By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
NXT Hits
Tony D’Angelo, Cruz Montana, Grayson Waller, and Zilla Fatu: As much as I typically prefer singles matches for championships, this one is an exception. The dynamic between these four is strong, and I’m really looking forward to the showdown match. Also, the live crowd chanting “Cruuuz Montana” during his entrance was cool and should catch on. Meanwhile, the fans chanting “you deserve it” following the announcement of Fatu having a spot in the four-way for the NXT Championship was ridiculous. It’s cool if the fans were making fun of the situation with that chant, but it didn’t seem like that was the case. It’s encouraging to see Waller getting consistent mic time. Finally, the big issue at the moment is that NXT Champion D’Angelo is being overshadowed by his challengers.
EK Prosper vs. La Parka vs. Romeo Moreno vs. Tristan Angels in a four-way for a shot at the AAA Cruiserweight Championship: When the original La Parka left AAA, Johnny Lawrence put on his Halloween costume, added the mask, and now plays the modern La Parka. You can’t convince me otherwise. Anyway, this was a fun, high-energy opener. Prosper stood out as the most logical challenger for Rey Fenix due to their similar in-ring styles.
Dion Lennox and Saquon Shugars: A good split-screen verbal exchange. This felt like two guys talking shit rather than two guys reciting rehearsed lines as they set up their weaponized cage match for next week. While I’m not a fan of weaponized cage matches because the cage should be enough, most modern cage matches somehow end up including weapons anyway, so I suppose it makes sense to list them as being a part of the match. With DarkState struggling to generate heat, perhaps the trio should actually heel on the fans occasionally.
Kelani Jordan and Kali Armstrong vs. Kendal Grey and Wren Sinclair: Solid action from bell to bell. The story of Grey’s ear injury messing with her equilibrium isn’t doing much for me. If the goal is to make her look vulnerable heading into her next NXT Women’s Championship match, then it would have been better to have her take the loss for her team in this match. The problem is that they wanted Armstrong to beat Sinclair to set her up with a chance to earn a spot in the Sinclair vs. Zaria unification match at NXT Heatwave.
Nattie vs. Thea Hail: This followed the opener and was a nice change of pace from that spot-heavy match. Nattie’s wins typically give me hope that she will go on a winning streak and be featured as a strong veteran gatekeeper. Unfortunately, it usually only takes another match or two before she loses, which derails any chance of her building momentum.
Keanu Carver: If this pro wrestling thing doesn’t work out, the backstage segment with Robert Stone showed that Carver has a real future as a coffee shop owner with “Drink The Coffee Or Die” as his slogan. In the meantime, I’m looking forward to when Carver faces Mike Santana in what should be billed as the battle of the Badass Barqiqua and the Badass Barista.
NXT Misses
Shiloh Hill vs. Jackson Drake for a shot at the NXT North American Championship: The majority of the match was fine, but they lost me with the illogical mist finish. Naraku hid under the ring and somehow knew Hill would be climbing the ropes on that side of the ring while the referee was distracted. It’s still an awfully big reach even if you bend over backwards to defend shoddy booking by saying “he had TV under there.”
Lexis King vs. Lucien Price for the WWE Speed Championship: King running from Price to start the match in hopes of running out the clock was comical. I don’t know if he was selling or if he had some rough luck, but it looked like his head smacked the rope, and then he took a hard bump to the floor moments later. The fun ended with the King running from Price, as the match had too much outside interference, which made the referee look beyond oblivious. Here’s hoping that King faces Myles Borne in a unification match so that NXT can rid itself of both Speed titles.
Kali Armstrong’s opportunity: A possible Miss. It’s fine if they add Armstrong to the NXT Women’s North American Championship and WWE Women’s Speed Championship unification match at Heatwave if she beats Zaria next week. What concerns me is the possibility that they will add a stipulation that if Armstrong wins the match, she can only win the title of the person she pins or submits, which could keep one of the worthless Speed titles active.
(Jason Powell, founder and editor of ProWrestling.net, has covered pro wrestling full-time since 1997. He hosts the 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.)
Johnny Lawrence:”QUIET!!!”