WWE NXT Stand & Deliver Review - April 6, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Pre-Show: Joe Gacy def. Shawn Spears

The "Kickoff" shows are apparently now known as "Countdown" shows, but I'll refer to them as the pre-show in my reviews for the sake of clarity. Anyway, this match was just added to the card on Tuesday's NXT. They've been feuding for a few weeks and I don't know why. Hey, this got them on the card in front of a capacity crowd, so there was that. This was solid albeit unspectacular. Spears was made to look like a total loser by being beaten by a guy who was attacked by Ridge Holland with a chair beforehand.

NXT Tag Team Champions Bron Breakker and Baron Corbin def. Nathan Frazer and Axiom

I was in attendance for the first match these teams during the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic on NXT TV earlier this year and this was equally entertaining. Frazer and Axiom wasted no time taking the fight to Breakker and Corbin and had the crowd on their feet throughout for their exciting offense. Breakker and Corbin continue to have amazing chemistry as partners and it was cool that they retained here, but Breakker's a SmackDown Superstar and is ready to move on without the tag titles.

NXT North American Champion Oba Femi def. Josh Briggs and Dijak in a Triple Threat Match

This was the match of the night in my opinion. What a terrific Triple Threat. I didn't know what to expect because the build was nearly nonexistent, but they had a hell of a hoss fight and got the crowd invested in the action early on. There were some awesome spots and all three guys had a chance to shine. This would have been the perfect time to crown Dijak, but no such luck. Maybe he can get a one-on-one rematch with Femi since he wasn't the one pinned?

Thea Hail, Fallon Henley and Kelani Jordan def. Izzi Dame, Jacy Jane and Kiana James

This stuck out as the only match on the card that could have easily happened on an ordinary edition of NXT TV, but to their credit, all six women put forth a commendable effort and had a nice match. Plus, I can't complain about getting more women's representation on the card, not to mention Hail finally giving Jane her comeuppance (though it was Dame who was pinned). I assume a lot of these women will be in the mix for the newly-announced NXT Women's North American Championship.

Roxanne Perez def. Lyra Valkyria to Win the NXT Women's Championship

Former NJPW Strong Women's Champion Giulia was shown in the crowd beforehand, confirming that she's WWE bound. I haven't seen much of her work but am well aware that she's a star. As for Perez vs. Valkyria, it was a very good match. There was a stronger emphasis on the storytelling compared to their last encounter with Valkyria selling an injury and Perez honing in on that. This was very well-wrestled and Perez winning was a slight surprise considering I assumed a main roster call-up for her was imminent.

NXT Champion Ilja Dragunov def. Tony D'Angelo

D'Angelo's abrupt push toward the NXT Championship made it difficult to take him seriously as a threat to the NXT Championship, but I'll praise his performance in saying he held his own and looked like he belonged. The babyface vs. babyface dynamic didn't help, but the crowd came alive by the end. This won't go down as one of Dragunov's better title defenses, but it exceeded my expectations.

Trick Williams def. Carmelo Hayes

Between the long build, their history and Williams' ties to Philadelphia, this was the correct choice as the main event. It may have benefited from a stipulation of some sort (probably No Disqualification/Street Fight), but it still ended up being a top-notch main event. It wasn't on the same level as past WrestleMania weekend NXT main events and I thought it could have gone another few minutes to reach that next level, but it was what it needed to be and the crowd popped huge for Williams' win. 

Overall Show

This show started hotter than any other NXT premium live event has in recent memory with those first two matches (not counting Gacy vs. Spears). The energy died down a bit after that but picked up again by the main event. It was a mixed bag of a show (some of this stuff could have been saved for NXT TV) yet enjoyable on the whole, largely because of the capacity crowd in attendance. That's obviously the WrestleMania weekend effect, but the NXT crew certainly gave them their money's worth.

SEE MORE: NXT Reviews, NXT PLE Reviews