-Anyone else surprised by how much they enjoyed Stephanie Vaquer vs. Jacy Jayne this week? Jayne was absolutely carried by Vaquer, but it’s a dance and there isn’t anything wrong with that. Vaquer continues to be one of the best talents in a stacked NXT women’s division. Guilia is the champion and gets more of the star treatment, but I’d say that Vaquer has acclimated better to the WWE environment at this point.
-All throughout the show, there was follow-up on the Royal Rumble appearances that NXT talent made. Lash Legend had a couple good one-liners to Zaria about being in the match — not great if you’re Zaria.
What’s with Zaria?
-Speaking of Zaria … like, really? She’s just in a tag team now? NXT missed the boat on her. She had enormous hype surrounding her debut and it fizzled the minute they made her a babyface. She’s got “unstoppable heel” written all over her.
-Now, I sense that Shawn Michaels recognizes the error in his ways and has constructed this tag team with Zaria and Sol Ruca, so Zaria can destroy it and turn heel. In the meantime, though, that team is as awkward as awkward can be. A fine win for them this week, but there isn’t any chemistry between the two women.
-For a second while Lexis King was cutting his promo I thought to myself, “wow, he’s doing well and finally explaining who he is,” good stuff! Then the promo went along for what felt like another hour and ruined the nice thought that I had. King went on and on and on, saying the same thing over and over and over in different ways. What started out as something with direction meandered it’s way into nothing.
It’s Fannnn ….. dannnnnn …. goooo
-JDC in NXT? Fine. Nothing wrong with getting something out of the old Fandango music and a feud with Lexis King is the level he should be brought in at.
-Ridge Holland vs. Stacks was what it was and happened just to get to the Holland vs. Tony D’Angelo match next week. That should be good. They’ve put time into this feud and that cage match is a good way to pay it off. Gotta wonder if we’re in for a non-finish given that Vengeance Day is just days after. Maybe a bigger stipulation match is on the horizon between those two at that show.
-Ok, the women’s summit worked if the goal was to paint everyone in the ring as more likable than Charlotte Flair. Roxanne Perez, Guilia, and Bayley all had a nice segment together — especially Perez because you couldn’t help but nod along a little and snicker as she ran down Bayley. Then things pivoted to Flair, though, and just like on Raw this week, she tried to come across as respectful, but couldn’t. She doesn’t have it in her. Luckily, the words she said about Guilia were strongest and while that match certainly isn’t your WrestleMania match for Charlotte, it is something that they could go to down the road. I was surprised to see Charlotte not mention Guilia as a potential choice though. After all, that’s why she was on the show in the first place.
Promo school
-I really like the Fraxiom tag team, but something must be done about the way Nathan Frazer carries himself during backstage promos. He looks like he’s going to start laughing at any minute and sounds like every word he speaks is while on stage as a standup comedian. Get that dude into promo class yesterday.
-A good tag team main event between the teams of Oba Femi & Trick Williams and A-Town Down Under. Lots happening here, but they were able to generate seeds of rivalry between Femi and Trick, hype Femi vs. A-Town Down Under for Vengeance Day, and get in some build for what surely will be an Eddy Thorpe vs. Williams match at Vengeance Day too. Lots of balls in the air and they caught them.
What did you think of this week’s episode of NXT? Let us know in the comments!
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