-An excellent cage match to start the show this week between The Dyad and Creed Brothers. The Creed’s program with Joe Gacy, Dyad, and Schism as a whole has been a long-term story with strange twists and turns. Some worked and some for sure did not. This was a fun, definitive end. The Creed Brothers looked great and will be a nice addition to the main WWE roster someday.
-All four women that wrestled in the main event — Roxanne Perez, Gigi Dolin, Blair Davenport, and Kiana James — all cut strong pre-taped promos throughout the show. These not only framed the NXT Women’s Championship #1 Contender Match as a big deal, but gave the women an opportunity to speak on the match and show-off character, while also delivering a mission statement on the win.
-Butch vs. Dempsey was a fun, mat style match, but really short too. The Heritage Cup Tournament should be a good watch and continued performances in the ring that are unique will help cultivate interest as the tournament goes on.
-I don’t typically consider Ilja Dragunov as a “mic guy,” but he showed something this week and really presented as an alpha-like top star of the brand. NXT’s promotion of him didn’t match as he didn’t even get a full television entrance, but still good on him for stepping up.
-Speaking of Ilja Dragunov, it looks like we’re headed for Dragunov vs. Hayes 2. Hayes doubting himself backstage throughout the show and then questioning Trick Williams’ belief in him was very strong booking — giving Hayes an immediate challenger in Dragunov, while the feud with Williams continues to boil.
-Brooke & Jordan vs. Vice & Lopez happened and wasn’t great. Lots of messy spots and though Brooke and Jordan appear to be headed for a break-up, there just isn’t any investment on any level to make the audience interested in the story.
-I was surprised to see Eddy Thorpe do the job for Dijak. Thorpe has a much bigger upside at this point and Dijak has just not put it all together. This gimmick isn’t it for him either. A small miss, but a miss nonetheless.
-Baron Corbin and Bron Breakker were HYSTERICAL this week. Not sure they were supposed to be, but they were. Breakker has lost a bit of momentum since the Hayes feud and working with Corbin and Von Wagner won’t help. Seems like he is slated for a big win here with these guys before heading to the main roster. There just isn’t anything left for him in NXT — for better or worse. The longer he stays, the more damaged his persona and star power gets.
-I have hated pretty much everything Chase University has done since becoming a thing two years ago when NXT 2.0 launched. I can’t get enough of the Andre Chase/Duke Hudson/Thea Hail relationship triangle. All three participants play things so well and whenever whatever turn happens, it’ll resonate because of how much people are invested. They made me a believer in this. Does it have main event potential, of course not. It works where it is right now on the card, though.
-Kiana James is the new #1 contender to Tiffany Stratton and the NXT Women’s Championship. What a bizarre choice. Stratton is in the middle of her run as a heel and trying to define herself in that role. Pairing her up with another heel really stunts her ability to get heat. You don’t want to go with Roxanne Perez yet, I get that. Dolin was there, though, as a mid-card babyface for Stratton to roll through. We’ll see how it goes, but she should have been the choice.