-Ughhhhhhhhhhhhh. A Noam Dar match starting the show off this week did not boost my excitement for NXT this week. Dar and his Meta Four group are beyond obnoxious and do nothing to plant even a shred of seriousness around the Heritage Cup that he now holds. Zack Heydorn is a defender of the Heritage Cup. It’s a unique way to feature wrestling matches in 2023, when so many are presented similarly. That said, Dar holding the title is a joke and this match was flatter than flat because of it. Akira Tozawa as Dar’s opponent didn’t help either. He’s a joke on Monday Night Raw and it was impossible to see him as anything but that during this match.
-Lola Vice, Kelani Jordan, Ariana Grace, and Karmen Petrovic all need to work on their personalities and charisma. When they speak it sounds like a second grader reading off of a notecard for a presentation. They are clearly the next crop of talent that is set to be featured, but neither woman has shown the propensity for super high ceiling based on what we’ve seen thus far.
-Oh, we got an A to B champions promo from Lyra Valkyria this week and it worked for what it was. Valkyria spoke, put over Becky Lynch, and then got a new contender in the form of Xia Li. Valkyria has shown she has what it takes to be the lead woman’s act on NXT.
-Tiffany Stratton definitively beat Fallon Henley to qualify for the women’s Iron Survivor Challenge match. Not much to this one, but if you wondered where Henley fell on the pecking order of importance in NXT, now you know. Henley doesn’t have an authentic gimmick at this point and has had trouble connecting with the crowd on her own. The match was ok, but there is a level to her game that is missing.
-There wasn’t a lick of closure between Bron Breakker and Von Wagner during their match this week. It was fine and based on Wagner competing too early, which gave Breakker the win. Ehh. Wagner is certainly more interesting now than he’s ever been to date, but they needed to deliver more with this given the hype it got. Wagner got some justice on Breakker and smashed him through a table, but this was a needless chapter of story that will inevitably come to a head at the upcoming NXT PLE.
-I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again. Does anyone know what the hell Joe Gacy is talking about? Does anybody care? It doesn’t seem like it. Gacy is a lost act right now. Either give him juice or let it go completely and start over with a new character idea.
-Now, what the heck was in the envelope for Andre Chase that Jacy Jayne snooped on and read? Chase U is slowly being torn apart at the seams and this was another indication of that storyline direction. Jayne has something on Chase now. Look for the wedge between the group to keep getting bigger and bigger.
-Good match between Dijak and Tyler Bate. Dijak got his big guy spots in and Bate took those moves in a way that made Dijak look really strong. No surprise seeing Dijak qualify for Iron Survivor Challenge. For as good as Bate is, he simply doesn’t appear to be in the booking plans for the upper tier roster of the show.
-The drama between Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams continues to be the best part of the show. The in-ring encounter between both was fun to watch. Williams was very believable in his questioning of Hayes on the attack he sustained. He walked the fine line of trying to accuse Hayes of doing it, while not doing it, which added tension to their interaction. Hayes confirming multiple times with Williams that Williams had no memory of the attack is the hook WWE wants you to take so the whodunnit story can continue. Really good stuff and a reason to watch the show for the next few weeks.