Sorry for the delay, but I was finishing up my
Great American Bash Preview which you can check out here. Thanks.Here are my NXT Thoughts:
First, I want to make a correction about Raw. When I posted the fact about what would have happened if Sami Zayn won the North American Championship & he would be the 4th to be both NXT & North American Champion, I forgot to include Carmelo Hayes, so Sami would have been the 5th. I apologize for the error.
Great opening segment. Dominik Mysterio & Rhea Ripley were great. The crowd was on fire. I loved Wes Lee's impassioned promo. Mustafa Ali was excellent too. I hope we get a Triple Threat Match at Great American Bash.
Solid segment with Tony D'Angelo, Channing Lorenzo, Bronco Nima, & Lucien Price to set-up a match later.
Wow, I was not expecting the 6-Man Tag Team Match to be in the opening match.
Good interview with Lyra Valkyira. Tonight will be Rhea Ripley's 1st NXT since she defeated Roxanne Perez on 10/18/22.
Ilja Dragunov, Carmelo Hayes, & Trick Williams VS The Schism was really good but it got disjointed in the end.
Good segment with Tiffany Stratton.
Awesome, the Triple Threat Match is official for Great American Bash. Wow, I blinked & Von Wagner VS Javier Bernal was over. I love that Wagner listened to the fans & put Bernal through the table. I was not expecting Bron Breakker. I guess we have another match for Great American Bash.
Nice segment with Dragunov, Hayes, & Williams to add some heat to their match at Great American Bash.
OK promo by Gable Steveson. I like Baron Corbin confronting him. It's kind of cool that Corbin wrestled another Olympic Gold Medalist, Kurt Angle in his final match & will now wrestle Steveson in his 1st ever match at Great American Bash.
OK segment with Dom & Rhea.
Dana Brooke VS Cora Jade was pretty good. They showed that they can fight & get extreme. It was the 2nd Women's Kendo Stick Match in History after Alexa Bliss VS Bayley at Extreme Rules on 6/4/17, which was the last one to take place. This is the 1st Kendo Stick Match in NXT History.
Great interaction between Dragunov & Hayes. Great American Bash will be awesome.
Cool segment with Drew Gulak, Charlie Dempsey, Myles Borne, & Damon Kemp.
Tony D'Angelo & Channing Lorenzo VS Bronco Nima & Lucien Price was a hard-hitting slugfest. SCYRPTS was bad on commentary. Gallus' promo was OK.
Cool promo by Dijak.
The brawl with Roxanne Perez & Blair Davenport in the store was different. It wasn't as good as Austin & Booker in the Supermarket.
I was enjoying NXT tonight until this crap. I don't know who's worse on the mic, Lash Legend or Lousy Rousey. Jakara Jackson, Oro Mensah & Noam Dar were all horrible. Nathan Frazer & Dragon Lee were OK as well as Valentina Feroz & Yulisa Leon.
Fun training segment with Chase U.
Interesting developments with Los Lotharios.
Lyra Valykria VS Rhea Ripley was excellent. Lyra showed that she can hang with someone like Rhea. Interesting comments to Lyra after the match from Rhea.
Great closing segment with Dragunov, Hayes, & Williams.
Here are my NXT Match Rankings:
1) Lyra Valykria VS Rhea Ripley
2) Ilja Dragunov, Carmelo Hayes, & Trick Williams VS The Schism
3) Dana Brooke VS Cora Jade
4) Tony D'Angelo & Channing Lorenzo VS Bronco Nima & Lucien Price
5) Von Wagner VS Javier Bernal
Overall, a pretty good NXT. Besides the StupidNova Sessions which was horrendous, I enjoyed everything else. We didn't get amazing matches, but the matches were solid & it helped give a last minute build for Great American Bash.