-A great show opening promo from Trick Williams this week. As the new NXT Champion, Williams looked like the star of the show and was polished in speaking about his win. We didn’t get a ton on what his mission statement will be as champion, but there was an angle between Trick and Meta Four regarding what’s in the envelope Lash Legend was holding. I’m intrigued and it looks as if the overall idea is for Williams to have a feud with a group of talent that he can easily beat right out of the gate. Smart, but here’s to hoping there are stronger talents waiting in the wings to go after Trick and the NXT title.
It’s all schtick
-Good grief. Are we done with the Gigi Dolin and Arianna Grace stuff yet? Dolin is laughing her way through the skits and Grace puts no fear or threat forward at Dolin for disobeying her. This is all schtick and it isn’t good.
-A solid big-man match between Oba Femi and Ivar for the NXT North American Championship. Femi is just great out there and is only scratching the surface of his potential. His style in the ring diversifies the show in terms of the type of wrestling we see week to week.
-So cool to see Wes Lee back in the fold. Lee vs. Femi appears to be where things are headed and that is … curious. On one hand, of course Lee needs to go after the title he never really lost. On the other hand, Lee chasing the North American Championship will continue to keep Femi miscast as a heel.
Big feud, clunky match
-Thea Hail and Jacy Jayne got a lot of time to work a feud together throughout the last six months, but the match they had didn’t come close to meeting the moment that a feud of that length needs. The match was clunky at best and featured a finish with outside shenanigans that was executed poorly. With Hail getting the win, the feud could be over. This also could be match one with a gimmick rematch on the horizon for Battleground.
-Can Fallon Henley play a heel? I have my doubts. She seems like a natural babyface and this turn on Hail screams “failed babyface” turn more than it does “exciting heel” turn. She hasn’t been asked to do a lot in NXT, so maybe she can pull it off, but nothing we’ve seen yet indicates she can.
-Well, ouch! A tough debut for Dupont and Igwe this week. Jobbing to The Good Brothers in less than five minutes? Not a great sign for that team and unless Good Brothers are headed to face Axiom & Nathan Frazer, the win doesn’t do much for them either. A strange sacrifice for Shawn Michaels to make with the hype that Dupont and Igwe got going into the show.
NXT Combine
-It’s been awhile since we had the parade of challengers enter the ring to discuss a championship match segment in NXT, so I didn’t mind them breaking it out this week to hype up the NXT Women’s North American Championship ladder match at Battleground. It worked to highlight who will be involved and talent like Sol Ruca and Jaida Parker stood out with strong performances. The combine idea is a good one to find contenders for the match. The success of that and entertainment level of that will strictly hinge on how they execute it.
-No matter where Shawn Spears goes, he ends up in the exact same spot. Ridge Holland is getting the weirdest push of all time, so any loss to him feels off at this point. At the same time, Holland IS getting a push. Bottom line? Spears is a role player doing role player things.
-Is it 2016? AOP was in another stinker of a match on NXT television, so it must be? If Frazer and Axiom can’t get a good match out of you, really nobody can. AOP and their faction aren’t doing anything to benefit the NXT brand at this point. Probably best to just keep them on Raw only.
Best ever?
-Dare I say that was the best “underground” style match WWE has ever put on? It certainly was better than anything that happened on Raw Underground a few years ago. Lola Vice and Natalya worked stiff and wrestled that style of match with the right psychology. It got a little wonky with the interference, but was successful in putting Vice over in the end. Speaking of Vice, this was her best performance to date — by far. Her character was more focused on being a fighter and less on being a dancing model and the result was a character that had some credibility behind it. Shifting that focus elevated her overall potential as a pro wrestler in the WWE system.
-It looks like Chelsea Green is going to be spending some time in NXT? Let’s see how this goes. Green is a comedy character and will have to adjust if she’s to be taken seriously as a contender to the NXT Women’s Championship next week. I’d bet this is a short term thing. Green has a character that is working on the main roster and doesn’t need to fine tune something new down on the developmental brand.
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