NXT Vengeance Day (2023) -- Results & Afterthoughts

Singles Match for the NXT North American Championship

Wes Lee (c) defeated Dijak by pinfall

This was arguably the best match of the entire evening. Lee and Dijak beat the hell out of each other from bell to bell, with Dijak even breaking his finger at one point and still continuing to the bitter end. For me, the excitement for this match went down the drain once Tony D and Stacks ran interference that cost Dijak the match. I couldn't give a flying fuck about those clowns and why did anyone decide the muddy the waters with their involvement is a mystery to me. This match didn't need that at all, but the only thing I could elaborate from that decision is that they wanted to give Dijak an out to protect him in a loss here.

I didn't need to see that close up of Dijak's broken finger at all. Goddamn that looked fucking gruesome. In some circles, that's a badge of honor for his endurance and overall bad-assery to continue the match in that amount of pain. In others, it was just plain stupid. 

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

Fallon Henley and Kiana James (with Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen) defeated Katana Chance and Kayden Carter (c) by pinfall

I think this was the biggest upset of the night as I don't think anyone saw Fallon and Kiana picking up the win here. For a match, this wasn't bad, but it felt like something you would see on the weekly episodes of NXT, so there wasn't anything out of the ordinary nor special about it. Kiana James opened a lot of eyes at her last NXT TakeOver showing with her resilency and in-ring talents to be the MVP of that match for her performance and she continued to shine here. Fallon isn't a bad worker either as the former Tesha Price isn't new to the game. I have mentioned time and time again that I thought that Kayden Carter was being held back in a team like this when I could see her as a singles star on the main roster whenever she's called up. Katana Chance does absolutely nothing for me outside of being another dime a dozen person who can do flips and hurracanranas. 

Apparently this title change was done to play up the ongoing love story between Kiana and one of the Briggs & Jensen boys while Fallon doesn't trust her entirely yet. Given how Kiana won this match, I think they might just start butting heads since she cheated to win. I don't keep up with the weekly NXT shows, so one of my readers would have to keep me informed on where that goes. 

Two Out of Three Falls Match

Carmelo Hayes (with Trick Williams) defeated Apollo Crews 2–0

I wasn't bothered that Carmelo got the win, but it felt like a massive disservice to Apollo Crews getting beat in a landslide. At this point, I don't see what was the point of his so-called renewal/resurgence here in NXT. Carmelo definitely didn't need to lose here as I could see him being main roster bound sooner more than later if they aren't going to have him feud with Breakker for the NXT Championship. By the way, I still think his buddy Trick Williams is corny as all hell, but that's just me. 

Who the fuck still cares about Dabba Kato/Commander Azeez? Well, apparently someone in WWE Creative did and had him show up to cost Apollo Crews the match. I thought he was there to deal with Trick Williams as the equalizer but he ends up laying out Apollo instead. Hell, I didn't know he still worked for this company. How did he dodge that bullet among this company's laundry list of many firings is a mystery to me.

Fatal Four-Way Tag Team Match for the NXT Tag Team Championship

Gallus (Mark Coffey and Wolfgang) defeated The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods) (c), Pretty Deadly (Elton Prince and Kit Wilson), and Chase University (Andre Chase and Duke Hudson) (with Thea Hail) by pinfall

Why, oh why did they have to change that banger of a theme song that Gallus had? Ughhhh, this is the same issue I had with Royal Rumble. There's not enough bangers for entrance themes anymore in this company. As for this match itself, there wasn't much to write home about. Much like the Women's Tag Title Match earlier on this card, this felt like a television match more than a PPV match. There were some fun spots to be had here and the right team won, but I can't say that I was over the moon about this match in any capacity. 

On a side note, I hope they do something with Thea Hail sooner more than later as I never get tired of her infectious charisma and energy. 

Triple Threat Match for the NXT Women's Championship

Roxanne Perez (c) defeated Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne by pinfall

Truth be told, this was the match I was looking forward above all else on this card tonight. I thought all three women definitely delivered and made this live up to my expectations. This was essentially a 2-on-1 handicap match for majority of its bell time, only for the seeds to be planted for the eventual fallout of Toxic Attraction as Jacy and Gigi have dreams and aspirations of singles gold in their eyes. 

I hope they never turn Roxanne heel as she has that babyface underdog fighting style down to the tee from how she fights from underneath (believably and convincingly) that you can easily buy into and root her on. I can't sell Gigi and Jacy short either as they knew when and where to cut off her comebacks to add drama to this match. 

The sad thing to come out of this match as of this posting (2/10/23) is that Toxic Attraction has split up for good since Jacy Jane turned on Gigi Dolin in a scene that was setup as a direct homage to Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty's infamous break-up during the Brutus Beefcake's Barbershop segment. Instead of kicking Gigi through the window, Jacy kicked her with a pretty brutal looking kick through the door on the set of Bayley's Ding-Dong Hello! talk show. I will admit though that I have always seen Jacy as the breakout star out of the three members of Toxic Attraction. She has that charisma and gets animated like WWE tends to like in their female characters in terms of being over the top and out of the three of them (not named Mandy Rose), she definitely has improved the most. I think Gigi Dolin will be fine on her own though. Nothing against her in the least. I do have to wonder why are they breaking up another tag team in this NXT Women's Tag Team division when Toxic Attraction were like one of the only tag teams they had left outside of Kayden and Katana that weren't either injured or just two singles women they randomly put together into a tag team?

Steel Cage Match for the NXT Championship

Bron Breakker (c) defeated Grayson Waller by pinfall

I honestly didn't care about this match in the least. There wasn't a moment in this match where I doubted that Breakker was going to retain. Waller is one hell of an athlete, but I knew they weren't going to pull an upset here, despite NXT having a knack to garner heel heat for this guy whenever and wherever they can. He's already had a high profile feud with AJ Styles who came down from the main roster to interact with him and a lengthy program with Apollo Crews too last year. If he's not main roster ready sooner more than later, then I don't see the point. I just don't see a NXT Championship win in the cards for him as long as Breakker has that title on lock and key. 

And that's the problem with Breakker right now. He's become stagnant and borderline boring. That's the biggest concern right now with Breakker's current run as NXT Champion. They have to give him some challengers who will actually challenge his skills and push him to be better. 

Fortunately, we got the tease for that in the closing moments of this show as Carmello Hayes (with Trick Williams) came out onto the stage to stare down at Breakker during his post-match celebration on the top of the cage. If Mello versus Breakker is headlining the next NXT PLE for WrestleMania weekend, then I'm all for it. Either way how that match plays out we know it's going to be a banger, that's for sure. He made the statement loud and clear that he got next for Breakker's championship.