Results
- Myles Borne def. Ethan Page (NXT North American Championship) (7:05)
- Wren Sinclair def. Nikkita Lyons (WWE Speed Tournament Semi-Final) (2:56)
- Hank Walker, Tank Ledger & Shiloh Hill def. Brad Baylor, Jackson Drake & Ricky Smokes (13:48) (Recommended)
- Jacy Jayne vs. Zaria (NXT Women’s Championship) (No Contest) (10:52)
Ethan Page comes up short in impromptu title rematch
This week’s episode of NXT, the final show before the brand presents its Vengeance Day Premium Live Event (PLE) this weekend, was live from the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. The opening segment of the night saw the new NXT North American Champion Myles Borne address the crowd for the first time since his huge win over Ethan Page last Tuesday.
Borne thanked Page for “pushing” him, because the way Page doubted him allowed Borne to unleash a darker version of himself. “Can you hear me now?” Borne said, mentioning his slogan.
Page came out and took all credit for Borne’s departure from being a “mild-mannered” man, and said that it was time for the new champ to repay for him for that. Borne was quick to grant Page a rematch. Page was incredibly eager, and asked for it to happen tonight. In fact, he wanted it right now!
It’s usual wrestling logic that two men dressed in suits means there’s no way we’re getting an immediate match… But that’s actually what happened here! NXT General Manager Robert Stone made it official and we were underway with the first match of the night.
Page had control as the show returned from a break, scoring with a Confidence Breaker for a two-count. Borne started to battle back with a series of shots, ripped off Page’s shirt, then floored him with a dropkick.
Page considered whipping Borne with his belt, but was reminded by the referee that he would get disqualified for it. But, after tossing the belt away, which distracted the referee, Page took out another belt which he whipped at Borne for a near fall!
Page’s pants had dissolved by this point, so he was just fighting in his underwear. The clothing coming off throughout the match made this one seem a little goofy at times. Another referee distraction allowed Borne to take off a shoe and hit Page over the head with it, then scored his Borne Again finisher for the pinfall victory in seven minutes. A fun finish, emphasizing that Borne has that killer instinct and is willing to do more underhanded tactics if it means he can win.
DarkState were seen awaiting Tony D’Angelo’s arrival in the NXT parking lot. They were herded inside the venue by Robert Stone, who urged that any sort of confrontation between these two groups must happen inside the PC. Please, only jump people inside the venue!
Monroe, Parker have a face-to-face ahead of Vengeance Day match
Blake Monroe came to the ring for the next segment, addressing rival Jaida Parker. Monroe said that Parker “needs” her, claiming that getting interrupted proved that she’s relevant. “This biggest thing a woman can do in NXT is interrupt Blake Monroe.”
Monroe made what many of us already expected official, that she’s facing Parker at Vengeance Day this weekend. This promo was cut off by Parker, who said she needs to “slap the taste” out of Monroe’s mouth.
Parker said “the glamor only exists because insecurity does” and that she doesn’t have to “chase relevancy” because she is relevancy. Take everything away, Parker said, and all that’s left for Monroe is being a “mediocre bitch.” This caused a brawl to break out, where Parker sent Monroe retreating with a hip attack. Parker was awesome on the mic here, and it helps that the crowd is behind her as much as they are.
Wren Sinclair wins Speed match, Paxley & Dame have final confrontation
WWE Speed action was up next, with Wren Sinclair and Nikkita Lyons facing off with a three-minute time limit. The winner of this would go on to face Thea Hail in a #1 contenders match to later challenge Fallon Henley.
Lyons dropped Sinclair with a spinning back kick in the final minute, but Sinclair was able to reverse the pin follow-up attempt. Back up to the feet, Sinclair scored a suplex then locked in a Final Wrench (Cattle Mutilation) for the tap with just four seconds to spare. Considering this was Lyons’ second NXT TV appearance in a year, I wasn’t really holding my breath regarding this result.
A pre-tape clip showed Kelani Jordan training with Shayna Baszler ahead of her NXT Underground match against Lola Vice this weekend. This was a fun little segment, with Baszler essentially trying to convince Jordan that she bit off more than she could chew by challenging an ex-MMA fighter to a shoot-style fight. Cool to see Baszler on-screen, she has been doing backstage work with WWE since her departure from the company last year.
Another pre-tape saw Tatum Paxley and Izzi Dame in their final face-to-face before their title fight this weekend. This was held inside the weird all-black world that The Culling holds all their meetings in. Dame dressed down Paxley for all her shortcomings, said she hasn’t changed and can’t be “fixed.” Paxley said she thought winning the NXT women’s title would be the best feeling of her life, but now she knows taking the North American title will feel better cause she’s taking it off Dame’s hands – awesome line. Very good segment between these two.
Hank & Tank & Hill take win over Vanity Project
Six-man tag action was next, with The Vanity Project facing Shiloh Hill and Hank & Tank. The Vanity Project jumped the babyface trio during their entrance to start the match with the advantage.
Keanu Carver appeared at ringside during this match and told Booker T to make sure his boy keeps his name out of his mouth (Jasper Troy was mentored by Booker T on LFG).
Hill, Hank & Tank were on a roll at the four-minute mark, scoring stereo slams to Vanity Project. Vanity Project took control after a misdirection spot from Brad Baylor and Ricky Smokes confused Hank Walker. Vanity Project had a fun sequence before a break, with two members trapping Tank Ledger between the steel steps and the ring apron at ringside – Jackson Drake hit a baseball slide dropkick to Ledger as he was stuck in that position.
Hill got the hot tag after the show came back, it was the obvious choice to spend a long time building up his entrance into the match since he’s the clear star here. He scored an awesome senton onto two Vanity Project wrestlers in the ring.
Drake came running off the ropes for a move but was given a gigantic Bossman Slam from Walker. Hank & Tank hit a double-team move to Drake then scored dual tope suicidas to the outside, wiping out the other two Vanity Project members at ringside. Hill hit the ring and gave Drake a neckbreaker to win the match in 13 minutes. There was a lot of really fun stuff in here from both sides, and the crowd was into it. I remain incredibly high on Hill and Vanity Project and am excited to see what’s next for them.
Blake reappeared in the venue and announced that her fight against Parker this weekend will be a Street Fight, aiming to do a battle so violent that it ends the feud for good. Parker also returned and had to be held back from fighting with Monroe.
Backstage, three members of DarkState found Osiris Griffin laid out after getting attacked by Tony D’Angelo.
D’Angelo hopes to end DarkState this weekend
Lola Vice, who has been wrestling with a (worked) hand injury in recent weeks, was seen chatting with a doctor about the injury. The doctor suggested that she needs to get out of action for a while or risk suffering potentially permanent damages to her hand. Vice said that she simply can’t be out of the ring and miss her upcoming fight against Kelani Jordan – so that’s going to be a big storyline heading into this weekend’s match.
Dion Lennox hit the ring in hopes of calling out Tony D’Angelo, trying to get revenge after he wiped out Griffin backstage just minutes later. D’Angelo, who appeared from the crowd, said that he had gone from being the hunted to the hunter since returning. He called Lennox out for a matchup at Vengeance Day this weekend, where D’Angelo says he will destroy DarkState for good.
Lennox made it seem like this was an unofficial #1 contenders match between these two coming up, talking about the implications it might have for Stand & Deliver April. Lennox flubbed a line, saying “The NXT Takeover” before correcting himself and saying “The DarkState takeover.” Seems likely that D’Angelo wins on Saturday then moves onto a title shot.
Sol Ruca returns the favor on Zaria
Lexis King and the Birthright faction were seen once again trying to recruit Charlie Dempsey. Referencing how many people have graduated from the No Quarter Catch Crew and progressed into greater things (e.x. Myles Borne), Arianna Grace said that all of Dempsey’s friends have moved on, and it’s time that he does too.
The main event of the evening saw Jacy Jayne put her NXT Women’s Championship up against Zaria. This matchup was booked last week after Zaria attacked Sol Ruca, betraying her teammate and injuring her ahead of a title bout against Jayne.
Jayne was ahead for a large portion of the bout’s first half. Zaria started to battle back after a commercial break, scoring a superplex out of the corner. Zaria landed a series of strikes then a headbutt, then a pair of splashes in the corner and a Northern Lights Suplex.
Zaria dropped Jayne with a clothesline for a near fall – the Fatal Influence troop started to look concerned at this point. Zaria hit a pair of German Suplexes then came charging forward for another move, but Jayne countered with a hard knee to the head for a two-count.
Zaria dodged a Rolling Encore from Jayne then came off the ropes for a spear. She tried for an F-5, but Jayne escaped and hit a Rolling Encore upon second attempt. It was at this point that Sol Ruca hit the ring and took out both women with a double Sol Snatcher to end the match in a no contest at nearly 11 minutes. I don’t know why this match had to go as long as it did if it was just going to end like that. It was awkward seeing the Orlando crowd struggle to figure out who they’re supposed to cheer in a heel vs. heel bout.
Ruca interfering was the most obvious outcome here and we’re likely getting a three-way for the title at some point. This felt too predictable, but that triple threat should be good when we get it.
Backstage, NXT GM Robert Stone said that he will have a “decision” by Saturday for what he will do with the women’s title. I don’t know, it took me about 2 seconds personally to figure out what the next title match should be.
The broadcast provided an updated rundown of this weekend’s NXT Vengeance Day card:
- Blake Monroe vs. Jaida Parker (Street Fight)
- Tony D’Angelo vs. Dion Lennox
- Lola Vice vs. Kelani Jordan (Underground Match)
- Izzi Dame vs. Tatum Paxley (NXT Women’s North American Championship)
- Joe Hendry vs. Ricky Saints (NXT Championship)
Joe Hendry crashes the Absolute Experience
Before NXT wrapped up, we saw Ricky Saints attempt to counter Joe Hendry’s past concerts by presenting the first-ever Saints “Absolute Experience.”
Saints grabbed a guitar and started singing part of Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” before playing his own version of the “I believe in Joe Hendry” song. The performance was intentionally awful and meant to get him some heat. We knew Hendry was going to cut him off eventually, but my god, this terrible performance joke had really run its course by the time we finally got to that point. It was mercifully put to an end after it was revealed that a stagehand in the ring with Saints was Hendry himself.
Hendry cracked a chair over Saints’ back and was about to hit a Standing Ovation, but was stopped by The Vanity Project. Myles Borne hit the ring to help get Vanity Project out of the ring. Hendry had given props to Borne backstage earlier in the night, so in storyline they’re friends now. Hendry tossed Saints over the top and onto the rest of the Vanity Project to bring the segment to an end. I wasn’t too big on this closing segment, but it wasn’t terrible.
Final thoughts
I thought this was a decent episode of NXT. It was paced well (unlike last week) and had a pair of fun matches between the opener and the six-man tag. It had less wrestling and more angles this week, but that made sense considering they still had a lot to do in terms of building up this weekend’s PLE, which I think they succeeded in doing tonight.
As for Vengeance Day, I’m not over the moon excited for the show. But, let’s face it: It’s a show with two title matchups that they aren’t even leaving the PC for. I don’t think anyone is pretending that this is any bigger than a b-tier event for the brand. Once you accept it for what it is, on the same level as some of the TV specials the show presents, then it’s not a terrible lineup. Maybe I’m being too charitable here, but there are a few matches in that lineup that I believe could deliver, so I’m still generally positive on it.
