Results
- Jaida Parker vs. Blake Monroe (Double Count-Out) (9:00)
- Eli Knight def. Josh Briggs (WWE Speed #1 Contenders Tournament Semi-Final) (2:07)
- Joe Hendry def. Jackson Drake (NXT Championship) (11:13)
- Brad Baylor & Ricky Smokes def. Hank Walker & Tank Ledger (11:20)
- Sol Ruca & Zaria def. Wren Sinclair & Kendal Grey (Pinfall winner earns #1 contenders shot at NXT Women’s Championship) (12:25)
Joe Hendry books first appearance as champ
The latest episode of NXT, live from the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, started with a recap of the previous episode. For those who missed it, Joe Hendry won the top men’s belt in what was an impressive seven-person ladder match. Elsewhere on the show, Tony D’Angelo announced his plan to go after DarkState, and Robert Stone was appointed as NXT’s new General Manager.
We then went to the PC, where new champ Hendry came to the ring to address fans following his win. The new champ said that he felt some doubt during the match, but continued to fight after “We believe” chants urged him on. He told supporters that he is “just getting started,” and is ready to take NXT to “new heights.”
This babyface promo was eventually cut off by Jackson Drake along with the rest of The Vanity Project. Drake was among the many who had stand-out performances in last week’s ladder match. Drake called Hendry “mid,” saying he goes viral for singing songs instead of wrestling (Not wrong).
Drake revealed that his group were the one who attacked Hendry during the qualifying rounds for the championship match (not sure I’d brag about that, since the attack was so poor that Hendry ended up competing, and winning, in the title match anyway).
The EVOLVE champ said he wants to take Hendry’s title off him. Hendry said he has no problem kicking Drake’s ass and defending the title. A brawl between these four broke out, and while it briefly seemed like the heels were going to get cleared out of the ring, the numbers disadvantage caught up to Hendry and made him lose the fight.
I was really worried the next title program would be something more with Ricky Saints, which has become really stale for the moment (This comment ends up aging poorly by the end of tonight’s show). Drake is a fresh face and also a rising one with lots of potential. I thought this would be saved for the upcoming Atlanta card, but it was announced later in the show that their matchup will actually headline tonight’s show.
Keanu Carver didn’t like that Robert Stone gave Drake a title shot before him. Stone said that Shawn Michaels likes “chaos” on NXT and he was just trying to deliver that. Carver replied: “You like chaos? Say no more.”
Sol Ruca and Zaria were seen arguing backstage ahead of their high-stakes match. I wonder how many times I have written that sentence over the past nine months.
Count-out causes abrupt end to Parker vs. Monroe
A long-awaited grudge match between Jaida Parker and Blake Monroe was the first match of the night.
Monroe was on a run early on, continuing through a commercial break. She scored a hurricanrana out of the corner then a dropkick, but then a follow up front-kick was caught by Parker and turned into a spinning back elbow.
Parker started to regain some momentum with a series of moves, hitting a lariat, clothesline, then a Samoan Drop. She reversed a move in the corner from Monroe into her high-step hip attack.
Monroe rolled to ringside for a breather, but was tossed shoulder-first into the steel steps just moments later. In what was an incredibly fast count by the referee, both of these women were counted out and this bout ended as a draw after nine minutes. Kind of an awkward finish because of how absurdly quick the count-out was.
These two didn’t stop fighting despite the match ending. Parker draped Monroe between the ring apron and steel steps for another high-step hip attack. Back in the ring, Monroe dodged a Hipnotic, causing Parker to hit a referee instead (this also looked a little silly because the referee was in a completely different direction from where Monroe was).
A frustrated Parker attacked a few other officials after Monroe was able to escape her. I assume we’re going to see them again soon, likely with some sort of falls count anywhere/no holds barred stipulation involved.
Knight squashes Briggs in Speed tourney
If it wasn’t clear from last week’s segment, Uriah Connors confirmed backstage that he’s out of Chase U. He’s now aligned with Stacks, Arianna Grace, and Lexis King. They had a little promo talking about how they don’t want to follow in the footsteps of their fathers (they’re all second-generation wrestlers except for Stacks). King teased that they need one more member. They also need a group name!
Before the next match, they had an ad spot for the upcoming “Psycho Killer” movie, with “The Wanted Man” being shown sitting behind the commentary desk. This was not meant to be funny but was hilarious.
A WWE Speed match was up next, with Josh Briggs meeting Eli Knight. The winner will go on to face Elio LeFleur next week in a #1 contender’s bout (the winner of that will face Jasper Troy in Atlanta later this month.
Knight won this match in just over two minutes with a moonsault off the top (he overcooked this a little and kinda smashed his shins on the mat). Remember when Booker T said that after a few years in NXT, guys like Briggs are on the chopping block? He just lost a match in two minutes to a developmental rookie. I’m starting to worry that what Booker said was an omen.
Before the next match, cameras backstage caught Keanu Carver jumping numerous wrestlers backstage, including Andre Chase and Sean Legacy. Looks like he’s bringing “chaos” as promised.
A lot of people want a piece of DarkState
DarkState hit the ring for the next segment. Dion Lennox, who was in the ladder match last week, said he still has his sights set on the NXT Championship. More importantly, they wanted to respond to Tony D’Angelo’s call-out of them. “What the hell are you thinking?” Cutler James said. “DarkState is stronger than ever, and you are lonelier than ever.”
Saquon Shugars and Osiris Griffin also called out Shawn Spears and Niko Vance. The Culling’s Vance and Spears cut them off to threaten that “You are the hunted.”
In next was OTM, who took a play out of DarkState’s book by coming out of the crowd. They said that, if not for The Vanity Project, they’d have the NXT tag titles by now and wouldn’t miss out on the titles if given another opportunity.
Hank & Tank came in from the stage to make it clear that they want to regain the titles. There was someone in the crowd who was just shouting “OO!!” during this entire segment and it was very annoying. This ended in a huge brawl which also included D’Angelo, who hit the ring to take out Lennox and James.
Backstage, Robert Stone announced that The Culling, OTM and Hank & Tank will fight in a #1 contenders match next week. It was also confirmed that Ethan Page will defend his North American title against Shiloh Hill next week.
Joe Hendry takes down Jackson Drake in first title appearance
Joe Hendry’s first match as NXT Champion, a one-on-one battle against Jackson Drake, was next. Drake tried to get the jump on Hendry with a Swanton Bomb in the first minute, but it wasn’t enough to put him away.
Brad Baylor and Ricky Smokes were ejected from ringside early on in the match after the referee caught them attacking Hendry. Drake controlled the match for the most part for eight minutes, with Hendry mounting the comeback after a break per the show’s usual match formula.
Hendry connected with a fallaway slam then tried for a Standing Ovation, but Drake avoided it. Hendry settled with hitting an Olympic Slam instead for a two-count. Drake battled back with a running knee strike to the head, although it didn’t put away Hendry.
Drake came off the top with a move, but Hendry caught him and reversed into a powerbomb. He followed that up with the Standing Ovation chokeslam to win in 11 minutes and successfully retain his belt. Kinda hoped we’d get something more of a build for a title match with Drake instead of a one-night program.
Hendry was attacked afterward by Ricky Saints, who has been around the NXT title picture for who knows how long. I feel misled: At the start of the show, I thought we would get a fun build this month with a fresh face. I guess not.
Vanity Project capitalize on distraction for tag win
Brad Baylor and Ricky Smokes of The Vanity Project were back in the ring for the next segment, facing off against Hank & Tank.
Tank Ledger tried for a hot tag during a break, but that run was stopped after he was tossed head-first into a ringpost while running at ringside. Hank Walker tagged in just after the show returned, wiping out both Smokes and Baylor with a run of moves. He scored a massive Black Hole Slam to Smokes for a near fall.
Walker scored a pair of huge slams, but Baylor broke up a follow-up pin attempt with a top-rope elbow drop. Baylor tagged back in and hit a double-team dropkick spinebuster with Smokes. A pin attempt from Baylor was broken up by Ledger, who wiped out Smokes with a tope suicida just moments after. Hank & Tank tried for a double-team finisher in the ring, but Smokes got back in to stop it. With Smokes and Walker out of the ring, Ledger turned Baylor inside out with a huge lariat.
OTM and The Culling appeared at ringside, distracting the referee. Jackson Drake appeared at ringside and dropped Ledger with a dropkick to the head as the official wasn’t looking. This allowed Baylor to get the roll-up pin and win in 11 minutes. This match was fun during the final stretch. Robert Stone confirmed later on that next week’s tag bout is now a fatal-four-way #1 contenders match.
Stone was seen telling Myles Borne that if he wants a title shot, maybe he needs to “do something out of character.”
Backstage, Sean Legacy said he wants revenge on Keanu Carver after getting attacked by him this week. “Yeah, I might get my ass kicked,” he said. Famous last words. Legacy called for a title match as part of NXT’s card in Atlanta two weeks from now.
Here’s everything they announced for next week’s episode:
- Tony D’Angelo vs. Cutler James
- Kelani Jordan vs. Lola Vice
- Elio LeFleur vs. Eli Knight (WWE Speed #1 Contenders)
- Ethan Page vs. Shiloh Hill (NXT North American Championship)
- Hank Walker & Tank Ledger vs. Brad Baylor & Ricky Smokes vs. Shawn Spears & Niko Vance vs. Bronco Nima & Lucien Price (NXT Tag Team Championships #1 Contenders Match)
Sol Ruca snags upcoming title shot against Jacy Jayne, much to Zaria’s displeasure
Tonight’s main event saw Sol Ruca and Zaria team up to face Wren Sinclair and Kendal Grey in a high-stakes tag battle. This match had a special stipulation made to sow dissention within the teams: Whoever scores the pinfall win will be next in line to face NXT Women’s Champion Jacy Jayne.
They were really emphasizing that Zaria and Ruca are having troubles, making mean faces to eachother during their entrance and Zaria peeling Ruca off a pin attempt early on. Ruca had a fun exchange with Grey to get this match started; they’re two of the women’s division’s more interesting in-ring names for NXT currently.
Both Sinclair and Grey hit dives to the outside just before the show’s final commercial break. Ruca and Sinclair got into the match after the show came back. Their back-and-forth battle was cut short by Zaria, who tagged herself into the match. A brief argument between ZaRuca allowed Sinclair to get control of the match for a moment.
Grey tagged back in and attempted an armbar on Zaria. The Aussie escaped the move with a roll-up pin attempt. She hit a dropkick in the corner and tried for an F5, but Grey reversed it into a roll-up.
Zaria was superkicked into her corner by Grey. Ruca collided with Zaria as she hit the turnbuckles, knocking her off the ring apron but, as the referee noted, also tagging her back into the match. It was clear that Zaria didn’t realize she had been tagged out of the match and kept fighting as though she was the legal woman.
Zaria hit Sinclair with an F5 as Ruca, now back into the ring hit a Sol Snatcher to Grey. They both went for pins, with the referee counting Ruca’s successful attempt to end the match in 12 minutes. Zaria noticed halfway through the pin sequence that she wasn’t the legal wrestler. Ruca is getting a title shot against Jacy Jayne in Atlanta. Really well done finishing sequence between these two, and Ruca getting a title shot should be great in two weeks. Overall, a fun main event, which delivered as expected. NXT is stacking that upcoming Atlanta card; it’s looking like a great lineup.
