-It was a bummer to see Stephanie Vaquer have to give up the NXT North American Championship. For some reason, with her — as opposed to other double champs recently — it felt like a strong portion of the NXT audience wanted to see her defend both belts. NXT gave fans a tease of that world last week when she did just that and now that momentum is gone. Poof. That said, the move doesn’t really change anything for Vaquer long-term.
Two questions
-The questions now are … 1) who wins the Women’s North American Championship and 2) who does Vaquer pick to face at Stand & Deliver? I’ll guess … 1) Cora Jade and 2) Guilia.
-Jordynne Grace and Jaida Parker had a really nice brawl this week. Grace absolutely launched a security guard out of the ring in a video clip that will live in infamy for a long, long time. It’s a good feud for both women — especially Grace, who will likely get a big win.
-Zaria vs. Lash Legend was much better than I expected it to be. Like, a lot better. These two had chemistry and even though Zaria was always going to get the victory, it was a nice way to jumpstart the ladder match qualifying matches to crown a new Women’s North American Champion at Stand & Deliver.
Can it work on Raw?
-I still get way too big of a kick out of The D’Angelo Family segments. They are so unique and while I’m not sure they can work in this exact form on the main roster, they fit within the narrative structure of NXT. More importantly, the character investment from everyone involved makes it work better than it ever should.
-As for the segment itself, it finally provided some context around the DarkState faction. It wasn’t much and it didn’t have a lot of depth to it, but that faction badly needed it. So, thumbs up.
You have to be freaking kidding
-Another damn triple threat match during WrestleMania weekend? The match to do at Stand & Deliver is Oba Femi vs. Trick Williams for the NXT Championship. That’s the biggest match NXT has on the men’s side of the house and it’s watered down by Je’Von Evans being in it. Femi vs. Trick vs. Evans will be a good match in the ring, but the storyline is forced when you add in the third contender.
-Wow … very surprising to see Roxanne Perez job to Kelani Jordan the way she did. A huge win for Jordan and Perez doesn’t need to be in that North American Championship picture anyway, but a move to the main roster officially needs to be in the cards once you play this one. Really good match.
New champ
-Ricky Saints is the new Men’s NXT North American Champion. Really smart move. Saints has come across as a big-time star since joining NXT and the title win tells the audience to stay invested. Ethan Page attacking Saints lines up a nice match for both guys at Stand & Deliver.
What did you think of this week’s episode of NXT? Let us know in the comments!
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