The final speed bump on the road to NXT’s biggest event of the year is here, as NXT Roadblock sees perhaps the biggest match in NXT Women’s Championship history. In the main event, the defending champion Roxanne Perez will put her title on the line against one of the greatest women’s wrestlers in history, Meiko Satomura. The last time these two faced off, though before Perez won the title, things did not go the way of the now-champion, and Satomura will be looking to prove that the title does not make the woman, but the woman makes the championship. Also on the card, a Jail House Street Fight between DIJAK and Tony D’Angelo, where the only way to win is to lock your opponent in a cage and slam the latch down. Bron Breakker and the Creed brothers of Diamond Mine will also join forces to battle the intimidating trio of Jinder Mahal, Veer and Sanga, and Andre Chase will battle the leader of Schism, Joe Gacy. Finally, the arrogant Aussie, Grayson Waller will call out The Heartbreak Kid himself, Shawn Michaels, in a special Grayson Waller Effect segment.
+ Roxanne Perez (c) vs Meiko Satomura (NXT Women’s Championship): I am a huge fan of Perez, and anyone with a brain could see how incredible Satomura is. This was a really good match, with the stiff striking that Satomura is known for as well as the underdog spirit that has made Perez such a fan favourite. The match itself was great and I appreciate that the winner did win, though perhaps I would have gone the other way. There was a strange aftermath though that I think maybe have taken away from the match, but I guess I’ll have to wait and see
+ The Grayson Waller Effect with Shawn Michaels: I’ve been saying that Grayson Waller is going to be a huge star in NXT and WWE for as long as I’ve seen him now, and this was just more proof of that. I appreciated the ‘behind the scenes’ stuff that they were allowed to talk about, and I found it particularly interesting that Waller was able to mention Vince to prominently. There were a few ways this one could have gone, and while I am not a huge fan of what did happen, I admit that it makes perfect sense
+ DIJAK vs Tony D’Angelo (w/ Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo) (Jail House Street Fight): I liked this one overall, but it felt like it was written as a 45 minute match that didn’t go anywhere near that long. I’m surprised to see such a negative reaction to this DIJAK character, because I have really enjoyed it. Tony D is a great prospect who is still so new in his career, but I’d imagine he will be on Raw or Smackdown sooner rather than later. This was good for what it was
– Andre Chase vs Joe Gacy: this was nothing good or bad, which is a positive for NXT, but it was totally pointless. I know there was some storyline stuff, but you easily could have cut this and given the title match much more time
– Jacy Jayne vs Gigi Dolan: no bones about it, this was incredibly poor. These two have proven themselves very good if not great on promos against each other, but in the ring this fell apart. I also wasn’t a fan of the way real life history of one competitor was used in the story, and it made things just sound cheesy. This was a dud
– Bron Breakker & Diamond Mine (Julius Creed & Brutus Creed) vs Indus Sher (Jinder Mahal, Veer & Sanga): overall this was perfectly fine, but none of the six guys involved are at the level where they can be directing traffic, so to speak, so a lot of it just felt rehearsed or sloppy. I don’t know why the crowd is turning on Breakker lately, but it feels forced, much like that garbage audience members with Wes Lee/MSK back in the day. I wish the best for Veer and the Creeds, and obviously Breakker, but this wasn’t a great showing for them as potential megastars
> we finally saw Dragon Lee in the crowd at an NXT event. I’m surprised it was here and not at Stand & Deliver. I can only speculate he will be in a match there instead
Should you watch this event: As this was just a regular episode of NXT on TV, it just didn’t have that ‘pay per view’ feel about it. Seek out the positives listed above, especially the Grayson Waller Effect and the main event, but don’t bother with the rest.
MoshFish Reviews 