By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
NXT Hits
Cruz Montana vs. Dion Lennox: Last night’s NXT television show played to a tougher-than-usual live crowd. Well, it did until Cruz Montana made his entrance. The flat crowd came to life for Montana and clearly viewed him as the biggest star on the show. I’m not a big fan of the story that Lennox drove Montana to a dark place mentally, but we’ll see where it goes. The no-contest finish was fine, as this feud feels like it’s just getting started.
Grayson Waller and Tony D’Angelo: A solid verbal exchange. Waller delivered the best zinger when he said that D’Angelo left his personality in the fedora he used to wear. D’Angelo can’t hang with Waller in a one-liner battle, but he showed good fire at the end while mentioning playing up his athletic background and what he intends to do to Waller when they meet for the NXT Championship at Halloween Havoc.
Hank Walker and Tank Ledger vs. Julius Creed and Brutus Creed in a Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament quarterfinal match: It was odd that the crowd didn’t get more riled up by high-energy Hank and Tank upsetting the Creeds. I like the decision to go with an upset if the Creeds are not going to be NXT regulars. Hank and Tank are NXT mainstays, so it’s good to see them advance to the semifinals.
El Hijo de Dr. Wagner and Galeno vs. Charlie Dempsey and Lexis King in a Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament quarterfinal match: A soft Hit for good work from the wrestlers, but this was the least interesting of the four quarterfinal matches. The live crowd sided with the babyfaces over the BirthRight duo, but their lack of passion for Wagner and Galeno was noticeable and understandable. Most American fans don’t know much about the brothers, let alone their impressive family history. Even so, I’m enjoying the Wagner brothers and hopefully they are winning over fans with each tournament win.
Izzi Dame vs. Layla Diggs: A solid match aside from the late Diggs’ kick that missed Dame. Vic Joseph did a nice job of acknowledging that Diggs’ kick only grazed Dame before he played up the possibility that Dame was playing possum when she picked up the win a short time later. Can anyone explain why The Culling is still a thing or why Diggs’ character has yet to be defined?
NXT Misses
Kelani Jordan and Wren Sinclair contract signing for the NXTWomen’s Championship match at Halloween Havoc: A minor Miss. Sinclair’s opening promo was much better than last week’s monologue. I was looking forward to a good verbal exchange before the wrestlers put pen to paper, but that changed when Jordan dragged a bloody Kendal Grey onto the stage. It came off poorly because Sinclair arrived on the stage and could have gone after Jordan, who awkwardly walked to the back without incident.
Zaria and Izzi Dame: Their verbal exchange was hilarious for all the wrong reasons. Zaria told Dame that digging into her past was not the way to go about getting a title shot, only to offer a title shot two sentences later. I didn’t think it would get any odder than that, but I’ll be damned if Dame didn’t accept the match only to tell Zaria not to worry about putting “that little title on the line.” What?!?
Tavion Heights: A rough promo until he got a rise out of the crowd by swearing at the end. Heights and Myles Borne will need to have a great match to pull in the crowd because they still haven’t connected with the fans.
Six-man tag cancellation: Vic Joseph announced that Mini Vikingo was not medically cleared for the advertised six-man tag match. The change was understandable, but why wait to make the announcement until after the first match? For that matter, they never explained why Vikingo’s teammates didn’t get a chance to find a different partner or even work a handicap match.
(Jason Powell, founder and editor of ProWrestling.net, has covered pro wrestling full-time since 1997. He hosts the weekly podcast, Pro Wrestling Boom, and 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.)
