By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
NXT Hits
Dominik Mysterio, Rhea Ripley, Dragon Lee, and Rey Mysterio segment: Lee’s promos are still a work in progress, but his English has improved. Shawn Michaels recently credited him with taking classes at the WWE Performance Center and it showed. The announcement of Rey appearing in Lee’s corner next week gives the show a nice boost. WWE put the Mysterio family feud on hold coming out of WrestleMania, so it should pack a punch to have Rey and Dom on the same show. For that matter, Rey endorsing Lee should go a long way.
Santos Escobar, Tony D’Angelo, and Stacks vs. “Gallus” Joe Coffey, Mark Coffey, and Wolfgang: Sure, it’s odd that Escobar lost a loser leaves NXT match to D’Angelo and yet D’Angelo called him when he needed a third man for this match. But if they want to do more with Escobar in NXT somewhere down the road, then I guess they had to have the guy who beat him in the loser leaves NXT match be the one to bring him back. The match was well received by the live crowd and the mystery man approach served as a nice hook to keep viewers engaged.
Baron Corbin vs. Andre Chase: This was a good follow-up to Chase throwing in the towel during Hail’s title match at the Great American Bash. Hail was pouty and petulant before and during the match, and then returned the favor by throwing in the towel when Chase was locked in the single leg crab just as she was at the Bash. Corbin throwing the towel back before the referee saw it was strange, but I guess they wanted him to use his End of Days finisher.
Lyra Valkyria vs. Jacy Jayne: A good opening match that maintained a quick pace from start to finish. It was good to see Valkyria use a new finisher. That kick she used previously just looked too random and didn’t feel like a finisher. Valkyria is clearly in the midst of a big push, so the outcome was no surprise, but I hope they find a good program for Jayne.
Dijak vs. Eddy Thorpe: One step forward and two steps back for Thorpe with this loss coming off his NXT Underground win over Damon Kemp. I’m all for Dijak getting a push, but it’s strange that it came at the expense of Thorpe. That said, it was a quality television match.
Elektra Lopez and Lola Vice vs. Valentina Feroz and Yulisa Leon: A mild upset win for Lopez and Vice over the duo that was on the winning side of the Great American Bash Kickoff Show match. I get that the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions can appear on NXT, but it’s clearly not going to happen often. At this point, I’m not really sure why the company felt the need to do away with the NXT Women’s Tag Team Titles when NXT has more women’s teams than either one of the main roster brands.
NXT Misses
Carmelo Hayes and Wes Lee vs. Noam Dar and Oro Mensah: The finish was botched. First, it came off like Hayes sacrificed himself for his opponent when he pushed Dar out of the way before taking a Cardiac Kick from Lee. And then Mensah clearly slipped while going for a top rope move. It happens and he recovered quickly by throwing a superkick, but the live crowd let the poor guy have it with “you f—ed up” chants. On a side note, I got a kick out of Dar being distraught over losing the NXT Heritage Cup, but the idea of introducing a fake cup and now having Dar defend it is ridiculous.
The Schism: This faction has been running on fumes for far too long. The surprise debut of Ava made things interesting for a few weeks, but whatever life that breathed into the act is long gone. I’ll bet Zack Gibson and James Drake are counting down the days until their contracts expire so that they can finally escape this nonsense.
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