting that aside, the match exceeded my expectations. Heather and M are still a work in progress, but they had a nice outing with Ruca and Zaria. It was also nice to see Daria Rae back on NXT television.
Elio LeFleur vs. Charlie Dempsey in a tournament match for a shot at the WWE Speed Championship: A soft Hit. A standard match with these two wrestlers would have been better than this rushed Speed match. Even so, the final minute was entertaining. If Dempsey joins the second-generation faction, here’s hoping he’s the leader. Dempsey has been in the NXT system for five years. It’s time to do more with him.
NXT Misses
Joe Hendry vs. Ricky Saints vs. Shiloh Hill vs. Sean Legacy vs. Jackson Drake vs. Dion Lennox vs. Keanu Carver in a seven-man ladder match for the vacant NXT Championship: A minor Miss. The majority of the match was enjoyable, but some key moments didn’t work. Hill’s obligatory Terry Fun ladder spin was lousy. It was bad enough that Hendry had to run toward the ladder, but then additional wrestlers did the same, and they all looked like idiots. I love Funk, but I’ve had my fill of that tribute. A bigger issue was the ridiculously tame belt shot. Scratch that. It wasn’t a shot. Hendry basically tapped the title belt on Saints’ forehead, and then Saints had to sell it by falling off the ladder, leaving Hendry to grab the title belt to win the match. I’m not a fan of the decision to put the belt on Hendry. I enjoyed Hendry’s rise and eventual world championship win in TNA because he was a well-rounded character, and the storytelling built to his win. Fans who didn’t follow Hendry before NXT know him as the funny guy who sings and does the “say his name, and he appears” gag. He hasn’t even had a chance to share his unique background story with those fans. They were likely happy he won, but it would have meant a lot more had they established Hendry as a multi-dimensional character in NXT. The build to the match was also weak. It’s great that there were some fresh faces involved, but viewers weren’t given any reason to care about those wrestlers, let alone see them as threats to win. All of that said, there were also some positives. The spot where Carver broke a ladder in half was cool because it didn’t feel far-fetched like when monsters break handcuffs or pull doors off their hinges. This led to the fun spot of Hill using the broken ladder as stilts, followed by Carver pulling the two broken ladder pieces apart, forcing Hill to fall onto Carver’s shoulders in the electric chair position for a Doomsday Device with Lennox. Carver was given plenty of spots that played into his monster status. There should be something big that takes out a monster wrestler in a match like this, and Carver came through with a great bump from a ladder in the ring that Saints tipped over, which sent Carver through a ladder bridge at ringside.
Stacks and Lexis King vs. Kale Dixon and Uriah Connors: Why were there back-to-back matches with wrestlers getting upset with their partners for tagging themselves in? Connors bailing on Dixon to join the second-generation faction is fine by me. New Chase U has been a bust. I just hope they don’t make Andre Chase the scapegoat. He wasn’t the problem. Dixon and Connors never became more than unlikable tryhards, and the act clearly didn’t get anywhere near the level of creative attention that prior incarnations of the faction received.
(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.)
Be the first to comment