Welcome to this week’s NXT review. Last week we saw a dejected Billie Kay and Peyton Royce call out the rest of the locker room for not celebrating Billie’s birthday.
An underwhelming birthday celebration has The #IconicDuo feeling DISRESPECTED… but it appears @AndradeCienWWE has woes of his own! #WWENXT pic.twitter.com/MYK339u4B7
— WWE (@WWE) July 6, 2017
The Icons do not care about the Mae Young Classic, they just want to be respected by the women currently in NXT. Thea Trinidad also makes a brief appearance as she gets into another fight with Andrade “Cien” Almas.
Additionally, Ruby Riot and Ember Moon get in each other’s faces as they argue over who should be the number one contender for Asuka‘s championship. Asuka previously stated in a twitter post that she’s not coming back to NXT until a worthy opponent emerges.
Still unstoppable, still untouchable, still undefeated. I'll be back to @WWENXT once you find a worthy opponent! #AndStill pic.twitter.com/uLp31lNArn
— ASUKA / ??? (@WWEAsuka) July 3, 2017
This week all these threads take a back seat as we’re treated to another Mae Young Classic Qualifier. Vanessa Borne, formerly known as Danielle Kamela, takes on Jayme Hachey, also known as Jayme Jameson.
Vanessa makes her entrance to a bad ass hard rock theme song. Commentator Mauro Ranallo, love him, starts making note of her previous accomplishments as a former Phoenix Suns dancer.
Jayme makes her entrance and we get to know her a bit more, she’s a former high school wrestler, the only female member of her team!
The match starts and the women tie up. They jockey for position before Jayme hits Vanessa in the face. She takes her down with a shoulder block. They go back and forth before Vanessa hits Jayme hard in the back with a stiff kick. They go back and forth again before Jayme flattens Vanessa with a sidewalk slam. Jayme then locks Vanessa in a rest hold.
Vanessa starts powering out and backs Jayme into the corner, freeing herself of the hold in the process and flipping Jayme over. She then racks Jayme in the chest. She continues pummeling her with hits and then a clothes line. She drop kicks Jayme and then continues hitting her.
Vanessa hits a sidewinder uranage for the win. Vanessa now moves on to the Mae Young Classic.
After the match she talks about what the tourney means.
She says she feels amazing and can not wait to be a part of history.
Additionally, Nikki Cross makes a brief appearance with Sanity after the Authors of Pain continue their destruction of the tag division.
Let the mind games continue….. #WWENXT pic.twitter.com/HSuLavqrak
— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) July 13, 2017
Thoughts: Unfortunately I wasn’t impressed with Vanessa as much as I hoped I’d be. The match was criminally short and I’m guessing it’s because Vanessa isn’t as experienced as her counterpart?
We haven’t seen much of Vanessa as the NXT Women’s Division begins readying itself for a new batch of talent. It’s hard to judge her as a complete package yet since we know so little about her. From her theme and look, she’s supposed to be a hard rock chick, someone who’s not afraid to get rough.
However, she needs to further work on her skills because I felt like we were watching the match in slow motion. This was a much better outing for her opponent. I don’t think she’ll go that far in the tournament and that’s OK. She needs to begin separating herself from the pack and NXT is definitely where she’ll begin doing that.
I did really like her finisher though. It’s something we haven’t seen and if she continues to whip out new moves, she will not get lost in the shuffle. Even though she still needs a lot of work, I hope she succeeds because I want to see what she can bring to the table.
Jayme was a nice surprise. She did her job very effectively. She lead the match and controlled it for a good chunk of time. She’s strong and efficient. I hope to see her competing again soon.
I’m a bit puzzled at Nikki. There’s no follow up to how she feels about losing to Asuka in that brutal Last Woman Standing Match? Come on NXT, you can do better, remember continuity?!
NXT still suffers from many stop/starts. On the one hand I’m excited to see the Ruby/Ember bout, I’m eager to see what the Icons do now, and I’m pumped for the Mae Young Classic. On the other hand, it’s frustrating that the women are still not even given 10 minutes to work a match and we’re constantly struggling for continuity. NXT, get it together.
What did you think of this week’s NXT? Were you impressed by Vanessa? What do you want to see moving forward? Sound off in the comments below.
