Powell’s NXT Hit List: Ridge Holland vs. Andre Chase for a shot at the NXT Championship at NXT Deadline, Iron Survivor Challenge qualifiers

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

NXT Hits

Ridge Holland vs. Andre Chase for a shot at the NXT Championship at NXT Deadline: The show was laid out in a way that did a fantastic job of building up the match and the stipulation. The actual match was also laid out well for the most part. Just when it seemed like too much of the focus was on Chase rather than the guy who was actually going over, Holland destroyed Duke Hudson and Riley Osborne before pinning Chase. Heck, even Thea Hail was laid out, albeit from an Osborne dive. The only negative was the absurd length of time the referee was laid out after merely being pulled from the ring.

Zaria vs. Wren Sinclair in an Iron Survivor Challenge qualifier: Another dominant win for Zaria with the bulk of Sinclair’s offense coming after a distraction by Charlie Dempsey. They are doing a good job of building her up as a major force in the women’s division. That said, I am still surprised that she was cast as a babyface to start.

Ashante Adonis and Karmen Petrovic vs. Dion Lennox and Brinley Reece in a mixed tag match: The Adonis and Petrovic romance storyline isn’t going to appeal to everyone, but I find it to be dumb fun so far. I’m not a fan of the bookworm character that Lennox is playing, but he has a good look and upside potential. It’s good to see that Reece has moved on from the annoying chipper cheerleader gimmick.

NXT North American Champion Tony D’Angelo vs. Brooks Jensen in a non-title match: A solid win for D’Angelo that included building in a knee injury that will obviously carry over to next week’s title defense against Shawn Spears.

NXT Misses

Nathan Frazer vs. Eddy Thorpe in an Iron Survivor Challenge qualifier: Ava’s pep talk to the tag teams apparently led them to believe that they should harass the tag team champions and have random brawls. Crazy thought. Book good tag team matches and build up certain teams by having them go over. In this case, the big brawl amongst the tag teams took away from the match. The finish was also off, as Frazer appeared to overshoot the Phoenix Splash.

Stephanie Vaquer vs. Jaida Parker in an Iron Survivor Challenge qualifier: It felt like a mistake to throw this match out there with no build or hype. The finish with Parker being distracted by Lola Vice holding a brick was lousy.