Powell’s NXT Hit List: Joe Hendry vs. Wes Lee vs. Pete Dunne for a shot at the NXT Title at No Mercy, gauntlet match for a shot at the NXT Women’s Title at No Mercy

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

NXT Hits

Joe Hendry vs. Wes Lee vs. Pete Dunne for a shot at the NXT Championship at No Mercy: As if the red hot Hendry wasn’t the people’s choice going in, Ethan Page interfering twice to stop him from winning really made the fans hungry for a Hendry win. And just about the time I was ready to grumble about the follow-up to Lee’s heel turn, Zachary Wentz showed up for a brief yet effective pull apart brawl to close the show.

Axiom and Nathan Frazer vs. Riley Osborne and Duke Hudson: Axiom and Frazer had to win given that they had already been granted a rematch for the NXT Tag Team Titles at No Mercy. And yet even though there was zero mystery regarding the outcome, this was still an entertaining match from start to finish.

Hank Walker and Tank Ledger vs. Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson: I dig the high energy Hank and Tank as a tag team. Yes, even despite the jorts. And I’m still trying to forget about them hosting the Great American Bash shows. Anyway, it wouldn’t have meant anything had Gallows and Anderson won this match. Conversely, it came off like a really big win for the underdog duo.

Jaida Parker vs. Wren Sinclair vs. Adriana Rizzo vs. Sol Ruca vs. Kendal Grey vs. Brinley Reece in a gauntlet match for a shot at the NXT Women’s Championship at No Mercy: A soft Hit. The match had some rough moments, but overall it was more good than bad, especially given the experience level of some of the wrestlers involved. The match came down to the three most likely contenders. It was a little disappointing to see they cut right to the final two, but Ruca’s Sol Snatcher is always a thing of beauty. The final two really needed more time to create more drama, but I like that Parker went over and that Ruca had the out of being an early entrant facing the final entrant. Parker has been very impressive and her match with Roxanne Perez for the NXT Women’s Championship at No Mercy is a huge opportunity. I am anxious to see how she does.

Ashante the Adonis vs. Dion Lennox: A soft Hit for a solid television match. Lennox has a good look, but his glasses gimmick feels a little cartoonish. I get a kick out of Adonis as the wannabe playboy, but it’s an undercard gimmick on a guy who feels like he should be more than that in NXT.

NXT Misses

Wendy Choo vs. Lola Vice: The match was rough and the finish was just plain bad. Kelani Jordan stormed out to confront Choo just in time to factor into the finish? Gee, what a coincidence. Vice was given a big push out of the gate, so it was surprising to see her take this loss when they could have put someone else in her role.

Charlie Dempsey and Wren Sinclair: I was genuinely excited when Oba Femi interrupted Dempsey and not just because Dempsey and Wren Sinclair were having a really rough segment. Rather, I was really hoping that Femi was going to propose a unification match for his North American Title and the ice cold Heritage Cup. Heck, I even started day dreaming about Oba Femi going to AEW and holding unification matches to eliminate a couple of that company’s needless titles, but I digress. The only real positive was that the segment closed on a high note with Tony D’Angelo getting the better of Femi to set up an North America Title match.

Who? Yes, I mentioned this issue last week. And I’m going to keep harping on it whenever there are backstage segment with more unfamiliar faces than wrestlers I actually know by name. I have watched NXT since the bad reality days. If I’m left wondering who some wrestlers are, just imagine how confusing this is for more casual viewers. The simple solution is to be more consistent with the use of name graphics.