Powell’s NXT 2.0 Hit List: Bron Breakker and Tyler Bate vs. Mark Coffey and Joe Coffey, Axiom vs. Nathan Frazer in the first match of a best of three series, Wes Lee vs. JD McDonagh, Meiko Satomura vs. Roxanne Perez, Nikki ASH and Doudrop vs. Jacy Jayne and Gigi Dolin, Ricochet vs. Trick Williams

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

NXT 2.0 Hits

Bron Breakker and Tyler Bate vs. Mark Coffey and Joe Coffey: This was unquestionably a Hit from a match quality standpoint. I like the idea of having the top babyfaces from NXT and NXT unite after their competitive title unification match at Worlds Collide. The negative is that Gallus is off to a lousy start in North America. They failed to win the tag titles in the four-way, and they took another loss here. I am curious to see who is next in line for Breakker. He’s worked with too many cruiserweights lately and I thought Joe Coffey might be his next challenger, but the creative forces would need to give him a big boost to make him feel like a threat to the title.

Meiko Satomura vs. Roxanne Perez: What’s not to like about a legend working with one of pro wrestling’s brightest young stars? Satomura gong over clean was logical given that she hasn’t spent much time in NXT and needs to be established to fans who are unfamiliar with her work in NXT UK and elsewhere. Perez losing gracefully only to be hit from behind by Cora Jade worked nicely when it came to extending their feud while also potentially setting up Jade vs. Satomura.

JD McDonagh vs. Wes Lee: A very good match with the expected finish of McDonagh going over. I assume his post main event attack was done to set up a feud with Tyler Bate rather than putting him back in line for another NXT Title match with Bron Breakker.

Axiom vs. Nathan Frazer in the first match of a best of three series: A quality match that didn’t set the bar too high for the two remaining matches in the series. A good “best of” series should peak with the final match and it seemed like they had that in mind by having a good match, yet not going balls to the wall in their first outing.

Ricochet vs. Trick Williams: A nice bounce back win for Ricochet after taking the clean loss to Carmelo Hayes in the best match of the Worlds Collide event. I thought that Ricochet beating Williams was a sign that he would be sticking around for a rematch with Hayes. Unfortunately, he’s not listed as one of the options for the fan vote that will determine who fill challenge Hayes for the NXT North American Championship next week.

NXT 2.0 Misses

Hank Walker and Javier Bernal: NXT viewers barely know Bernal, but his obnoxious heel act is easy enough to dislike. Conversely, Walker is likable in his role as the no nonsense head of security. It seemed like the creative forces were doing a slow build to an eventual match between the two, but then they skipped eight chapters by suddenly announcing the match for next week’s show.

Nikki ASH and Doudrop vs. Jacy Jayne and Gigi Dolin: It’s hard to take NXT seriously when a team that loses constantly on the main roster had to be protected when they lost to the NXT Tag Team Champions at Worlds Collide and then scored a clean pin over the long reigning former champions Jayne and Dolin two nights later. I get that NXT is developmental, but it’s also a weekly television series on the same network as Raw, and it sends a bad message that some of the top prospects can’t beat wrestlers who lose regularly on Raw or Smackdown. On a side note, I hope Jayne paid for post show dinner and drinks after bloodying Doudrop’s nose with a kick.