NXT Review – 04.07.26

So many things happening, let’s all try to catch up: Evolve | Impact | Smackdown | NXT: Stand & Deliver | AAA on Fox | Raw

NXT is coming off its biggest show of the year and we return to the CW/Netflix airwaves from the Performance Center in Orlando, FL. Tonight’s show will be presented by Vic Joseph and Booker T on match calls and analysis, Mike Rome on ring introductions, and Sarah Schreiber on backstage interviews and breaking news segments. Let’s watch some wrestling!

Then, Now, Forever….TOGETHER

Highlights from Stand & Deliver start the broadcast.

Here’s new NXT Men’s Champion Tony D’Angelo out to a standing ovation from a very appreciative PC crowd, as Joseph mentions that D’Angelo is the first ever NXT Grand Slam champion. D’Angelo mentions being “just a kid” when he got to NXT, and now he’s a man, THE man, and he’s finally become NXT champion. D’Angelo says he wouldn’t change any of the decisions he made along the way, and he now has an iron grip on the title. D’Angelo mentions Ricky Saints, Ethan Page, and Joe Hendry….and well, he said the name. Here’s Joe Hendry out to put over D’Angelo’s plan coming to fruition and calls D’Angelo the better man on one night while they were dealing with those “two clowns”. Hendry wonders what would have happened had it been one on one. Here’s Ethan Page to say that he was the one who deserved a one-on-one match after he beat Hendry a few weeks before. Here’s Ricky Saints to mention that Page attacked him first. D’Angelo tells them all to get in line because the result will still be the same.

Here’s Darkstate entering to attack D’Angelo, Hendry, Page, and Saints. Security pours out from the back as we go to commercials. After it’s all broken up, the show returns with D’Angelo, Hendry, Page, and Saints confronting NXT General Manager Robert Stone who tells them that there’s going to be an eight man tag at the top of the hour.

Sol Ruca vs Izzi Dame

Dame is out with Niko Vance and Shawn Spears. Dame fires off a back elbow and yanks Ruca down by her hair, but Ruca fires up with a roundhouse kick and a running splash before walloping Dame with a standing moonsault that gets two. Ruca pulls Dame’s legs and stands on her knees before jumping on them. Dame dumps Ruca and then crushes her with a lariat that gets two. Dame fires off an uppercut and then drives a shoulder into her in a corner. Dame misses a charge and Ruca drives her head-first into a middle turnbuckle before delivering a Meteora. Dame catches Ruca off a charge, but Ruca slips off and delivers an X-Factor. Dame bails to the apron and Ruca immediately drives her to the floor with a dropkick. Ruca hits a torneo that sends Dame to the floor as we go to commercials.

Ruca hits a roll up for two when the show returns. Dame fires up and hoists Ruca into a corner so she can lift a knee into Ruca’s midsection. Ruca smashes Dame with a headbutt and then hits a springboard clothesline. They slug it out and Ruca wins that battle before walloping Dame with a back elbow and a release German. Ruca ascends for a missile dropkick and then lands a running knee that gets two. Dame snaps off an overhead suplex and then ascends, but Ruca springs up and pops her with a right. Ruca jumps to the top rope but Dame pushes her off and nails Ruca with a Codebreaker that gets two. Dame gets yanked into a Ruca backslide that gets two, and then Ruca mashes Dame with a spear that sends her to the floor. Spears pulls Dame out of the way as Vance distracts the ref. Zaria flies in from outta nowhere to mash Ruca with a spear. Dame rolls Ruca back in and hits her sit-out powerbomb finisher. Dame’s cover gets three.

Heels cheat to win sometimes. I’m fine with this overall, Dame needed a big win to kind of push back towards the upper part of the card especially with a new babyface champion in the women’s division. Clearly things are not over between Ruca and Zaria, so we’ll see what develops there. The crowd was weirdly subdued for this but I don’t blame the performers. 3*

Winner – Izzi Dame (Sit out powerbomb)

Post-match sees Zaria hover over Ruca and bellow that she is the one who says when things are over between them.

EARLIER TODAY The Vanity Project enters Robert Stone’s office, and Stone chastised them as he has a meeting with Blake Monroe, who enters next. Jackson Drake mentions that they “did the thing” that Monroe had asked them to do and calls Monroe the “forever Women’s North American champion”. They present her with her own championship title, and Stone helpfully points out that she’s not the champion and that she lost on Saturday. Monroe can pick anyone out of the Project to go against Tatum Paxley and Shiloh Hill later this evening, and Monroe picks Drake.

Keanu Carver makes his entrance as we go to commercials.

Here’s Elio LeFleur (in a sling), EK Prosper, and Dorian Van Dux in the locker room, with Sean Legacy in the background (and sporting a knee brace). LeFleur says he wants to see either Van Dux or Prosper win the Speed title, and Van Dux is very excited for the match against Prosper next week. Prosper tells Van Dux to not get ahead of himself and leaves to take in the upcoming Speed match.

Keanu Carver vs Josh Briggs vs Jasper Troy

Briggs jumps Carver and Troy just as the bell rings. Briggs dumps Carver to the floor and then cuts Troy down by clipping his knee. Briggs puts the boots to Troy and starts clubbering away. Troy fires up and drives Briggs into a corner, and Carver springs up to mash Troy from behind. Carver drives Troy into a ring post and then gets kicked in the shin by a cowardly Briggs. Briggs hits a Sidewalk Slam and a splash before covering Carver for two Carver fires up and mashes Briggs around before waffling him with an elbow in a corner. Carver yanks up Briggs and gets suddenly destroyed by a charging Troy. Troy pushes Carver into Briggs and then Carver and Briggs push Troy up for a lofted powerbomb. Carver mashes Briggs with a right and then covers Troy for two. Briggs fires up with an elbow on Carver but Carver shakes it off and crushes Briggs with a short-arm clothesline that gets two. Carver runs Briggs into a corner before putting the boots to him. Carver boots Troy back to the floor and then goes out after to ram him into the apron. Briggs lifts a boot when Carver charges, but Carver no-sells that and tosses Briggs face-first to the mat. Briggs bails and Carver goes back out to work on Troy. Briggs flies in with big boots for both Troy and Carver as we go to commercials.

Carver is beating up Troy and Briggs when the show returns. Briggs hits a running splash on Troy but gets caught by Carver in an Oklahoma Stampede that gets two. Carver hits a spinebuster on Troy that gets two. Carver tosses Briggs into a corner and kicks him repeatedly before turning to start throwing bombs with Troy. Troy disposes of Carver and then yanks a charging Briggs into a powerslam. Troy mashes Carver with a splash and then wallops Briggs with a Black Hole Slam. Troy hits a chokeslam on Carver and then covers Briggs for two. Troy positions Carver and ascends but gets dumped to the floor by Briggs. Briggs and Carver start exchanging forearms and elbows and then Troy returns to body Briggs down. Troy gets hit with THE POUNCE by Carver, and then hits it again on Briggs. Carver hits a lofted powerslam and covers Briggs for three.

I enjoyed this a bunch and I don’t say that….EVER…about anything Josh Briggs is involved in. Three hosses acting like hosses, no tope suicidas or 450 splashes, just three big dudes throwing bombs. Now it wasn’t any kind of masterpiece, mind you, and both Carver and Troy are still fairly green in terms of knowing where to be and what’s coming next, but Briggs seemed to get everyone through things and then took the fall, so I’m all good withthis. 2.75*

Winner – Keanu Carver (lofted powerslam on Briggs)

Here’s NXT Women’s North American Champion Tatum Paxley and Shiloh Hill to talk about Blake Monroe and Jackson Drake. Hill says Drake has a real punchable face. Here’s Ricky Saints to question why they’re cackling and talking about raccoons (which apparently is Hill’s “specialty”). Saints calls them weird, and Hill says maybe Saints should be worried about Darkstate since they already “beat that ass once today”. Hill and Paxley cackle again as Saints mutters “Freaks!” and leaves.

Entrances for the eight man tag start as we go to commercials.

Darkstate (Saquon Shugars, Osiris Griffin, Cutler James, and Dion Lennox) vs NXT Men’s Champion Tony D’Angelo, Joe Hendry, Ethan Page, and Ricky Saints

D’Angelo attacks prior to the bell but ends up in the Darkstate corner and that does not go well for him. They mash him around for a bit and make a ton of tags, but D’Angelo finally gets out of it and drops Shugars before Lennox charges in. Page gets a tag and he drops Lennox with a body slam. Shugars tags in and eats an immediate Page suplex. Saints tags in and Shugars pushes Page into Saints. Saints doesn’t like that so he charges in and he and Page drop Shugars with back elbows. James comes in followed by Lennox and they keep Saints in their corner. Saints escapes and tags in Hendry. Lennox gets trucked by Hendry but manages to escape further damage to tag in James. Hendry hoists James for a vertical suplex and covers him for two. Saints tags in and he starts punching and kicking James. Saints does his shitty rope-walk and drops a fist on James. Saints hits a Fameasser and covers James for two. Page tags in and he and Saints combine on a back body drop. Griffin tags in and mashes Saints and Page with a cross-body. Griffin yanks up Page and tags in Shugars. Shugars meets Page’s knees so he immediately tags in Lennox. Page crawls to his corner and tags in D’Angelo. D’Angelo runs wild on Shugars and Lennox but he gets caught by a Lennox spinebuster as we go to commercials.

Hendry and Shugars are fighting it out when the show returns. Griffin tags in and Hendry pops him and Shugars. Hendry tries to make a tag but Page and Saints beg off as D’Angelo is distracted and not in the corner. Hendry gets double-teamed by Shugars and Griffin and Shugars cover gets two. James tags in and torques Hendry’s head and then elbows him down. James slams Hendry and covers him for two. James puts the stink-mouth on Hendry which fires him right up. Griffin tags in and Hendry fights off him and James but James shakes it off and hits a backbreaker on Hendry. Griffin hits a splash and covers Hendry for two. Shugars tags in and Lennox blasts Hendry with a big right. Here’s NXT Men’s North American Champion Myles Borne leaping out of the crowd and blasting Lennox with a right before sending him into the announce table. They disappear and Hendry tags in D’Angelo. D’Angelo had yanked Page and Saints off the apron to get the tag, and he runs wild on he remaining members of Darkstate. D’Angelo pulls Shugars into the Fuggetaboutit and gets two as Griffin breaks it up. Page and Saints charge in and a bunch of guys end up on the floor. Hendry hits a flying butt drop on Griffin and James, as Shugars catches D’Angelo with a couple of kicks in the ring. D’Angelo shakes that off and immediately waffles Shugars with a spear. Page tags in as D’Angelo hoists Shugars for a powerslam. Page boots D’Angelo down and then mashes Shugars with Twisted Grin. Page covers Shugars and gets three.

I typically do not enjoy Darkstate matches. I didn’t enjoy this one. Nothing ever gets a chance to breathe, it’s constant tagging with no real purpose other than hitting double, triple, and sometimes quadruple team offense. It goes a million miles an hour and no one sells. Now, there was some storytelling here on the opposition side, and obviously Lennox paid a price for his S&D post-match attack on Borne. The problem is that Page and Saints are about as interesting as a root canal, and Hendry just seems along for the ride right now in advance of a post-Wrestlemania call up (I’m guessing but who really knows). I think D’Angelo is stuck with those two goobers for the time being and it’s not optimal. This match was a chaotic mess and yeah, sorry, I just couldn’t wait for it to be over. 2*

Winners – Page/Saints/Hendry/D’Angelo (Page Twisted Grin on Shugars)

Post-match sees a boiling D’Angelo loom up behind Page before chokeslamming him. D’Angelo hoists his belt and stares out to the crowd.

THE NXT SPOTLIGHT PRESENTED BY PROGRESSIVE is on Jaida Parker and Kelani Jordan. Parker recounts her victory in New York City and the subsequent attack from Jordan backstage. Parker and Jordan had a brawl at the PC and then had beef in the Parking Lot. They will meet again next week.

Lexis King makes his entrance surrounded by TNA Knockouts Champion Arianna Grace, Stacks Lorenzo, Uriah Connors and Charles Dempsey. We go to commercials.

WWE Men’s Speed Tournament: Lexis King vs Chazz “Starboy” Hall

As always, Speed tournament matches have a three minute time limit. Starboy gets an inset promo to introduce himself (read Phred’s excellent Evolve review from last week to catch up on Starboy’s debut!). Starboy chops away and hits a reverse thrust kick that gets two. King gets caught in a standing rana but lifts a knee to cut off Starboy’s flurry. Starboy hits Sliced Bread and then hits a twisting 360 that gets two. Starboy runs into a King elbow and then ascends. Starboy flies up with a Pele kick and then waffles King with a back handspring splash on the floor. Starboy runs King back in and ascends. Starboy meets King’s feet on a Shooting Star Press attempt. King pulls Starboy into the Coronation and the subsequent cover gets three.

This was fun for a Speed sprint. Starboy probably won’t be too popular – he’s tiny, he’s flippy, he looks like a nerd, and he dresses like Spike Dudley. That being said, he was crisp tonight (and probably had some nerves), and didn’t look too bad out there. King got in one offensive move and won the match, so at least I didn’t have to sit through his normal boring array. I was fine with this overall. 2*

Winner – Lexis King (Coronation)

Myles Borne is being talked to by Robert Stone for interfering in the eight man tag when a grumpy Tony D’Angelo wanders in. Stone dismisses Borne and D’Angelo tells Stone he wants Ethan Page. Stone says he can make that happen, and when D’Angelo turns, he gets eyed up by Keanu Carver.

Shiloh Hill and Tatum Paxley make their entrances as we go to commercials.

Mixed Tag: Blake Monroe and Jackson Drake vs NXT Women’s North American Champion Tatum Paxley and Shiloh Hill

NXT Tag Champions Brad Baylor and Ricky Smokes accompany Drake and Monroe. Paxley and Monroe have a discussion about Monroe’s fake title belt and then a tug-of-war ensues. Paxley trips up Monroe and then drives a shoulder into her. Monroe goes to ground and pound before Paxley reverses a snap suplex. Drake and hill tag in and Drake smacks Hill in the chest with a bunch of slaps. Hill drops Drake and then holds him over the top rope so he can clubber away. Hill sends Drake to the floor and then puts him on the apron so he can smash him in the chest. Monroe charges over to prevent further damage so Paxley smashes her with a kaman giri. Hill hits a big flying clothesline and covers Drake for two. Drake escapes and Monroe doesn’t want to tag in. Paxley gets tagged and she charges over to yank Monroe back into the ring. Paxley gets a roll up for two and wants Cemetery Drive, but Drake charges in to prevent that. This predictably brings in Hill who mashes Drake in a corner. Monroe gets sent into Drake, and then both of them get put into surfboards by Paxley and Hill. Drake and Monroe get dumped to the floor and Baylor and Smokes make sure to catch Monroe while Drake ends up on the mat. We go to commercials.

Hill and Drake are slugging it out when the show returns. Hill trucks Drake and then pops Smokes with a right when he appears on the apron. Hill wanders into a double team from Monroe and Drake, and Drake takes advantage to go to ground and pound. Drake covers for two. Drake hits a short dropkick and covers for two. Drake gets hoisted into a one armed powerbomb and both guys are down. Paxley gets tagged in and she runs over Monroe before dropkicking Drake. Paxley hits an enziguri on Monroe and then mashes her and Drake around a bit. Paxley hits a sit out powerbomb on Monroe that gets two. Paxley positions Monroe but Baylor jumps up to distract. Hill hits a tope con hilo on the tag champs. Paxley misses her 450 attempt and reverses a Glamour Shot into Cemetery Drive. Before she can execute it Drake charges in and he gets mashed by a Paxley Pele kick. This gives Monroe the opening to pull Paxley into a headbutt followed by the Glamour Shot DDT. Monroe covers Paxley and gets three.

Apparently feuds just don’t end in NXT anymore. You’d think losing at S&D would have moved Monroe on to something else but ha ha ha ha ha, you’d be wrong, friend. So we’ll go back to more of this and Tater ate a pin tonight so there’s clearly another defense coming. Drake, Hill and the tag champs were ancillary here and I don’t think much will come out of that because Drake will probably move towards Myles Borne at some point while Hill will do whatever he’s needed to do with two babyface men’s champs in front of him. Not much you’d have to seek out here and it was wildly overbooked to get to the finish. 2.25*

Winners – Monore/Drake (Monroe Glamour Shot DDT on Paxley)

Here’s Sarah Schreiber with Robert Stone who announces that a two week special called NXT Revenge will start next week. Week One will include a D’Angelo-Page title match, while Week Two has a Last Woman Standing match between Sol Ruca and Zaria.

NXT Women’s Champion Lola Vice is on her way to the ring as we go to commercials.

Kali Armstrong will be making her official NXT debut during Revenge, and she promises to be on the Stand & Deliver card next year after watching this year’s show at home.

Here’s Lola Vice out for a chat. Vice gets a “You deserve it” chant, Vice says she’s worked really hard to get to this point. Vice thought after the hype around her signing she’d go straight to the top, but that’s not what happened. Vice said she had to earn her spot in the division and had to go to AAA to get even more experience. Vice says she’s now ready and undeniable, and earning something means so much more than having it handed it to you. Here’s Fatal Influence out to interrupt. Jacy Jayne tells Vice to enjoy this moment because the win she got at S&D will be the last one she ever gets over her. Jayne says she’s been in this position before and is now poised to become a three-time champ. The crowd is making a lot of noise while Jayne is trying to talk so she calls them all losers and mentions her two reigns. Here’s Robert Stone out to say that Jayne will get her rematch at Revenge next week, and Vice says she’s going to knock Jayne’s ass out again. This prompts an attack from Lainey Reid and Fallon Henley. They yank up Vice, but she fights her way out of it to start smashing everyone again. Jayne ducks a backfist and scampers away and Fatal end up on the floor. The credits roll and we’re out.

I’m annoyed. Instead of trying anything new, we’re still doing D’Angelo/Page/Saints/Hendry, Zaria-Ruca, Monroe-Tater, Jayne-Vice, and Parker-Jordan. Shawn might be stuck – it’s happened before – due to what typically happens after Wrestlemania, so running a bunch of rematches makes sense in that regard, but it’s not really compelling. I suspect that neither main singles title will change hands next week, because Ethan Page is a goober and I’d guess Jacy Jayne might be ready for a call up. We’ll see what happens. Tonight’s show was fine, firmly thumbs in the middle for me, with some good and some bad. Revenge has some big matches scheduled and if there are going to be more call-ups, that could very much influence the booking. We’ll all have to wait and see but it could be a very interesting two weeks.

Thanks for reading and commenting.