NXT hit the road to Cincinnati, Ohio, selling out The Andrew J Brady Music Center with a touring duet between the silver brand and TNA. Appearances by X-Division Champion Moose and the iconic TNA Tag Team Champions The Hardy Boyz proved more than exciting one-off novelties, setting up cross-promotional championship bouts at Roadblock on March 11 at The Theater at Madison Square Garden. For The Hardy Boyz, another warm welcome back to WWE vindicated their star power. For the debuting Ricky Saints, his reception and presentation prophesied a WWE star in the making.
Stephanie Vaquer (c) vs Karmen Petrovic – Women’s North American Championship
Cincinnati gets loud for Vaquer and opposingly mezzo piano for Petrovic and fling Ashante “Thee” Adonis. The match is transparently a champion’s showcase, although Petrovic connects with a low-impact dive before picture-in-picture. Vaquer comes back with her knee-head smashes, a corner meteora, Eat Defeat and a Tiger Feint Kick before the challenger catches her with a superkick. But the champion’s SVB gains the victory, the first of her reign, before NXT Women’s Champion Giulia joins her in-ring. The latter calls herself the best champion, and the two declare a champion versus champion match down the line.
Winner: Stephanie Vaquer
Footage from earlier shows TNA Director of Authority Santino Marella and Arianna Grace approached by Lola Vice, looking for a fight. Vice insinuates that nobody in the Marella family taught Grace how to – leading to a bout tonight.
Lexis King vs Moose (c) – TNA X-Division Championship
Heritage Cup Champion King meets NXT Champion Oba Femi in the back, shooting down the “dream match” between the latter and Moose. Instead, the hometowner King puts himself in that marquee with Femi before entering the ring to rare applause. 6-foot-6 X-Division Champion Moose manhandles him – “no bread, no water, just meat,” as Booker T comments. King plays an impromptu David, easy to root for after a back-bump onto the raised entrance ramp, and hits a hot comeback with a hurricanrana and an outside dive. The inhuman champion regroups with a springboard crossbody and powerbomb, King delivers the Coronation for two and Moose finishes it with a spear. Femi arrives and masks over a match that outperformed expectations, setting up a title-for-title blockbuster at Roadblock in The Theater at Madison Square Garden.
Winner: Moose
A Shawn Spears vignette highlights his new minions: a cleaned-up Brooks Jensen, Niko Vance and Izzi Dame. He eyes Tony D’Angelo and the North American Championship in the process of being exceptionally slimy.
“The Juggernaut” Jordynne Grace enters the ring, expressing no hesitation in signing with NXT and becoming champion in the professed best women’s division in the world. She confidently stakes her claim at champions Vaquer and Giulia until Roxanne Perez interrupts, hardly a viable threat despite beating Grace last year. “Roxxy Two-Belts” chants ring out, quickly cut off by a right hand from the newcomer.
In the back, Trick Williams loses his cool over a supportive Je’Von Evans. Ricky Saints saves them from scrapping, but Williams denies the fist-bump – still frustrated by his loss to Eddy Thorpe. After, Jaida Parker is interviewed about a pull-apart with Kehlani Jordan on the bus, saying her rival lost her mind along with her championship.
No Quarter Catch Crew vs The Hardy Boyz
The anticipation gets Cincinnati on its feet, and another WWE return for The Hardy Boyz garners a pop that Vic Joseph says deaf Myles Borne can hear. Jeff looks impressively fluid, Matt not as much, but the combined aura of the TNA Tag Team Champions is unmistakable. The NXT Tag Team Champions Fraxiom spectate from the ramp during picture-in-picture, where Borne and Tavion Heights regain control. Jeff makes a signature comeback with Whisper in the Winds, and the double-team Plot Twist gets a two. Matt follows up with Twist of Fate, and Jeff’s iconic Swanton Bomb gains the three; they still got it.
Axiom welcomes The Hardy Boyz to NXT, and Nathan Frazer calls them the greatest tag team of all time. In comes TNA Director of Authority Santino Marella to officially announce “Traction versus The Hard Boys” at Roadblock in two weeks for the TNA Tag Team Championships.
Winners: The Hardy Boyz
From one TV Italian to four, The D’Angelo Family meets with a returning Tony D’Angelo over glasses of water. “Stacks” questions D’Angelo’s condition against Shawn Spears next week, but the North American Champion insists he needs to handle it.
Footage from over the weekend shows oddball couple Zaria and Sol Ruca’s meeting with oddball couple Piper Niven and Women’s United States Champion Chelsea Green. Niven agrees to a match next week, and Green doesn’t quite follow.
Arianna Grace vs Lola Vice
Grace gets in two lucky jabs and gains control with a ring-post shot. Vice recuperates with redundant spinning kicks, and a spinning elbow gains the silent victory. Mid-celebration, cameras cut backstage to the four mystery assailants – whose arrival was promoted throughout the night in social media posts, a pattern in many takeover angles.
Winner: Lola Vice
An Eddy Thorpe vignette follows him through Cincinnati, where he compares the Natives’ displacement to his victory over Trick Williams. After, NXT General Manager Ava announces Giulia versus Stephanie Vaquer in a double-title match at Roadblock in New York City.
Wes Lee and Ethan Page vs Je’Von Evans and Ricky Saints
“Welcome to the revolution” precedes an upbeat horn track for Saints, an acceptable def rebel recreation. Corey Graves shares a text from CM Punk: “Ricky has a natural swagger that most superstars spend their entire lives chasing.” Saints shows charm, and Evans is customarily bouncy to help gain control through picture-in-picture – halted by outside interference from Tyson Dupont and Tyriek Igwe. Page subsequently side-slams Evans across the top turnbuckle, and Lee continues targeting the lower back of “Young OG.” Saints receives the hot tag with a smooth tornado DDT, spear and accompanying “Ricky” chants. Evans and Page brawl into the arena, and meanwhile Saints is left three-on-one, ultimately scoring the pinfall victory over Lee with Rochambeau.
