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Good Morning!
It’s time for our third preview of the weekend, although if I had any sense, dear reader, I’d have done them in chronological order and knocked this one out first. However, what’s done is done, and the posts for nights one and two of WrestleMania are already up.
We’re getting into the silliest of the WWE shows this weekend, although that doesn’t mean it is lacking in promising matches. It’s just that NXT is its own thing, a semi-developmental brand that hovers somewhere between trying out new stuff, keeping some tired old tropes alive, and letting new talent work out the kinks in their performances – albeit on a national stage with a weekly TV show.
For a while there, NXT was the gold standard while WWE was faltering. Matches between guys like Johnny Gargano and Tomasso Ciampa or Sasha Banks and Bayley were getting five stars from reviewers, and NXT’s Takeover shows were some of the hottest tickets of the weekend. Those were the days when Triple H was booking, there was no AEW to speak of, and the independent scene was full of talent that was ready to get paid by WWE and put on some great shows while learning the Fed’s style. Nowadays, Triple H is working with the main roster, and Shawn Michaels is working with a lot of young kids who WWE is recruiting from college – athletes with a lot of personality and potential, but very little experience in a wrestling ring.
As I said in other posts, I want this blog to work for both newcomers and die-hard fans. So, we’re sticking with the format we used for the WrestleMania previews, and using my wife’s steadfast rules for why wrestling matches happen alongside some brief summaries of the rivalries and personalities involved in the fights this weekend. The rules, of course, are as follows:
I don’t like you and want to fight you
Something was misunderstood between us and we must fight, only to figure out later that we are friends
“Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!”
I WANT THAT CUMMERBUND (title)
Shawn Spears versus Joe Gacy
Who’s fighting?
Recently returned to NXT, after helping set things up over at AEW, Shawn Spears is an agent of chaos. He’s also really into chairs, specifically the steel folding variety. He talked Ridge Holland, a large man with a really unfortunate history of injuries, into calling it quits – in storyline terms, anyway. However, he’s met his match in chaos with Joe Gacy, a guy who until recently led a full-on cult. They disbanded, and now Gacy’s just kind of a madman, but one who’s enjoying unleashing his violent nature.
Why are they fighting?
Rule 1 stuff here. Both Spears and Gacy were in line to challenge Oba Femi for his North American Championship – more on him later. They lost their respective matches, though, and it was Gacy’s kinda-interference, by removing a chair prepared for Dijak, that cost Spears his win. Spears would pay Gacy back by using that chair on Gacy’s noggin.
Who’s gonna win?
Gacy’s in a weird place right now. He’d been feuding with Dijak for a while, but Dijak moved on to Spears, and now is in the North American title picture. I don’t think Gacy has completely moved on from that relationship, however. This should be a good, short match that’ll see Shawn Spears pick up another victory. Gacy will be just fine without the win.
Thea Hail, Fallon Henley, and Kelani Jordan versus Jacy Jayne, Kiana James, and Izzy Dame in a Six-Woman Tag Team Match
Who’s fighting?
Thea Hail is a goddamn delight! She’s a super-amped college kid enrolled in NXT’s only university, Chase U. Fallon Henley is a cowgirl with some catchy theme music and a desire to do the right thing, and Kelani Jordan is a former gymnast (in real life) and friend to both of them – she’s a little too new in NXT to have earned a two-word character trait just yet.
Jacy Jayne is a classic mean girl, wears all black, and uses people before beating them up and abandoning them. Kiana James is NXT’s resident business lady, and often hides a brick in her fancy purse for … wrestling reasons. And Izzy Dame is James’ business associate and partner in crime.
Why are they fighting?
Chase University was enduring some financial trouble, as its leader Andre Chase had incurred some gambling debts with Tony D’Angelo’s organization. While that was going on, Jacy Jayne befriended Thea Hail and started making Hail over in her image – black lipstick, less focus on school, not being insane when a boy says hi, that sort of thing. When the U was looking done for, Jayne put together a swimsuit calendar (in print, in the year of our Lord 2024) and it managed to sell so well that the University was saved and Chase’s gambling debts were paid. Unfortunately, during that time Jacy met some other, meaner girls and turned her back on Thea. Classic reason 3.
This is on a wrestling show. I love this stuff so much.
Who’s gonna win?
I mean, the good guys gotta win here, right? Nobody likes mean girls.
Carmelo Hayes versus Trick Williams
Who’s fighting?
Carmelo Hayes is HIM. Athletic, fast, strong, good on the microphone. He also knows he’s all those things, which is why he’s a great bad guy. Trick Williams has all the tools to be a WWE superstar – he’s tall, jacked, charismatic, likable, and has a really catchy theme song that fans chant “Whoop that Trick” along with.
Why are they fighting?
Rule 3, hopefully followed by 2. Hayes was the North American Champ for a long time, but after he lost it, he was more than willing to let his sidekick at the time, Trick, go after it. Unfortunately, while Trick was doing the work to get that title, he kinda accidentally worked his way into a World Championship match with Ilja Dragunov by way of the Iron Survivor match last year. Trick was attacked after he won that match, although who the attacker remained a mystery.
This wasn’t some kind of subtle bread crumb-type turn – literally everybody on the roster knew ‘Melo wasn’t happy with Trick’s newfound success, including the current champ. And they all straight-up told Trick this! He was just too good a friend to listen to them. While Trick/Melo Gang was involved in a tournament for the Tag Team Championship, Trick was also preparing for his own title shot. After they lost in the finals to the WolfDogs, Trick also fell to Ilja in a good, straight-up loss. It was after the loss that Carmelo turned on his former brother, and the long friendship between the two was over.
Who’s gonna win?
I usually list the non-title matches before I get into the title matches out of respect for the big belts. However, this is likely gonna be the main event, as it’s the biggest story NXT has going for it. Both guys are playing their parts brilliantly, with Trick getting incredibly over with the crowds and Hayes leaning into his performance as a smug, unlikable, jealous prick. Hayes is incredibly talented, and I think he’s due for a callup to the main roster any day now – in fact, he’s made some appearances on SmackDown already. And Trick has the look to be a full-on world champ, I just think he could use a little more development. So I’ll say Trick Williams defeats his mentor and brother, maybe they reconcile, and maybe that’s ‘Melo’s time to say goodbye to the NXT faithful.
Baron Corbin and Bron Breakker © versus Axiom and Nathan Frazier for the NXT Tag Team Championship
Who’s fighting?
Baron Corbin is a WWE veteran, a former football player who’s been through a bunch of gimmicks in both NXT and on the main roster. Unfortunately, his best work was probably the time he won a bunch of money gambling, and then lost it and was sad. He was sent down to NXT for a character refresh, and he’s really found his personality alongside his new tag team partner. Bron Breakker is that partner – a genetic freak and the son of Hall of Famer Rick Steiner, and nephew of Big Poppa Pump, Scott Steiner. He’s jarringly strong, and his initial babyface run was based on his second-generation bona fides and that aforementioned power. When he turned heel, that power was used as a weapon, but there wasn’t a lot of personality behind it. He was just a bully, a tough jerk. When he was paired with Corbin in a “can they coexist?” tag team, it took a couple weeks to find their footing, but they were really successful once they did. The pair is now a cohesive, fun pair of maybe-not-bad-guys anymore, and their backstage skits are some of the best on NXT.
Axiom and Nathan Frazier are another slapped-together team, but where Bron and Corbs are powerhouses, Axiom and Frazier are quick, flippy, and entertaining. They’re another recently-paired team, and as such they haven’t quite engineered the chemistry of the WolfDogs (a joke name that Bron proposed to Corbin that’s stuck), although there’s still plenty of time for that.
Why are they fighting?
Oh, it’s rule 4, featuring a tag team tournament that just ended this past week in a triple-threat match. Axiom and Frazier came out the winners, and they’ll get a title shot.
Who’s gonna win?
Bronn is another guy who’s had some exposure on SmackDown, tossing guys around and looking great doing it. It seemed like he would be sticking around the main roster sooner than later. And while Axiom and Nathan Frazer would be fun champions, flipping around the ring like madmen against bigger, stronger opponents who yeet them to and fro, I feel like the well-received champs have almost done too well and Bron will be sticking around NXT until this current run peters out a little more. WolfDogs retain and, eventually, will curse each other for their sudden but inevitable betrayal.
Oba Femi © versus Dijak versus Josh Briggs for the North American Championship
Who’s fighting?
Dijak is up first. He’s a big dude who believes in justice and violence – kind of a Sin City character, complete with a monochrome entrance and cool shades. Josh Briggs was part-owner of a cowboy bar, involved in a love triangle, and half of a beloved tag team just a few months ago. Since then, he and his partner broke up, the third part of that triangle has mostly moved on to do her own thing, and they all lost the bar. He’s still ostensibly a good guy, but he’s real grumpy. Oba Femi is kind of a prodigy. Born in Nigeria, this former shot-putter is jacked, and has a blast just heaving other men around the ring. He ended lucha superstar Dragon Lee’s short North American title reign in dramatic fashion with a clean victory, and has been destroying dudes ever since. At only 26, he still has a lot to learn but he’s really developing quickly.
Why are they fighting?
Dijak has been calling out Femi for a while now, because Rule 4 applies to almost all championship matches – it’s rarely “I hate your guts but also that cummerbund looks real nice,” you know? Josh Briggs got involved when his former tag team partner, Brooks Jensen, got thoroughly destroyed by Oba Femi, and Briggs wanted revenge.
Who’s gonna win?
Oba Femi had the title put on him way too soon, in my humble opinion, but we’re here now and we should make the most of it. Femi should retain here in a “big meaty men slappin’ meat” kind of match, which just so happens to be my favorite kind. Short, hard-hitting, and with big slaps and big moves between some big dudes.
Lyra Valkyria © versus Roxanne Perez for the Women’s World Championship
Who’s fighting?
Our challenger here is Roxanne Perez. The longtime top babyface of NXT had to give up her title after a concussion scare last year, and when she returned she participated in a ladder match that she didn’t win. Then she got a title shot, but the match got complicated when Lola Vice cashed in a title opportunity, making the match a triple threat and costing Perez a win. Perez turned against the fans and her coworkers after that, attacking a bunch of NXT stars and breaking Lyra’s arm!
Lyra Valkyria is a bird person, a gal whose gear and character gives pagan/witchy vibes. She’s a good guy champ, but the continuing assaults from Perez have taken her down a darker path, and she’s told stalker/pal Tatum Paxley that she’s willing to become that person to retain her title. Oh, right – Valkyria has an obsessed fan in Tatum Paxley, who dresses like her, idolizes her, and defends her whenever she can.
Why are they fighting?
I kinda stepped on my own tail in the character descriptions here. Perez claims she never really lost the NXT Women’s Championship, which is technically true. But she’s had opportunities since then, and it just hasn’t worked out for her. Now she’s a bad guy and has a title shot – sounds like rule 4 with some 3 mixed in for that heel turn.
Who’s gonna win?
Roxanne is another NXT performer who fans have felt is ready for the main roster for some time now. Unfortunately, this current bad guy run just isn’t working for me – she’s the most generic kind of heel, and she’s not very good on the microphone in these “I hate you, the fans” promos. However, last week’s NXT showed us that Paxley isn’t comfortable with her hero going rogue to retain her championship. I could see Valkyria retaining, giving Perez a chance to move on and Paxley a window to become a babyface in a rivalry against the now-dark champion.
Ilja Dragunov © versus Tony D’Angelo for the World Championship
Who’s fighting?
The challenger, Tony D’Angelo, is the “Don of NXT.” That’s right – it’s 2024 and we still have mafia stereotypes in this promotion. And for the last few months the mob boss was a good guy! He’s fine as far as in-ring stuff goes, but it’s all about the b-level acting for this guy. And he pulls it off, I think!
Ilja Dragunov is the champion, and he’s a lanky, lean guy that wrestling fans might describe as “tougher than a two-dollar steak.” He’s always impeccably dressed, super intense, and is a monster in the ring.
Why are they fighting?
Rule Four again! Tony D. won a play-in match against Carmelo Hayes by using Trick Williams’ theme music as a distraction against ‘Melo. That got things started, and since then D’Angelo has used some classic mob intimidation tactics against Dragunov. You know, kidnapping, booting his car, bringing him to a scary place where guys in suits are using table saws on pieces of wood…normal wrestling stuff. Dragunov doesn’t have a whole lot of character besides “likes pain” so it’s nice to see him working with an over-the-top character like Tony.
Who’s gonna win?
I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say Tony D’Angelo is going to pick up the victory and the title. Ilja’s title run has been good, and he’s good as a champ, but I feel like the Don of NXT needs the title to keep his gimmick solid. Also, Ilja is just about out of challengers at this point, so a title change might be the thing that sends him up to the main roster, where a certain longtime rival of his – Gunther – might need a new challenger.
…and that’s it!
What a packed weekend we’ve got! I think we’re gonna forego Casual Friday this week, as I’ve already pumped out over 10,000 words on previews alone. (!) I’ll see you next week for the usual Casual Friday and Untitled Monday blog posts, with the Monday blog featuring a recap of WrestleMania, Stand and Deliver, and also Collision if I find the time to check that out too! Hell, if I’m feeling particularly saucy I’ll try to post some thoughts on Sunday morning…but I can’t make any guarantees.
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