WWE NXT Review - June 11, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Jaida Parker Interrupted NXT Women's North American Champion Kelani Jordan; Michin def. Parker

Jordan still has a ways to go on the mic, but she certainly has a presence about her and is improving nicely in the ring, so she'll be a good fit as the inaugural NXT Women's North American Champion. The seeds were planted for Parker vs. Jordan with their exchange, but I assume we won't be getting that until after Parker is done with Michin. They had a decent match and I'm a fan of Michin winning the first match to extend the feud.

Gallus (Joe Coffey, Mark Coffey and Wolfgang) def. Wes Lee and New Catch Republic

I was excited when Gallus jumped Lee backstage at Battleground because it looked like we might actually get a Rascalz reunion as part of this new NXT/TNA partnership, but no such luck. New Catch Republic stepped up as Lee's partners instead, which was disappointing. They haven't been gone from NXT long enough for this return to feel exciting. That said, this was an enjoyable six-man tag team outing involving six seasoned stars. I thought Gallus might lose in case they get called up for Clash at the Castle in Scotland, but this left me thinking they'll be sticking around for a feud with Lee.

Wendy Choo def. Brinley Reece

I assume Choo will be a heel with this new gimmick, but she was the babyface to me in this match because Reece is so damn annoying. In all seriousness, I'm not sure what to make of it. On one hand, I don't care for anything relating to the gimmick she's had for the past few years. On the other hand, maybe this new twist will make it more interesting and she can make it work. It somewhat reminds me of Doink the Clown in that way. This was a simple showcase for her in her return.

Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes Informed NXT Champion Trick Williams How His Next Challenger Will Be Determined

While there really wasn't a reason why Rhodes needed to appear on this episode (other than it being a clear attempt to pop a rating), this show fell on the nine-year anniversary of his father Dusty's passing and the commentators acknowledged that, so that's pretty cool. It was also cool to see Rhodes endorse Williams as the current NXT Champion. He announced that there will be a 25-man Battle Royal next week to determine Williams' next challenger and that it will include wrestlers from "other locker rooms." Enter Joe Hendry!

Lexis King def. Dante Chen in a Singapore Cane Match

I feel like there was a time years ago when we'd get Singapore Cane matches constantly in WWE and yet this might have been the first one in a while. It actually made sense in this case with Chen being from Singapore. This was easily the most competitive of the three matches they've had so far and it was quite fun. They made great use of the stipulation and it was the best King has looked in the ring in a while. Hopefully this mini push for Chen wasn't short-lived.

Eddy Thorpe def. Tavion Heights

Heights continuing to be the go-to jobber (now that Chen has been elevated a bit) on NXT TV is a bummer because I believe he's better than that at this point. At any rate, this was all about reintroducing Thorpe, who has been off NXT TV for what feels like several months. He was getting quite the push last year (he won the first two NXT Underground matches against Damon Kemp and Dijak), so we'll see if he can build momentum this time around and this was a fine first step.

Shawn Spears def. Je'Von Evans

Spears has lost his fair share of matches since returning to NXT, so this was a necessary victory for him. Evans needs to win more matches, too, but this was a situation where it was acceptable for him to lose given Spears' veteran status. Plus, it will mean more if the rivalry resumes and Evans ends up winning the rematch as he should. They were given an ample amount of time and had a quality contest.

NXT Women's Champion Roxanne Perez, Lola Vice, Jacy Jane, Jazmyn Nyx and The Meta-Four Brawled

I imagine most viewers expected this to be where we'd find out Perez's next NXT Women's Championship challenger. Well, we didn't, and it's not as if what we got instead was anything special. It was one of those formulaic segments where everyone interrupted each other and nothing was accomplished. Worse yet, everyone involved is a heel, so who was the crowd supposed to cheer for? I have minimal interest in Perez vs. Vice as we've seen it before, especially following the rumor that Guilia was originally scheduled to challenge Perez at Heatwave (and perhaps still will).

Overall Show

I was actually really digging this show up until that final segment. That was a letdown. Otherwise, this was an above-average edition of NXT. It felt like there was a lot going on for a change and they set up several storylines for the coming weeks as well. There's a quick turnaround time before Heatwave in early July, so hopefully a better job is done of building up that card compared to Battleground (which ended up being entertaining but half of the matches came together at the last minute).

SEE MORE: NXT Reviews