SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
TIFFANY STRATTON vs. THEA HAIL – NXT WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP
Man, I love Thea Hail. Even though I knew she didn’t have a chance to actually defeat Stratton cleanly for the title, the wrestling fanboy in me was rooting for Hail the whole time. Her energy is electric and even at 19 years old, she gets it. She knows who her character is and incorporates so many little mannerisms and details into her performance. If she can continue to improve her in-ring ability at the rate she has in her debut year, then I see a big future in this business for her.
What about her dance partner? Tiffany Stratton, as champion, feels like a fresh restart for the women’s division. Stratton is probably one of, if not the most, polished women in NXT. While she’s yet to reach the caliber of The Four Horsewomen, for example, just yet — Stratton may very well be the next big main roster star. She has a few things to tweak and work on with her promo game, but that should come with time and reps on the mic.
We haven’t really seen Thea Hail in a long singles match to this point. Any time she’s been in the ring, it’s been a short singles match or mixed tag action where her participation was limited. She’s been largely protected to this point. This title match was her time to shine.
Was this a 5-Star classic? No. But, it was a solid opening title match on a “named” episode of NXT TV that exceeded expectations. Stratton carried herself like a total star, and Hail tapped into everything she’s learned while in NXT to deliver the best performance of her short career. She even was able to make Stratton tap at one point, which was unseen by the ref. But the fact that she got a visual win over Stratton says to me that the NXT brass believe in Hail.
Andre Chase returned to NXT after the match ended while Drew Gulak and Charlie Dempsey attacked Duke Hudson at ringside during a dispute on which coach as responsible for Hail’s loss. The return was foreshadowed for weeks, but even though I expected his return tonight (or in the near future), it was still a feel good moment to see him return.
Verdict: HIT
GALLUS vs. EDRIS ENOFE & MALIK BLADE – NXT TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
Last week, Enofe & Blade defeated Josh Briggs & Brooks Jensen and Hank & Tank in a triple threat tag for a chance at Gallus’ tag team gold.
Now that begs the question… does winning that match actually constitute a win? Sure, you get to challenge for the belts. But you also have to get in the ring opposite Mark Coffey and Wolfgang.
E & B was a team created well over a year ago out of two wrestlers who just needed something to do. Seemingly thrown together. They’ve proven that they have the chops to at least hang in the main event tag scene, and it was great to see them get a shot at these titles. Their rise from two singles competitors with nothing to do, to challenging for the titles is reminiscent of Kayden Carter and Kacy McSwordface. And I’m here for it.
Commentary told their story well throughout the match, trying to get you to believe that E & B had any chance of defeating the most brutish of brute tag teams in NXT – Yes, even more so than Brutus and his brother themselves.
Los Lotharios, the team of Angel and Humberto, were shown standing on the platform in the crowd during the match. As soon as I saw them, I knew E & B’s chances of winning may have increased. I’ll leave wrestling math to Bron Breakker, but there was a chance that Los Lotharios could attack or interfere and cost Gallus their gold.
E & B was able to pull off quite a bit of impressive offense throughout the match (and an impressive botch by Enofe), more than I even anticipated. But ultimately, as expected, Gallus walked away with the titles. Los Lotharios didn’t interfere, but Stacks did. Stacks tried to attack Gallus, but wound up hitting Enofe leading right into the finish.
Verdict: HIT
NATHAN FRAZER vs. DRAGON LEE – NXT HERITAGE CUP
For the first time since changing hands at Battleground, Nathan Frazer defended his Heritage Cup against one of the newest additions to the NXT roster, Dragon Lee.
Personally, I love British Rounds style rules for the Cup – conveniently pasted from Wikipedia below for your convenience.
- Matches consist of six three-minute rounds with 20-second breaks between each round.
- Matches are 2-out-of-3 falls.
- Falls can be won by pinfall, submission, or countout.
- Once a fall occurs, the round ends.
- The match ends once a wrestler has won two falls.
- In the event of a disqualification or knockout, the match instantly ends without the need for two falls.
- If all six rounds are completed, whoever is ahead on falls wins the match.
These established rules give the Heritage Cup a more prestigious feel than your traditional title and gives a big fight atmosphere. The 20 second breaks between rounds are reminiscent of a boxing or MMA match, something you don’t often see outside of the Brawl For All within the WWE.
If you watch no other match from the 2nd night of Gold Rush, go out of your way to watch Frazer and Lee compete at the highest of levels. The wrestling was explosive and the in ring psychology/storytelling was great. Each competitor had each won one fall when Frazer barely squeaked out a pin on Lee to retain the cup during this first defense.
Verdict: HIT
GIGI DOLAN vs. KIANA JAMES
On one hand, this angle leading to the match gave me something I had wanted for quite some time. It broke Gigi Dolan away from Jacy Jayne and Kiana James away from the Briggs, Jensen and Henley storylines respectively. Each story, while entertaining in their own rights at times, had run their course.
Now on the other hand, I don’t know if they’ve done the greatest job to build a feud between Dolan and James prior to this match. I didn’t even remember what the story was leading into this matchup. Coming into this match, it was probably the match I cared about the least out of the matches advertised tonight.
What this match wound up showing me is that Kiana James has what it takes to be a great heel, upper mid-card/main event level gatekeeper. I’m not sure if she has the charisma to ever be a major star herself. But she has enough to portray a great foil for whichever new hero they’re looking to push. Dolan’s body of work has never really impressed me, but opposite James — well, this could have been the best match of her NXT career.
Dolan picked up the win and afterwards, James proved my point about being a great foil by dousing Dolan in neon orange paint in the center of the ring.
Verdict: HIT
CARMELO HAYES vs. BARON CORBIN – NXT CHAMPIONSHIP
Free Agent, Baron Corbin made his way to NXT a handful of weeks ago and attacked Carmelo Hayes signaling that he wanted a shot at the NXT title. Corbin hadn’t been down in NXT since his main roster call up many moons ago. Say what you will about Corbin, he’s a solid performer who’ll always give a great match no matter his opponent. So, for me, it was a treat to see Corbin back in an NXT ring, challenging for a title he never was able to capture during his first run in NXT.
Their promos opposite one another leading to the match were great. Carmelo won the battle on the mic, yet Corbin entertainingly held his own against the NXT Champ,
Baron Corbin returned to his NXT “Lone Wolf” gimmick, complete with his old gear, NXT T-shirt, entrance music and his walk to the ring. A welcome and nostalgic move for someone like me who first found NXT when Corbin was in the middle of his undefeated streak.
As expected, the match was great. However, about halfway through the match it hit me. Corbin is going to win.
On a night where we had a plethora of titles on the line, none of the other titles changed hands. Baron Corbin returned to his old, dominant gimmick. And he was absolutely manhandling Melo like we’ve never seen before throughout the match. Melo attacking Corbin on Raw the night before.
The signs were there and the move wouldn’t be unprecidented. Dolph Ziggler won the title off of Bron Breakker in a similar fashion, only for Breakker to win it back a few weeks later.
Corbin looked as vicious as Brock Lesnar, and a hell of a lot less blown up than Lesnar, and brutally threw forearm after forearm at Melo. Melo was selling the offense like death with Commentary building that story where Melo has a mountain to climb.
USA Network gave NXT 15 minutes of overrun tonight for this match instead of the usual 8. And at the end of that 15 minutes my entire theory was thrown out the window when Carmelo somehow made his comeback from the beatdown of his life and squeaked out a win.
Verdict: HIT
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.