By Jason PowellProWrestling.net Editor (Forrestlingnet)
NXT stand and hit distribution
Dolph Ziegler vs. Bron Breaker for the NXT Championship: A good match for Ziegler and a really amazing win. Even Ziegler himself said on NXT television that everyone assumed it was set as a crowning moment for the breaker. Rookie was protected by an open turnbuckle spot that led to the finish and Robert Rudd intervened throughout the match. It will be interesting to see if they rematch soon or if this leads to the breaker moving to the main roster.
Carmelo Hayes vs. Santos Escobar vs. Solo Sequoia vs. Grayson Waller vs. Cameron Grimes in a ladder match for the NXT North American Championship: Vic Joseph nailed it when he described it as a human destruction derby. These wrestlers all took some crazy bumps off their asses. The place where Waller appeared to hit his arm was ridiculous. It’s not a WWE thing, it’s a pro wrestling thing. The bar is set too high. Meanwhile, I wasn’t a fan of the story that Grimes said in his pre-match promo that it was his last chance to fulfill his promise to his late father that he would be the champion. He’s a 28 year old guy, so why would anyone believe it would be his final title shot? That one line unnecessarily indicates his victory off.
Mandy Rose vs. Cora Z vs. Io Shirai vs. K. Lee Ray in the Four-Way for the NXT Women’s Championship: It wasn’t always pretty, but there was good drama in this match. While I wasn’t a fan of changing the NXT women’s tag title (more on that later), it did add some mystery to the match that made it seem like Rose could lose the title before the toxic attraction. The main roster has been called. It ended in a credible win for Rose, who survived three Babyface opponents without any help from her side-kicks.
Gunther vs. LA Knight: A powerful match that gave Knight a lot of offense before he turned the tide of Gunther and once he acted fast. It wasn’t a Walter-style classic, but it was enjoyable, and it looked beautiful even after both men had finally strengthened Gunther.
Fabian Eichner and Marcel Berthel v. Triple Threat for Nash Carter and Wes Lee vs. Julius Creed and Brutus Creed NXT tag title “MSK”: It’s good that MSK’s irrational gossip for which a small group of Orlando fans are responsible didn’t follow them in Dallas. It was a quality three-way tag match. I dig the Creed Brothers, but the match would have been stronger if they had knocked it out. That said, it’s developmental and Creeds has gained something from experience. They were also protected by not taking the PIN, so I guess we’ll see them challenge MSK soon.
Tomaso Siampa vs. Tony D’Angelo: A fun slag fest. If you watched Netflix, AJ Galante would have looked great Unspoken: Crime and Punishment. And if you haven’t seen it, you should, as you’ll see some of your WWE favorites at Gallant’s birthday party, cast by his father, whom the late James Gaddafini named Tony Soprano in real life. Whatever Simper’s next post, it was a great win for D’Angelo, who continues to make great strides in this early stages of his development. And what was the moment of that post-match with Paul “Triple H” Levesque with an amazing presence on stage to bid farewell to a pillar of the Black and Gold era? Awesome.
Miss NXT stand and delivery
Gigi Dolin and Jesse Jane vs. Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez for the NXT Women’s Tag Title: A soft miss for a decent match that lacked the right build. Kai and Gonzalez’s reunion was in a hurry, and it was strange to see them win the tag title again so soon. As mentioned earlier, the title change made me wonder if Toxic Attraction was the main roster bound at the WrestleMania post, but Mandy Rose won his match, so I assume that’s not the case. Meanwhile, it’s not just Orlando. The Dallas crowd’s mild response to Wendy Chu tells me that her trick isn’t clicking in a big way. Chu is a talented actor and I would love to see the creative forces re-package him.
