By Jon
COMMENTATORS: Vic Joseph & Wade Barrett
This week’s NXT features a six-person tag team match, a rematch between Nikkita Lyons and Lash Legend, and much more heading into next week’s Spring Breakin’ special.
CHAMPIONS
- NXT CHAMPION: Bron Breakker
- NXT WOMEN’S CHAMPION: Mandy Rose
- NXT NORTH AMERICAN CHAMPION: Cameron Grimes
- NXT TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS: Pretty Deadly (Kit Wilson & Elton Prince)
- NXT WOMEN’S TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS: Toxic Attraction (Gigi Dolin & Jacy Jayne)
LINEUP
- Nikkita Lyons vs. Lash Legend
- Tony D’Angelo vs. Von Wagner
- Josh Briggs & Fallon Henley vs. Legado del Fantasma
- Solo Sikoa vs. Trick Williams
- Viking Raiders vs. Edris Enofe & Malik Blade
- Roxanne Perez vs. Mandy Rose
RESULTS & NOTES
REVIEW
RESULTS & NOTES
Match Results & Ratings
Nikkita Lyons defeated Lash Legend via pinfall (**3/4)
- Natalya attacked Lyons after the match, Cora Jade made the initial save then Lyons saved Jade from the Sharpshooter.
Von Wagner [w/ Mr. Stone] defeated Tony D’Angelo via pinfall (*3/4)
- D’Angelo’s original opponent Xyon Quinn was not cleared to compete, giving Wagner the opportunity.
- D’Angelo’s goombahs (revealed in a later promo as Troy “2 Dimes” Donovan and Channing Laurenzo) stopped Joaquin Wilde & Cruz Del Toro from interfering, but Santos Escobar used the distraction to hit D’Angelo in the knee with a pipe. D’Angelo managed to beat the 10-count back into the ring but was then dropped with a big boot for the loss.
Katana Chance & Kayden Carter defeated Yulia Leon & Valentina Feroz via pinfall (**)
- Chance is the former Kacy Catanzaro, having been NXTized in the past few weeks.
Legado del Fantasma (Joaquin Wilde, Cruz Del Toro, & Elektra Lopez) defeated Josh Briggs & Fallon Henley via pinfall (*3/4)
- Briggs & Henley’s partner Brooks Jensen was attacked backstage before the match, turning this one into a 2-on-1 affair.
- Mr. Stone showed up at commentary and said Jensen had the same wandering eye that Ikeman Jiro had, hinting that Von Wagner beat Jensen up for looking at his unnamed blonde woman friend the wrong way (which happened earlier backstage).
Solo Sikoa defeated Trick Williams [w/ Carmelo Hayes] via pinfall (**1/2)
- Cameron Grimes joined commentary for this match, mentioning that Trick was being held back by Carmelo Hayes.
- After the match Grimes & Carmelo Hayes got into it; Sikoa then “accidentally” laid out Grimes with a superkick and stood tall going into the North American Championship match next week.
Viking Raiders (Ivar & Erik) defeated Edris Enofe & Malik Blade via pinfall (*3/4)
- Viking Raiders shook hands with their opponents after the match, then stared The Creed Brothers down as they stood at the entrance stage to hype next week’s match.
Mandy Rose defeated Roxanne Perez via pinfall (**1/4)
- Wendy Choo showed up after the match and sprung a net trap on Toxic Attraction, keeping them on the entrance stage long enough to get attacked with silly string.
News & Notes
-Joe Gacy ended the episode surrounded in the ring by his druids, saying that Bron Breakker was not cleared to compete after his leap of faith last week. Bron’s father Rick Steiner interrupted and disagreed, then Bron Breakker himself ran out and attacked the druids. Gacy used one of the druids as a distraction and laid Breakker out; the remaining Druids then VERY SLOWLY brought the NXT Championship into the ring so Gacy could hold it high to head into next week’s show.
–Nathan Frazer’s planned debut was interrupted by Grayson Waller, who took out Frazer’s scheduled opponent Guru Raaj. Waller threw shade at Frazer as well as Chase U’s Andre Chase & Bodhi Hayward, who confronted Waller. Waller was then attacked by Frazer, taken out with a tope. Waller would later interrupt Tiffany Stratton’s promo to talk trash about Frazer, with Stratton herself joining in.
-The first-ever NXT Breakout Women’s tournament was announced during the show, set to begin in two weeks. The following participants were given brief introduction videos:
- Arianna Grace (aka Bianca Carelli, daughter of Santino Marella)
- Kiana James
- Sloane Jacobs
–Kay Lee Ray officially changed her name to Alba Fyre via vignette.
-Newly announced for next week’s Spring Breakin’ special:
- Cora Jade & Nikkita Lyons vs. Natalya & Lash Legend
- Nathan Frazer vs. Grayson Waller
- The Creed Brothers vs. The Viking Raiders
- A sit-down between Tony D’Angelo & Santos Escobar
-An angry Roderick Strong held a meeting with his Diamond Mine team (Malcolm Bivens, Ivy Nile, & The Creed Brothers) saying that they had too much potential to break down like his OTHER group. Strong then told the Creed Brothers he got them a match next week against former World Tag Team Champions: the returning Viking Raiders.
–Robert Stone is now Mr. Stone.
-A vignette aired where Wes Lee contemplated his future on the beach, refusing to let what happened get him down; instead he’s going to knuckle up and come back better than ever.
REVIEW
Standout Matches & Moments
- Nikkita Lyons vs. Lash Legend was my personal favorite match of the episode. As soon as the bell rang they absolutely WRECKED each other, taking all the right lessons from their last match and doubling down on them. So much fun.
Other Thoughts
- The trajectory of Joe Gacy continued not making sense, as he tried to bring it all back around to his “inclusivity” talk while at the same time flanked by mysterious Druids. Here’s hoping this whole thing gets blown off next week and they figure out WHAT’S going on here. Also where’s Harland? Is he gone gone or NXT trying to make us forget about him so his inevitable attack on Breakker feels left field? Honestly, don’t really care. This feud has NOT been working for me.
- It really took NXT till 2022 to do a Women’s Breakout tournament? That’s embarrassing.
- Roxanne Perez might have gotten the best match out of Mandy Rose so far in NXT. I dug that more than I expected. Too bad it got railroaded by whatever the f*ck that Wendy Choo nonsense was after.
- Alba Fyre? ALBA FYRE? ALBA?!? FYRE?!? ALLLLLLBA FYYY-you get my point.
- What’s it say about me that I found Grayson Waller & Tiffany Stratton’s douchebag meet cute kind of adorable? Everyone deserves love, even two jerks.
- WWE’s editing team should be high-fived for how good they did editing around Nash Carter.
- Troy Donovan & Channing Lauren(zo) won me over the past couple of weeks on NXT Level Up and it’s cool to see them move onto the main roster. Lauren(zo) especially has a lot of potential as a punchable jerk heel.
- Edris Enofe & Malik Blade are great wrestlers, but the comedy stuff WWE is stuffing them into does not fit AT ALL. Just feels derivative and the line delivery is iffy.
- The Von Wagner push will continue until morale improves.
Final Verdict
Another rough NXT this week, this is not a show that feels like it should be on “real” television; if they’re going to air matches with people not ready for the main roster and throw dumb sh*t at the wall like Joe Gacy druids it’d better to put that on the WWE Network (or Peacock) instead. Not sure how much longer I’ll be watching after Spring Breakin’ so I hope that show makes this all worth it because…yeeeeeesh.
[…] Grace was announced as a participant in the first-ever Women’s Breakout tournament beginning in two weeks and tonight marked her in-ring debut in NXT. […]