NXT HITS & MISSES 4/18: rushed hype for Spring Breakin’, Creeds vs. Gallus vs. Dyad, big character change for Nathan Frazer, more

The Creed Brothers vs. Gallus vs. The Dyad – HIT

Perhaps inspired by the North American Open Challenge openings of late, they went with a messy brawl to open and the crowd ate it up. NXT had something white-hot with the Creeds that has significantly cooled with some shiftless booking of late but Julius had a strong showcase on this night. It’s a shame that they had to eat the pin here, but perhaps that’s a bone thrown to The Dyad, who were apparently denied their release but have seemingly leaned slightly back slightly into their old gimmick and mannerisms, which is a good thing. A fun mess with some rarely-seen spots that continues to establish Gallus as unbeatable in the setting of a wild brawl.

Hard Hitting Home Truths with Nathan Frazer – MINOR HIT

How confused would a person be if they tuned into a wrestling show and this was the segment? I can’t agree with the idea of taking a born underdog babyface and turning him heel, as I think is the endgame here, but Frazer did as much as he could with the strange backdrop given to him, and has now shown more personality than he previously did in all his matches combined, and that’s a positive.

Myles Borne vs. Noam Dar – HIT

This is a reserved hit in a way because although it was a nice little match and a good personality showcase for the cheating Dar, it’s somewhat baffling that a prospect as smooth as Borne has thus far just been a stepover guy for talents like Dar and Eddy Thorpe.

Roxanne Perez promo – MINOR HIT

I would consider this a miss in a big spot on the main roster, but given how bad Perez’s early work on the mic was, the progress made can only be considered a positive. She does, however, still have a long way to go if she wants to have the kind of career that someone with her ring skills can have if they become a well-rounded performer.

Kiana James, Brooks Jensen and Josh Briggs segment – MISS

The best thing I can say about this segment is that if you like to sit around with friends and watch Reefer Madness or The Room and laugh at the utter amateurism of it all, you’ll love a scene like this. Between the mugging of James, Briggs occasionally seeming lost with his lines, and Jensen giving just as bizarre a delivery in this permutation of his character as the last one, it was camp heaven.

Bron Breakker and Duke Hudson segment – HIT

Breakker always felt miscast as a babyface to me, and I thought he had to change little or nothing about his delivery for a heel run to work. It turns out, though, that he has some decent chops as a believable arrogant prick and the run is off to an even better start than I hoped. Andre Chase has no chance in what’s essentially a tune-up for Breakker’s eventual callup to the main roster, but Duke Hudson was great doing his part to hype up the match.

Cora Jade and Gigi Dolin interview – MINOR HIT

Cut and paste my comments on Perez for Jade; this isn’t a main roster-ready act by any means, but a year ago she was utterly lost on the mic and she’s gradually gaining confidence in a role that seems suited to her.

Pretty Deadly interview – MINOR HIT

A minor hit for Pretty Deadly is a miss by their standards, but it seems like it’s been a while since the lines written for them allowed them to do their best work. They’re succeeding with whatever material they’re being given, but the material has been flat of late in comparison to their run.

Roxanne Perez vs. Zoey Stark – HIT

These two match up very well from both style and character standpoints. Perez’s gear tweak, as simple as a few white bows against her jet black hair, is kind of a cool idea to make her stand out more visually (let’s hope they don’t get caught on a turnbuckle and rip out a tress of her locks). A predictably strong match between two of the best in-ring performers on the brand. After another high-profile loss for Stark, I’m predicting a callup at the Draft as she really does seem to be in her final form.

Dani Palmer and Tank Ledger segment – MISS

Was this performed well? Hard to say. A segment with sound level issues this significant on a WWE show is an extremely rare thing, but that’s what we got.

Gigi Dolin vs. Cora Jade – MINOR HIT

The match went swimmingly, but Dolin needs to get away from Jacy Jayne to move her character progression forward. Jayne will potentially flounder without Dolin to help, but it’s time to sink or swim and finally step up in the ring. I didn’t figure in the weird bit with Lyra Valkyria robotically challenging Cora Jade in a sea of fog.

Eddy Thorpe interview with Damon Kemp interruption – MINOR MISS

Nothing was overly bad here, but I really liked Thorpe’s look and swagger as Karl Fredericks in New Japan, and this seems like such a step backward in effective presentation. Kemp is who he is on the mic, and I’m starting to think he’s probably plateaued but can be a boon as a midcard heel gatekeeper.

Brooks Jensen, Kiana James, Josh Briggs and Fallon Henley at the bar – MISS

In addition to the continued level of acting, this one had the added “bonus” of officially breaking up a team that I thought could have a pretty nice career in the midcard while occasionally visiting the main event scene in TV feuds.

Apollo Crews vs. Dijak – HIT

What could’ve been a throwaway midcard match was made more interesting for us at home with the framing of it as an attempt to impress those with the power to draft them to Raw or SmackDown. The Draft probably doesn’t need much of a boost to grab people as it always seems to do well, but it was a nice reminder that the date is rapidly approaching and this set the hook that when it comes to NXT talents being drafted, it’s “who” and not “if.” Post-match brawl participant Ilja Dragunov could be a dark horse callup nominee as well, though I don’t know how he would best be presented once there.

Jacy Jayne parking lot interview – HIT

It’s a shame her ring work lags far behind, because Jayne has such a natural way as a cruel and unfeeling heel. Once a total mess on the mic who probably shouldn’t even have been on TV for the first few months, Jayne has tapped into a character that she believes in so strongly that she’s one of the best pure heels on the stick on the brand.

Wes Lee vs. Charlie Dempsey – HIT

A technical wizard who can slow it down like Dempsey is essentially the perfect foil for the high-flying Lee. Hopefully this is a signal that the two will have another match in a long-form setting, because they could tell a pretty great story if given 15 minutes or so.

Tony D’Angelo and Stacks at an Italian restaurant – HIT

The addition of the “Trunk Match” stipulation gave the scene a reason to exist, and I continue to be amused at the level of commitment by both men in the most gimmicky of all gimmicks on the brand. With D’Angelo also stepping way up in the ring as of late, this act – once as dead in the water as their old running buddy Two Dimes – could be far closer to the main roster than people are thinking.

Overall Spring Breakin’ build – MISS

Though many of the night’s little things were positive, as usual with the second-tier NXT specials, the matches weren’t given nearly enough build to warrant it being a special episode at all. NXT is erring in the middle – they don’t want to dominate every episode on a developmental show with the hard sell for a bigger episode, but they want the boost that comes with the bigger episode existing, so it comes off looking like a normal week of NXT where all the matches happen to be announced the previous week, rather than two or three.

The Grayson Waller Effect with Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams

The Grayson Waller Effect goes as its guests do. He wasn’t able to save a segment between Roxanne Perez and Cora Jade, but given talents like Hayes and Williams, the money lines fly. Waller’s line “It’s not that I need a championship, it’s that I’m what a championship needs” was a great heel quip. Hayes is still occasionally over the line of cockiness for what a heel can get away with, and Williams doesn’t help in that regard, but the two made something out of a match that seems like yet another big-sized failure to win a championship by Waller that serves as a dry run for when he, like Miz, is asked to maintain heat while constantly losing matches all over the country.