By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
NXT Hits
Lola Vice vs. Izzi Dame for the NXT Women’s Championship: A quality television main event. Vice went over clean, but Dame looked good in defeat. The friction building within The Culling has me hopeful that Dame will be able to break away from the faction and establish her personality.
Kelani Jordan vs. Wren Sinclair: A strong opening match. It was odd that the broadcast team went out of their way to say that Sinclair won’t quit when the finish was her tapping out to a submission hold. Fortunately, Sinclair was protected by a storyline knee injury. Kendal Grey is rightfully earning a lot of praise for how good she is at such an early point in her career, but don’t sleep on her sidekick. Sinclair has a girl-next-door charm and a nice connection with the fans. Meanwhile, Jordan continues to shine. I’ll be very surprised if she isn’t among the next wave of wrestlers to be called up to the main roster.
Romeo Moreno vs. Nathan Frazer in a WWE Speed tournament match: A soft Hit for the better of the two Speed matches. They executed the closing seconds of the match extremely well with a superplex within the final ten seconds, followed by the inside cradle that won the match. The outcome caught me by surprise, as it seemed like Frazer was going to win when he executed the superplex and stood up to go for another move. Unlike the typical three-minute spot-fest, this was a rare Speed match that felt like it accomplished more than filling a few minutes with high spots.
Jaida Parker vs. Layla Diggs: A soft Hit for a fairly basic match that started rough and got better as it went on. There was one standout sequence in which Diggs flipped back to avoid being clotheslined and then immediately Parker with an elbow strike. Diggs showed personality and athleticism despite some clunky moments early on. On a side note, it’s a shame that Nattie has to go to NXT to get television time. They barely gave her new persona a chance on the main roster before she disappeared again.
NXT Misses
DarkState promo: They were put in a tough spot by being asked to deliver a wordy promo in the ring rather than it being a pre-tape. It wasn’t all bad, but the live crowd humored themselves by chanting “We want Saquon (Shugars)” or “No, we don’t.” The wrestlers tried to plow through the promo by ignoring the crowd, which only made things worse.
Tony D’Angelo, Naraku, and Kam Hendrix: A rough verbal segment. D’Angelo struggled to carry the bulk of the talking while he and Naraku were in the ring, which is odd because he’s typically a strong promo. Hendrix raised the energy level, but this segment just didn’t click. Naraku vowing to protect D’Angelo until they meet for the NXT Championship is interesting. However, it was counterproductive to have Naraku manhandle Hendrix a week before he challenges D’Angelo for the NXT Championship.
Sean Legacy vs. Dorian Van Dux in a WWE Speed tournament match: WWE spent years pushing the idea of wrestlers slowing down and limiting the high spots so that the wrestlers can get the most out of them. They throw that approach out the window for the Speed matches by having the developmental wrestlers race through three-minute spot fests. The wrestlers performed some impressive spots, but the Speed format isn’t for me. In fact, I was happy that the match ended in a draw because that means neither wrestler will be stuck wasting time as the Speed champion.
Shiloh Hill vs. Charlie Dempsey: The Harlem Heat-style tophat, the deer vest, a tie with no shirt, the petition to be named Mr. NXT, and the obnoxious laugh. The creative team has turned the talented Hill into an insufferable clown. A pageant? Really? The quality of the match doesn’t matter when one of the characters is such a turnoff that I want to change the channel whenever I see him. Why won’t someone put a stop to this try-hard cutesy bullshit? Meanwhile, Dempsey started in NXT in 2022 (after a year in NXT UK), and he’s still looking for his first consistent push. No, he shouldn’t get special treatment because he’s the son of William Regal, but he shouldn’t be punished for it either.
(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.)
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