WWE NXT returned for its second week on The CW.
Tonight’s show featured returning stars, new champions, title changes, and more! Oh, and let’s not forget that a certain Legend-Killer-turned-legend-himself decided to pop by NXT for a thrilling match-up with rising NXT talent, Je’Von Evans.
Below are the top highlights of the night.
Wes Lee Wants A Shot At Trick Williams
The new NXT Champion Trick Williams opened the show, but he was quickly interrupted by Wes Lee who told Trick that now that he’s shed some weight, he can focus on the NXT Championship. Lee said he was going to, “‘whoop that Trick”, take his title, and leave him in the dust just like his old friend, Carmelo Hayes, did.
That led to a surprise appearance by Intercontinental Champion Jey Uso. We then saw, Williams and Uso link up both their catchphrases, “Whoop Dat Trick” and “Yeet.”
Kelani Jordan, Bianca Belair & Jade Cargill def. Fatal Influence – Six-Woman Tag Team Match
Following that, Jade Cargill, Bianca Belair and Kelani Jordan defeated Fatal Influence in a very good match. Another loss for Fatal Influence but let’s be honest. If you’re Shawn Michaels/Triple H, you’re not gonna not have Jade and Bianca win. Still, Fatal Influence put on a good match and their time will undoubtedly come.
Backstage, the 14-time World Heavyweight Champion Randy Orton interrupted a conversation between Nathan Frazer and Axiom, and Orton asked just how fast Je’Von Evans was. Axiom said Evans might be the fastest draw in the west (i.e fastest wrestler in NXT), which Evans took offense to, claiming he was the fastest. Orton left the two to bicker.
Giulia Brings Out Stephanie Vaquer During Confrontation with Roxanne Perez and Cora Jade
NXT Women’s Champion Roxanne Perez made her entrance and proceeded to gloat about defeating “international sensation” Giulia. She continued on for a bit, then Cora Jade made her entrance. Jade said that while sitting at home for the last nine months, she kept hearing about how deep the NXT Women’s roster is, but her name was never mentioned, and that pissed her off. So she took matters into her own hands to make people pay for overlooking her. Perez said she liked this version of Cora Jade and it’s mended their relationship. The two rekindled their friendship, Perez said that while the Women’s Championship may have broken their relationship, it’s also what brought them back together.
Naturally, this brought out Giulia, who was dared to enter the ring. And she did, but not before being joined by an “old friend…”
Stephanie Vaquer came out and the two brawled with Perez and Jade, before clearing the ring. Then, Giulia and Vaquer both picked up the NXT Women’s Championship indicating that they both have their eyes set on becoming future NXT Women’s Champions.
Lexis “Don’t Call Me Junior” King was shown chatting up Charlie Dempsey. King was complaining about not being able to cheat in his upcoming match with Oro Mensah, so Dempsey recommended a “gentleman’s duel.” It’s unclear if said duel will include pistols or just gloves to slap each other with. Either would be more entertaining than a match, in our opinion.
Tony D’Angelo def. Oba Femi to win the NXT North American Champion
Next up was the highly-anticipated matchup between NXT North American Champion Oba Femi taking on the number-one contender, Tony D’Angelo.
This match was a rematch from their PLE encounter and it delivered in spades. Tony D’Angelo as the ultimate underdog (sorry, Sami) served him well through this feud, and this match. After a back-and forth match featuring power bomb attempts, chokeslams on the ring apron, and more, a make-or-break moment occurred for Tony D. His partner in crime, Stacks, handed Tony a crowbar and, if this was a year ago, he would have cracked Femi’s skull with it. But Tony is a new man, and he wanted to win clean.
It almost looked like he wouldn’t be able to, especially as Oba Femi prepared to powerbomb him through the announce table. Luckily, Tony reversed it into a spinebuster through the table, for a close two-count.
Femi then “Oba’d Up” and attempted to chokeslam Tony D, but the underdog reversed it into a surprise sunset flip for the 1-2-3.
Tony D’Angelo became the new NXT North American Champion.
The family joined Tony for a celebration, with both the NA championship and the Italian flag.
Fraxiom def. Grayson Waller & Austin Theory
Next up was the not-as-highly anticipated matchup between Axiom and Nathan Frazer vs. “A-Town Down Under,” Austin Theory and Grayson Waller for the NXT Tag Team Championship.
This was a double dose of “CAN THEY CO-EXIST,” as both teams bickered in between fighting their opponents. It was a good give-and-take matchup with each team showcasing their athletic ability. Multiple high impact, high risk moves from all four men. The end of the match saw Austin Theory accidentally run into Grayson Waller, which allowed Axiom to his his Golden Ratio signature move. Following that, Axiom hit Waller with a Spanish Fly, and Nathan Frazer ended the sequence with a beautiful Phoenix Splash, for the pinfall.
Axiom and Nathan Frazier defeated “A-Town Down Under!”
A brief video package from Ridge Holland aired, featuring his pledge to end Chase-U. Then Holland was interviewed by Sarah Schreiber, and he reiterated that he was going to take down Chase-U one-by-one.
And then, because this is the CW Network and Triple H and Shawn Michaels want to “appeal to the kids(!)” music star Sexyy Red performed a song.
Not one to let anyone else bask in the spotlight, action figure afficionado “All Ego” Ethan Page interrupted Ms. Red and said her concert was cancelled. He said that even in just the last week, since he lost the NXT Championship, NXT has gone downhill. Page said he wasn’t leaving the ring until he got his rematch, but Je’Von Evans came out. Page said he didn’t care if Evans was fighting Randy Orton, and then he tried attacking Evans, but Evans saw it coming and through Page out of the ring.
Then, Je’Von Evans and Sexyy Red celebrated/danced in the ring together before Randy Orton made his entrance for the main event.
After the commercial break, it was an Attack of the 40-Foot Woman! Actually, it was a vignette for a very large, very tall mystery woman who attacked a bunch of other, tinier women. This mystery gal choke-slammed one of the rando ladies, leaving a literal crater in the ground.
Randy Orton def. Je’Von Evans
Randy Orton vs. Je’Von Evans was everything one would expect it to be. Of course Orton won the match; he’s not a 14-time world champion for nothing, but this was one of those instances where, even in defeat, Evans looked like a star.
Orton acted a little extra heel-ish in this match, going as far as patting Evans on the head. Super condescending. Evans responded with a superkick outta nowhere. Orton responded with a kick of his own, this being of the drop-variety.
After a commercial break, Evans attempted to dive onto Orton, but the legend saw it coming, caught him, and back-suplexed him through a table. The crowd, sadists that they are, demanded that Orton do it “one more time.” Orton responded, saying “I gotchu” which was laugh out loud funny. And he then suplexed the man three more times! Good God almighty, that man has a family! We think. Does he?
Anyway, Evans eventually gained the upper-hand, but was quickly reminded who was the pro and who was the rookie, as Orton hit his draping DDT. Evans recovered, hit a superkick and then his own version of the RKO. This was Springboard Cutter and the crowd thought, just for a minute, that Evans could have won. He did not.
Evans and Orton attempted an “RKO outta nowhere,” with Evans performing a corkscrew dive onto Orton. Orton missed the RKO, but not for lack of trying.
The most interesting aspect of this sequence was the growth of Randy Orton. Years ago, he screamed at Kofi Kingston and called him stupid. This time, Orton smiled, said something akin to “it’s alright,” and then hit a regular RKO for the win.
Randy Orton defeated Je’Von Evans in a very, very good match. He then helped Evans to his feet, and raised his opponent’s arm. The show cut to backstage, where Ethan Page and Wes Lee were talking with NXT General Manager Ava. Ava made the main event for next week, which will be Ethan Page vs. Wes Lee vs. Je’Von Evans in a number one contenders match for the NXT Championship.
And that’s the show! It was an excellent follow-up to the inaugural NXTCW show, and it’s demonstrating just how many future players WWE has coming up through the ranks. Shawn Michaels, Triple H, and the whole NXT crew should be very proud. If “This…is…NXT,” then the developmental brand is in very, very good hands.