Results
- Tatum Paxley & Lizzy Rain def. Zaria & Nikkita Lyons (9:24)
- Naraku def. Lince Dorado (4:33)
- Stacks, Uriah Connors & Charlie Dempsey def. EK Prosper, Sean Legacy & Tate Wilder (12:57)
- Jackson Drake def. Noam Dar (10:21)
- Kelani Jordan def. Kendal Grey (12:47)
Lizzy Rain earns tag win alongside North American champ
This week’s episode from NXT, from the brand’s base of the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, opened with a tag match centred around the NXT Women’s North American picture. Defending champ Tatum Paxley teamed with recent NXT debut Lizzy Rain to take on Zaria and Nikkita Lyons in the first bout of the night.
For anyone who wasn’t aware of the scenario here: Both Zaria and Rain want a shot at Paxley’s belt. Lyons’ involvement here is less about the title and instead a focus on her wanting to get revenge on Rain, who beat her two weeks ago.
Rain got a hot tag against rival Lyons late in the match. Paxley tagged back in and scored a Superkick on Lyons then tried for her Sematary Drive finisher, but Lyons was able to escape the move.
Zaria and Lyons struggled to get along during this match, with Zaria refusing to tag Lyons into the match at times. These issues reached their peak near the end, when Zaria dropped off the ring apron to stop Lyons from tagging out of the match. This caused a hurt Lyons to continue to get picked on by the babyface team. Paxley scored a Rolling Thunder wheel kick, then Rain finished the match with her near Thunderstruck head kick finisher. Good opener. Rain’s first month on the show has been quite positive, this was another great showing from her.
Backstage, Kendal Grey said that her controversial match in New York against Lola Vice had an “open-ended” finish. Thus, after beating Kelani Jordan tonight, she hopes to get a rematch against the champ. Wren Sinclair also expressed apprehension about being with Grey “every step of the way” on her quest towards a title, citing fear that their partnership could turn into what Zaria and Sol Ruca had. Some possible foreshadowing for future issues?
Naraku wins NXT debut, makes Dorado ‘Enter the Abyss’
We had some surprising news announced next: Bayley, Grayson Waller, and, the most shocking name here, Penta, will appear as part of NXT’s three house show dates this weekend.
The in-ring debut of Naraku (formerly known in NJPW as EVIL) was up next. So much has gone unanswered about Naraku’s character and in-ring style as an NXT talent thus far, so I was curious to watch this. He went head-to-head with Lince Dorado.
Naraku hit his usual pose (minus the camera shake that used to come with it), spreading his arms wide after he hit the ring. Dorado had some moves early in this match, scoring a springboard crossbody a minute in. After that, though, Naraku started to take over with thudding chops, stiff lariats, and numerous suplexes.
Dorado got back into the match again (he got a surprising amount of moves in for a match that wasn’t supposed to showcase him), but eventually Naraku finished the job. Naraku still has the same finisher (Everything Is EVIL), now known as “Enter the Abyss.” He connected it to score the pinfall victory in four and a half minutes. Seems like, apart from a new name and no longer having association with a much larger faction, not much has changed for Naraku since joining NXT.
We were shown a clip from earlier today, where Jaida Parker confronted Nattie while she was being interviewed for LFG. There was a brief pull-apart between these two. Nattie said last week that Parker was “getting soft,” and I thought maybe that was teasing her training in the Dungeon. While there’s some animosity between these two, I still have a feeling that’s how this will end.
Tate Wilder makes a rookie mistake in his NXT debut
Six-man tag action was next, as Birthright’s Stacks, Charlie Demspey, and Uriah Connors, faced EK Prosper, Sean Legacy, and, in his NXT debut, Tate Wilder. Interesting detail: Last week we heard William Regal say that Dempsey was sent to train further after the faction’s latest loss. This match was also previously promoted to include Lexis King instead of Dempsey. Seems like something changed behind the scenes over the past few days, although it’s unclear what.
Dempsey got a near fall with a double underhook suplex off the top rope, but had his pin attempt stopped by a top-rope frogsplash by Prosper. Connors took Prosper to the ring apron for a nasty Death Valley Driver. Back into the ring, Connors survived a pin attempt after taking an F5 from Wilder.
Legacy, who was on the ring apron, was begging Wilder to tag out late in the match. Wilder ignored him. Wilder sent Connors and Stacks out of the ring then delivered a wild dive over the top rope and to the outside. Back in the ring, Wilder connected with a five-star frogsplash to Dempsey, but it once again wasn’t enough to end the match. Still, Wilder was ignoring tag-out pleas from his teammates. A top-rope moonsault by Wilder was dodged by Dempsey. Connors and Stacks took out Wilder with dual superkicks to end the match in just under 13 minutes.
A frustrated Prosper and Legacy watched as their teammate, who refused to tag out, caused them to lose. This was a creative finish and, honestly, a great debut for Wilder, who was the focus of the finish and gained some serious momentum with a hot tag earlier in the match as well.
Backstage, Tatum Paxley said she would like to defend her NXT Women’s North American Championship against Lizzy Rain next week. We saw a face-to-face between Shiloh Hill and Tristan Angels. We learned that Angels will make his NXT in-ring debut next week and likely later feud with Hill.
Mason Rook officially joins the NXT roster
NXT General Manager Robert Stone appeared in the ring for the next segment, bringing recent arrival Mason Rook (formerly Will Kroos) to officially sign his contract and join the roster.
Rook came to the ring and cut a solid promo about how he turns heads. “Even the greatest of all time, John Cena, sees him. I mean, it’s pretty hard to not notice a flying tank.”
He briefly called himself Will but caught himself. He said he’s not satisfied and always wants more, which is why he’s joining NXT. “I’m not the best super heavyweight,” he said. “I’m the best any-weight.”
This signing was cut off by NXT Champion Tony D’Angelo, who has suffered a few attacks from Rook in recent weeks. A promo from D’Angelo about how he’s not going to let Rook get one-up on him with the recent attacks was suddenly interrupted by Kam Hendrix, who jumped the champ from behind! This brawl ended after the massive Rook delivered a moonsault off the turnbuckles and onto everybody at ringside. It was quite the hard landing, but one hell of a visual. Rook got back into the ring and signed his contract to end the segment. I’ve been high on Rook for some time now, and I’m excited to see his first match.
NXT reporter Emily Agard’s assignment this week was appearing at OTM’s poolside barbecue for an interview. It was revealed in this interview that Bronco Nima lost his mother at a young age and has been helping take care of his younger brother ever since.
“When life called, I didn’t have any option but to answer,” Nima said.
Vanity Project helps Drake take down the returning Noam Dar
Noam Dar wrestled his first TV match in over a year next, going one-on-one with The Vanity Project’s Jackson Drake. Injury kept Dar away for a long time. Drake was carried to the ring by Vanity Project’s newest member, Myka Lockwood.
Booker T mentioned Meta Four (RIP) on commentary during this match. Dar was on a roll early on. He climbed to the top rope for a move just as the show returned from a break, but was knocked off-balance after Drake ran into the ropes. Drake got a near fall from a Lethal Injection cutter at six minutes.
Dar started to mount a comeback later, scoring a long series of suplexes. A spinning back elbow was dodged by Drake, who countered with a gutbuster for another two-count. What looked like a German Suplex from Dar was transitioned into an armbar, which Drake escaped by rolling into a pin attempt.
Drake won a striking exchange then tried for a second Lethal Injection, but had the move stopped after Dar scored a kick to his body.
The fight went to ringside, where Dar wiped out Brad Baylor and Ricky Smokes of Vanity Project. Lockwood held onto Dar as he attempted to climb back into the ring (the referee blatantly saw this and didn’t do anything). This allowed Drake to hit Dar with a knee strike, then connect with a 450 Splash for the pinfall win.
These two put on a fun one. Drake is an exciting in-ring talent and Dar hasn’t missed a step since returning. Vanity Project are on the rise, so Drake winning here isn’t a surprise. There’s also some sort of storyline brewing with Dar thinking he’s not his old self, as teased earlier in the night during a segment with Romeo Moreno.
DarkState interrupted Vanity Project’s post-match celebration and got on the mic after a commercial break. The quartet set their sights on Vanity Project’s NXT Tag Team Championships. It was expected that Cutler James and Osiris Griffin would be the ones challenging, as they have made their intention to take the belts clear in recent weeks. More tension between Saquon Shugars and Dion Lennox was teased during this.
While Vanity Project said that they don’t give “handouts,” DarkState said that they never got their rematch after dropping the belts and have already approved the upcoming tag match with Robert Stone.
But, in a big reveal, James and Griffin said that they won’t be challenging Vanity Project next week, but instead it’ll be Griffin and Shugars, who will have to set aside their issues to try and earn the gold. James and Griffin are hoping the opportunity will make the duo finally stop beefing.
Not sure why James and Shugars wrestled a match to try and earn a tag title shot if the group could’ve just asked for one. But other than that, I think it was a good setup here.
Myles Borne revealed backstage that he’s going to team with Tony D’Angelo to face Kam Hendrix and Mason Rook. This angered Tavion Heights, who felt like he was getting left out.
Here’s what was announced for next week’s show:
- Tatum Paxley vs. Lizzy Rain (NXT Women’s North American Championship)
- Brad Baylor & Ricky Smokes vs. Dion Lennox & Saquon Shugars (NXT Tag Team Championships)
- Myles Borne & Tony D’Angelo vs. Kam Hendrix & Mason Rook
A backstage segment also set up Tate Wilder vs. Keanu Carver for next week.
Just before the main event, Kali Armstrong cut a promo backstage about how she’s ready to run through the NXT roster just like she did EVOLVE. Kendal Grey, who notably beat Armstrong to earn the EVOLVE women’s title in September, appeared in the shot and reminded Armstrong that she didn’t run through “everybody.”
A distracted Kendal Grey falls to Kelani Jordan
The main event of the night saw Kendal Grey and Kelani Jordan go one-on-one. Both of these women came into this match eyeing a shot at NXT Women’s Champion Lola Vice, and it was shown early in the bout that she was watching from backstage.
Jordan connected with a springboard moonsault to the outside early in the match. Grey responded a moment later with a high-spot of her own, coming off the top rope and to the outside with a crossbody.
Grey scored a beautiful belly-to-belly German Suplex then peeled the straps down from her singlet to show that she’s firing up. Jordan continued to get hit with nasty suplexes from Grey. After a series of reversals, a hurricanrana into a pin attempt from Grey earned a two-count.
Jordan scored a top-rope forearm then a nasty powerbomb for a near fall. She tried to follow up with her split-legged moonsault out of the corner, but Grey stopped her partway through and caught a leg of Jordan for an Ankle Lock. Grey kept a hold of Jordan’s ankle for the submission through pin attempts, this was a fun sequence.
Jordan finally escaped the submission but got caught in an armbar just moments later from Grey. Jordan stood up and scored a pair of knees to the head of Grey to get out of the move.
Jordan came running off the ropes for a move but got caught in a powerslam from Grey for another near fall. The fight went to the top rope, where Jordan connected with a Spanish Fly. Still, it wasn’t enough to end the match.
Near the end of the match, we were shown a shot from backstage, where another contender in the division, Izzi Dame, attacked champ Vice. Their brawl spilled out into the ringside area, causing Grey teammate Wren Sinclair to get knocked over in the process.
The hectic ringside exchange distracted Grey, causing Jordan to knock her out of the corner then score a split-legged moonsault for the pinfall win in 12 minutes. Dame stood tall as the show went off air after attacking Vice once again. A great main event match, as is usually the case with Grey. The women’s division is fun right now, as the three contenders going after Vice are all intriguing.
Final thoughts
I’m really enjoying NXT currently. The contenders surrounding both the main title pictures are all intriguing. The new arrivals are pretty much all exciting. The midcard is putting together some fun programs as well. It’s an easy watch each week, and tonight was no exception. I was worried NXT would become stale after the recent wave of call-ups, but that has been far from reality.
