-It was fun seeing The Rascalz back in action together. They are good team and a smart way for NXT to benefit from the partnership with TNA. Gallus were perfect opponents and the opening match was excellent because of the chemistry there. Thumbs up.
Do you believe in Joe Hendry as champion?
-Why was Joe Hendry out there for this match? TNA related content, perhaps? I guess. Look, lots of fans “believe” in Joe Hendry right now. The challenge for both TNA and NXT is to take him out of novelty, fun, haha zone and get him into a zone of being a true contender. He’s in the championship match at Slammiversary. He should probably win that world title. In NXT, mixing it up with Ethan Page would be an efficient use of his presence. He needs to be more than just a catchy song.
-Are Ethan Page and Oro Mensah in a real feud together? What started as a filler feud for Page seemingly is more than that at this point. As the new NXT Champion, Page needs stronger opponents than Mensah and unfortunately, there just isn’t a long list of worthy challengers waiting in the wings. They are reaching with Mensah and it’ll hurt Page’s title run even when he wins and wins cleanly.
-Just like on Raw this week, NXT did a nice job of presenting their main event. Duke Hudson and Chase University articulated throughout the show what a big match Hudson had against Oba Femi and put meaning behind him brining the North American Championship to the university. It didn’t change minds about who would win the match, but meaning and context is important around title matches, so that they matter when they are booked. This backstage content served that purpose well.
Right place, wrong time for Thea Hail
-Roxanne Perez vs. Thea Hail is on tap and with both Guilia and Stephanie Vaquer waiting to come into the promotion, the match just doesn’t have the sizzle it ordinarily would have. Hail is a strong sympathetic babyface and it would be fun to see her win a championship — especially over a heel like Perez. With those women coming in, Perez needs to hold the title because she’s the biggest match both of them can have.
-A solid little match for Je’Von Evans and Brooks Jensen. Evans did his thing and the deeper story with the unhinged Jensen and his former partner, Josh Briggs, got it’s next chapter.
-Dante Chen vs. Ethan Page for the NXT Championship was fine, but certainly not dramatic. Not sure what Chen’s ceiling is at this point.
Too much acting
-Ok, they are asking Charlie Dempsey to do WAY too much acting and he just doesn’t have the chops at this point. His backstage call for back-up to Tony D’Angelo was awkward and the interaction with Wren Sinclair didn’t land. Dempsey needs to be in the ring. They missed this week.
-Tatum Paxley won a match! I swear a pig just flew over my head. I don’t see it in Paxley — the gimmick, the ring work — nothing is there on a high enough level at the moment. That said, she gets television time and someone is clearly behind her, so give her the W’s to see what kind of momentum she can drum up.
-My how the mighty have fallen. Jacy Jayne was once a member of the hottest women’s faction in NXT and now she’s losing to Lola Vice in less than three minutes. Vice is the project for WWE. Jayne has more of a feel for her character at this point, but Lola has more range in the ring as a top star. No surprise to see her get the win. The surprise was just in how little it took for her to get it.
-The OC vs. OTM? Again? This we didn’t need. Scary thing is, the feud is clocking in at one win a piece, so another match is certainly on tap.
Femi being Femi
-Strong main event. Duke Hudson vs. Oba Femi for the NXT North American Championship was the match of the night and had solid big man action that kept the audience interested. Femi was always going to be the victor here, but he and Hudson did enough to suspend disbelief thanks to some well-timed near falls. Hudson sold well for Femi and did his job to help get the champion over in a losing effort. Femi was Femi. He continues to be a shining star on NXT television.
What did you think of this week’s episode of NXT? Let us know in the comments!
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I'm not going to destroy the show, I'm just going to recognize and remind that the women get to a presentable level quicker than the men do. I went on a whole thing about Chase U recently when there was hope Duke Hudson would win gold, but I reminded everyone that story is all about Thea at this point. It's the same thing I said with the NA Women's Championship; it's a work in progress.