-Fallon Henley and Tiffany Stratton have delivered in their feud for the most part, but things took a turn for the worse this week. It seems as if “garbage” is going to play a role in the match given the emphasis on it in promos, but also during their brawl. Why the cute gimmick? A regular, tried and true, street fight would have been perfect here and a much more effective way to get both over to a new level in the end. The garbage stuff feels silly and unbecoming, as does the idea that Henley will be Stratton’s servant if she loses.
Top stars doing top star things
-Trick Williams and Carmelo Hayes continue to drop nuggets of disdain as they work with one another. They are on the same team now, but the clock surely is ticking. Hayes we’ve known is a star and the nuanced way in which he’s played the “supportive, but not supportive” best friend has been very effective. Williams has walked the line of being a trusting friend to Hayes, while not crossing over into overly naive either.
-So, more on Ridge Holland and Ilja Dragunov later, but Holland’s appearance and face-to-face with Dragunov was entirely out of the damn blue. It’s as if Shawn Michaels just decided to skip four chapters of the story and act like everyone knew what had happened. A bizarre turn of events that got even more bizarre (and bad) by the end of the show.
-Lexis King in the Breakout Tournament isn’t a sign that his push has gone well. This is a reset for him and boy does he need it. Yikes. It’s time to blow the gimmick up. It’s rooted in nothing of substance and on a talent that isn’t ready for the spotlight he’s getting.
Who’s really the priority these days?
-Thea Hail and Jacy Jayne eating a loss to Team Kiana James this week wasn’t a huge surprise, but that duo is going to need a W at some point. The booking goal was to repair Kiana James a bit after her loss to Roxanne Perez and while they succeeded there, James showed in the match with Perez that she may not have as high of a ceiling that WWE thinks she does. Hail’s might even be higher and priority will need to shift to her if she’s to realize her full potential.
-Andre Chase and Chase U continue to crack me up. On paper it sounds ridiculous with Chase essentially cutting a deal with a mob boss, but man, it worked.
-I’m enjoying the NXT North American Championship open challenge matches. They are a good showcase for Dragon Lee as champion and a smart way to differentiate that title from the NXT Championship.
-Wait, is Joe Gacy turning babyface? Is that what’s happening with his happy go lucky, I’ll beat up Gallus demeanor? Here’s the thing, I guess it’s worth a shot given the heel act fell flat on it’s face. That said, if Gacy isn’t attached to something in the regular flow of what happens in the NXT ring each week, he’ll still have the same problem keeping relevant in a major way. The act has shown glimpses of being interesting, but gets ice cold water tossed on it whenever things move to the ring. There has to be connectivity there for it to work long term.
Don’t sing your own entrance music!
-Nikkita Lyons, please stop singing your entrance music as you walk to the ring. Thanks! Lyons adds another strong character to the women’s division, but she still has a ways to go in terms of feeling what that character is in the moment. Mid-card is where she should be right now and that’s exactly where she is.
-Tank Ledger and Hank Walker teamed up against Gallus …. that’s about it on that one. Ledger and Walker just haven’t shown anything of note to think they will be players at any level in NXT or the WWE main roster.
A disastrous main event
-So, Ilja Dragunov vs. Ridge Holland was the main event of the night and as I said up above, the match made no sense. Then the finish said, “hold my beer.” Holland injured Dragunov’s neck and Dragunov had to be stretchered out of the arena as the audience looked on in disbelief. Holland was distraught. The announcers were quite.
This was horrendous. First, WWE is trying to manipulate emotions by playing off the notion that Holland is a dangerous worker in WWE. He legit injured Big E in a very significant way and that what WWE is hoping the audience connects the dots on. Here’s the thing, that story runs counter to everything wrestling is about. On the show, Holland isn’t a “worker.” He’s a fighter that IS trying to hurt his opponent at all costs. So, the notion that audiences will either feel A) sympathy for Holland or B) hatred for Holland because of this angle all stems from pulling the curtain back and going “hey, none of it’s real folks.” Obviously, everyone knows that, but you absolutely cannot use that reality as the basis for a story.
Second, how good is that story anyway? Holland had been back in NXT for less than two hours. The audience doesn’t have a connection to him and why would they?
Lastly, it’s just in bad taste? Why build a story about a guy really hurting someone? Maybe he’ll not care and become a big monster heel for the brand? I guess that’s the best outcome, but in that case the better move is to just have him act like one in the real narrative cadence of the show.
*sigh*