WWE Performance Center
Orlando, Florida
WWE NXT Heritage Cup Title Match
Noam Dar (w/Jakara Jackson, Lash Legend & Oro Mensah) (c) vs. Akira Tozawa (w/Chad Gable, Maxxine Dupri & Otis)
Background:
Well, it seemed rather random to me, but Akira Tozawa decided to tagret Noam Dar a few weeks ago and steal his Heritage Cup Trophy, despite the fact Akira went winless in the Heritage Cup Invitational Tournament. Finally, last week Noam got the trophy back after a some fun hokeyness at a Haunted House at Halloween Havoc.
The Match:
Akira brings out the Alpha Academy as backup, which is great, but my complaint is that my absolute favorite – Maxxine Dupri didn’t even get a close up. That’s just not cool bro. How dare they!
I have no problem with Akira Tozawa, none at all. I think he’s a very talented athlete. The way he has suddenly been made a contender though, just rubs me the wrong way! I have no idea why Akira got off the top rope when there was 25 seconds to go in Round 1. It made no sense for him to stop what he was doing to walk over to the trophy and Meta-Four?
Anyway, Round 2 began with more trading of holds. Dar got a pin with holding the rights, and cheap shotted Akira after the bell. We come back from Round 3 and the round is over. Noam Dar continues to do under handed things after the bell of each round! Tozawa tied it up in Round 4 with an Ankle lock, and Noam tapped. Noam retained after Lash Legend pulled him out of the way from a Tozawa top rope senton splash. Nice finish.
Aftermath:
I fail to see how this angle continues! Alpha Academy lay out Oro Mensah after the match, so perhaps something will happen there.
Winner: STILL NXT Heritage Cup Champion, Noam Dar in 13:18.
Mick Foley shows up on the screen as the one choosing the matches for the Iron Survivor Challenge Qualifying Matches. Gosh. That is a bunch of words!
Earlier today we see some of the NXT Ladies in the locker room talking very un naturally because everybody has to face forward because there’s a camera. It’s very funny to me.
Karmen Petrovic is talking to Kelani Jordan and Arianna grace, when suddenly the winner of the NXT Women’s Breakout Tournament Lola Vice shows up with her partner in crime Elektra Lopez to brag about winning the tournament like an absolute bitch. She’s talking to them and barely facing them, Kelani stands up and says Lola wouldnt have won without Elektra helping her, Arianna hilariously tries to butt in with encouraging positive words and nobody is listening to her.
Then GOSH if this couldn’t be more messed up, Roxanne Perez shows up slow clapping. Roxanne eludes to Lola winning the Tournament doesn’t equate to becoming champion and blah, blah, blah. It entertains me so much. Seriously.
Lola storms off in one direction with Elektra, and Kelani thanks Roxanne as they walk off in the other direction, because that tiny locker room DEFINITELY HAS 2 DOORS. Arianna tries to say another inspirational thing, and Karmen tells her to shutup, which ended the segment perfectly. Wow. I wrote so much then on a BACKSTAGE SEGMENT.
Lyra Valkyria makes her entrance, and she’s the new NXT Women’s Champion, which I’m still not 100% sold on, which is nothing against her, it’s just how it kind of came about when it was Tiffy Time.
Lyra talks on the mic like she has memorized her lines, that’s kind of old hat in NXT now though, everything really does come across over produced. It’s still my favorite piece of wrestling programming every week though.
Xia Li walks through the crowd and security were concerned, which again is hilarious because people show up unannounced all the time and they even get their theme song played!
Lyra addresses Xia but again, the edict that they have to face the hard cam instead of turn their body like one would naturally do is a slight pet peeve of mine. Xia brags on attacking Becky on RAW, and now wants to challenge Lyra.
Xia spin kicks the hell out of one of the male security guards, and the other guard, who is twice her size, does absolutely nothing about it. Lyra starts yelling ‘YOU WANT THIS?’ as she holds to title up at Xia. This is the alternate reality I’ve come to love from NXT.
Tyler Bate cuts a promo about the Iron Survivor Challenge, and hypes the match with Dijak later, which I certainly hope Dijak wins.
Fallon Henley is backstage with Briggs and Jensen, pumped up and says Tiffy Time is over. What even is Briggs and Jensens career right now? They just show up in their regular clothes, hang out, and that’s about it. It pops me.
I am going to lose it seriously, this is too amusing. Alpha Academy are just standing in a random spot backstage as Tozawa is upset about losing and not being where he needs to be yet. There’s so much to unpack here.
Drew Gulak, who isn’t booked to wrestle on this show, is with his boys, who are all in civilian clothing. Drew however, is in his ring gear, WITH his ring entrance jacket on. I could poke holes in NXT all day dude.
This is immediately a confrontation with Gable and Gulak, till Otis takes exception and he starts humping the air, they all start yelling, and Gable says “SHOOOOOSH”. This is insane.
Otis Vs Gulak somehow gets booked because there isn’t a General Manager that needs stuff like this run by them first, in NXT you can do whatever you want. It’s amazing. What if the card was full?
Drew and his guys start yapping together and Chad stands in front of them yelling out ‘A-THANKYEWWWWW’ and Drew gets mad again. This is really WWE style now isn’t it? I can’t say I am a fan of how completely unrealistic it gets sometimes. Whilst it entertains me on some level, it can also get a bit much. By the way, Tiffany Stratton has been standing in the ring this whole time.
A referee is seen leaving Shawn Michaels’ office and a camera man happens to be there to ask him what his behind closed door meeting was about, instead of, you know, Kelly Kincaid or McKenzie Mitchell, their BROADCAST JOURNALISTS WHO ARE THERE TO GET THE SCOOP?
Referee said he’s going to be given leeway to use his discretion in the Wagner/Bron match later. In the background, Ava enters HBK’s office without knocking.
Iron Survivor Challenge Qualifying Match
Fallon Henley vs. Tiffany Stratton
Background:
I don’t even remember how any of this began between these two, it’s continued on through backstage segments where Fallon dressed as Tiffany for Halloween Havoc Night 1, which was a little aggressive of Fallon to be fair.
The following week, Tiffany took Fallon out before the match could even begin and the match was conveniently called off – but she’s apparently fighting fit this week! The winner qualifies for the Iron Survivor Challenge match at Deadline.
The Match:
As Tiffy made her entrance, Lyra walks past her with her NXT title and they look at eachother. Fallon Henley finally made her entrance after those 2 backstage segments. You know what? Fallon Henley is a babe.
They lock up and its aggressive from the outset. They appeared to work together pretty well and had chemistry. Tiffany took a pretty tough superplex, and props to Tiffany for her vocal selling.
Tiffany had barely any of this match in the early going, Tiffy fought back and literally threw Fallon through the second rope and dropped her on the floor on the outside which actually made my jaw drop.
Fallon showed a lot of fire and desperation, but it wasn’t enough, as Tiffany hit the Prettiest Moonsault Ever to get the win!
Aftermath:
I wish they would bring Mariah May in to NXT to either team with, or feud with Tiffany, but unfortunately she just signed with AEW to be wasted over there. This was a good match, I feel this issue with Stratton and Henley is over.
Winner: Tiffany Stratton in 10:30.
Wes Lee Interview with McKenzie Mitchell
They are dancing together, and Wes Lee’s massive skull is not what I am happy to see, and of COURSE EVERYBODY! OF COURSE! SOMEBODY INTERRUPTS! It’s Baron Corbin, Wes and Baron all of a sudden have an issue and Wes wants to fight Baron now and whoopty-doo that’s how we get matches booked these days.
Baron says something, he walks off, Wes says something, he walks off, McKenzie is left just standing there looking into the distance. I really wish I could be in that writing room to tell them to stop doing stuff like this.
Bron Breakker is seen walking backstage like he’s on the way to the right but it’s like he’s in a warehouse somewhere. Kelly Kincaid actually does the job of a broadcast journalist and finds Bron to get the scoop on his concerns with Von Wagner wanting his blood. Bron says what you would expect, and the match is coming up after an advert break and probably some more promos and segments.
Dijak cuts an intense promo on Bate. I dig the Dijak character, but has he failed at crucial times, too many times? Why should he lose his feud to Eddie Thorpe, and then Eddie disappears from Television?
Singles Match
Von Wagner (w/Mr. Stone) vs. Bron Breakker
Background:
This all came about when Bron slammed steel stairs on Von Wagners head and took him out of commission for about a month. Von came back last week to save his manager Mr. Stone and challenged Bron to a match this week.
The Match:
Von dominated early with a lot of fire before losing his equilibirum and balance and that was when Bron Breakker was able to take advantage and get the advantage, before locking in the Steiner Recliner. Von slowly fought out of it though and rammed Bron into the turnbuckle followed by a comeback.
Von reversed the spear attempt into a jumping knee before setting up the announce table. Wagner saved Mr Stone from the table bump, and Bron took advantage with the spear, before hitting a 2nd one and picking up the decisive win. Mr Stone hits Bron in the back with a chair after the match, and Von appeared and then powerbombed Breakker through the announce table!
Aftermath:
I am sure this whole deal continues on till NXT Deadline!
Winner: Bron Breakker in 5:28.
Carmelo Hates Interview with McKenzie Mitchell
McKenzie asks Melo his thoughts on Trick’s return last week. Hayes says it wasn’t him that attacked Trick a few weeks ago. He said he will tell Trick face to face what the deal is later. He walks off and McKenzie looks hot.
Brawling Brutes have a nice vignette about being at NXT next week. That’s cool with me, I dig the old school English kind of coats and hats. Kind of Peaky Blinders style.
Tag Team Match
Elektra Lopez & Lola Vice vs. Kelani Jordan & Roxanne Perez
Background:
Lola cheated to beat Kelani in the finals of the NXT Women’s Breakout Tournament last week thanks to Elektra Lopez. This match came about because Roxanne Perez stuck her beak in Lola and Kelani’s business and now tags with Kelani here.
The Match:
Arianna Grace interrupts to wish them the bestest of luck, and that she loves them all, as she sits in a directors chair at the entrance. Ridiculous. Elektra and Lola have shown themselves to be a decent team there in NXT, it’s just a shame they took the Tag Team Titles away for the Women there.
Kelani again hits a sweet High Voltage. Pop Rox from Roxy, Split legged moonsault from Kelani after a false start and that was a decent finish to the match. Arianna Grace tells the ring announce to hush and says the real winners are the crowd, and during this moment of positivity, Karmen Petrovic just NAILS here and tells her to shutup, what an amazing way for a feud to start.
Aftermath:
Karmen and Arianna to start up a feud here it seems! I don’t know where this leaves things with Lola and Elektra with Roxy and Kelani, but it’s okay that some things are left up in the air. Unless it’s Tatum Paxley turning on Dani Palmer for no reason and then they never have a blow off match.
Winner/s: Roxanne Perez and Kilani Jordan in 4:42.
Joe Gacy has a hand held camera like last week and it appears hes becoming more unhinged and losing his mind since Schism fell apart.
Singles Match
Drew Gulak (w/Charlie Dempsey, Damon Kemp & Myles Borne) vs. Otis (w/Akira Tozawa, Chad Gable & Maxxine Dupri)
Background:
All from a random backstage interaction earlier in the show, now Otis takes on Drew Gulak. I think when something humourous is over used, it really doesn’t make it so funny anymore. I really found the ‘AThankYEWWWW’ and ‘Shoosh’ funny at first but in typical WWE fashion they take things and just drive them into the ground.
The Match:
Otis dominated early. Drew utilizes his technical wrestling prowess to gain the advantage on the big man. Otis fought back I’m sure but I had a hard time concentrating with Maxxine Dupri at ringside. Otis has the fans into a bit of a frenzy, and i HATE the caterpillar. Sick powerbomb from Otis and he wins with ease.
Aftermath:
I have a feeling Alpha Academy will be back again soon.
Winner: Otis in 4:25.
Jacy Jane gets given an envelope backstage from an Italian-American lady with some toughs behind her. Looks like Andre got a threatening letter from the Family, and now they find out they have their first title defence next week. I love the Chase Universe.
Iron Survivor Challenge Qualifying Match
Tyler Bate vs. Dijak
Background:
This is the Main Event where the winner goes through to the Iron Survivor Challenge at Deadline.
The Match:
Dude, Dijak better win this thing. The dude is so under rated, and has done the right thing by putting over Tony D, Eddie Thorpe, Ilja Dragunov, the list goes on.
Tyler STILL has me dark after beating Dabba-Kato in less that 5 minutes and it’s not even his fault. We get back from a commercial break and Tyler hits a big superplex off the top on Dijak.
Dijak’s sitdown chokeslam could be a finisher! Obligatory this is awesome chant. Dijak lays Tyler Bate out and YES finally the big man got a good win.
Aftermath:
Dijak goes to Deadline for the Iron Survivor Challenge.
Winner: Dijak in 9:45
Trick Williams arrives and just leaves his car running, thank god this time they had a valet walking toward the car to park it.
How lazy Trick, you can park can’t you? Why is he arriving right now? I love taking it too seriously.
Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams Talk It Out
This Whoop That Trick thing is GETTING OUT OF HAND. The verbiage is really good here, Tricks motivations are great for his character, I dig it. They really took their time with this story, and surely it gets realized here that Melo was behind the attack.
They made this back and forth seem real. They get interrupted by Lexis King of all people! Lexis goads Trick into hitting him, and he clocks Melo! Huge hush over the Performance Center. Melo pulls a real mean face at the camera as he and Trick embrace and we go off the air!
Final Thoughts:
Despite all the hokey backstage stuff (which still entertained me) this was a pretty decent show that furthered storylines and left us on a cliffhanger once more. Looking forward to seeing how things progress before NXT Deadline on December 10th.
