NXT Stand & Deliver (2023) -- Results & Afterthoughts

Eight-person Mixed Tag Team Match

Tyler Bate and Chase University (Andre Chase, Duke Hudson, and Thea Hail) defeated Schism (Joe Gacy, Jagger Reid, Rip Fowler, and Ava) by pinfall

Winners gained control of Chase University.

This was Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's daughter's (Ava) first match and while her performance wasn't much to write home about as she didn't do much in this match, but there's enough to tell that she shows a bit of promise for her future. She already has the character part down, so that's already a step above most already. In contrast, Thea Hail's charisma and fiery energy is so infecious. I really hope she has a big career ahead of her in WWE. Every time I see her on these shows, she always manages to bring a smile to my face. She fits right in there no matter if she's squaring off against the men or the women. 

As for this match as a whole, there wasn't much to write home about, but the story was revolving around whether or not Duke Hudson was going to turn on Chase U and defect over to the Schism. They had a lot of people fooled with this turn, myself included, but swerved it when Duke tore off his Schism shirt Hulkamania style and rallied the members of Chase U around for the comeback. This match was over shortly after that. 

I have to add that I REALLY like Joe Gacy's music. He's one of the VERY few people in NXT 2.0 with really good music since they stopped using CFO$ for their go-to guy for creating Superstar themes.

On a side note, I don't mind Tyler Bate as part of Chase U when I'm sure most will see that as a downgrade. He's young and could use that spot to develop his character more for a bigger audience outside of those who knew him solely in NXT UK. 

Ladder Match for the NXT Women's Championship

Indi Hartwell defeated Roxanne Perez (c), Gigi Dolin, Lyra Valkyria, Tiffany Stratton, and Zoey Stark

As much as I'm tired of seeing ladder matches from EVERY promotion at this point in 2023, especially after that horrifying injury that occurred to Dante Martin during Ring of Honor's Supercard of Honor event less than 24 hours prior to this event in the very same match type, I thought the ladies of NXT knocked it out of the park here. I thought Lyra Valkyria was the MVP here in terms of performance. If she's not one of the names in the conversation to challenge the new champion in the coming months, then I don't know what to say. 

Speaking of the new champion, I had to stand up and applaud the finish in this match. I didn't see that coming at all and it completes the entire journey that Indi has been on with setback after setback since going on her own following the disbandment of The Way and departure of her best friend Persia Perotta. Just when Indi thought she couldn't summon the strength to climb the ladder, Dexter Lumis returns to carry her onto his shoulders to capture the NXT Women's Championship for the first time in her career. I was convinced that Indi was main roster bound when she was pigeonholed into putting over everyone else in that NXT Women's Division and making them look like a million bucks in the process. (Laughs) Well, other than Lash Legend. There was no amount of help for her. Shawn Michaels must've given her this title win as an apology after having to endure that train wreck. 

I was glad to see Roxanne Perez back to participate in this match, but her and my other favorite to win this match, Tiffany Stratton, took some VERY scary bumps in this match. I'm guessing that NXT is postponing their plans on putting the title on Stratton and building everything around her as what it felt like they were hinting towards following her return at the start of the year. No complaints from me in that regard as they have plenty of time to continue building these women up. There's no rush to have them move up onto the main roster when that division has room for improvement as is. 

I loved the surprise that saw Gigi Dolin have the match won, only for Jacy Jane to ruin Gigi's moment once again, promising that their rivalry is far from over. I guess Jacy's arm injury wasn't as bad as originally thought or it was a work all along. Either way, I'm glad to see that program continue. There's definitely a lot of great things coming out of this NXT Women's Division coming out of this match and I was even more elated to see that Zoey Stark didn't win this match too. I wouldn't be surprised if she's main roster bound sooner more than later as they could use another talented veteran worker like her to bump for the main roster girls. 

Triple threat Tag Team Match for the NXT Tag Team Championship

Gallus (Mark Coffey and Wolfgang) (c) defeated The Creed Brothers (Brutus Creed and Julius Creed) (with Ivy Nile) and The Family (Tony D'Angelo and Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo) by pinfall

For the most part, this felt like a television match and I was mostly underwhelmed by this match. I can't speak for anyone else, but I completely checked out of this match after the cameras caught the full scope of Creed Brothers' botch with that two-man mock Doomsday Device where Brutus Creed missed that the impact of that move COMPLETELY yet everyone fell down anyway. 

Joe Coffey returned and made the assist to aid in Gallus retaining. (Laughs) I had no idea he was missing to be honest. I'm still salty that they changed Gallus' theme from that banger of a theme that they had from NXT UK if I'm perfectly honest. Let's face facts, this NXT Tag Team division, much like the main roster's needs some new blood and a shot in the arm in terms of excitement. The only thing that's carrying the one on the main roster is the Bloodline story (much like everything else) if we could stop kidding ourselves. 

Fatal five-way Match for the NXT North American Championship

Wes Lee (c) defeated Axiom, Dragon Lee, Ilja Dragunov, and JD McDonagh by pinfall

If you don't watch any other match on this card, then go out of your way to watch this match that essentially stole the show from underneath everyone's noses. 

This match was the in-ring debut for Dragon Lee and I had to remind myself that I'm no stranger to his ring work, especially when I have reviewed his matches in the past for this blog when I was regularly watching Ring of Honor before Tony Khan purchased it. He definitely shined like the star that he is and fit right in with the wealth of talent in this match. 

Majority of this match felt like a showcase for NXT UK between Axiom (formerly A-Kidd), Ilja Dragunov, and JD McDonagh, but both Wes Lee and Dragon Lee left a strong impression here too. Wes Lee was rocking ring gear inspired by Dragon Ball Z/Super's Broly, the Legendary Super Saiyan. 

The finish came out of nowhere with Wes Lee connecting with the Cardio Kick to both Ilja and Dragon Lee, which allowed him to pick up the win via pinfall. I hope Dragon Lee as he took a nasty landing at one point during this match. That would be awful for him to be injured after his first match for this company. 

After one hell of a showcase like this, there's no doubt that this current crop of NXT talent has plenty of main event worthy talent ready to challenge for the top spot following Carmello Hayes and Bron Breakker. 

Unsanctioned Match

Johnny Gargano defeated Grayson Waller by submission

Both Gargano and Waller both beat the hell out of each other in this match, but my problem with this match goes back to my problem with all of Gargano's past TakeOver matches in the past. Gargano takes all of this abuse and performs all of these crazy ass spots, only to sell little or nothing at all and pops up as if he's not taking any damage at all. That shit is cool and all for video games, but it's one of the main reasons I could never fully get behind the guy. That being said, THIS is the Johnny Gargano that we should have gotten on the main roster. I hope Triple H and the rest of the top brass over the main roster (looking at you, Vince McMahon, despite you saying you're not involved...) were paying attention and seeing that this is what Gargano is capable of given the platform to do so. The man was willing to put his wife and newborn baby son in the line of fire of the action to add an extra layer of sympathy for him as the babyface fighting from underneath and to add to Waller's villainy.

Speaking of Waller, I absolutely hated him at first when he first debuted on this roster, but he has definitely made a fan of me over the past year or so. I hope championship gold of some kind on the NXT brand is in his future. That dude's back was the MVP of this match as far as I'm concerned. His back looked like it was ran through a cheesegrader by the time this match was over. 

Tag Team Match for the NXT Women's Tag Team Championship

Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn defeated Fallon Henley and Kiana James (c) (with Brooks Jensen and Josh Briggs) by pinfall

Nothing against all of the talents involved, but this was another television match on a PPV stage, much like the men's tag team triple threat earlier tonight. 

The best thing about this match was that they got the NXT Women's Tag Titles on an actual tag team that has been getting along and not being used as a vehicle to further that love triangle storyline between Fallon Henley, Kiana James, and Jensen & Briggs. Nothing against Kiana and Fallon as I think they are definitely great workers and don't get enough respect for how good they are (I honestly blame their cheesy gimmicks for that), but this storyline wasn't doing either of them any favors outside of giving them more television time. And where the hell is Kiana James' secretary G? She's still posting training reels and photoshoots on Instagram, so I know she's still a part of the company. I just want to see that gorgeous woman on my television. 

Singles Match for the NXT Championship

Carmelo Hayes (with Trick Williams) defeated Bron Breakker (c) by pinfall

I hate it for Bron that his father's stupidity was going to be put onto his shoulders going into this match in terms of heat that he didn't create for himself, but I would be lying that I wasn't ready to enjoy hearing him being booed out of the building by this crowd. Unfortunately, the live feed of the WWE Network on Peacock had the crowd muted for the most part on my end, but my friend who was in the venue recorded the entrances and reported back that they actually weren't as vocal as I was expecting but it was definitely noticeable in contrast to Carmello Hayes' entrance. The hometown favorite got one hell an entrance, narrated by Trick Williams as Mello came out wearing Kobe Bryant-inspired gear while his Titantron was marked up in the LA Lakers. At that point, there was little doubt in my mind that Hayes wasn't walking out of this match with the title. Otherwise, I think those fans would have lighted the seats on fire in protest. 

While the match was good, I can't say it topped the North American title match. I didn't feel that it needed the referee bump towards the end either, but I understand that they wanted to give Breakker an "out" for they could run this match back since Mello didn't beat Breakker clean. That being said, it made no sense to me that Breakker would endorse Hayes as the new champion and raise his hand following the win, despite his heel tactics to do so. That just felt like damage control to curry some babyface feelings for Breakker in a loss and make people forget about his father's stupidity. 

I see a lot of people talking that Breakker has to be main roster bound and I honestly don't see it that way. They could keep him down on NXT a little longer and it wouldn't hurt him in the least. If anything, he would benefit garnering as much experience as he can while on the NXT brand before they throw him into the deep end of the pool on the main roster. If they call him up now, I think he would quickly get lost in the shuffle given everything going on with the Bloodline angle. 

As for Carmello Hayes, I'm anxious to see how he fares at the top of the mountain. He's already been knocking it out of the park with his performances since arriving in this company, now let's see how he shifts things into a different gear as the flagbearer to carry the brand going forward.