-A surprisingly good match to open the show this week. EK Prosper and Lizzy Rain defeated The Culling. Solid stuff and I guess EK Prosper is getting a push. Between the win this week, the win last week over Keanu Carver, and Rey Mysterio putting him over during a phone call with Robert Stone, it’s hard to come to any other conclusion. He’s impressive in the ring, but the character and personality are still missing.
-Lizzy Rain and Izzi Dame have quietly built a pretty nice rivalry. That singles match is a Heatwave match at this point if Shawn Michaels wants it.
-It’s finally happening. Kelani Jordan is getting an NXT Women’s Championship match at NXT Heatwave. Rejoice! Kendal Grey being the one to facilitate the title shot for Jordan very much helps her character as a fighting babyface that is up for any challenge. She’s great in that spot and delivered with this. The ear injury is something to watch. Probably just an avenue for the match to get built on, but also a potential escape hatch for the booking in case they want to take the title off of Grey for some reason.
-A quick thought on the NXT Women’s Championship picture. Grey has been excellent as the fighting champ. She can work with pretty much anybody and it comes across as important. Grey needs a real feud to sink her teeth into. Like a heel to work with. I’m talking hatred. It’s time. Grey is more than just a good worker in the ring and if she’s going to have a strong run on the main roster someday, she’ll need to deliver those types of stories and programs.
-Oh god … is the DarkState and Saquon Shugars feud going to continue? This was supposed to be the end! Shugars against Dion Lennox was what it always is — fine. Time to wrap it up.
-I guess Wren Sinclair needed protection from a loss to Zaria? What are we doing here? Zaria beat Sinclair to retain her NXT Women’s North American Championship, but it happened because of a brawl between Saquon Shugars and Dion Lennox. Huh? Look, Zaria is a dominant champion with a much higher upside than Sinclair. This was so silly and not particularly well-executed either.
-What’s happening with Shiloh Hill? Seriously. The selfie video promos are actually pretty good, but they’re all over the place in terms of what is in them.
-Kam Hendrix over Mason Rook? That was a surprise. Don’t go out of your way to see the match or anything like that, but a win over Rook is notable? I think? These two were in the top title picture just a few weeks ago — especially Rook. The top of the men’s division has been restocked and these two both have been knocked down a peg.
-Ok, Myles Borne is a great babyface and all. I get he wants to accept all challenges, but c’mon. Agreeing to wrestle twice in one night for championships isn’t smart. NXT shouldn’t present their babyfaces that way.
-A lot was made this week about the AAA Cruiserweight Championship being defended in NXT. Pretty cool, but the main roster and NXT have to do a better job of explaining what the titles are.
-Cruz Montana and Grayson Waller were having a strong match, but then Zilla Fatu showed up. Fatu ending this match was an impactful way for him to debut. He looked awesome and the audience clearly knew who he was. If this is the main event finish, why all the other shenanigan and protection finishes throughout the show? It made sense here. Not so much for Zaria vs. Sinclair.
-All of a sudden the top of the men’s division in NXT is something to pay attention to. D’Angelo, Waller, Cruz, and now Fatu. Not half bad. Fatu is going to be hard to slow down. The guy oozes charisma and energy.
What did you think of this week’s episode of NXT? Let us know in the comments!
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