-Thea Hail showed something this week. For most of her run in NXT, she’s been presented as strictly an underdog act, but one that is constantly out in front of her skis. There was some goofiness inside of that presentation. Until this week. Hail still had the underdog tone with her, but she came across as more of a fighting underdog against Zaria, rather than a silly one. Conventional wisdom says that Zaria was always going to win the match this week against Hail and retain her title, but the match did enough to put that finish in doubt. Hail had the crowd in the palm of her hand when she had Zaria close to submitting near the end of the bout. A fun opener and much more dramatic than expected.
Don’t forget the crowd!
-Ok. Is Myles Borne still talking? Goodness, his promo was hard to get through. The content of the promo wasn’t awful, but Borne not acknowledging the audience during it was. Pro wrestling is a give and take. The wrestlers need to feed off the audience and vice versa. Borne’s promo felt like he practiced it perfectly backstage and then walked out to the ring and did it the exact same way. No emotion. No attitude. He forgot entirely about his audience. Just a really flat outing for him. In what world is this Myles Borne better than the white meat babyface that the audience loved?
-There won’t be a piece of booking that makes me happier this week than Mini Vikingo and Starboy beating Birthright in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. The match was pretty good and full of action, but Birthright continues to flounder. Mini Vikingo and Starboy aren’t winning this tournament, so it was a surprise — a pleasant surprise — seeing them beat a faction that for some reason gets a lot of regular television time.
-Speaking of Birthright, once again it was really fun watching Zilla Fatu fend these guys off after they tried to attack Vikingo and Starboy after their loss. Fatu then got on the mic and said he would take out Birthright one by one. Appointment viewing.
Cruz Montana brilliance
-Wow. Go out of your way to see the Chronicle video piece on Cruz Montana. Absolutely fantastic. A strong representation of Montana, his character, and journey. The ultimate NXT babyface right now.
-Next week Kelani Jordan will have a number one contender for her NXT Women’s Championship. Robert Stone announced during the Jordan in-ring promo this week that next week would feature a 20-woman battle royal. The winner of that match will go on to face Jordan for the title at Halloween Havoc. Nothing wrong with any of that. What’s wrong with it is the woman who had the bright light on her this week opposite Jordan was Reina Volcan. The newly signed and newly debuted Reina Lorcan. If I’m crazy, let me know in the comments, but Volcan debuted as a heel just a couple weeks ago, right? Why is that heel the woman chosen to drop the HEEL CHAMPION? It’s a perfect spot for Lizzy Rain or someone else on the babyface side of the ledger to gain a little momentum. Instead, it’s essentially wasted on Lorcan, who either won’t win next week and won’t face Jordan, or will win next week and NXT will deliver a bizarre heel vs. heel match.
-It was nice seeing Fraxiom back in NXT. Having them back was a bit of an indictment on how much they’ve been wasted on SmackDown, but it was still fun to see them. They defeated DarkState in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament — poor DarkState. Fraxiom vs. Vanity Project can happen in the tournament semifinals. That’s a match I want to see.
-It’s nice to hear more from Kendal Grey inside of these therapist sessions. More than a traditional promo, she’s able to showcase her personality a bit inside of these. I think that they think it’s showcasing a character who loves wrestling and needs to be champion, but they’re kinda making me feel bad for her. She comes across as tortured by this need to always compete. That’s not healthy.
The Grayson Waller era
-Grayson Waller retained his NXT Championship over EK Prosper and we all knew he would. Prosper replaced Mason Rook who wasn’t cleared. Overall, there wasn’t much to this match. However, the backward, springboard, moonsault off the ropes by Prosper and onto Waller, who was on the announce table was insanely impressive. A must-see moment in an otherwise skippable match.
-Sidebar. Waller needs more television time. Right now he’s the top champion, but it doesn’t feel like it’s his era of NXT. He’s in segments across the two-hour broadcast, but the show as a whole lacks his identity. Plenty of time, but with Waller on the brand, I’d be building the show around him. He won’t be there long.
What was your favorite match on this week’s episode of WWE NXT? Let us know in the comments!
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It's very rare to get a 20 minute match on NXT TV. The main event delivered like an 80-lb baby. Mason v Grayson getting 86'd sucked because the former had to bow out due to injury but NXT played the hand they were dealt and EK Prosper got to make a name for himself. I hope it's not too major to delay his title shot until Halloween Havoc.
The women's BR should be Wren's way back in to get unsuspended. Including the TNA knockouts puts any speculation of their working partnership to rest. I'm happy Starboy and Mini Vikingo are sticking around for a while. Fraxiom v Dar/Moreno was a killer match this past summer and with the added stakes of the Dusty cup has my expectations pretty high.