-Damage CNTRL vs. Meta Four to start the show got the audience rolling thanks to Damage CNTRL, but the match missed overall. Just disconnected a times and not all that over, even in front of the NXT usuals at the WWE Performance Center. Lash Legend held her own, but Jakara Jackson was the one that felt a step behind. Kairi Sane was laying in her strikes very strongly, which helped, but didn’t fix the tone of things. The finish with Chelsea Green and Piper Niven getting involved was bizarre too. The angle seems to be a multiple team match for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships at Crown Jewel.
Awwwwwkwarrrd
-Ok, so the Ashante Thee Adonis stuff with Karmen Petrovic was odd. Weird. Uncomfortable. Not such what they are going for here, but Petrovic and Adonis both look really, really bad.
-Tatum Paxley has grown on me quite a bit. She’s much better in the ring and still has a character with a ceiling on it, but there’s a charisma there that’s hard to look away from. A long way to go, but the match this week with Jaida Parker showed her growth.
-Look, I know they are trying to create dissension between Nathan Frazer and Axiom, but making Frazer look like a jerk isn’t the way to go. He’s a babyface to his core. Looks like one and acts like one. Axiom too. What’s wrong with being a tag team that just gets a long nicely?
-Who attacked Adrianna Rizzo??? Zaria? She made her debut at the end of the show. We’ll see, but this angle did a nice job at showing how close Tony D’Angelo and his family have become. Really well done.
-Luca Crusifino getting destroyed by Oba Femi was necessary with the big Femi vs. D’Angelo match scheduled for Halloween Havoc on Sunday. Femi looked great, but not heelish and that’s a tough line to walk. Important in this case because Femi hasn’t been framed as a true bad guy opposite D’Angelo. Well done for a go-home angle ahead of a PLE.
Page doing the job
-Pretty good promo segment with Trick Williams and Ethan Page. They both drew the line in the sand and highlighted their differences in character. Williams looked like a damn star out there. He deserves to be the face of the brand and Page helps frame him just like a good heel should. Well done.
-Sol Ruca delivered another nice match. This time against Karmen Petrovic, so that’s a feather in her cap. Not much to this one, but totally fine.
-Nikkita Lyons and Oba Femi are going to be a thing on television now? That’s certainly what they teased this week. Lyons drags Femi down in a very, very big way. Totally unnecessary and likely bad.
-I’d say Out The Mud is very much In The Mud. Losing to Hank Walker and Tank Ledger just isn’t a good position for you. Not a good match either.
-Andre Chase vs. Ridge Holland in an Ambulance Match? I’ll buy that. They’ve told a long story between those two and there is “Ambulance Match” level hatred between the two. Holland’s promo this week was one of his better ones. Fans are going to be deeply invested in this one. When it comes to Chase University stuff, they always are.
-Stephanie Vaquer and Guilia are wonderful as a tag team. In the main event this week, both women stood out in a strong way, but Vaquer really brought it. She’s got an intensity to her that bounces off the screen. The match was totally designed for them to shine and both Jacy Jayne and Fallon Henley recognized that helped accomplish that goal.
Zaria debuts
-Interesting to see Zaria, formerly DELTA, make her debut the way she did. Not debuting her at Halloween Havoc leads me to believe she’s getting involved in one of the women’s matches on the show.
What did you think of this week’s episode of NXT? Let us know in the comments!
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