-Wes Lee vs. Ilja Dragunov was an excellent opener. These guys had chemistry and the result was a smooth match that felt important due to the championship stakes that hung in the balance.
-After Lee lost the match, he was shown packing up his stuff in the locker room without explanation. They are clearly going somewhere with this and subtly starting the story with a simple camera shot was an interesting way to go.
-A pretty strange promo between Bron Breakker and Baron Corbin this week. The audience had absolutely no clue who to get behind. Corbin is a habitual heel and hated by the audience, but started things off as the voice of reason around what Breakker did last week to Von Wagner. Look, Breakker almost murdered Wagner last week, so yeah, it was important to have someone call Breakker out for it. Corbin, though? He doesn’t have credibility in that role. Then, he proved it when he swerved and thought highly of Breakker for his dastardly deed. Just when you think this can’t make any less sense, Breakker challenges Corbin to a match. If you’re confused, you should be. This made no sense.
-I continue and continue and continue to get a kick out of the Chase U stuff. It’s been a full 180 degree pivot. Duke Hudson and Andre Chase have layers to their relationship and have built a lot of the story with Thea Hail on top of those layers. Chase U is set to explode and it will have been a two year long arch once it does.
-I can do without Dana Brooke matches at this point. She is what she is and just shouldn’t get the time she’s getting on national television.
-Anyone else high on Eddy Thorpe? The gimmick is really cool and there is an intensity to him that has jumped off the screen so far. His feud with Dijak is just the beginning of what will be a long run with the brand.
-More good little matches in the Heritage Cup Tournament. These have been fun, but a more story in them would help build intrigue around the Cup itself.
-The tag team scene in NXT is in a bit of a disarray. It seems as if all the challengers for the titles have lost recently minus The Creed Brothers. Creeds vs. Gallus makes the most sense and the show is better off running with that rather trying to evenly feature the entire division.
-Man, the main event between Tiffany Stratton and Becky Lynch was really good. Well worth watching if you haven’t checked it out yet. Lynch as NXT Women’s Champion is an interesting call and seems to be more of a business move than anything else. Having top main roster stars appear on NXT have regularly boosted numbers, but it is a self-fulfilling prophecy to have those WWE main roster talents beat the NXT talent so regularly. It makes sense from the perspective of the main roster stars having more experience, but if the idea is to use the main roster to boost viewership in NXT, the perception of NXT talent has to be that they are worth watching.