NXT Stand & Deliver (April 2023)

Original Airdate: April 1, 2023

From Los Angeles, California; Your Hosts are Vic Joseph and Booker T 

Opening NXT Women's Title Ladder Match: Roxanne Perez v Gigi Dolin v Indi Hartwell v Zoey Stark v Tiffany Stratton v Lyra Valkyria: You know how this works, big brawl right away. Perez gets the best of it, but fails to get a ladder, and everyone keeps brawling around. Indi gets a ladder inside and climbs, but Stratton comes up the other side. Perez grabs Indi, allowing Stratton to nearly get the gold but everyone ends up falling off. Indi gets the best of it, and makes another climb, but Gigi cuts her off. According to Joseph, Hartwell has had that gold in her eyes ‘her entire life.’ Funny, she looks a lot older than most ten year olds. Gigi climbs, but Lyra cuts her off, as the match continues down well charted territory. We get a car wreck spot on the outside, and Indi is last standing. That allows her to climb, but she’s battered, and slow. Dexter Lumis shows up to give her a boost, and Hartwell wins the gold at 17:00. I’m not into these car wreck ladder matches, and this one had a dumb finish. ¾*

NXT Tag Team Title Triple Threat Match: Mark Coffey and Wolfgang v Brutus Creed and Julius Creed v Tony D'Angelo and Channing Lorenzo: Oh, another multi-person match that will most likely be a car wreck. It’s like they’re booking just for me! The champs retain at 8:11. This did nothing for me. ½*

NXT North American Title Fatal Five-Way Match: Wes Lee v JD McDonagh v Ilja Dragunov v Axiom v Dragon Lee: This is Dragon’s debut. Do we really need two guys with the same last name who aren’t playing related characters? Dragunov starts by chopping the living shit out of Axiom, but Dragon dumps him to the outside, and then starts teeing off on JD. Dragon adds a suicide dive on both Axiom and Dragunov on the outside, but Drgaon loses a battle with Wes on the inside. It’s the battle of the Lee Lees! Maybe later Kimona Wanalaya will dance atop the NXT Arena! Finish sees Wes hit Dragunov with a kick at 19:15. Rating forthcoming as soon as I finish yawning. *

Unsanctioned Match: Johnny Gargano v Grayson Waller: Okay, I’m ready to sink my teeth into this one. Gargano hits him with a superkick before the bell, knocking Waller to the outside. Johnny is on him with a tope out there, and he rolls Waller in to hit with a slingshot spear that sets up mounted punches. Gargano hits him with a trashcan next, and a clothesline sends Waller over the top. Gargano tries diving with another tope, but Grayson uses a trashcan lid to knock him out of the air! Waller sets up a bunch of chairs on the floor to powerbomb Gargano onto from inside the ring, but Johnny blocks, and suplexes Grayson over the top, and onto the chairs! Johnny sets a table up on the floor to try another suplex from inside the ring to the outside, but Waller blocks. Gargano responds with a slingshot spear, but Waller throws a knee to block this time. That allows him a superkick, but Gargano blocks, and throws an enzuigiri. He looks for a follow up, but Grayson dumps him to the outside, so Gargano whacks him with a chair when Waller chases. Johnny with a DDT on the floor, allowing him to place Waller’s limp body on the table. Johnny goes upstairs for a dive, but realizes Waller is too alive, and backs off. Unfortunately for him, Waller is even more recovered than Gargano realizes, and Grayson powerbombs him through the table for a two count on the way back in. Waller beats him with a chair ahead of mounted punches, and a sidewalk slam onto a chair gets him two. Waller grabs a kendo stick to tee off with, so Johnny bails, but Waller is on him - taking him over to where Candice LeRae is sitting for some up close and personal abuse. Johnny fights him off, and invites LeRae to hop over the guardrail to beat on Waller with the kendo herself. Great spot. Gargano uses a slingshot DDT for two on the way back in, and the crippler crossface looks to get a submission, but Waller goes to the eyes. Waller with a somersault facebuster, and he covers Gargano’s head in a trashcan to set up a flying seated dropkick for two. To the outside, Waller preps the announce table, and puts Gargano on it to set up a flying elbowdrop, but Johnny throws a chair at him to prevent another Shane McMahon tribute act. Gargano viciously powerbombs him through the announce table, and he tries dragging him back in, but Waller goes low. Inside, Grayson with a rolling jawbreaker for two, and he beats on Johnny with a chair next. He trash talks, so Johnny goes low, and gets payback with the chair. He beats Waller into a puddle, and the crossface puts it away at 18:16. Good storytelling and a hard hitting battle. I enjoy seeing something like this so much more than the car crash stuff the rest of the card has been. *** ¼ 

NXT Women's Tag Team Title Match: Fallon Henley and Kiana James v Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn: The challengers dive out of the ring during the entrances to kickstart the match, but they get fought off as the match goes inside. Henley dominates Dawn for a few seconds, but a cheap shot from Alba turns the tide. The challengers work Henley over a bit, but James catches a tag, and she runs wild! James cleans house and dives from the apron with a double moonsault press (that doesn’t actually make contact with either of the challengers), and she takes Alba in to cover for two. Spinebuster on Fyre gets two, so Henley tags back in to hammer on Alba herself. The heels quickly take control of thing again, however, and they go back to work cutting the ring in half on Henley. Tag to James, and Roseanne Barr the door! James wants to cheat, but Henley won’t allow it, allowing the challengers a double team to put Kiana away at 8:56. *

Main Event: NXT Title Match: Bron Breakker v Carmelo Hayes: Some posturing to start, as they measure and feel each other out. Bron gets control, and uses a vertical suplex to set up a standing moonsault for two. Bron works a front-facelock, until Hayes fights to a vertical base, so Bron turns the hold into a suplex. He looks for a follow up, so Hayes goes to the eyes to buy time, and he puts the boots to the champion. A springboard clothesline gets Hayes two, and he works a fujiwara armbar, but Breakker escapes. Hayes stays on him in the corner, but Bron reverses a cross corner whip, and uses a hiptoss. Slam gets Bron two, and he goes to an armbar, but Hayes fights free. Bron responds by pounding his back with forearms, and a side suplex gets the champion two. Torture rack, but Trick Williams pulls Hayes to the apron to block. The referee ejects him, but the deed is done, as Hayes avoided the hold. Bron dives onto Hayes with a somersault suicide on the floor, and a flying bulldog gets the champ two on the way back in. Bron looks for a suplex, but Hayes blocks, and a reversal sequence ends in Hayes delivering a cutter for two. Hayes tries a dive, but Bron rolls out of the way, so Hayes uses a suplex instead, getting him two. Hayes goes up, but Bron snaps him off with a rana to block. Great execution on that one. Both guys stagger up for a slugfest, and Bron gets the better of it. Bron looks for a submission, but Hayes keeps slipping away. Hayes tries for a hold of his own, so Bron uses a sidewalk slam, but Hayes hangs on with a crippler crossface. Bron rolls back into a cradle for two, and delivers a spear as they pop up, but the referee eats it as well. Bron puts Hayes in a camel clutch, but there’s no referee to see the tap out. That allows Williams to run back out to clock Bron with the title belt, and Hayes gets on top for a dramatic two! Great nearfall there. Hayes looks for a dive, but Bron catches him for the press-powerslam - only for Hayes to counter with a jawbreaker! Hayes adds a flying rocker dropper from there, and we have a new champion crowned at 16:13. This took some time to get there, but they gutted out a solid main event. ** ¾  

BUExperience: This might have been the first year where I was looking forward to the main roster show more than the NXT one. And for good reason.

DUD