Absent Friends and Old Ghosts
I loved Jacy Jayne’s mic work this week. She’s hardly a slouch but this was my favorite segment from her because it felt real. She added shades to her character by expressing some true vulnerability. The champ is jealous of Sol Ruca because of the acceptance and adoration she gets while none of that goes Jacy’s way. Despite the work in the ring, outside the ring, and the accolades, she’s still the Rodney Dangerfield
of the territory. She found that sweet spot that every wrestler needs to truly connect and find their voice. Sol was on point too. She had a little edge, talked a lot of trash, and held her own. Now, to understand what I’m saying next, I need to go back in time a bit.
Welcome to the past! Minutes before Jacy and Sol’s segment, Zaria ended their friendship. She complained about it being one-sided and called Sol selfish. Obviously losing her title shot last week was the straw that broke Zaria’s back. Zaria told Sol to deal with Fatal Influence by herself and then she can go to hell. Harsh barley. Now, I initially rolled my eyes when Zaria came to Sol’s aid when Fatal Influence started beating her down. “Seriously?! Didn’t they just break up…again?!” But I remembered this is wrestling. What better revenge on your former best friend than snatching (pun intended) their biggest moment from them?
I put this up top because I’ve predicted the end of ZaRuca for what feels like years now. But now, it seems like it’s finally reaching its climax. Zaria ripping a championship away from Sol is poetic. Zaria’s whole beef here is that Sol gets the big moments while Zaria plays the shadows. Sol gets the championships, the Royal Rumble spots, the Saturday Night’s Main Event match, and all the publicity. Of course Zaria is going to lull her into a false sense of security and turn Sol’s biggest dream into her worst nightmare. All while setting the stage for a blood feud that should run right through Stand & Deliver.
Do your thing, ladies. I can’t wait to see it.
B-Sides
- Here’s the thing: I like Lola Vice and Kelani Jordan. A lot. They’re both so far from where they started and I think Kelani is ready for prime time. But this match did neither of them any favors. It started strong with Lola attacking Kelani before the bell rang but then it went into the usual thing for a Lola match: she injured her hand. I know, I know; that’s a huge part of this story now since Kelani threw a ladder on top of her hand and it’s now wrapped up. But it’s such a tired trope for Lola’s matches going back to when she first started in NXT. There comes a point when she messes up her hand and either overcomes the pain or succumbs to it. This was the latter as Kelani became the first person to make Lola tap.
- Tony D’Angelo’s revenge started in earnest this week. And I really thought they’d make this harder on him. Remember last week when Cutler James said he’d handle Tony? Yeah, about that; the former Don basically manhandled Cutler. I mean this was no contest. He then had his way with Dion Lennox, then had even more time for Cutler. Showing DarkState can get got is crucial and a good thing, but let’s not have one man get the better of two. Also, not for nothing, but with all of DarkState in the arena, why didn’t Saquan Shugars and Osiris Griffin come to their aid? I guess the numbers game doesn’t matter if one man is beating down two. Shrug.
- Vanity Project are the number one contenders for DarkState’s tag championships. This fatal 4 way was all chaos. From the opening bell it was just madness. So naturally we got a chaotic finish involving an announce table, multiple dropped bodies, and more violence. This didn’t overstay its welcome but also didn’t do much to make me think Vanity Project has a shot at defeating DarkState. This was a lucky W.
- The only reason I didn’t put this first is because Sol and Jacy gave me a bit more to chew. But Ricky Saints was also on fire. He read Joe Hendry for filth. I’m summarizing but he called Joe nothing but a meme who is unworthy of the title he now holds. And despite Joe’s deficiencies as champ, the people still ride with him. Joe showed a ton of emotion as well but nothing he said connected with me like Ricky’s words. I’d have a problem with him verbally undressing the champ like that if I felt Joe was at jeopardy of losing his championship. Since that’s not the case, this was simply an instance of a bully doing what bullies do worst before eating his words. Good way to show the animosity between these two as well, which they only increased when Stone sent them both home for the night.
- Ethan Page defeated Shiloh Hill in another fine main event. Which is often my issue with NXT these days; nothing feels excellent and everything feels just okay. Shiloh looked good in defeat though as it essentially took three men to defeat him, plus a Twisted Grin on concrete. That all set the stage for Myles Borne to make the save, demand a title shot from Ethan, and threaten to break his ankle unless he got the match he wanted. Ethan finally gave in because, who wants a broken ankle, only for Myles to go through with his threat anyway. Ethan deserved it though, so this wasn’t a case of the babyface acting out of character.
