To catch you up, earlier this month, WWE’s 3rd brand NXT switched from the USA network to the CW network. As of the time of writing, we have 7 weekly shows and a PLE (Premium Live Event). For those who don’t know, NXT is a brand where WWE showcases its rookies, if they do well enough, they can get called up to Raw or SmackDown in the annual WWE Draft.
Week 1 (10/1/2024)
Week 1 already felt like a PLE from the get-go. To summarize, Trick Williams defeated Ethan Page to regain the NXT Championship which he never got pinned for, Roxanne Perez defeated hyped up indie Giulia to retain her title due to interference from a returning Cora Jade. NXT North American Champion Oba Femi and Challenger Tony D’Angelo come to verbal jabs with the Miz setting it up. Overall, the show has easily set up what’s going to happen in the next few weeks.
Week 2 (10/8/2024)
10/8 easily followed up well with a lot of main roster stars showing up and boosting ratings. The Intercontinental Champion at the time, Jey Uso, came to destroy Wes Lee with Trick Williams. Randy Orton fought Je’von Evans in an amazing match. Stephenie Vaquer and Giulia confronted Roxanne Perez and Cora Jade. Frazer and Axiom defeat Theory and Waller, and best of all, Tony D’Angelo defeated Oba Femi to become the new North American Champion. I personally didn’t think that Oba would be defeated and his record-breaking reign would continue, but it’s one good surprise for me.
Week 3 (10/15/2024)
The road to Halloween Havoc is here. There’s nothing much that happened. All I can think of is Vaquer squashing Wren Sinclair and beating up Roxanne Perez and Ethan Page winning a triple threat to face Trick Williams. Oba Femi crashing D’Angelo’s celebration. So yeah that’s about it.
Week 4 (10/22/2024)
Luckily, 10/22 made up for the dud of 10/15. Oba Femi destroyed Luca Crusifino, sending him through a ladder with Tony D’Angelo tied to a post, forcing him to watch. Giulia and Vaquer defeat Fatal Influence with the help of Kelani Jordan. Trick Williams and Ethan Page go face to face before facing each other in Halloween Havoc. Wendy Choo attacked Tatum Paxley. This is an amazing show leading up to Halloween Havoc.
Halloween Havoc (NXT’s 1st PLE under the CW Network)
NXT was cooking on this PLE. Trick Williams and Ethan Page were wrecking the whole arena in a Devil’s Playground Match. Giulia and Vaquer beated Roxanne Perez and Cora Jade in an amazing tag team match, D’Angelo beated Oba again in their rematch. We have a new champion in the form of Fallon Henley as she went through a gauntlet, defeating the champion Kelani Jordan on her way there, after that she got attacked by a recently debuting ZARIA. This might be something I might look back at and say “Wow!”
Week 5 (10/29/2024)
Tension was still there after Halloween Havoc. WWE announced that the next week will be in the 2300 Arena. This is big because it was once the ECW arena, an arena that older fans will remember (not me). Rob Van Dam, Bubba Ray Dudley, and William Regal all showed up to help out the good guys (except Regal). TNA’s Jordynne Grace showed up to even the odds in a 10-women brawl. Fraxiom retained their tag titles by defeating Je’von Evans and Cedric Alexander. I mainly felt like the show was meant to hype up NXT in ECW but it’s still very enjoyable.
Week 6 (11/6/2024)
NXT is now in the ECW arena and it’s well… extreme. Jaida Parker and Lola Vice were hitting each other with trash cans, chairs, and ladders. Bubba Ray Dudley and Trick Williams beated Page and Ridge Holland and sent them through a table. RVD got some payback at Wes Lee, leading to Evans taking the win. Rhyno (another ECW legend) destroyed Mr. Stone after he talked trash about him. It’s a really fun episode in general in my opinion.
Week 7 (11/13/2024)
This is the most recent show as of this article’s writing. The road to Deadline has begun as qualifiers started to be booked. We only have two with Wes Lee beating Cedric Alexander, and Sol Ruca beating Adriana Rizzo. My favorite thing about this episode is that Gallus, Out The Mud, and Hank & Tank were brawling after Fallon Henley beated Kelani Jordan in her rematch. Also, Giulia and Vaquer defeated Lash Legend and Jakara Jackson in a tag team match. Honestly, the show is solid, it felt like it needed something more but still enjoyable.
Future of NXT
Me personally, I’m hopeful for the future of NXT. They bring good matches and segments. But the only thing I’m worried about is Raw on Netflix as it might overshadow NXT and the usual ring skills. One prediction I have is Oba Femi or Wes Lee wins another championship.
Resources
All images came from WWE.com except the thumbnail which came from PWMania.