Nosestalgia
There’s no one match or angle that stuck out here. What hit me was the difficulty in doing a “Homecoming” event. There are so many people to please and so little time to do it. NXT didn’t completely succeed for me as not everything really fit together. But the moments it did, like Sami Zayn showing love to Je’Von Evans, worked because they integrated the NXT graduates
seamlessly into current storylines. They leaned more towards homages and hat tips to the past. And they showed their hand early.
Triple H cut an impassioned promo about the place that is the reason he’s WWE’s CCO. Shawn Michaels’ music hit and the two best friends gave each other props. But then this happened:
This segued into William Regal calling for “WAR GAMES,” which weirdly transitioned into Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss showing up. So right there, we get the tease of an interesting story with Shawn and Hunter vying for control, possibly through War Games, only for it to awkwardly lead into Charlotte and Alexa rightly shouting out the women who made NXT into what it is today. None of it gelled and the tension between Shawn and Trips was just fan service that called for more fan service.
Here’s the caveat: fan service does nothing for me. I’d rather moments that matter than being able to become the living embodiment of the Leonardo Dicaprio gif from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. We got fan service the rest of the night for the most part. Finn Balor showed up with his old music (thank Zeus) and interrupted Lexis King’s latest tirade against Myles Borne. Bobby Roode gave No Quarter Catch Crew a pep talk but also told Joe Hendry how proud it made him seeing the singer/wrestler carry the TNA Championship into WrestleMania.
Bianca Belair sat ringside while her husband, Montez Ford, met DarkState and reminisced about the good old says he sorely misses. On the flip side, Damian Priest did have something important to do narratively when he gave Tavion Heights the good news about his North American Championship match at No Mercy. Shayna Baszler appeared out of nowhere with sound advice for Sol Ruca & Zaria that should play into their story going forward. And like I said earlier, Sami’s interaction with Je’Von was cool. The problem is it just felt like a lot for only two hours, which wasn’t NXT’s fault. The time slot is the time slot and all they can do is make it work for them.
This really needed another hour to let things breathe and not feel like going from one special cameo to the next. And with a more interesting TNA storyline bubbling in the background, it made this show seem like filler material instead of a celebration.
You can definitely go home again but next time NXT does, I hope things feel more organic.
Album Cuts
- After reminding everyone that the women run this mother…Charlotte & Alexa successfully defended their Women’s Tag Team Championships against The Culling. First off, Full Sail University is a fantastic venue and I wish NXT was still there. It looks great on television and feels more intimate, despite being larger than the Performance Center. As for the match itself, the territory created a mirror match. Tatum Paxley and Alexa started with a stare down while holding their respective dolls, then commenced to a contest of “anything you can weird, I can do weirder.” Charlotte mostly ran with Izzi Dame. And once those pairs split up during the match breakdown, Alexa finished Tatum with a Sister Abigail. It was a fine showing for the challengers that put them in front of a hot crowd against NXT royalty.
- Speaking of NXT royalty, DIY showed up in gear appropriate for a Homecoming show. Tommaso Ciampa showed up in face paint with his “No One Will Survive” theme pumping. While he and Johnny Gargano reached into their NXT bag of tricks, it wasn’t enough to defeat Trick Williams & Carmelo Hayes. Grant it, they had a lot of help from Miz, but why let that get in the way of a good story? I like that they didn’t forget the tension in Trick Melo Gang. Yes, they hugged before the match and even gave me warm feelings reciting their catchphrase, but we got moments where it looked like Trick might betray his brother. And we got Melo tagging himself in right as Trick lined up a Trick Shot finish. Things weren’t great between them but, again, they got the W and, what’s more, Melo kicked out of a Project Ciampa. It was a nice trip down memory lane that I hope segues into a Melo Don’t Miz beef with DIY. As for Trick…
- The TNA Champion poked his nose into the Grayson Waller Effect featuring Oba Femi and Ricky Saints. I thought Oba came off strong on the mic, Ricky less so. And no, not because Oba said Ricky will carry Cody Rhodes’ bags the minute he gets to the main roster. But Oba sounded more confident and coherent with his points. He doesn’t think Ricky is that special and every point backed that up. Ricky painted Oba as a pampered athlete who doesn’t know the struggle that Ricky endured to get to this point. It was fine but I’ve heard Ricky in finer form. But the big news is Trick vs. Oba next week, title vs. title. Ricky Saints gets the winner. Oh, and TNA wrestlers really aren’t happy about this. I’m sure they’ll interfere next week because, yeah, the TNA Championship feels like another WWE championship.
- Tyler Breeze looked awesome against Ethan Page. This was a sound wrestling match between to very seasoned vets fighting to see which Canadian might rule the United States. I’d take either of them right now. Really dug this match, if only because it showed Tyler showing everything he can do. Ethan won because of course he did, but Tyler made him work for it.
- The main event was all about showcasing Stephanie Vaquer, Lyra Valkyria, & Rhea Ripley. This was their homecoming and their event. Of course they defeated Fatal Influence.
The Homecoming definitely did its job when it comes to making that crowd lose their minds. While all the nostalgia didn’t hit me like it hit them, I understand the high degree of difficulty and the show’s intent. It was a fun event, even if I wish they used the NXT alumni more organically and in more meaningful ways. But I at least got Finn’s old theme back for one night. That’s always a win.
What say you, Cage Siders?
