WWE NXT Review - August 13, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Joe Hendry Confronted NXT Champion Ethan Page and Was Attacked by Wes Lee

Page carries himself really well as champion and this was more quality mic work from him. Hendry confronting him was a fun surprise since I didn't see Hendry getting involved in the NXT Championship picture, but I have no complaints. Maybe Josh Alexander can cost him the title when the time comes? As seen here, however, he'll have to go through Lee first. Lee attacking Hendry was a logical follow-up to last week's heel turn as it puts even more heat on him.

Charlie Dempsey def. Tony D'Angelo to Win the NXT Heritage Cup Championship

I haven't cared a ton about the No Quarter Catch Crew's battles with The D'Angelo Family because the feud has been going on for way too long, but this felt like the payoff with Wren Sinclair helping Dempsey win the belt back. It was a well-wrestled affair, but I'm over the Heritage Cup stuff. I'm curious where D'Angelo goes from here seeing how he's done virtually everything else in NXT.

Lexis King def. Eddy Thorpe

I honestly forgot this feud was still going. Didn't Thorpe beat King clean in a matter of minutes in their last match? I like both guys, but it feels like they're simply killing time by trading wins right now. This was another brief outing from them, so there wasn't much they could do. I'm sure we'll get a rubber match with some sort of a stipulation, but Thorpe has won several of those in the last year and he has yet to benefit in a meaningful way.

Lola Vice def. Tatum Paxley

Vice's acting in the backstage segment that set this match up earlier in the episode was pretty abysmal. I know she's earned the respect of the audience and that's why she's a babyface, but I still don't see her being natural in that role. The match was too short to comment on, but what we got was fine. Wendy Choo attacking Kelani Jordan at the commentary desk seemed to confirm she's getting the next shot at the NXT Women's North American Championship, which I assume will happen at No Mercy despite it not being officially announced yet.

Wes Lee Explained His Actions Before Brawling with Pete Dunne and Joe Hendry

Lee's logic for betraying The Rascalz last week largely made sense (at least from a heel's perspective), though you'd think the roles would've been reversed with Zachary Wentz and Trey Miguel turning heel with Lee going on to bigger and better things in NXT since their split. Lee's delivery was solid and I'm looking forward to his eventual matches with Miguel and Wentz. Until then, we'll be getting a number one contender's Triple Threat between him, Hendry and Dunne on next week's show with the winner challenging Page for the NXT Championship at No Mercy.

NXT North American Champion Oba Femi def. Otis

I was hoping for someone from TNA (namely Moose) to answer Femi's open challenge, but at least they announced Otis as his opponent on Monday's Raw so it wasn't an underwhelming surprise. It wasn't one of Femi's stronger title defenses, but they had a hard-hitting affair. Femi and D'Angelo have had a few run-ins in the last two weeks, so perhaps that'll be the No Mercy match.

Izzi Dame def. Brinley Reece

Essentially the story here was that both women got signed at the SummerSlam 2022 tryouts in Nashville and they've bad blood since then. Okay, then. It was a basic bout that belonged on Level Up. I appreciate wanting to give them television time, but both women need more seasoning and actual character development. Whatever happened to Reece's "bad luck" storyline with Edris Enofe and Malik Blade? What did that alliance ultimately accomplish?

Chase U (Ridge Holland and Andre Chase) def. Axiom and Nathan Frazer to Win the NXT Tag Team Championship

The last match these teams had together at Heatwave was excellent and far exceeded my expectations. Additionally, the story has been that Holland has wanted to bring gold back to Chase U. They lost at Heatwave, Duke Hudson lost to Femi last month, and Thea Hail failed against Roxanne Perez, but they were finally successful here. It was another awesome encounter that the crowd was into. The Chase U gimmick does little for me at this point, but the fans are undoubtedly behind them. For their sake, hopefully their second tag title reign is longer than their first.

Overall Show

This was quite the newsworthy episode with two titles changing hands. We also found out that there will be two number one contender's matches next week that will make two matches for No Mercy official. Nothing else has been set in stone for the card as of now, but the rest of the card should become clear in the next two weeks. This was a good edition of NXT, mostly for the bigger developments.

SEE MORE: NXT Reviews