WWE NXT Review - January 30, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Trick Williams and Carmelo Hayes def. The LWO (Joaquin Wilde and Cruz Del Toro) in a Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Semifinal Match

I'm honestly amazed Williams and Hayes have made it to the finals because that means Williams will be pulling double duty at Vengeance Day. Obviously, they won't win (especially if Hayes is turning on Williams that night), but it does add another interesting layer to their ongoing story. As a match, this was really good stuff. LWO have made the most of their return to NXT and neither team was hurt by the babyface vs. babyface dynamic. Post-match, Oba Femi attacked LWO ahead of his upcoming rematch with Dragon Lee.

Roxanne Perez def. Tatum Paxley

This stemmed from Paxley attacking Perez at the end of last week's contract signing. I've been digging Paxley as Lyra Valkyria's "stalker" as it's given her more exposure on the show and more chances to improve in the ring. This was a brief bout, but it was fine for what it was. I'm really looking forward to Valkyria vs. Perez at Vengeance Day and they've done an effective job building it up rather quickly.

Lola Vice def. Elektra Lopez

In case you missed it, Lopez made her main roster debut last Friday on SmackDown by reuniting with Legado del Fantasma, so having her put over Vice on the way out made the most sense. After all, Vice still has her guaranteed title shot from winning the NXT Women's Breakout Tournament. There wasn't much to this, but there didn't need to be. It definitely would have been worse with more time, so keeping it on the shorter side was smart.

Lexis King def. Ridge Holland

King's gimmick so far in NXT has been that he's lost a lot and I assumed the same would happen here because Holland is in the process of being built up. Thankfully, King scored the victory, even if it was due to interference from Gallus. The focus was on that feud, not so much King. This was an average outing that got more time than I figured it would. Look for Holland and Joe Coffey to face off again soon in some sort of a gimmick match.

Jacy Jane Announced a Plan to Save Chase U

Perhaps I'm in the minority on this, but this whole storyline with Chase U having to close its doors due to financial burden has not been for me, personally. The live crowd loves it, and Jane's plan to save the university got a big reaction from them, but I'm just looking forward to it being over. I'm also curious what the point of this storyline is supposed to be once it's over. If you're enjoying this stuff, more power to you.

Arianna Grace def. Fallon Henley

​I'm hoping Grace ends up in a sustained storyline soon because she's doing exceptionally well with her current character (she was feuding with Karmen Petrovic for a period but only briefly). The fact she won was surprising, but the focus was on Meta-Four costing Henley the match. This was fairly forgettable otherwise, but I'm glad Henley has direction coming off her feud with Tiffany Stratton.

NXT Heritage Cup Champion Noam Dar def. Von Wagner

Wagner has amazingly been way better as a babyface than he was a heel, but putting him in contention of the NXT Heritage Cup Championship automatically rendered this a throwaway match. It was okay at best but nothing out of the ordinary, especially with the boring Heritage Cup rules. I thought we might get some sort of non-finish, but Dar outright winning was unexpected. The title needs to be done away with because it serves no purpose.

NXT Champion Ilja Dragunov and Trick Williams Faced Off Before Williams and Carmelo Hayes Brawled with Bron Breakker and Baron Corbin

The face-off between Dragunov and Williams was great. Both guys had strong mic work and Williams again proved he can hang. The angle that followed with Breakker and Corbin attacking Williams and Hayes well done as it effectively hyped the finals of the Dusty Classic and planted the seeds for Hayes finally snapping on Williams if things don't go his way on Sunday. NXT has done an excellent job lately with the show-closing visuals and this was no excception.

Overall Show

NXT TV has been strange so far this year in that it's not as hot of a show as it was last year and yet Vengeance Day looks like a terrific lineup on paper, at leas with most of the matches. This was a successful show in terms of building toward the event and the stuff that mattered, delivered. Most of the stuff in the middle was whatever, but the important matches and segments carried the episode.

SEE MORE: NXT Reviews