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WWE NXT will present Vengeance Day this Saturday on Peacock and Netflix from Washington, DC with a 6:00 PM Eastern start time for the PPV. Here is our take on what will happen on Saturday.
Men's NXT World Championship: Oba Femi vs Grayson Waller vs Austin Theory
Dave: I will go with my standard "I don't like seeing the title change hands in a three way" and add that it's way too soon to take the belt off of Femi.
Mike: I'm not a fan of this one personally as this feels like the type of match that would have been booked on a Raw out of nowhere. The obvious thing here to me is to show Femi coming back from a double team and taking both out, to showcase his power and dominance. We will see. I don't imagine they are switching the belt here.
Richard: If they want to do something interesting for this match, Theory and Waller should try to sneak attack Oba before the match starts, only to have Oba anticipate it and then he power bombs the living hell out of both of them that would make Wardlow say 'that is a bit too much'. After two minutes of this, Oba pins both of them to retain. What will likely happen is Oba will dominate early but then he will get too confident and that will allow Waller and Theory to fight back and wear Oba down. Then we see which of them will be the first to try to cover Oba to set up the 'why are you trying to become a champion . . . we are a tag team and friends' spot. Then we get the cover and pull off sequence. This allows Oba to recover and he finishes them off to retain. I don't know if we have the full betrayal or just the 'If it doesn't happen on Tuesday, keep them together forever' moment where they both argue over having the match won, but the other screwed it up. I don't see any punches being thrown. That is saved for TV, Tuesday night on the CW from the Performance Center in Orlando.
Women's NXT World Championship Match: Giulia vs Cora Jade vs Roxanne Perez vs Bayley
Dave: See above, for the same reasons. This should be a lot of fun!
Mike: This is the match I am looking forward to the most. I don't see Perez getting the belt, as it feels like she's almost off to the main roster. I could actually see them surprising everyone by putting the belt on Bayley so she could have a small run with it the way Becky Lynch did, but the smartest thing would be for Giulia to retain. I can see this being the best match on the show.
Richard: I will refrain from the rant that I did on the NXT post game show or the preview audio about how the way we got to the four way match made no logical sense, but it felt like it was inevitable that we would get to this point the moment that Roxanne threw Cora under the bus for losing the tag match involving these four women. Even though I don't think Cora should be in this match based on the events of the last few weeks, she is the one who needs to have the best performance of the three. Roxanne is primed for the main roster and a potential Wrestlemania match against Bayley. Bayley is tied to Roxanne. Giulia should retain, but the question is how does she win the match. We will get a lot of teasing of are they/aren't they/are they/aren't they/please make up your mind friendship between Cora and Roxanne during the match. I think the seeds for Bayley/Roxanne will be planted to set up the finish where they make their way to the floor to allow Cora to get pinned by Giulia. However, it will be the usual multi-person finish where Cora will appear to have the match won, only to have it taken away from her. This could set up a potential future one-on-one match against Giulia in the future. This should be the main event.
Women's NXT North American Championship Match: Fallon Henley vs Stephanie Vaquer
Dave: Vaquer just has that something about her that would make me flip the belt here.
Mike: This could be the sleeper match of the show, and I think it's time to switch the title.
Richard: This appears to be the second most obvious result of the night, but I think if you look past Fallon Henley, you are underestimating what we will see. Andrew really praises Fallon's work and development as a character on the preview audio, and I agree with him. They have transformed her from the slight caricature during the 'Kiana wants to buy her dad's bar' era when she was with Josh and Brooks to someone who is focused on her wrestling career and is the leader of Fatal Influence. Stephanie is the best of the three big international signings, so you would think that she should win this match to set up the champion versus champion match at Stand and Deliver versus Giulia. While that may happen, it will be a tough fight to get there. As long as Jacy and Jazmyn's involvement is minimal or non-existent, this match will be even better. Imagine how people would react to Fallon retaining. Hopefully it would be 'wow, Fallon impressed me with this victory' and not 'wow Stephanie lost to Fallon, that isn't right'. I think this match has a chance to steal the show.
NXT Tag Team Championship Match: Axiom and Nathan Frazer vs Josh Briggs and Yoshiki Inamura
Dave: I see the champs retaining.
Mike: I don't see a title change here but the match should be entertaining. To me, it's more about Briggs and Inamura getting some experience on the larger stage for NXT.
Richard: Josh and Inamura painted themselves into a corner when each of them found a tag team to wrestle and Ava made the shocking decision to do a Triple Threat match to determine the possible (and eventual) number one contender for the titles. Briggs and Inamura looked good in the match and they impressed Frazer and Axiom enough to announce the match for Saturday (did they get prior approval from Ava, because, remember, she makes all of the matches, not the wrestlers). Axiom and Frazer might be the best tag team in WWE so it will be a tough match for Briggs and Inamura to win the title. They work well as a team so that should make this a solid match. A strong performance for the challengers should get them more television time. Frazer and Axiom appear to be on the same page (since there are 40 other teams who are teasing a break up) so they should be at their best. Axiom and Frazer retain.
Strap Match: Eddy Thorpe vs Trick Williams
Dave: If it's me I have Trick get the dub here.
Mike: I don't see any upside to Williams losing here but if they have a good, gritty strap match, even in losing, it could do Thorpe some good.
Richard: I am not a fan of this feud because I think they have yo-yoed Thorpe so much that when he has momentum, he leaves TV for months, and I think Trick Williams has regressed a lot since Carmelo Hayes went to the main roster and he won the NXT title. Is Eddy angry that Trick did something that Eddy thinks cost him his many title matches against Oba Femi that he obtained through nefarious means? What is the 'prize' for the winner of this match? Another title match? I don't expect to see a lot of 'wrestling' in this match with the strap involved. Is it time for Trick to move on to the main roster? At least we will get the post match social media posts of the effects of the strap match on the backs of both men. Coin is flipped and it lands . . . on it side. Tie goes to Trick.
Je'Von Evans vs Ethan Page
Dave: I have Evans score the pin and then hear the great promos that Page does afterward.
Mike: To me, this has to be about getting Evans over, so he should be beating Page here. Page has been a hell of an antagonist on NXT and the loss won't hurt him, as he can just go back to being a complete POS the next week. Evans can sell sell sell the jaw and make the big comeback for a strong win.
Richard: It feels like this feud should have been over, but we have one 'last' chance for Evans to get a big win over Ethan Page to get revenge for the violent attacks on him and his mentor Cedric Alexander. Since his debut, Evans has been showing his spectacular athleticism, but he has not been winning a lot of matches. Page has shown a good vicious streak and he went all in by saying that he was going to end Evans' career. Since the NXT doctor (not Dr. Vinnie Boombatz) said that Evans is healing well, but is not fully healed so he could suffer a significant injury if the jaw is targeted. As a result, we have Ava getting Evans to sign a Hold Harmless Agreement. I hope Evans will tone down his in ring style because of the possibility of a career ending injury, but then you can lose some of the crowd reaction. Evans should win this match because he needs the win a lot more than Ethan. However, I could also see Evans try to go for a high risk dive to the floor and he lands face first onto the announce table and injures himself.
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