-Oh, you know me. I haven’t been a fan of the Joey Gacy vs. Dijak feud since it started what seems like years ago. It’s been forced, flat, and generally not all that interesting. I found the Asylum Match this week between those two to be entertaining. You win Gacy and Dijak! It wasn’t a perfect match by any means, but it held my attention and wrapped up the feud in a way that gave a little life do the Dijak character. That’s a high end outcome based on where this program was just a few weeks ago.
Fishy
-Luca Crusifino pledged himself to the D’Angelo Family this week. Smells fishy to me. Get it?
-How about Fallon Henley supporting her friend Thea Hail and trying to repair Hail’s relationship with crush Riley Osbourne. It sounds as ridiculous as it is. There’s juvenile and then there’s this. Not a great segment for Henley, Hail, or the Hail love storyline.
-Well, Lyra Valkyria should be very worried about teaming with Tatum Paxley after that bizarre pump up speech ahead of their tag team title match. Valkyria is bringing it as NXT Women’s Champion, but the amount of focus the seeds for Valkyria vs. Paxley get each week is stunning. Paxley hasn’t shown she’s ready for a match of that magnitude at this point. If it’s down the road, ok, but limited television time should be focused on the women’s feuds available to Valkyria now.
-The Wolf Dogs vs. Chase University delivered just fine. You got the big moves from Bron Breakker and Baron Corbin, but also the comeback and sympathy spots from Chase U. Wolf Dogs tried to act fully heel, but the audience only bought it in spurts. Breakker and Corbin winning was a bit of a surprise given the fact that Breakker is on the main roster, but why not keep them hot until Stand & Deliver and do a title change then. Based on Jacy Jayne digging in on Andre Chase and Duke Hudson for losing, it wouldn’t surprise me to see this rematch at Stand & Deliver over WrestleMania weekend with Chase U finally winning and ending their year-long batch of hardships.
Hayes really is Him
-I liked the backstage Carmelo Hayes promo to setup the main event. Hayes looked like a jerk flanked by his personal security team and was the ultimate heel going into a big match. Really good stuff that set a tone for the match later on.
-What the hell is Shawn Spears talking about? Just like in AEW, the character he’s playing doesn’t have meaning. It’s a bunch of fancy words put together on top of a smug, but twisted facial expression. He’s in a low card feud against Ridge Holland — that’s a plus, but the act needs more if it’s going to be anything more impactful for the brand as a whole.
-Ilja Dragunov was good on the mic this week. Openly advocating for Tony D’Angelo to beat Hayes was an interesting choice, but did a nice job in keeping Dragunov’s clean babyface perception intact thanks to him siding with another babyface. It also simmered another Dragunov vs. Hayes match down the road if they want it.
-Kabuki Warriors vs. Lyra Valkyria & Tatum Paxley was a good match, but with a predictable outcome that continued to simmer Valkyria vs. Paxley more than anything.
The ultimate failure
-The failed Roxanne Perez babyface run wrapped up this week after she attacked Lyra Valkyria after her tag match was over. Perez is a heel now, but make no mistake, the babyface run failed, which ultimately made this turn essential. Perez vs. Valkyria looks to be the match they’re building for Stand & Deliver. This is the right call, but doesn’t erase the amount of bad that went into Perez being in this spot.
-Sol Ruca is going to want that return spot back. Ruca interfered on behalf of Fallon Henley during her match against Blair Davenport, but totally missed her swinging DDT from the audience and into the ringside area. Cool idea, bad execution.
-Does the Arianna Grace character do as much nothing for everyone as it does for me? Goodness. Grace comes across as a person dressed as another person who is playing a wrestler who’s gimmick is a beauty queen. Just nothing authentic going on with the act right now.
Hey! It’s William Regal!
-William Regal sighting! The crowd loved seeing him and he sure made his son seem like a total jerk. The in-ring promo from No Quarter Catch Crew was exactly what it needed to be - short and sweet, but threatening at the same time. With more work like this, this group can make the Heritage Cup stand out.
-A good main event that saw Tony D’Angelo defeat Carmelo Hayes to earn a shot at Ilja Dragunov and the NXT Championship at Stand & Deliver. The bigger story of the match was how D’Angelo won. The finish featured Trick Willams’ entrance music distracting Hayes, but no appearance from Williams. D’Angelo got the win, but then introduced Trick who got a big reaction. I liked this quite a bit. The execution made D’Angelo’s claim to the number one contender spot credible and simultaneously enhanced the story of Hayes truly being scared of Williams returning to NXT. Williams getting such a strong reaction was what you’re looking to see and now they are set to do Hayes vs. Williams over WrestleMania weekend in what I imagine will be the main event of the show.
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