SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
NXT TV RESULTS
OCTOBER 15, 2024
ORLANDO, FLA. AT CAPITOL WRESTLING CENTER
LIVE ON CW NETWORK
REPORT BY KELLY WELLS (@spookymilk), PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR
NXT Commentators: Vic Joseph, Booker T
Ring Announcer: Mike Rome
Backstage Correspondent(s): Sarah Schreiber
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO OUR POST-SHOW PODCAST
-Vic and Book opened the show on the top of the ramp. Near the ramp was a slowly spinning wheel for the Halloween Havoc match (or matches?).
-They threw to a series of recaps from the two road shows over the past two weeks, covering important match endings as well as main roster visitors. It ended with Tony D’Angelo’s big win over Oba Femi for the North American Championship. This faded into a shot of Tony D sitting at a small table with a glass of wine and the belt on top of it. Tony put over Oba Femi first, and said he was the man, to be honest, who broke him. He said he had to win the title by winning by any means necessary. He said he had to use Femi’s pride against him. He said he baited Femi into thinking he had broken him. He said he did the unthinkable and beat Femi. There was a “Tony D” chant but also a bunch of Femi’s “HOO!” grunts. He saluted Femi and held up the glass.
Just as he did so, Femi’s music played, bringing the former champion to the rampin street clothes. Turns out he’s the most stylish guy in the room, in addition to being the coolest. He said he couldn’t lie – Tony got him. He congratulated D’Angelo and said it happened once, but it won’t happen again. He said at Halloween Havoc, he’ll be taking the championship back and will be the ruler of NXT. He started leaving the ring, but took one step back in and said “Your family will not be here to help you.” He rolled the gimmicked wheel and the match was determined to be “Tables, Ladders and Scares.” Nice.
-Byron Saxton talked to Oro Mensah about his “Gentleman’s Duel” tonight and the interesting rules involved. Among other things, there’s no throwing the other man over the top rope, and you can’t work the opponent when they have four points of contact on the mat. Mensah didn’t buy that Lexis King really wanted to act this way. Lexis King made his way into the scene and said Mensah had told him to make his father proud, but that would mean cheating, and he wanted to do this a different way.
-Stephanie Vaquer made her entrance ahead of her first match on TV to a very strong reaction. The show went to its first commercial.
(1) STEPHANIE VAQUER vs. WREN SINCLAIR (w/Charlie Dempsey & Tavion Heights & Myles Borne)
Dempsey’s mustache is making him look ever more studious or creepy, depending on your thoughts on mustaches. Vaquer grounded Sinclair with a brief head scissors and then did an arm-crossed trap pin like Zack Sabre Jr. does, perhaps in recognition of his recent huge win, for two. The two exchanged some grapples and Vaquer flexed while she had Sinclair trapped, but Sinclair reversed and grounded Vaquer with a Fujiwara armbar. Vaquer got to her feet and flipped through to reverse and roll up Sinclair for two. The two reset. Vaquer smirked a foreboding smirk and asked Sinclair to come at her. We got a shot of Cora Jade and Roxanne Perez watching the match in the back, but notably, we saw them walk away from it.
Vaquer trapped Sinclair’s head between her knees and pounded it against the mat three times. She covered for two. Sinclair uncorked a big palm strike and the two went to a big exchange of strikes and rights as the crowd stayed hot. After a couple of reversals, Sinclair managed a double-underhook suplex. She missed in a corner and Vaquer caught one of her legs for a dragon screw leg whip, not called by either guy, as I suppose they don’t see it very often. Vaquer hit her backbreaker/ushigoroshi finisher.
WINNER: Stephanie Vaquer at 4:40.
Perez and Jade of course charged the ring and attempted to beat down Vaquer, but Giulia made the save and the babyfaces cleared them from the ring. Vaquer got on the mic and said “Us two. You two. Halloween Havoc.”
(Wells’s Analysis: That was one of the best debut matches NXT has seen, honestly. Vaquer was predictably very strong, but Sinclair looked like a million bucks also as the two worked a technical match that spilled over into some strong style also. Vaquer’s look and presentation are already strong, perhaps surpassing Giulia’s, but there’s a lot of time to see what coalesces for both stars)
-Trick Williams and Kelani Jordan, both sporting gold, talked in the back about Williams getting his next challenger tonight. Williams asked Jordan what she had cooking. She said she didn’t know, honestly. They said their goodbyes while behind them, unseen by the two, were all three members of Fatal Influence. After the champs left the scene, Fatal Influence said it might be time to pay Kelani a little visit.
-Lexis King was introduced ahead of the Gentlemen’s Duel. [c]
-Karmen Petrovic and Brinley Reece talked in the pantry with a couple of women behind them whose name I definitely maybe have learned. Ashante Thee Adonis showed up and offered them a rose in apology for how he’s acted. Of course, he was trying to mack on them. Shawn Spears and Brooks Jensen showed up. Spears goaded Jensen into grabbing the rose and trashing it on the floor. Adonis asked if they had a problem, and Jensen said yes. The two argued and left the scene. Petrovic picked up a few rose petals, perhaps suggesting she feels something for Adonis after all.
(2) ORO MENSAH vs. LEXIS KING – Gentlemen’s Duel
You can’t toss your opponent over the top rope, attack when the opponent has four points of contact on the mat, and you must break by a count of three instead of five. All violations result in disqualification. Vic asked Book if he was ever in any interesting matches like this and Book said no. Vic mentioned the 49ers match from Nitro and Book said “Keep it up. Keep it up.” Vic suggested you could stream this match on Nitro on Peacock.
The first two and a half minutes largely established the rules of the match, with both guys having to remind themselves what they could and couldn’t do. King tried to get away with one, shoving Mensah into the ropes and trying to goad Mensah into a DQ, but it didn’t happen. The two laid out with a double-clothesline heading into commercial. [c]
The two continued to exchange shots as we came back from break. They had settled into a normal match with less of a focus on the Gentlemanly rules (for now). Oro hit a huge kick to the head as King was up on the top turnbuckle. Mensah staggered King but missed in a corner. King went for the Coronation but Mensah hit an inside cradle for two. Crucifix for two. King (very slowly and deliberately) trapped Mensah and bridged for the victory. Huh. It didn’t end in DQ.
King asked for a handshake, and Mensah obliged, but side-eyed King, still not believing the change in him.
WINNER: Lexis King at 10:58.
(Wells’s Analysis: A decent enough match that didn’t go to the DQ to further the story, but instead had King winning in a virtuous manner and Mensah not understanding what King’s really up to. It took a while, but they got me somewhat interested in a Lexis King angle)
-Je’Von Evans and Cedric Alexander talked briefly, and then Axiom and Nathan Frazer showed up and congratulated him on his match with Randy Orton. Alexander said Axiom and Frazer could also apologize for what they did in their match two weeks ago. We started to get a response until Wes Lee showed up and stirred some crap up. He said once Evans’ five minutes of fame are over, he can enjoy Lee’s title reign. Evans said he wouldn’t want to be like Lee. Lee turned it up to 11 and said Evans doesn’t have the potential to be like him. They continued to jaw as we went to commercial. Good stuff here. [c]
-The Meta-Girls cut a brief promo saying they’d be back soon but they weren’t done with Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair.
-NXT kept trying to make Nikkita Lyons happen, with Vic laying it on thick about her return while three fans behind them all held up planted signs, all three of them containing the word “Queen” because this company can’t help itself from branding. She cut a pre-taped promo that was good by her standards, but still not that great. She said this was the best women’s division in wrestling but she’d be taking over.
-Lola Vice was introduced ahead of the match against Lyons but the show went to another commercial after maybe three minutes of content. [c]
-Vic threw to a video of Cole Custer, NASCAR Xfinity Series Champion. Apparently he’ll be a special guest next week. I have a hard time picturing a race car driver having enough charisma for this spot, but hopefully they know something I don’t.
[HOUR TWO]
(3) LOLA VICE vs. NIKKITA LYONS
They showed a bunch more planted signs. The thirsty nature of Shawn Michaels will doom us all. Lyons’ entrance music was different (better, I think, though I can’t totally remember the last one) and the poses and presentation seemed more organic and less scattershot than before. That’s a plus. Lyons hit the early offense, and she had added some taunts as well. Lyons is visibly larger than before this injury, and she’s moving a bit differently as a result, though I would say early on her fundamentals are somewhat improved. She did some pretty bad punches as part of a ground & pound, but other stuff was better. Vice got in her lightning kicks and “I’m a Latina” taunt into a hip attack. Jaida Parker ran to the ring and distracted Vice, and Lyons hit a superkick. Lyons dumped Vice and Lyons took the ref’s focus, and Parker laid out Vice and rolled her back inside. Lyons hit her backsplash finisher. Vic congratulated her on the victory and they showed a bunch more planted signs, glossing over the heelish victory. Lyons is improving, but the eye-rolling over-loving presentation isn’t doing her any favors.
WINNER: Nikkita Lyons at 4:48.
(Wells’s Analysis: Lyons obviously should come out with a victory upon return, but I’m surprised to see Vice in this spot. On this night it seemed like Lyons has improved on some glaring deficiencies, but her weaknesses always far outshined her strengths, so there’s a long way to go. The Vice-Parker feud is interesting and could produce some good stuff but it felt like the afterthought here)
-Fatal Influence reluctantly agreed to the tag match in a scene with Ava.
-Riley Osborne was introduced ahead of a match with Ridge Holland. [c]
(4) RILEY OSBORNE (w/Thea Hail) vs. RIDGE HOLLAND
Osborne got in some early, fast-paced offense. Book called Osborne the last line of defense for Chase U, strangely. Holland hit a lariat at a charging Osborne and took over on offense. There was a “Ridge you suck” chant as Holland dominated Osborne in and out of the ring. Holland set up Osborne on the announce table, but Osborne hopped off of it and hit a tornado DDT on the floor, then rolled Holland inside. The two went up in a corner and jockeyed for position. Eventually, Holland hit a superplex. With Halloween Havoc around the corner, Vic likened Holland to a villain in a horror movie, who keeps hopping up. Holland hit the Redeemer.
WINNER: Ridge Holland at 3:43.
Holland kept up the onslaught on Osborne and Hail screeched at him to stop. Holland uncovered the announce table, including Vic’s usual stash of candy, and took Osborne up on it. He set up the Redeemer and Andre Chase’s music played him back into the fold. Chase hit the ring and dominated Holland, and then shared a big hug with Hail as security and refs held the sides apart.
(Wells’s Analysis: It wasn’t quite Osborne’s breakout of a few weeks ago, but it was still a decent big-small. I remain unsold on the heights Ridge Holland can reach, but the story keeps Chase U top of mind, so that’s something)
-Byron Saxton caught up with Tatum Paxley, playing with her dolls. Tatum got all weird but Jaida Parker showed up with OTM and Saxton turned to her for her thoughts on Lola Vice. Paxley stepped back into the scene and said “RUDE! I know you’re playing with Lola right now, but it’s my playtime right now.” Parker said she doesn’t play at all.
-Survivor Series: War Games spot. [c]
(5) ASHANTE THEE ADONIS vs. BROOKS JENSEN (w/Shawn Spears)
Jensen got in some power stuff before Adonis hit a flying forearm for two. Jensen dropped Adonis on a rope on his throat and took over to boos. He laid in some rights as Spears, in a sling, shouted out some instructions. Adonis thumbed Jensen’s eye to avoid a slam and took over with some rights. Jensen hit a throat shot to take control again. He worked a brief chinlock, then posed as we got an inset shot of Ethan Page getting ready for the main event tonight.
Jensen kept up the slow offense on Adonis, but Adonis pulled a rope to dump Jensen, then hit a dropkick through the ropes. Back inside, Jensen again went to the throat and the official finally mentioned it. That was nice of him, considering it’s an illegal move in the first place.
Karmen Petrovic went to the ring and poured out the rose petals on the apron in full view of Adonis, looking all flirty. Adonis fired up and booted Jensen, then went up. Spears distracted him and Jensen crotched him on the top rope, then hit his finisher.
WINNER: Brooks Jensen at 4:38.
Adonis seemed somewhat unperturbed after the match, leaning on the bottom rope saying “I see you, girl” at Petrovic, who was up at the top of the ramp. [c]
(Wells’s Analysis: They had their cake and ate it too. The Petrovic appearance should’ve led to a win, but instead it just led to a fire-up and in the end Spears still helped Jensen beat him. Jensen got the rare win but still wasn’t the story of the segment. The match was…not as clean as one would hope)
-The Family had thoughts on Oba Femi, as well as Tables, Ladders and Scares.
-Next week, Iyo Sky & Kairi Sane will face Lash Legend & Jakara Jackson, and Giulia & Stephanie Vaquer will face two undetermined members of Fatal Influence.
-Wes Lee was introduce ahead of the main event. [c]
(6) JE’VON EVANS vs. WES LEE vs. ETHAN PAGE – Triple Threat match to determine the opponent for Trick Williams at Halloween Havoc
The match started with 17 minutes left to the hour. They went with high spots and a fast workrate early, with each guy getting shine. Page hit a fallaway slam on Evans that cleared Lee from the apron and into a barricade. He covered for two. Lee was next to dominate both men, but they went to a battle between Lee and Evans while Page smiled and tried to goad them on. The two others used the boot of the other to take out Page. Page bailed, but Lee hit him with a dropkick, then went for a tornado DDT using the announce table, but Page put on the brakes and instead suplexed Lee onto the announce table. Page preened and taunted into the camera, and Evans flew into the shot, likely from a tope suicida, and took out Page on the table. Evans fired up as the show went to its last commercial. [c]
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