-A pretty good women’s tag match to start the show this week. Tatum Paxley and Lizzy Rain were a fun partnership to watch and played off the Zaria and Nikkita Lyons heel team well. Zaria leaving her heel partner high and dry was a little odd, but it made sense given Zaria’s storyline and character direction. Plus, Lyons isn’t an important enough heel character for it to matter much.
Stop singing
-Speaking of Lyons … you guys know what I’m going to say right? Right????! Attention Nikkita Lyons. Stop singing your own entrance music as you walk to the ring. Thank you.
-Well, it was a good debut for Naraku from the perspective of the fact that he got a win. At the same time, it took him almost five minutes to beat Lince Dorado. That guy is still on the roster? This match tells you exactly where he is in the NXT order of importance right now. He’s on the page, but not anywhere near the top.
-Birthright finally got a victory in what was a pretty good match against team WWE Evolve. Look, Birthright is a midcard faction at best. We already know it. That said, even if the group is going to only occupy that spot on the show, it needs victories. To that end, this worked.
Give that Rook a mic
-Damn, Mason Rook can talk. A very good promo from him this week. He handled the audience chants effectively and while he isn’t your run of the mill WWE Performance Center body type, he’s got a presence. The audience reacts to him. Time will tell whether Rook amounts to a one hit wonder and it’s way too early to make a call on that. He’s being positioned as an important character, though. Someone on the NXT booking team likes him a lot.
-After locking down an exclusive and wide-ranging interview with Keanu Carver last week, Emily Agard did it again this week. The subject was OTM and she dug deep on the team and their purpose. This new weekly segment is a nice addition to the show and one that will give audiences deeper looks at some of the new characters on the show.
-Jackson Drake with a strong win against Noam Dar … who I also can’t believe is still on the roster. Drake plays off his Vanity Project faction so damn well.
-It’s DarkState or bust next week. The group had a meeting of the minds and said that they all need to be on the same page in order to keep everything intact. The group will get Vanity Project for the tag titles. This is an interesting storyline twist. I’ve been down on it overall, but I like that there is now a chance for the group to disband peacefully. Ha! Yeah right. Not going to happen. This is shaping up to be the final chapter for DarkState, but half the group is going heel and will cost the team this match.
Smarter babyfaces please
-A bad finish to the main event. Kendal Grey vs. Kelani Jordan was a fine match, but Grey looked really bad being so overly concerned with her friend potentially being hurt that it cost her the match. Babyfaces need to be smarter than that. Grey is a promising talent, but has to find more of an edge as a character.
What did you think of this week’s episode of WWE NXT? Let us know in the comments!
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