The NXT brand returned to the road on Sunday night with the NXT Vengeance Day 2024 PLE and the result was a memorable show thanks to angle that’s been building for months.
Trick Williams and Carmelo Hayes have carried the reins of the top story in NXT because of their personal friendship and slight dissension, but the feud between both men ignited at Vengeance Day. After the main event in which Williams lost to Ilja Dragunov with the NXT Championship on the line, Hayes delivered the line, “we’re still brothers,” before decking him from behind and beating his knee to pixie dust with a steel chair.
The angle worked. The audience loudly booed Hayes with “fuck you, Melo” chants blaring in the building and NXT now has a central blood feud to lead them into Stand and Deliver over WrestleMania weekend — the brand’s biggest show of the year.
The matches came and went with some good and some bad in them all, but in the end it didn’t matter. Melo and Williams did and this year’s iteration of Vengeance Day will be remembered just for that.
Here are my Brass Ring Ratings for the show and here’s how they work … I call it like I see it. Period.
Bron Breakker & Baron Corbin vs. Trick Williams & Carmelo Hayes - Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Finals
Sloppy. With all this talent in the ring, it was strange to see as many botches as we did throughout. They went for some really big spots and risky moves with a high percentage of failure behind them, but weren’t fluent on a lot of them. The end result was a disconnected match that ended abruptly with the focus heavily leaning on something else other than the tag tournament itself. Plus, NXT didn’t put a lot of drama between Williams and Hayes after the finish. They hit it with a backstage vignette later in the show, but with the Hayes turn happening, the audience needed more from both me here as one of their final appearances together on the same side.
Heydorn’s Brass Ring Rating - OO
Joe Gacy vs. Dijak - No Disqualification Match
These guys are so ice cold and it was nearly impossible for them to build any intrigue even as they crashed through tables and onto toy Hot Wheels cars. There’s your next sponsorship deal, Nick Khan! It was what it was. Nobody cares about these guys and the match never kicked into even second gear because of that lack of investment.
Heydorn’s Brass Ring Rating - O 3/4
The Family vs. OTM
A good six-person tag match. Lots of action and lots of movement throughout. OTM will have a tough road to recovery after this, but are clearly defined lower than Tony D’Angelo and The Family. For what it was, this was totally fine and perked up the audience after a slow start.
Heydorn’s Brass Ring Rating - OO 1/2
Lyra Valkyria vs. Roxanne Perez - NXT Women’s Championship
This match started off wonderful. Both Valkyria and Perez displayed some fun chain wrestling together and seemed like they were priming themselves up for a long outing. They were smooth together and clearly had chemistry. Those two women are the top women’s stars on the brand and it felt novel to see them wrestle the other one on one. That novelty was soon butchered. The minute Lola Vice ran down to cash in her title opportunity gave away the finish. There was a lot wrong with Vice in that moment. Why would she cash-in an opportunity like that against two opponents? Why not wait until closer to the end of the match when the women are beaten up more?
This was all way too cute and it didn’t need to be. Now, Perez and Valkyria still have a singles match to get to and Stand and Deliver looms. That top show is a prime spot for a fight between two top acts, but why book the match for Vengeance Day at all then? Now, once Vice added herself to the match to make it triple threat, the trio worked better than I expected them to. They also had the audience, which made for a strong environment.
Heydorn’s Brass Ring Rating - OO
Oba Femi vs. Dragon Lee - NXT North American Championship
It was an Oba Femi showcase. Lee did his part and bumped all over the ring for Femi. Femi looked like the supreme athlete that he is. Great stuff. Femi has all the upside in the world.
Heydorn’s Brass Ring Rating - OO 3/4
Ilja Dragunov vs. Trick Williams - NXT Championship
The match of the night. Williams and Dragunov worked stiff and there was blood shed early on because of it. That set the tone and the tone was of a fight. The middle of the match plodded a little with Hayes getting involved before the official turn, but the end was hot. Both Dragunov and Williams got near falls on the other that inched the crowd to the edge of their seats and got them loud. Because Hayes didn’t cost Williams the match directly, I would have had Williams win the title and defend that at Stand and Deliver against Hayes. I get the logic of the title not being involved opening up another big match for the show, but that story is the most important in the promotion. Those typically should include your top singles championship.