The SmarK Rant for WWE NXT – 10.01.24

The SmarK Rant for WWE NXT – 10.01.24

With tonight’s move to the CW in the US, it sounds like big things are afoot on the show, so I figured now is as good a time as any to do my yearly check-in on Shawn’s crew. Of course, here in Canada it’s still on Sportsnet, until January when Netflix absorbs all things WWE, so the move doesn’t actually affect us in any way at the moment.

Full disclosure: I don’t follow the show and I don’t really know any of the major players outside of some of the names, so you’re literally getting the perspective of a new viewer going in blind here.

Also, while I’m thinking about it, I just want to say that I really hated Aptos as a font when Microsoft Word forced everyone to accept it as the default instead of Verdana, but now I go back and read my older stuff and it looks WEIRD to me.

Live from Chicago, IL, with an impressively huge crowd.

Your hosts are Vic Joseph & Booker T

Shawn Michaels joins us to start, and it’s kind of hilarious to hear “Senior Vice President of Talent Development…THE HEARTBREAK KID!” as a serious introduction. So Shawn has brought brand new title belts with him, and that brings his best pal HHH out to introduce Giulia.

NXT Women’s title: Roxanne Perez v. Giulia

Much like the rest of Twitter, I’ve never actually seen Giulia wrestle but I have strong opinions on her. Her name should definitely start with a “J” instead of a “G”, for instance. As it stands it makes me think of The Wedding Singer. They trade wristlocks to start and then reverse some cradles for two and battle to a stalemate. So Giulia puts her down with a headbutt and they trade more reversals off that, and fight to another stalemate. We take a break and return with Giulia beating on her on the apron, but Roxanne comes back with a dive on the floor as the crowd is very torn here. Back in the ring and Giulia brings her in with a butterfly superplex and tries for a submission out of that, but Roxanne reverses for two. Roxanne with a crossface, but Giulia is out with an STF and Perez makes the ropes. Rox tries Pop Rocks and can’t hit it, and Giulia hits the knee strike for two, well versed in SHOCKED TWO COUNT FACE thankfully. They trade cradles again and Roxanne hits the Pop Rocks this time, but Giulia bails to the floor to escape the pin. She suckers Roxanne out to the apron and hits her with a Northern Lights Bomb on the floor for a double down, but they both beat the count and Roxanne decides to grab the new title. But this allows a mysterious hooded assailant to hit the ring, deliver a DDT to Giulia on the floor, and Pop Rocks finishes at 13:18. I was thinking Stephanie Vacquer but it’s actually Cora Jade, who apparently isn’t a skater girl anymore. They were a bit sloppy at times but an excellent opener for the most part. ****

Meanwhile, Axiom and Nathan Frazier play some video games to prepare for their tag title defense.

Meanwhile, CM Punk promises to call the main event down the middle, but Lexis King interrupts and he’s got two wolves inside him. If only one of the wolves was better at wrestling.

Street Fight: Wes Lee v. Zachary Wentz

Wes Lee turned on the Rascalz to set this up, which is recapped by a helpful video package, and really we’re all just disappointed that we never actually got the payoff to MSK’s name before they broke up for good. They immediately brawl on the floor and Wentz runs a shopping cart into the Lee on the stairs. Your Western Canadian fun fact of the day: Although in Saskatchewan and east they’re called “shopping carts”, in BC and Alberta they’re called “buggies”. The ring gets loaded up with plunder and Wes uses a kendo stick for some shots, “swinging better than the White Sox” notes Vic. Man, you cannot bury the White Sox any further than their own Twitter account does. It’s genius social media work for a terrible team. Both guys go flying into a table at ringside and we take a break. Back with Wentz hitting a Van Terminator on Lee in the ring, which only gets two. Wentz drops Lee on a chair that’s in the ropes, which is visually impressive but thankfully the replay shows that it’s a totally safe bump. Wentz with the wacky “kendo stick on the garbage can” spot, which sets up a swanton on the can for two. How do you even brace yourself for that when you can’t see anything? And speaking of terrifying bumps, Lee sends Wentz over the top and he bounces off the edge of a table instead of breaking it, so hopefully I didn’t jinx them with the talk of safe bumps. Back in the ring, Lee with a double stomp for two. He finds a chain and they knock each other out with that, but Lee goes low and wraps the chain around his legs for a meteora onto a chair, and that finishes at 12:46. A fun brawl but more than a little terrifying at times. ***1/2. I don’t know he didn’t break his back on that table bump. Maybe he did?

The Miz joins us for an interview with Oba Femi and Tony D’Angelo. What would Chicago know about mafiosos? So Tony is going to conquer his fear and win the North American title next week. Oba isn’t convinced that Tony actually believes his own bluster, especially after already losing once. So we’ll find out next week.

Meanwhile, Cora Jade and Roxanne Perez seemingly make up again.

Jaida Parker & Lola Vice v. Fatal Influence (Jacy Jayne & Fallon Henley)

I’m vaguely familiar with Jayne from the early NXT 2.0 days but the other three are new to me and some really terrible NXT Name Generator names to boot. Also the heels are apparently named after a generic 80s direct to video thriller. Parker fights off the heels and stacks them in the corner, which sets up a hip attack from Vice. Vice & Parker double-team Henley in the corner while Vic cheerfully no-sells Booker, but it’s problems with the babyface as we take a break. The fact that everyone in this match has been terrible so far is also a pressing concern. Back with Jayne hitting a cannonball for two, and Henley gets a running forearm for two. Vice and Henley clothesline each other for a double down after some clumsy forearms in the corner, but Parker gets distracted by the heels and then walks out. Hopefully to get her gear fixed so she stops messing with the top every five seconds. Vice makes her own comeback and then gets walloped with a double knee and pinned at 10:08. Yeah this was pretty bad. ½*. Afterwards, we get a cameo from Bianca and Jade as they clean house on the heels.

Je’Von Evans joins us and he’s apparently wrestling Randy Orton in St. Louis next week. I’m not familiar with Je’Von’s game but I don’t like his chances.

NXT title: Ethan Page v. Trick Williams

CM Punk is the special referee here, so hopefully he won’t tear a triceps muscle making the counts. I’m not familiar with young Ethan Page here but he reminds me a lot of Karate Boy from TNA for some reason. One nicely underrated side effect of getting rid of Vince appears to be that they’re letting the fans do their “One fall” nonsense again without messing with them out of spite, which I appreciate. They fight for the lockup and trade rollups to start, and Ethan uses the ropes a bit too aggressively for Punk’s liking. Trick puts him down with a clothesline for two while Vic notes it’s time for tonight’s NXT recap brought to us by Progressive, and then…nothing happens. Is that like some video overlay deal that they don’t put on the Canadian feed? They fight to the floor and bump into the LED board as we take a break. Back with Page hitting a DDT for two. Trick comes back with a neckbreaker and flapjacks him, but they fight to the floor again and Page puts Trick through the announce table with the Ego’s Edge. Back in, Trick hits him with a knee and Page falls on top for two. They slug it out and Trick puts him down with a uranage for two. Page with a knee strike out of the corner for two. CM Punk chastises Page for his tactics, so Ethan hits Trick with a GTS to annoy Punk and that gets two. But then Page gets distracted with Punk, and Trick hits the Trick Shot knee to finish and regain the title at 12:38. This was solid but not spectacular or anything. ***

I thought this was an easy to watch two hours that mostly flew by but didn’t really hook me to become a regular viewer or anything. It was a good debut on the CW but I didn’t feel like Jade & Bianca were a particularly exciting surprise, and I was kind of expecting it to be more loaded up with fireworks than it was, like a big angle or a surprise debut or something. Regardless, a good, thumbs up show that I enjoyed watching.