Results
- EK Prosper def. Tristan Angels, Romeo Moreno & La Parka (AAA Cruiserweight Championship #1 Contenders) (Four-Way) (10:26) (Recommended)
- Nattie def. Thea Hail (8:26)
- Lexis King def. Lucien Price (WWE Speed Championship) (4:37)
- Kali Armstrong & Kelani Jordan def. Kendal Grey & Wren Sinclair (10:31)
- Jackson Drake def. Shiloh Hill
Cruz Montana awaits Zilla Fatu’s arrival
This week’s episode of NXT, live from the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, opened with a recap of the previous episode’s main event. The next matchup for NXT Champion Tony D’Angelo remained unclear after Zilla Fatu made his debut, interfering in a #1 contenders match between Grayson Waller and Cruz Montana.
We then went to the live feed, where Montana kicked off the show. He wasted no time calling out the man who crashed his title opportunity last week: “Zilla, where you at, homeboy?”
“If it wasn’t for you, I’d be standing here calling myself the #1 contender … There’s no way in hell I’m going to let you come in here and take what’s mine.”
Montana was told by a production hand that Fatu wasn’t in the building at the moment. Surprisingly, this segment was crashed by AAA Cruiserweight Champion Rey Fenix, of all people. These two have quite the history, facing off many times in TNA and AEW. Fenix was in the building because there would be a #1 contenders match for his title later. But, he came out to say that he has Santana’s back.
“If someone costs me a title shot? You know me, I’m ready for them too,” Fenix said, expressing that he would do the same thing if he were in Montana’s shoes. Montana ended the segment by saying that the parking lot is the most dangerous part of NXT (true), so he’ll be waiting for Fatu’s arrival there.
EK Prosper earns AAA title opportunity in fun four-way
The aforementioned four-way #1 contenders match for a shot at Rey Fenix’s AAA World Cruiserweight Championship was next. NXT’s EK Prosper, Romeo Moreno and Tristan Angels mixed it up with AAA’s La Parka in this one.
La Parka, who the commentary said has found a “fountain of youth” lately, hit a moonsault to the floor as the show went into a break. Vic Joseph later gave up the big secret that La Parka is more than one person. A fun sequence after the show returned ended with Moreno scoring a missile dropkick out of the corner to Prosper and La Parka.
Prosper kicked off Angels’ chest to give Moreno a high-angle DDT. Moments later, Angels gave Prosper a nice springboard suplex. A pin attempt was broken up by Moreno, who dropkicked Angels in the back.
Moreno climbed to the top for a high-flying move, but was thrown out of the corner with a Spanish Fly from La Parka. Prosper came off the top with a huge frogsplash to break up the pin attempt. The crowd was hot and chanting “This is awesome,” and rightfully so.
La Parka gave Moreno a gnarly exploder suplex into a set of turnbuckles. He was about to follow up with another move but was thrown out of the ring by Angels. The Briton went for the pin, but Moreno kicked out at two.
Prosper took out Angels with a Shining Wizard, then dropped Moreno with a Busaiko Knee. He then delivered a beautiful top-rope moonsault to Moreno for the pinfall victory in 10 minutes. Really fun, hectic opener. And Prosper winning was the right move here. He’s a fun prospect on the roster who should get a solid showcase when he meets Fenix on next week’s show.
Nattie makes Thea Hail tap
The latest chapter in Nattie’s feud with the NXT locker room saw her go one-on-one with Thea Hail, friend of Jaida Parker.
Hail was on a roll late, but had her springboard senton finisher dodged by Nattie. The Canadian talent tried to hurt Hail with ground and pound shots on the floor, but Hail caught an arm and slipped in a kimura submission. Nattie worked up to her feet then slammed Hail to the mat to escape the hold.
Nattie locked in the Sharpshooter in the center of the ring. As much as Parker willed Hail on to keep fighting, she eventually tapped out. Hail bit off more than she could chew here. Nattie further sent a message by beating up Hail and Parker during a post-match segment (with help from Karmen Petrovic and Nikkita Lyons).
OTM aren’t going anywhere
The next match saw Lucien Price look to capture singles gold for the first time in his career, taking on Lexis King for the WWE Speed Championship. Price earned this opportunity after beating King in a singles match last week. Like most Speed title bouts, this one had a five-minute time limit.
Price caught King lacking, hitting him with a thrust kick in the opening moments. The rest of Birthright pulled King out of the ring to break a pin attempt and save him from a sudden upset loss (I would’ve ejected them from ringside after this, but I’m not a ref).
Price was slapping King around the ring with huge chops to the chest. Booker T didn’t like how slow both of these two were working, considering the time limit. Lucien tried to pick up King for a huge powerbomb in the final minute, but was tripped by two Birthright members while the referee was distracted. This allowed King to hit his Coronation for the finish win in just under five minutes. This match was fun while Price was in control.
While Price told OTM partner Bronco Nima to stay in the back, he came out after Birthright tried for a post-match attack. After scaring off the heels, Price and Nima shook hands after the match, making it clear that, despite his affiliation with Perros del Mal in AAA, Price isn’t abandoning his tag partner anytime soon.
A triple threat is set for Heatwave… Or is it?
Next, we saw Grayson Waller hit the ring for a promo. He’s finally getting actual heat from the PC crowd, instead of cheers while doing a heel schtick. Waller said he’s not scared of Zilla Fatu or any other person in his family. He had a line about being happy for Fatu because he no longer has an ankle monitor. Similar to Cruz Montana’s promo earlier, he insisted that he would be #1 contender had it not been for Fatu’s involvement last week.
NXT Champion Tony D’Angelo showed up at this point. D’Angelo said he doesn’t care where his contenders come from, as he could beat anybody. It doesn’t matter to him if it’s Montana, Waller, or somebody else next in line. Montana showed up at this point, taking issue with Waller trying to set himself up for a match with D’Angelo.
“The last time I checked, you were the one laying on your back and looking at the lights before Zilla’s punka** decided to jump me,” Montana said. He suggested he face D’Angelo first, then Waller can get a title opportunity sometime down the road.
NXT General Manager Robert Stone came out to calm things down. Stone announced his plan: D’Angelo will defend against Montana and Waller at Heatwave. As for Fatu, where he fits into the division will be handled after he signs his NXT contract (which was scheduled to go down later on the show).
Armstrong, Jordan take down WrenQCC
In a tag preview for Heatwave, NXT Women’s Champion Kendal Grey along with Wren Sinclair faced #1 contender Kelani Jordan and Kali Armstrong. Grey was still rocking a gimmicked bandaged right ear due to a spot she took in her title match against Lola Vice. Grey sold a messed-up equilibrium at times during this one.
A fun sequence between Armstrong and Grey ended with the champ scoring a spinning back elbow. Grey distracted the referee at one point, causing a pin attempt from Jordan to get delayed. Booker T called the ref the “Herb Dean of NXT” due to this error.
During a sequence at ringside, Jordan tripped Grey and sent her ear-first into a set of steel stairs. This distracted Sinclair, who took a powerslam then a high-speed Kali Connection shoulder tackle from Armstrong for the pinfall win. This was a fun little tag bout, and it gets Armstrong into Sinclair’s title program with Zaria.
In a pre-taped segment, we saw Dion Lennox and Saquon Shugars talking trash in a UFC-esque side-by-side chat via satellite. Shugars proposed that their trilogy match take place inside a steel cage. Lennox upped the ante by saying it should also have weapons in it. Shugars warned that he’s going to embarrass Lennox next week.
Vanity Project earn not one, but two title shots for Heatwave
The final match of the night saw Shiloh Hill meet Jackson Drake with an odd stipulation: If Drake wins, not only will he get a shot at Myles Borne’s North American Championship at Heatwave, but the rest of Vanity Project will also get a tag title shot against Borne and Tavion Heights at Heatwave as well. This was Hill’s in-ring return after being out for a few weeks due to injury.
After dodging a springboard moonsault, Hill tossed Drake into the air for a huge forearm. Myka Lockwood got on the ring apron to distract the referee, allowing the rest of Vanity Project to yank Hill out of the ring and start beating him up. That was the plan, at least, but the ref ended up catching the faction in the act. All of Drake’s teammates were ejected from ringside, but not before Hill wiped them out with a huge dive to the floor.
Back into the ring, Hill came running off the ropes with a huge shoulder tackle. The fight went to the top rope, where Hill headbutted Drake to the mat. Drake accidentally knocked over the referee as he fell from the top, this looked a little silly.
Before Hill came off the top, Naraku emerged from under the ring and sprayed him in the face! A blinded Hill fell to the canvas. Capitalizing on this, Drake came off the top with a 450 Splash for the pinfall win. Borne will be defending both his singles and tag titles against members of Vanity Project at Heatwave.
In a backstage segment, we saw Robert Stone book a match for next week: Zaria and Kali Armstrong will face off. If Armstrong wins, she’ll join the title unification bout between Zaria and Wren Sinclair at Heatwave.
Here’s the lineup confirmed for next week:
- Rey Fenix vs. EK Prosper (AAA Cruiserweight Championship)
- Saquon Shugars vs. Dion Lennox (Weaponized Steel Cage Match)
- Kali Armstrong vs. Zaria
In a twist, Zilla Fatu gets added to title showdown
GM Robert Stone came to the ring for the final segment of the night, the signing of Zilla Fatu. Shortly after Fatu made his way to the ring, it was revealed that NXT champ Tony D’Angelo was watching nearby.
Fatu got on the mic and said he’s here to show, “I’m not just another nepo baby.” To the people he made mad with his debut last week, he said: “Get used to it!”
It was at this point that both Cruz Montana and Grayson Waller appeared at ringside, both upset and ready to get into the ring for a fight. Stone had a big reveal: In Fatu’s NXT contract, it states that his debut match will be for the title.
“At Heatwave, we turnin’ the triple threat into a fatal four way! Hello!!” Fatu said. He signed his contract as the show went off air.
The way Robert Stone revealed that Fatu would be added to this match was a little clunky. He’s supposed to be a babyface, but it kinda felt like he was pulling a quick one on the other three in this match by going from “Well, we’ll see what we can do with Fatu” to “He’s in the match!” within an hour. Anyway, the way this played out was goofy, but it got us to the match that I think everybody knew was going to happen at Heatwave. This was a short segment – short enough that I don’t have much to say about how Fatu’s first NXT performance on the mic was, honestly.
Final thoughts
While this wasn’t a particularly big episode of NXT, we saw a notable reveal for the men’s title picture, a decent match to remind us of the top women’s program, plus a few developments in the midcard. Was this a can’t-miss episode? No. But I don’t regret tuning in, getting some fun matches and more of a build toward Heatwave.
