NXT will emanate from the Performance Center in Orlando once again tonight, as we continue to head towards Heatwave later this summer. The NXT Championship will be on the line, two fractured factions look to settle their grievances, and a new powerhouse debuts in the women’s division. Be sure to tune into the action on the CW starting at 8 PM ET, and follow along with all the action right here on Cageside!
The NXT Champ’s Self-Sabotage
Tony D’Angelo’s NXT Title reign is about to complete its fourth month and to say it’s been anything
but lackluster would be incredibly generous. He’s had three successful title defenses since winning the title at Stand & Deliver at the beginning of April, and it’s very possible that his next defense, tonight, could be his last.
When NXT basically hit the reset button on their roster in the fallout of WrestleMania in April, several new contenders set their sights on the new NXT Champion. While new blood like Kam Hendrix and Mason Rook came out guns blazing with Tony D in their crosshairs, there was one man who took a different approach.
Former IWGP Champion Naraku never laid a finger on the champ, instead waging psychological warfare on the NXT Champion. When he finally earned a championship match, the champion and challenger met in a forest to sign their contract, and, as before, instead of getting physical, the mind games continued. When Naraku finally had the contract signed and delivered it to D’Angelo (in the notoriously dangerous NXT parking lot) the following week, Tony was hit in the face with a fireball. At the time, it looked like Naraku had tipped the scales in his favor and was a shoo-in to beat a one-eyed Tony D at the Great American Bash.
But as a legendary college football analyst used to say, “Not so fast, my friend!”
Tony, despite having his right eye completely bandaged over, still defeated Naraku at the Bash. While the intention was probably to make the champ look resilient, the real effect it had was making the challenger look incompetent. On NXT just two days later, Naraku made it clear that he was still gunning for Tony, and tried once again to blind the NXT Champion, this time by spraying him with red mist.
Then, last week, after taking a week off to recover, Tony returned and did that thing that dumb babyfaces do and asked for a rematch with the man that he beat handily just a few weeks prior. On the hunt for his rival later in the night, the champ attacked Naraku right after he made quick work of Tate Wilder. During the post-match brawl, Naraku’s mist….. well, missed….. Tony D this time, hitting a security guard instead. The fight would continue and eventually find its way to the NXT parking lot again, at which point GM Stone signed a Street Fight for the NXT Title for this week.
Will Tony D have an even easier time putting Naraku away tonight now that he has use of both of his eyes again? Or will Naraku avoid looking like a complete joke and stop D’Angelo’s title reign dead in its tracks?
Saquon Finds Backup
Since being shockingly kicked out of the group just over 2 months ago, Saquon Shugars has been on a mission to get revenge on his former DarkState compadres. For awhile, things were going pretty well.
Saquon staged sneak attacks on Cutler James and Osiris Griffin in consecutive weeks last month, leaving only his primary rival Dion Lennox in front of him. The two would go head-to-head in a match at the Great American Bash and despite pulling out a win, Shugars ended the night looking up at the lights after a brutal 3-on-1 beatdown.
Somewhere along the way, Saquon realized that while he may be able to win the individual battles with DarkState, he was never going to be able to win the war by himself. After being granted a 6-man tag team match with DarkState, Shugars spent all night last Tuesday combing the NXT locker room for two people willing to team with him. After being dismissed by top tag teams like OTM and Hank & Tank, the Shuga Man was down to the bottom of the barrel when he crossed paths with Noam Dar and Romeo Moreno.
Dar and Moreno have been looking for an opportunity in the tag team division and were one of five teams that seemed to be in the mix for a title shot a few weeks back. GM Stone would go on to sign all of those teams except Noam and Romeo for a #1 contenders match two weeks ago that was eventually won by another new team, Sean Legacy and Dorian Van Dux. When explaining why Dar and Moreno were being excluded from the title hunt, Stone told them they needed to go out and prove themselves a bit before they earned such an opportunity.
Now, thanks to Saquon alienating just about everybody else in the locker room after being a part of DarkState for so long, Dar and Moreno are going to get a chance to shine. Will this randomly thrown-together team gel in time to pick up the win? Or will Saquon have to go back to the drawing board and find a different tag team to help him finally win his war with DarkState?
Nattie vs. Jaida
Low Key Legend Nattie has been on somewhat of a world tour in the last 19 months. Since last January, Nattie has wrestled on Raw, Smackdown, NXT, Main Event, Speed, AAA and Evolve under the WWE banner, and made appearances in NWA, GCW’s Bloodsport and Booker T.’s Reality of Wrestling. Her latest stop has taken her back to the black-and-silver brand on Tuesday nights, with Jaida Parker as her target.
After weeks of getting in each other’s faces that got extremely personal when Jaida interrupted a class at Nattie’s wrestling school, Miss Neidhart got the best of Miss Parker in their first showdown last month. In the weeks that followed, it was clear that the loss had ignited something in Jaida, and she made sure Nattie knew she wasn’t quite done with her yet. Three weeks ago, Jaida made relatively quick work of one of Nattie’s new henchwomen, Karmen Petrovic. Later that evening, Nattie came up short in her pursuit of the NXT Women’s Title, and Parker was there to greet her afterward.
Now, Jaida and Nattie are finally scheduled to go one-on-one again. Will Miss Parker parlay the fire she’s shown recently into a big win over a multi-time Guinness World Record holder? Or will Nattie and her crew work the numbers game to their advantage and send Jaida back to the loss column?
Quick Hits
- Lola Vice won her #1 contender’s match last week and earned a shot to regain her title from the new champ, Kendal Grey. Will Kendal and Lola cross paths and set a date for their rematch this week? Or will they be forced into a “Can they co-exist?!” tag team match before they go one-on-one again?
- Death. Taxes. Kelani Jordan losing #1 contender’s matches. Those are the only three certainties, the latter of which was reinforced last week when The Standout came up short in her Triple Threat match. Will Jordan have to go to the back of the line again and work her way back to another #1 contender’s match? Or is it time for her to finally graduate to the main roster?
- Since taking out Tatum Paxley at the end of the show three weeks ago, Reina Volcan (fka Nikki Blackheart) has been getting us ready for her in-ring debut with a series of admittedly badass vignettes. She’ll finally wrestle her first match on NXT TV tonight when she takes on LFG Season 2 winner Skylar Raye. This will likely be a pretty quick match and a showcase for Reina, so will she set her sights on her next target tonight?
- The Culling unceremoniously kicked Shawn Spears out of the group that he founded a few weeks back after weeks of the former Perfect 10 screwing things up. Just two weeks after the brutal attack, Spears returned the favor by leveling Niko Vance with a steel chair right after he defeated Shiloh Hill in singles action. Tonight, Vance and Spears look to settle the score when they go one-on-one. With Izzi Dame likely to be ringside, will Shawn Spears bring any backup with him to even the odds?
- In recent weeks, Tavion Heights has been trying to convince his former NQCC teammate, Myles Borne, to team up with him to go after Vanity Project and the NXT Tag Team Titles. Will something happen to motivate the North American Champion enough for him to finally give in? Or will Borne’s refusal to join forces push Tavion to want to fight his on-again, off-again buddy once more?
- After her originally scheduled opponent was injured and unable to compete last week, Zaria looked impressive in her successful Fatal 4 Way title defense. Now that she’s beaten a good portion of the NXT women’s locker room, is it time for someone new to try their hand with the North American Champion?
All this and more on the CW tonight as NXT heads towards their next PLE, Heatwave at the end of August. Let us know what you’re most excited for on tonight’s show in the comments below, and be sure to follow along with the live coverage here on Cageside tonight, starting at 8 PM Eastern!
