Stephanie Vaquer def. Jacy JaneOn paper, this looked like a simple warm-up for Vaquer before she challenges Jane's Fatal Influence teammate Fallon Henley for the NXT Women's North American Championship at Vengeance Day. Thus, I was surprised that it turned into a damn good opener instead. Props to Jane for having a strong showing in what has to be one of her best bouts ever in NXT. Personally, I'd put the belt on Vaquer. She's the hot hand right now. JDC Confronted and Challenged NXT Heritage Cup Champion Lexis KingWell, this was unexpected. King is back to being a heel per his promo, which definitely dragged on a little long. The crowd popped huge when the Fandango music hit, but I'm glad he quickly established that he's JDC now in TNA. He's a fine first challenger for King since he's an undercard competitor from TNA that can easily absorb the loss and is someone the NXT audience is obviously already familiar with. Ridge Holland def. Channing "Stacks" LorenzoHolland's pursuit of the NXT North American Championship isn't over, so it made sense to have him run through Lorenzo. It was a slightly competitive contest with Lorenzo scoring some offense and I had no issue with it being a brief bout. We found out later on that Holland will get another shot at the strap on next week's show inside of a steel cage. They've been teasing tension within The D'Angelo Family, so I could see a scenario where Lorenzo costs Tony D'Angelo the title. Sol Ruca and Zaria def. Gigi Dolin and Tatum PaxleyZaria ran her mouth to The Meta-Four backstage and made enemies out of Dolin, Paxley and Shotzi by doing so. I still don't understand why Ruca and Zaria are a team, but I guess it's keeping them busy for the time being. This was a well-worked match, but the crowd didn't have an incentive to cheer for one team over the other due to the babyface vs. babyface dynamic. We're getting more stories in the women's tag team scene, so there's that. Bayley, Roxanne Perez, NXT Women's Champion Giulia and Charlotte Flair Interrupted Each Other Before Cora Jade Attacked Bayley and GiuliaThis was advertised as a "summit" featuring Bayley, Perez and Giulia ahead of their NXT Women's Championship Triple Threat at Vengeance Day, but I liked how Bayley and Perez did a majority of the talking and furthered their feud before Giulia came out. She kept her portion short and sweet while Flair sent the message that she could cash in her Royal Rumble win to challenge for the NXT Women's title again. Jade laying out Bayley and Giulia and attempting to attack Perez was also effective in cementing their split, so this was a strong segment all around. Karmen Petrovic def. Kelani Jordan by Reverse DecisionI dig the edge that Jordan's been showing as of late and I also appreciate that Petrovic has been getting television time more consistently that isn't entirely about her romance storyline with Ashante Adonis. They got an ample amount of time and had a decent match. Jordan originally won by submission, but the referee reversed the decision when Jordan wouldn't let go of the hold. Jaida Parker essentially encouraging Jordan to "embrace the hate" has been a nice touch, too. A-Town Down Under def. Trick Williams and NXT Champion Oba FemiThe heels getting the better of the babyface partners who couldn't coexist was basic booking, but it needed to happen to give them some sort of momentum before the NXT Championship Triple Threat at Vengeance Day. It was a solid main event with quality action. Eddy Thorpe targeting Williams protected him in defeat and seemingly sets up a Strap match between them for Vengeance Day. Overall ShowBased on the closing moments of the show, it appears we're getting a new faction of fresh faces (I immediately recognized Cutler James and I've heard Dion Lennox could be a part of it as well). I don't have high hopes, but I'll give it a chance. As for this edition of NXT, it was an enjoyable show on the whole. Fandango/JDC returning was cool and there was plenty of successful hype for next week's episode as well as Vengeance Day. Several storylines progressed, even if not I'm not fully invested in all of them at the moment.
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