-A strong championship victory promo from Ethan Page to start the show this week. He needed it and delivered. Look, this may be the height of Page’s career in pro wrestling. It also might be only the beginning of a long WWE run. Is he LA Knight or is he Bobby Roode? We don’t know yet. Bottom line is, WWE sees something in him and are running with him while he as some momentum.
Babyface doing babyface stuff
-It was smart to have Trick Williams own his loss. He clearly wasn’t happy about it and finessed that into his owning of it, but he didn’t make excuses. Williams chasing the championship again is good for NXT business and it allows for the brand to feature Page at the same time. Smart move.
-Not sure I see much in Karmen Petrovic or Arianna Grace at this point. The match was a slog to get through and was less than three minutes long.
-The Brooks Jensen storyline is intriguing. I like the idea of a renegade, out of control talent in NXT, but I can’t shake the notion that it’s Jensen playing that role. After all, this is the same guy that was doing goofy romantic comedy skits and was the laugh out loud guy in his tag team. The angle and story is interesting, but Jensen is inauthentic as the guy involved.
Stuck
-Tony D’Angelo defeated Lexis King to retain his Heritage Cup Championship. No surprise there. These two are in very similar spots — stuck. D’Angelo is saddled with a gimmick that doesn’t have a very high ceiling — especially for the main roster. King is working a character that is directionless and without an actual identity. It wasn’t a bad match, but it wasn’t good either and nobody in the audience seemed all that invested in the outcome.
-Gallus needs to get a stronger NXT push. They have the tools as talkers and workers to be more impactful than they are. Gallus vs. Axiom/Nathan Frazer for the tag titles is a headlining match down the road if they want it to be.
-Was Wes Lee going to retire? I’m glad we didn’t see him go down that path. The Rascalz pulling Lee out of the depths of competitive depression is a good story and strong way to utilize the NXT/TNA partnership. Thumbs way up on this.
-Good to see Thea Hail get a definitive win over Izzy Dame. Not sure Izzy has what it takes long term to be anything of value to the company. Chase U is habitually on the redemption tour and this furthered that long term arch. Hail has to be on a short list for women that likely could dethrone Roxanne Perez as NXT Women’s Champion.
Fired up
-Oba Femi vs. Duke Hudson is scheduled for next week. Hudson cut a promo for that match this week that I didn’t think he had in him. He was fired up, believable, and a bit threatening all at the same time. Now, none of that phased Femi and obviously Femi is going to retain, but Hudson did enough to get people on his side. Well done.
-Geez … OTM defeated The Good Brothers. Who did The Good Brothers piss off?
-Big win for Sol Ruca to get back on track. The match was about repairing her after she did the job to Kelani Jordan over the weekend at NXT Heatwave. This worked to that end.
Flavor of the month
-Joe Hendry in the main event?!? A nice surprise. I don’t fully get the Hendry thing right now amongst wrestling fans, but he’s the flavor of the month, so why not go with him when you can? Williams got a nice rub with Hendry as his partner and their win sent the show home happy. Not much depth or substance here, but it was a fun way to end the show.
What did you think of this week’s episode of NXT? Let us know in the comments!
Subscribe to the Brass Ring Media YouTube channel HERE.
Become a Brass Ring Media member HERE.
I cover NXT for Cageside Seats, so I can speak to this well. I'll just say you're a little rough on Tony D. Guy's got throws like Miro, and he's still young.