Considering this was the go-home episode of NXT before Battleground, it mainly focused on building up towards the matches. But in the process of doing that, it greatly lacked in quality.
This week’s NXT featured matches like the semi-finals of the NXT Women’s Title tournament and Noam Dar taking on Nathan Frazer. While some matches were worth viewing, majority of the event didn’t stand out as it should have. Read on as we recap the 23rd May edition of WWE NXT.
NXT Women’s Title Tournament: Lyra Valkyria vs Cora Jade
This is one of those matches that should have went longer. It went on for less than 5 minutes and was not a good showing for either of the two women.
It did feature Lyra Valkyria pulling off a major upset as she pinned Cora Jade clean. Although Jade was in control for the majority of the match, Valkyria caught her with a surprise roundhouse kick to pick up the win. After the match, Jade attacked her with her baseball bat, screaming that the NXT Women’s Championship was hers.
Result: Lyra Valkyria def. Cora Jade
Axiom vs Dabba-Kato
While Axiom has been established a top guy of the black and gold brand, this match was a very poor showing for The Superhero. He was defeated by Dabba-Kato in about two minutes in a pretty lackluster match.
Dabba-Kato is definitely being built up as an unstoppable giant. However, squashing Axiom was probably not the right way to do it. As Axiom was trying to bring the big man down to his size, he ran into a two-handed chokebomb that sealed his loss. As Kato tried to dish out more punishment to The Superhero after the match, Scrypts came to the rescue.
Result: Dabba-Kato def. Aziom
Tyler Bate vs Eddy Thorpe
This match was much better than most of the matches on the card. It saw Eddy Thorpe suffer his first loss at the hands of Tyler Bate.
Although Thorpe countered the first attempt of Tyler Driver 98 into a clothesline, he fell to the second attempt and lost the match. After the match, Joe Gacy came and laid out both men, and held up the NXT North American Championship.
Result: Tyler Bate def. Eddy Thorpe
Noam Dar vs Nathan Frazer
Frazer and Dar put on a great match, exchanging blows and signature moves that was some of the best offensive sequences seen in NXT.
While Noam Dar brought a really good fight to Nathan Frazer, he was distracted by Dragon Lee and fell to a tope suicida into a Phoenix Splash which sealed his loss. The ending of the match set up a Dragon Lee vs Noam Dar match in the future.
Result: Nathan Frazer def. Noam Dar
Hank Walker vs Tank Ledger
Although a short match, it was definitely a good one. Despite the experience gap, Tank Ledger put up a great fight against the much more experienced Hank Walker.
The two men traded haymakers and towards the end, Walker picked up the win with a lariat. After the match, Bron Breakker took out both men with a spear. He issued a warning to the champ, saying that he would see him on Sunday.
Result: Hank Walker def. Tank Ledger
Von Wagner vs Luca Crusifino
This was a pretty interesting match between the two superstars. The crowd was pretty active throughout the match as they chanted “Wagner” and “Von is going to kill you”.
Crusifino continued to provoke the big man until he finally snapped. Crusifino won the man in the end via disqualification. Wagner left him in a heap after putting him through a table.
Result: Von Wagner def. Luca Crusifino via disqualification
NXT Women’s Title Tournament: Roxanne Perez vs Tiffany Stratton
In the last semi-finals match for the NXT Women’s title tournament, Roxanne Perez looked to make her way to the finals to win back the title she never lost. It was a fantastic match, quite possibly the best match of the tournament.
We saw a ton of action from both women. As Perez tried to hit the Pop Rox, Stratton reversed it, sending Perez throat-first into the top rope. She finished her off with the rolling fireman’s carry into the Prettiest Moonsault Ever to pick up the win.
Result: Tiffany Stratton def. Roxanne Perez
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