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Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos
The name of the game in NXT right now is chaos. Tony D’Angelo attacked Tavion Heights before the show started. The man’s tired of being the hunted and wants to go back to what he does best. Kam Hendrix attacked Tony during the show, which got Kam tossed out of the building…or did it?
Nope! During the main event match between Tavion and Tony, Kam popped up like a jack-in-the-box and interfered. Stone runs the exact opposite of a tight ship. And post match, as Tony embraced Tavion, Will Kross attacked both men and announced his new name: Mason Rook.
NXT’s socials went all in on the theme too:
Not exactly clever but their point is well taken.
They’re in the midst of another reset. This is yet another era. There’s a lot of bodies hitting floors and new names dropping said bodies. And when the show doesn’t operate the smoothest or the storylines are sometimes dropped out of necessity or just because, creating a bunch of chaos can work. It gives the impression that exciting things are happening at a time when the territory needs all the excitement it can muster. Its biggest names are onto bigger and better things. Sadly, some of them left before truly making their mark on the CW brand.
The mens roster in particular felt very depleted. I have no clue if guys like Tavion, Kam, Mason, and Myles Bourne will generate as much interest for me as the women’s roster does consistently. I can’t call whether some of these guys are ready for the big time or still need more minutes on the undercard. I do know NXT needs to throw as much to the wall as possible right now. Something has to stick because the alternative is a men’s roster mired in repetition and boredom.
They have huge shoes to fill. Oba Femi, Trick Williams…well, those two are enough right there but the list goes on. One thing about those guys is they developed while NXT stalwarts like Johnny Gargano were on the brand. They didn’t need to be stars immediately. The training wheels are off for these new cats though.
That sink or swim factor has its advantages but also plenty of setbacks. NXT cannot afford the latter.
B-Sides
- I still really like Kali Armstrong. Watching her in-ring didn’t alter my first impressions. I love her attitude, her physicality, her aggression, and that everything looks like it hurts. Putting her against Jaida Parker felt right mostly because they have that last trait in common. Which is why starting this match with a bunch of shoves felt incredibly appropriate. It’s not that they dislike each other; they just both love to fight and come ready for war. As always, I wish they got a bit more time in the ring but this was a nice showcase for Kali. She got the win and moves up the ranking while Jaida just can’t get right. Enter Nattie. The dungeon master—get your head out of the gutter—approached Ms. Parker in the middle of Jaida wrecking the locker room. Nattie called it like she saw it: Jaida’s gone soft. That’s actually a running story for a few weeks now, so it’s cool we might see a payoff. How will Jaida fair in the dungeon?
- Speaking of people trying to regain their edge, Jasper Troy took on Jackson Drake. Not only did Jasper not get his groove back, but Myka Lockwood, Jackson’s squeeze, manhandled Jasper. Her quick interference helped set up Jackson for the W. Is this setting up an intergender match? Or, possibly the more probable idea, is that we get a mixed tag match. Who will help Jasper?!
- I love Lizzy Rain. The look, the music (well, the music it’s supposed to be), the finishing move, and her whole vibe. Look, I’m an easy date at times. You give me some metal hair band rock and an English accent, I’m yours. Lizzy got a chance to make an impression on the mic this week and she did fine. She wasn’t the only one speaking as the segment started with Zaria addressing the world for the first time since throwing her former best friend onto two tables. A nice breakaway moment for Zaria as she stated her motivation clearly: She wants the North American Championship, despite it being “the catalyst” for dissolving a friendship she cherished. There’s a nice duality with Zaria that works for me. She acknowledged the problem with getting that close to power but also wants the power. She doesn’t mind flirting with her dark side while being fully aware of its problems. Cool.
- Nikita Lyons and Tatum Paxley showed up as well. the latter because she’s the North American champ, so duh. And the former because she too wants the title, and a little revenge on Lizzy. A brawl ensued with all four women going at it, so I see a fatal 4. way in the near future. There’s no way Stone doesn’t give all three women what they want.
- Noam Dar is back! He popped up in a backstage segment with Vanity Project. And now he gets Jackson Drake next week. Crazy how many NXT eras ago that was when Noam was a fixture with the Heritage Cup and Meta-Four. Two of its members aren’t in WWE anymore, and one is making a name for herself on SmackDown. Crazy how time flies.
- Lola Vice teamed with Mr. Iguana against Izzi Dame & Niko Vance. This was all about Izzi pinning Lola, which she did. Kelani Jordan wants Lola, Kendal Grey wants Lola. And now Izzi is in prime position to get her first.
- Those DarkState boys are volatile, right? Dion Lennox and Saquan Shugars erupted in a shouting match while Cutler James & Osiris Griffin tagged against Hank & Tank. The action in the ring didn’t compel me as much as the action outside the ring. Dion and Saquan clearly aren’t feeling each other. And it all stems from them just not seeing eye to eye on how DarkState should function. Cutler and Osiris actually stopped in the middle of the match to break up their stablemates. With that in mind, it’s crazy Hank & Tank took the L here. Not crazy from a booking perspective but just the optics of losing to two guys with all that drama happening in the background. That said, the two functioning members of DarkState held it together long enough to look like a well-oiled machine en route to DarkState’s first victory in what feels like several moons. But even in the celebration, Dion and Saquan still couldn’t function together. I’ve said for a minute that’s time to break up the band; this cements it.
- I really didn’t like the Keanu Carver “interview” segment. I liked them giving him some backstory besides just being a big, angry dude; he went to Temple, played football, and didn’t go to every class but paid attention when he showed up. But he came off angry as NXT’s new correspondent just found him wandering outside in what looked like an Orlando park. He then screamed about not answering any questions on camera, which forced the cameraman to put down the camera but leave it recording. Of course, Keanu knew it was on the whole time, so he, in effect, answered questions on camera. He then gave a normal interview on camera like a regular human. They’re going out of their way to make him different from every other NXT wrestler but it comes off as doing too much far too often. And just overthinking.
- Evil gets a new name: Naraku. Which sounds an awful lot like Naruto. Anime joke aside, Naraku makes his official debut next week.
This was never a dull show but I can’t say it entirely worked for me either. Like I said up top, this was a very chaotic outing. Purposefully so, but not done in a compelling or thoughtful manner. NXT wants to go for the old “anything can happen in the WWF” vibe but it doesn’t have the personalities to make that exciting. Eventually they’ll hopefully get there; this is a reset after all.
What say you, Cagesiders?
