WWE NXT 7/18/2023

WWE NXT 7/18/2023

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2023/07/wwe-nxt-7112023.html

Trick Williams and Carmelo Hayes come out to talk. Melo cuts him off then Ilja Dragunov comes out. Ilja said he didn't mean to put his nose into his business. He said if Damien Priest would have used his MITB briefcase, he could have taken Melo's NXT title too. Ilja said he wanted to prevent that. Ilja said Melo lost control and Ilja disagrees. Ilja said he always gives everything and Melo doesn't feel. Melo said he feels everything. Melo said he will feel him at the Bash and said he is MR. PLE and he hits different. Ilja says he will have to hit harder than he has before. Melo says there will be champagne for one at just pain for the other at the Bash.

Mustafa Ali goes up to Wes Lee in the back. He tells Wes to tell him not to put up the NXT N-A Title tonight. Ali said he doesn't want to face Dom at the Bash, he wants to face him. Wes takes exception to this. Ali said there's a reason they call him Dirty Dom and Rhea will be at ringside. Wes said he's ready. Ali said he wants to face the greatest N-A champ ever at the base. He says he will be there but Wes still has to get there.

We go to prison and see Stacks waiting for Tony D. They hug and Stacks gives him his hat. They then drive away. 

Nathan Frazer and Dragon Lee vs Angel Garza and Humberto Carillo

The faces are dropkicked through the ropes as they enter. Lee is dropkicked off the apron then Angel ends up spearing the post. nf runs the ropes fast and single leg dropkicks Garza. Angel takes a double hiptoss and a double baseball slide. HC rips Lee's mask and suplexes him. They trade chops and Lee hurricanrana's him. Leon and Feroz come down to the ringside. NF dives on both opponents outside but is caught and thrown into Lee, who tries to dive out.

We go to break and return. NF is superkicked and Angel takes his pants off. Lee gets the hot tag in and beats up Angel. Lee dragon screws him over the middle rope then uses HC to tornado ddt Angel. Lee pumping knees Angel. NF headscissors HC out then is thrown face first on the table. Lee gets crotched up top. Lee takes a double gorilla press off the 2nd rope. Angel 2nd rope moonsaults onto NF and HC top rope moonsaults Lee for 2.

HC hangs off the top rope and Lee double stomps him. Lee is superkicked in the 2nd of the head then NF 2nd rope swinging flatliners Angel. Lee ligerbombs HC for 2. HC flips Lee with a lariat then NF springboard dropkicks both opponents. NF flips off the top but top rope crossbodies both opponents then Lee does a tilt-a-whirl into a reverse ddt to win.

It had some big kickouts, fast paced action and lots of dives. I thought they did a little too much here but the teams matched up well.

Angel yells at HC after and HC pushes him. HC then exits through the crowd.

We go to Baron Corbin, who is in the grass with tiki torches, He says evolve or die and said he needs to be feared, respected and the champ. He goes up to someone who is covered head to toe. That person turns out to either be him or someone who looks like him and they kind of nods. The only reason I saw "looks like" is because the other person is significantly taller, instead of being the same height.

NXT Anonymous films Booker T talking to Roxanne Perez about Blair Davenport. Booker says she's lethal and says Perez needs to think about today. Booker says if Blair is given an inch, she will take a mile. He tells her to bring the noise. Booker is mad he was filmed, saying "this ain't no d@mn promo" and "what the hell is going on here?".

Kiana James vs Gigi Dolin

They waste no time nailing each other. KJ stomps her in the corner then Gigi hits a nice punch. Gigi hits shots to the gut and has noticeably lost weight. Gigi flying hurricanrana's her then dropkicks her against the bottom rope. KJ rolls out and runs Gigi's back into the rails.

KJ slams her. Gigi hits leg kicks, a knee and lariats. Gigi pump kicks her then high kicks her. KJ bangs her head off the mat and goes for her purse. They fight over the purse. Gigi fights over it with the ref then takes a 401k(swinging flatliner) and KJ wins it.

This was short and decent. Gigi looked good here with some nice shots. The finish was kind of lame and made Gigi look like an idiot.

We see clips of the confrontation between Price/Nima and Scrypts/Ax. Scrypts said they got their match here then Nima and Price leave. Ax says they aren't a team and says he can't keep doing this to him as there's things he wants to accomplish on his own.

Ivy Nile takes down the flag at the Diamond Mine dojo. Eddy Thorpe is interviewed and feels his win last week puts him in championship contention. Noam Dar and Meta-Four come in. Dar is in a wheel chair and they offer him a signed photo of Dar since Supernova Sessions won't be on with him. Oro tells him to check his ego. Eddy says he's not a talker, he's a fighter. They argue and it has to be broken up.

Axion and Scrypts vs Bronco Nima and Lucien Price

Ax hits hard chest chops on Nima then Ax 2nd rope armdrags Nima. Scrypts hits a nice cartwheel forwards and backwards out of a lariat. Scrypts then turns on Ax, nailing him from behind. Nima pounds on Ax then Price does the same. Scrypts sits on the top rope and watches. Ax is whipped into a curb stomp by Nima and Price and Nima get the win.

Tony D'Angelo's Homecoming

Tony's cousin Maria and other people are here for this. Stacks said Tony got locked up because of Joe Coffey. Tony comes out and hugs everyone. Tony said Hollywood has found their new lead man in Stacks. We then cut to footage of them from 2 months ago of them faking this whole thing. How exactly they had video of this, I don't know.

Gallus then comes out. Joe said Tony and Stacks are scum and the lowest form of life. Joe tells Tony it's safer for him in jail then on the outside. Stacks says Gallus will lose the tag titles to the D'Angelo Family at the Bash. Tony says they will take what they should have took at Stand and Deliver - the tag titles. Mark says they like to play games, but Gallus is dead serious. Wolf says they won't make it to the bash. Joe brings out I tbink some kind of cricket bat but then Tony's family all brings out crowbars. Gallus gets hit with the crowbars and Mark gets sent through the provolone snack table. 

It was a fun segment but they really hurt the segment by showing the taped footage. This kind of stuff is always hard because it acknowledges there's other people in the room and makes it look scripted.

Melo and Trick run into Schism. They call them weirdos. Joe said Trick and Melo will break up when Melo loses the title. Dragunov then comes in. Joe said he can sense the tension. Drag then says Joe is insufferable. Joe rushes Melo and a giant fight breaks out.

Thea Hail vs Elektra Lopez

Duke is with Thea and Lola is with Lopez. Lopez does an inset and doesn't think Thea should get a shot at the women's title. Lola says Thea has a slim to none chance of beating her, just like with Tiffany.

We are told Chase is on a recruiting trip. Thea is slammed and takes corner spears. Thea exploders Lopez then argues with Lola on the apron. Lopez lariats Thea then Thea grabs a kimura and taps her out.

This was quick and there wasn't a lot to it. They usually protect Lopez, so I'm surprised she lost so easy.

Duke and Thea talk after. Thea says she feels unstoppable and said Lopez tapped out like Tiffany. She said she wants another shot at the NXT Women's Title. Thea yells that she knows she can do it. Duke gets the crowd to chant, "rematch" and Thea tells Tiff to come out here so she can kick her @ss.

Tiffany Stratton comes out. She tells her she doesn't get to call out the champ. She said she's superior to her and said she learned one move and now thinks she can conquer the world. Tiff said she accepts a rematch since it will be "like the easiest title defense ever since I beat you". Thea said their match should be a submission match. Tiff said she can't add stips to matches, only Tiff can. Tiff says she can't make her. Thea then grabs her with a kimura and taps her out. Tiff then agrees to a submission match so Thea lets her go. It was kind of a clever way to get to the submission match stip.

Dominik is warming up in the back with Rhea watching. Tony D' and The Family walk in. Tony says Benny the Bumper tells Domnic hello. Dom says, "Benny, what a guy!.". Lyra Valkria then is called in. Rhea asks why she let Jacy rip up her jacket and tells her she better show her as she told people she was a bad @ss. Lyra said she will the next time she faces her.

Oro Mensah vs Eddy Thorpe

No entrance for Eduardo here. Eddy takes him down then side headlocks him. Eddy headlock takeovers him and hits a jumping, twisting crossbody on him. Eddy chest chops him hard then Oro beats him up on the mat. Oro exploders him for 2. Oro does a flipping koppo kick for 2. Eddy hits chops and hits various strikes. Eddy germans him and Oro rolls out. Eddy topes him out there. Lash picks up Noam Dar and throws him in the ring. Dar is out and not moving. Eddy then gets nailed outside by Dijak. 

Eddy beats the count going back in and Oro spinning heel kicks him for the win.

What we got was short and wasn't much here with Dijak's interference and Dar's shenanigans being the main focus.

We see Dana Brooke and Kelani Jordan working out. KJ is mad at herself for losing to Cora Jade last week. They then do gymnastics together. Dana says Cora wishes she could do what KJ does. KJ said she is learning a lot from her.

Cora looks on in the back and isn't impressed. She then hits a locker with her stick.

Blair Davenport and Roxanne Perez are interviewed via split screen. Blair said she's going to leave her laying in the ring in front of her friends and family in Texas. She said Perez had a great year last year, but that was last year. She said Perez doesn't belong in this world anymore. Perez said she's tired of everyone thinking she's an easy target. She said a rage has built inside of her since losing the women's title. She said she will show a side of her that the WWE Universe has never seen before. She said Blair doesn't know what's coming to her. Blair said she doesn't believe her and neither does Perez. She said Perez doesn't have the killer instinct. she said she will hurt her and says she should just go home when she gets beat. she said she doesn't belong here anymore. Perez then leaves and Blair mocks her. I don't know if this was meant to bury Perez, but it did. She did not get the one up on Blair here.

WWE NXT North American Title - Wes Lee (c) vs Dominik Mysterio

Wes side headlocks him and dropkicks him. The crowd chants, "Dom's not ready" and there's a counter chant of "yes, he is". Wes goes to dive on Dom but Rhea is in the way and he stops. We go to break and return. Dom suplexes Wes and dropkicks him. We go to break and return. Dom michinoku drivers him for 2. Wes hits euros and they trade nice punches.

Dom does a dangerous release backdrop, nearly killing him. Dom pounds on him and throws him hard into the buckles. Wes hits shots to the body then hits flying forearms. Wes hits kicks and double stomps his back. Wes kicks him then hits a 2nd rope ddt.

Wes goes to tope Dom but Dom grabs the title and walks away. Wes topes him as he walks then hits a psiral tap. Finn Balor gets on the apron and Priest gets in the ring. Wes kicks him then is hit by Rhea with the belt. Dom then grabs the win.

What we got wasn't that special and Dom nearly killed Wes with the backdrop. The reffing was horrible here as Finn and Priest were both in the ring and no DQ was made over it.

Overall thoughts: Lots of angles tonight with Scrypts turning on Ax and Carillo seemingly turning on Angel. It wasn't that great of a show and surprisingly, Bron wasn't even on it.