Tonight’s NXT will set the stage for Saturday’s in Your House event.
Two matches for In Your House will become official tonight as Toxic Attraction have a “Women’s Championship Summit” with Wendy Choo, Katana Chance, and Kayden Carter. Mandy Rose is defending her NXT Women’s Championship against Choo at In Your House, while Gigi Dolin & Jacy Jayne will put their NXT Women’s Tag Team titles on the line against Chance & Carter.
NXT North American Champion Cameron Grimes will defend his title against Carmelo Hayes at In Your House. Tonight, Grimes takes on Nathan Frazer in non-title action.
It was announced that Roxanne Perez and Tiffany Stratton were going to face off in the finals of the NXT Women’s Breakout Tournament tonight, but WWE has removed that match from the preview for tonight’s show.
Cora Jade vs. Elektra Lopez is also official for tonight, along with Thea Hail revealing her college decision.
Our live coverage begins at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
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The show opens with Diamond Mine backstage getting ready for a match. Roderick Strong and Damon Kemp are set to kick off the show as a tag team. Strong tells Ivy Nile and the Creed Brothers they have the night off.
The rift within Diamond Mine continues. Strong & Kemp head to the ring, leaving the rest behind. Nile asks what is going on. Julius Creed remarks, “This is not going to work out.”
Despite tension with the others, Strong has a strong bond with Kemp. Strong is acting as his coach and mentor. Taking him under his wing, which plays into the story of the opening match.
NXT Tag Team Champions Pretty Deadly (Elton Prince & Kit Wilson) defeat Diamond Mine (Damon Kemp & Roderick Strong) in a non-title match
Strong drops the fall after being distracted by outside interference from his own stable. This plays off an previous finish where Strong interfered in a Creed Brothers match, except Diamond Mine won that match. They lost here.
Kemp gets to shine, and he shows a lot of fire. When he first tagged in, he has to struggle for a moment. After taunted by Pretty Deadly, Strong slaps Kemp. This fires up Kemp, and he explodes with a fury.
Diamond Mine remains in control, and they execute stereo backbreakers on Pretty Deadly as the show cuts to a split-screen commercial. When the show returns from the commercial break, the tide has turned.
Pretty Deadly works over Kemp, until he able to tag out. Strong runs wild after the hot tag. Meanwhile, Kemp is down selling at ringside. As he tries to get back on the apron, he is shoved into the ring steps.
A tag belt is brought into the ring as the heel champs attempt to cheat. They try to use the belt as weapon, but the Creeds runs down to the ring. Julius Creed takes the bullet, as he is hit with the belt shot.
Strong attempts to capitalize by using an O’Connor Roll, but he is unable to score a pin. Brutus Creed yells at him from ringside, distracting Strong. Pretty Deadly deliver Spilt Milk on Strong, and he is pinned for a three count.
A pre-taped skit sets up a match for later tonight with Josh Briggs challenging Grayson Waller.
Sit-down leads to a challenge
Tony D’Angelo and his crew arrive at Santos Escobar’s yacht for a sit-down meeting with Legado del Fantasma. The boat head out to sea after Elektra Lopez says to take them somewhere nice.
The conversation turns heated in the meeting between the two factions. This is very well produced, despite being silly at times. Eventually, D’Angelo grows angry. He challenges Escobar to a six-man tag match at In Your House.
D’Angelo sneers at Escobar, telling him to look him in the eye. He also calls Escobar a “prick.” D’Angelo then proposes an added stipulation. Whichever teams loses, they must join the opposing family and takes orders from them.
Escobar accepts the challenge, and tells D’Angelo they have a deal. They shake on it. The six-man tag match is official for In Your House.
Cora Jade defeats Elektra Lopez
Jade pins Lopez to win. Lopez as alone in this match without her faction at ringside. She goes on to loss, after taking almost all of the offense. Jade fights from underneath as a babyface in peril.
They are fighting on the apron when Jade lands a knee strike. Lopez falls backwards to the mat in position for the finish, where Jade jumps off the top rope with a senton bomb. Jade goes on score a three count on Lopez.
McKenzie Mitchell interviews Wes Lee, and Lee throws shade at Xyon Quinn. Sanga enters the scene, and he gives Lee a pep talk. Last week, Sanga turned face after saving Lee from a beatdown.
A vignette profiles Roxanne Perez, and it was great video package. It shows her at a young age meeting the Bella Twins and Natalya before a house show in Laredo. It also features clips of Perez training at Booker T’s Reality of Wrestling academy. Perez details her journey and the sacrifices along the way. She vows to make her dreams come true next week by winning the Women’s Breakout Tournament.
Wes Lee defeats Xyon Quinn
Lee pins Quinn to win, after Lee sold the whole match.
This match finally happened after being delayed several times. Similar story to the women’s match that precedes it on this show, where the babyface is in peril for the whole match. In the the end though, the face counters to win the match.
Quinn bullies and manhandles Lee in the match. Quinn eventually uses a Snake Eyes where he launches Lee into the middle turnbuckle like a lawn dart.
USA Network censors a “holy s***” chant as Quinn signals for his finisher. Quinn takes a bit too long, allowing Lee a last ditch effort. Lee counters Quinn catch him with a roll-up, and Lee scores a pin out of nowhere.
Roderick Strong is in the Diamond Mine locker room, and he is yelling at his stable for interfering in the match earlier tonight. Strong reprimands them for disobeying him. Strong tells the Creeds and Nile that they are out of Diamond Mine if they lose the tag title match at In Your House.
Joe Gacy in a pre-tape promo says a bunch of gibberish that is supposed to build anticipation for him challenging Bron Breakker for the NXT Championship.
Breakker is doing a backstage interview when the lights flicker and a voice from above haunts him. Breakker picks up a monitor, presumably to smash. He instead sits it back down after realizing Gacy was trying to get into his head. Breakker vows to win at IYH.
NXT Women’s Championship Summit
A table is set up in the ring. On one side is Toxic Attraction, which includes the NXT Women’s Champion and the NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions. On the other side of the table are the challengers.
Katana Chance & Kayden Carter are set to challenge Jacy Jaybe & Gigi Dolan for the tag titles at IYH. Wendo Choo also challenges Mandy Rose for the singles title at IYH.
In this “summit” there is a lot of bickering back-and-forth. The challengers keep telling the heel trio to sign the contracts, and the live studio audience starts a chant heckling the heels into signing.
Mandy Rose still manages to get through her promo, and then she signs the contract for her match at IYH. Choo in return hits Rose with a spitwad like this was elementary school.
Rose attacks Choo, and a melee ensues. The table is turned upside down as everyone brawls. Chance & Carter do dives the outside. The babyface trio cleans house, leading to Choo putting Rose through a table with a splash off the top rope. USA Network censors a “holy s***” chant as the babyfaces stand tall.
Kiana James confronts Ivy Nile backstage, and James chides Nile about the Creeds chances at IYH. Nile snaps on James (who has an Alexandra York gimmick), and pushes James against a locker. This sets up a match for later on.
Solo Sikoa defeats Duke Hudson
Sikoa pins Hudson after a Superfly splash. Sikoa’s push continues as he is the next challenger in line for a shot at the NXT North American Championship.
Sikoa shines early on, until he is cut off. Hudson briefly works over Sikoa, but Sikoa soon makes a comeback. Sikoa is a house of fire in the closing moments.
Umaga splash by Sikoa, followed by a Superfly splash. Sikoa then covers Hudson for a clean pinfall.
A vignette highlights Tiffany Stratton ahead of her meeting Roxanne Perez in the finals of the Women’s Breakout Tournament.
Thea Hail graduated from high school last weekend, and tonight she chooses the college she plans to attend. In a swerve, Hail announces she plans to attend Chase University. All those skits with Hail over the last few weeks make sense now, it was all an angle. Clever.
Grayson Waller defeats Josh Briggs
Waller pins Briggs after Von Wagner causes a distraction.
Waller grabs the house microphone, and he insults Briggs before the match. This fires up Briggs.
Baiting in Briggs, Waller uses a cheap shot to gain the upper hand. After a double down, Sofia Cromwell and Mr. Stone enter the soundstage. They come down to ringside.
Comeback by Briggs, and he begins to mow down Waller. Von Wagner appears at ringside, and he jumps on the ring apron to cause a distraction. Waller rolls through and pops up into a cutter on a distracted Briggs.
Capitalizing on the outside interference, Waller goes on to pin Briggs. Wagner jumps Briggs after the match. He is called off by Cromwell.
Ivy Nile defeats Kiana James
Nile pins James to win clean.
The trend on this show continues where the loser of the match gets the most offense during the bout itself. Nile at the finish fires up with a series of kicks, and Nile executes a powerslam to set up the pinfall.
Pretty Deadly comes to the ring after the match, and the cut a promo on Diamond Mine. Pretty Deadly attempts to surround Nile in the ring, but the Creeds come to Nile’s rescue. They face off with Pretty Deadly, and the Creeds send them packing after getting the better of a tussle.
A vignette hypes the arrival of Giovanni Vinci. He is sophisticated and loves to show it. His is coming soon to NXT.
NXT North American Champion Cameron Grimes defeats Nathan Frazier in a non-title match
Grimes pins Frazier in a really fun babyface match. Lots of action in this fast paced match. Frazier is far better in the ring that his win-loss record in NXT might indicate.
Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams are at ringside at the announce desk providing guest commentary. Hayes challenges Grimes in a title match on Saturday.
Babyface match here tonight as neither plays heel. Grimes and Frazier wrestle through a split-screen commercial break. They set a far faster pace than any other match on tonight’s card.
They trade near falls in what is described on commentary as a “high octane” match. Great action in the closing moments as the pace quickened even more.
Frazier was looking strong as he got to shine. Frazier dives through the ropes to the outside just before the finishing sequence. Frazier then climbs the turnbuckles.
Grimes counters Frazier to deliver an avalanche overhead suplex off the ropes. Grimes then delivers a Cave In, and he covers Frazier for the deciding pinfall.
Hayes attempts to jump Grimes after the match, but he is thwarted by Grimes. Williams pulls Hayes out of the ring, and they back away as the show closes.
Final Thoughts
This episode seemed less like a go-home show, and more like filler programming. However, there was clearly a lot of hype on this show for In Your House. Not sure if that translates into a lot of interest.