WWE NXT Vengeance Day Review - February 4, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

NXT North American Champion Wes Lee def. Dijak

From how excellent of an opener this was to the hot crowd, this gave me TakeOver vibes. Amazingly, Dijak wrestled in the opener for the NXT North American Championship on the last TakeOver that was held on the road (TakeOver: Portland in February 2020). This was undoubtedly the best bout he's had since then and I'm so happy he got a chance to show what he can do for a change. This was an awesome affair filled with cool counters and close nearfalls. I was hoping Dijak would capture the championship, but it was actually outside interference from Tony D'Angelo and Channing Lorenzo that cost him the win. Fingers crossed this gets revisited at some point.

Fallon Henley and Kiana James def. Katana Chance and Kayden Carter to Win the NXT Women's Tag Team Championship

Chance and Carter have been saying for weeks that they're now the longest-reigning women's tag team champions WWE has had since the debut of the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship four years ago, so naturally, they lost the belts here. I wasn't expecting a title change, but it's a part of the story they're telling with Henley helping James cheat to win without James knowing about it. The match itself was fine. I have to imagine Chance and Carter will be main roster bound after WrestleMania.

Carmelo Hayes def. Apollo Crews in a 2-Out-of-3 Falls Match

Although this didn't reach that next level I thought it would, it was still very good and all of the offense from both guys looked super smooth. They just work so well together. I love the move to have Hayes win in two straight falls because you don't see that very often. We also got the return of Dabba-Kato (f.k.a. Commander Azeez), who we haven't seen since Crews returned to NXT last June. He attacked Crews afterward and that gives Crews his next feud.

Gallus (Mark Coffey and Wolfgang) def. The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods), Pretty Deadly, and Chase U (Andre Chase and Duke Hudson) in a Fatal 4-Way Tag Team Match to Win the NXT Tag Team Championship

This was fun stuff from all four teams. It's cool seeing New Day work with a fresh batch of teams for a change, and I applaud Woods for taking the pinfall loss when anyone else could have easily been pinned. I thought Pretty Deadly might regain the gold, but Gallus is a great choice as well. New Day got the crowd invested and they kept things interesting throughout. Unless they invoke their rematch clause, I assume this marked the end of their short stint in NXT.

NXT Women's Champion Roxanne Perez def. Jacy Jane and Gigi Dolin in a Triple Threat Match

Toxic Attraction were on the same page coming into this match, but as expected, they eventually turned against each other. Both of them fared well for themselves and Perez was the glue that kept this together. It was a well-worked Triple Threat match, but the outcome was never in doubt to me. Toxic Attraction remain on the rocks while Perez looks ahead to (hopefully) a higher-profile opponent over WrestleMania weekend.

NXT Champion Bron Breakker def. Grayson Waller in a Steel Cage Match

Much like the NXT Women's Championship match, I don't think anyone actually saw Waller going over, and that would have been the wrong outcome, anyway. Breakker had to retain in order to set up a championship clash with Hayes at Stand & Deliver (which was made clear afterward when Hayes showed up on the stage to end the night). It was a quality cage match and the stipulation made matters slightly more interesting, but it certainly wasn't one you'll remember a few weeks from now, especially with Raw doing a cage match on Monday's Raw with Bayley and Becky Lynch. I love Waller, but I don't see him headlining live specials/pay-per-views. That combined with Breakker's reign winding up led to a fairly average outing and I wasn't shocked the crowd wasn't overly excited for it.

Overall Show

NXT being back on the road with these live specials is a big step in the right direction for the brand. I know Stand & Deliver last year took place outside of Florida, but I was in attendance for that event and I can tell you firsthand this show had a bigger turnout (unless it was in a smaller arena and it just looked better on television). Either way, that atmosphere really added to my enjoyment of this event. It was a solid show on the whole that peaked early with the opener, but the two title changes were notable and the rest of the show held up nicely. Stand & Deliver over WrestleMania weekend should hopefully be even better.

SEE MORE: NXT Reviews