NXT recap & reactions: Badfellas – Cageside Seats
Filed under:Ricky Starks shocks the world, Cora Jade shocks Roxanne Perez, and Izzi Dame swerves the family on this week’s NXT. Absolutely speechless. #WWENXT pic.twitter.com/Yu4xaxs8fJThis was a nice swerve. I sat here last week (in the same spot) predicting the end of the D’Angelo Family. It was practically written on the wall. Yeah, well, it was apparently written in chalk. Or invisible ink since it was never the thing. This story wasn’t about the end of their family but the strengthening of another. Tony D’Angelo defended his North American championship against Ridge Holland in a cage match. An hour or so before the match, Tony made amends with the family. He and Stacks didn’t hug it out but they met each other midway. But Tony stood on what he said last week; he has to take on Ridge alone during a cage match and wants to do it that way. The fam celebrated with a big “Fuhgeddaboudit!” and moved forward as one. When the match happened, Vic Joseph foreshadowed a twist when he reminded everyone that Izzi Dame called for the cage. And Izzi’s actions necessitated a rematch. She puppet mastered this whole thing to, what I thought, gain favor with the Don and amass some power. We even got the moment where it looked like Stacks betrayed his number one guy when he tossed in a crowbar. Was he giving it to Tony? Was he giving it to Ridge? Izzi tried wrestling it away from him since that’s not how Tony wanted to win. Given how it all ended, that’s the one part they could’ve shelved without anything changing. Anyway, it really looked like Stacks was the one. Ridge went to work with that crowbar and Tony somehow kicked out after the onslaught. Turnabout being what it is, Tony used the crowbar with better results. But that victory was short-lived. They smartly booked Ridge chasing Tony’s crew into the locker room area, which left Tony by himself. He thought he was cool with Izzi by his side but that crowbar in her hand said otherwise. I don’t know what they’re doing with Shawn Spears’ group, but for the first time, they look formidable. Getting violent on Tony and outsmarting him to this degree makes them dangerous. Will it last? Who knows. But for at least one night, there’s another reputable stable in the territory. And they owe it to Izzi. CORA JADE JUST PINNED BAYLEY!!!#WWENXT pic.twitter.com/aNz8VMnwN8Bayley vs. Cora Jade started this week’s episode and I have many feelings. First off? Solid match. Hard to have anything less than that with Bayley. Cora isn’t on her level yet but this is developmental. More work with Bayley is a good thing. The next thing is I loved Roxanne Perez coming out as Bayley original recipe. It not only distracted the Role Model but harkened back to Roxanne’s fandom. She really was a fan. She had the mannerisms down to a tee. How the f ever, I don’t know why Bayley spent so much time focused on Roxanne. The match with Cora kept going but she ducked outside the ring to get a piece of Roxanne. Yeah, homegirl is annoying, no argument here, but Bayley didn’t have to go after her. It was necessary for the next plot development, but there was a more logical way to get there. And “there” in this case is Cora winning. She hit a double arm DDT outside the ring and in the ring, which was enough to put Bayley down for the count. The most fascinating moment though? Roxanne’s face. She looked shocked and disappointed. That revealed her true plan; distract Bayley and get her DQ’d, thus giving her “best friend” a cheap victory instead of a pinfall. Roxanne knows defeating Bayley in the middle of the ring is a big deal, especially for someone she truly sees as beneath her. Ava understood the enormity as well. That’s when she did the one thing Roxanne really didn’t want: turned the Triple Threat match at Vengeance Day into a Fatal 4 Way. This sets up a very interesting dynamic going into Vengeance Day. While I’d love if the story was more about Giulia or if she had some drama on her side, it seems like the match is setting up an eventual battle between friends while Giulia moves to her Stand & Deliver challenger. This was a very newsy show. Besides the obvious surprise debut, we got new matches at Vengeance Day and a big hook ending. NXT is setting up a lot of dominoes for Mania season, which is usually when they’re at their best. I enjoyed the show overall with a few minor quibbles. What say you, cagesiders? Who is Ricky’s first opponent and when does it happen? Check your inbox for a welcome email.Oops. Something went wrong. Please enter a valid email and try again.
