By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
NXT Hits
Joe Hendry video feature: That’s more like it. I wish NXT had given him a proper introduction sooner, so that unfamiliar fans would have been more invested in him on a personal level when he won the championship, but better late than never. Here’s hoping other wrestlers get to tell their backstories, which don’t always have be authentic. Hendry has a unique story, but there are only so many times viewers can listen to others share their story of being a college athlete who was offered tryouts. The more layers these characters have, the more likely they are to connect with the live crowd.
Jacy Jayne vs. Sol Ruca for the NXT Women’s Championship: The Hit is all about Zaria turning on Ruca. Finally. The camera shots of stunned fans actually left me with a similar shocked expression because I couldn’t believe anyone was actually surprised by this dragged-out heel turn. But I did get a kick out of Jayne acting pleasantly surprised by Zaria’s turn before she took advantage of the situation by pinning Ruca in short order. I’m not really sure why the Zaria character would be rewarded for ruining an NXT Women’s Championship match with a title shot of her own.
Osiris Griffin and Saquon Shugars vs. “Vanity Project” Brad Baylor and Ricky Smokes for the NXT Tag Team Titles: This was an odd heel vs. heel match on paper, but it turned out to be an entertaining opener. No complaints about Tony D’Angelo’s interference costing DarkState the tag team titles. Baylor and Smokes are obnoxious pest heels, so winning the titles in fluky fashion is perfect.
Ethan Page vs. Myles Borne for the NXT North American Championship: Borne cut a good promo that concluded with him saying he would go from being known as “the deaf kid” to becoming the new NXT North American Champion. So why in the world did they air a video package that focused on him talking about being deaf and having a speech impediment? It’s a hell of a story, but it’s best to have the broadcast team bring it up occasionally, or it comes off like being deaf is his identity. Now that we got that out of the way, they closed the show on a high note with Borne going over. I’m still not convinced that he’s truly connected with the fans, but hopefully this title win will help. I hope that Page losing the title means he’s headed to the main roster.
Keanu Carver vs. Sean Legacy: A good win for Carver. The match was laid out to give Legacy a nice run of offense before Carver hit him with a Pounce and beat him shortly thereafter. While the right guy went over, Legacy has upside potential.
Jasper Troy vs. Elio LeFleur vs. Eli Knight in a Triple Threat with a seven-minute time limit for the WWE Speed Championship: A soft Hit. LeFleur and Knight did the heavy lifting, while Troy worked in some power spots. The way LeFleur stole the pin after Knight hit a big move on Troy was an effective way to set up a singles match between the two. No, I still don’t care about the Speed titles.
NXT Misses
Thea Hail vs. Blake Monroe in a tournament match for a shot at the WWE Women’s Speed Championship: There was nothing wrong with the match aside from it being the first one held after the NXT Women’s Championship match. They went from one match that ended quickly because of a pre-match attack by someone who wasn’t in the match to having another brief match that ended due to outside interference.
Kale Dixon vs. Uriah Connors: A minor Miss. This could have been a Speed match given the frantic pace and how little time they had. I want to like the Birthright faction, but it’s off to an underwhelming start.
(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.)
I haven’t watched NXT for a couple of years but always read these reviews to see what’s going on. Isn’t it also odd that the Zaria turn, which they have been building to for what seems like an ice age, didn’t even close the show?
They couldn’t have set up next week’s title match if the turn closed the show. Also, the title change was worthy of closing the show.
Zaria got the title shot b/c Jayne accepted it. Matches are seemingly always granted when the champion accepts it.
I think the biggest problem with the Birthright faction is that the casual fan has no idea who they are related to because they don’t have the same last name. WWE needs to either own the complete names and not acknowledge their lineage or accept the loss of control and get the pull of using the names Brian Pillman Jr and Fit Finlay Jr. or whatever. I had to Google to see who Connors’s dad was because I had forgotten.