Powell’s NXT Hit List: Ricky Saints and Oba Femi received surprisingly little time heading into their NXT Championship match at Deadline, thoughts on Shiloh Hill’s quirky introduction

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

NXT Hits

Je’Von Evans, Leon Slater, Joe Hendry, and Myles Borne vs. “DarkState” Dion Lennox, Saquon Shugars, Osiris Griffin, and Cutler James in an eight-man tag match: While it’s not ideal to have DarkState lose another match, at least they told a story. Ava announced earlier in the show that if any of the babyfaces won, they would get to choose their spot in the Iron Survivor Challenge, while Lennox would get that reward if DarkState went over. It led to issues between Evans, Slater, and Borne. First, Slater tagged himself in, which upset Evans, and then Borne tagged himself in and stole the pin from Slater. It was a good way to establish friction between three of the babyfaces in the men’s ISC match.

“Fatal Influence” Jacy Jayne, Fallon Henley, and Lainey Reid vs. Sol Ruca, Lola Vice, and Kendal Grey: A decent match that concluded with Ruca getting a clean win over NXT Women’s Champion Jayne. While it’s good to see that the Ruca and Zaria split is finally happening, I’d be a lot more interested in whether Zaria tried to spear Ruca after this match if Zaria was actually in the Iron Survivor Challenge match. By the way, Jayne is doing really good mic work, but the Fatal Influence faction would be a lot more interesting if Henley and Reid were treated like more than sidekicks.

Thea Hail vs. Arianna Grace: A soft Hit for a fun television win for Hail over the highly entertaining Grace. I wish NXT used Grace as well as TNA does.

Tavion Heights vs. Josh Briggs: A battle of talented guys with questionable fashion sense. I still don’t get what Heights is going for with the sleeves on one arm and one leg. Worse yet, the smoking skull on Briggs’s entrance jacket looks like something he found in the dumpster last year after it didn’t sell at a Party City going-out-of-business sale. Anyway, the match was a soft Hit, but it was not good enough to leave me anxious to see the rematch that is likely coming.

Shiloh Hill: The oddball vignettes have won me over. I wasn’t sure where they were going initially, but I’ve enjoyed watching them slowly become dark. The most impressive part about Hill’s performances is that he comes off like he’s actually speaking about his life rather than reciting a monologue or playing a character. Only time will tell what his in-ring presentation will be like, but he’s off to a unique and compelling start as a character.

NXT Misses

Ricky Saints and Oba Femi contract signing for the NXT Championship match at Deadline: The brief contract signing was fine, but the build to their match has been underwhelming. I look forward to the match because of the wrestlers involved, not because of anything the creative forces did leading up to it. Oddly, the verbal exchanges between Saints and Je’Von Evans, and Oba with Dion Lennox received almost as much time as the contract signing.

Women’s Iron Survivor Summit: The daily affirmation style monologues from the babyfaces were such a turnoff that it was refreshing to hear from Jordan, because as a heel, at least she’s supposed to come off self-absorbed. Was I the only one concerned that when Jordan knocked the giant glasses off Grace’s face, they might crush a fan in the front row? I’ll take Grace wearing trendy oversized glasses over the recent trend phase that some of the WWE male wrestlers went through when they seemed to be going out of their way to show they were wearing aviator glasses that I associate with Jeffrey Dahmer and other serial killers.

“OTM” Lucien Price and Bronco Nima vs. “Chase U” Kale Dixon and Uriah Connors: A soft Miss. The match was fine, but it’s hard to invest in either team. Dixon and Connors are more dynamic in the ring than Bohdi Hayward and Duke Hudson, but Hayward and Hudson hit the right notes in Chase U, whereas Dixon and Connors come off like corny tryhards. Meanwhile, OTM has gone on a winning streak in television matches. That’s great, but I’d bet that most weekly NXT viewers couldn’t tell me even three things about the Price and Nima characters if their lives depended on it. Seriously, have we learned anything about these guys since their introductory vignettes?

(Jason Powell, founder and editor of ProWrestling.net, has covered pro wrestling full-time dating back to 1997. He hosts a 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.)