NXT Results, Highlights and Headlines From 10/5

Below, we have the NXT results from the Tuesday, October 5th show, along with highlights and headlines coming from tonight.

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NXT Results, highlights and headlines from last week’s show

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WWE NXT Results 10/5

Mandy Rose (w/Toxic Attraction) Def. Emma Rose

Legado Del Phantasma Promo: Santos Escobar challenges Isaiah Swerve Scott to a North American Championship Match

LA Knight Def. Odyssey Jones

Von Wagner and Kyle O’Reilly Promo: O’Reilly can’t trust Wagoner yet due to his post Undisputed Era Trauma

Tommaso Ciampa and Bron Breakker Promo: NXT Championship Match made for Halloween Havoc (happening on 10/26)

Joe Gacy Def. Ikemen Jiro

Duke Hudson Promo: He’s a professional poker player with a very shiny vest

Cora Jade (w/Trey Baxter) Def. Franky Monet (replaced Virginia Ferry after attacking pre-match)

Promo sets up the main event Tag Team Championship Match

Tommaso Ciampa and Joe Gacy Promo: If Joe Gacy wins next week, he gets added to the Halloween Havoc main event

Pete Dunne (w/Ridge Holland) Def. Cameron Grimes, and Dunne and Holland beat down Kyle O’ Reilly after the match

Hit Row accepts the North American Championship Challenge for Swerve Scott versus Santos Escobar

Tony D’Angelo Def. Malik Blade

Indi Hartwell (w/ Persia) Def. Mei Ying (w/Boa)

Lash Legend Promo: Tony D’Angelo might be the guest next week

Diamond Mine Promo: This was much needed in setting up who each member of the Mine is and why they matter. Seriously, this promo did more for this group in three minutes than the last three weeks it seems.

Raquel Gonzalez and Mandy Rose Promo: Gonzalez both put over the entire division while also setting up herself as the baddest woman on the brand before Toxic Attraction came out to lay claim to a future title shot. Io Shirai and Zoey Stark made the save for Gonzalez.

MSK Def. Trick and Melo, Jensen and Briggs, and Grizzled Young Veterans to retain their NXT Tag Titles. Imperium jumped the champs to end the show.

NXT Highlights From 10/5

Odyssey Jones vs LA Knight Was Wonderful

Odyssey Jones vs LA Knight was a wonderful, simple match that did a lot for both guys. Jones has gotten as over with the crowd as any of the new stars of NXT, and he is so fun to watch in the ring. He feels worthy of a big push already, especially when against a natural heel in LA Knight. Also, I’ll never get tired of seeing how far Jones can throw a person. Knight got the cheap win thanks to the interference of Andre Chase, which sets up Chase versus Jones, and gets some momentum back to Knight as well. A perfect example of simple, but perfectly executed booking.

Ikemen Jiro vs Joe Gacy Somehow Worked

Ikemen Jiro versus Joe Gacy shouldn’t have worked, but it did. Joe Gacy’s psychotic counselor persona continues to get pushed, and his contradictions are being sold at a really high level. He was yelling at Jiro both encouragements and hugging him after the match, and his complex character seems to be working as a heel right now. Also, Jiro is so weird. He was wearing a jacket with his face on it, and also did a lot of unnecessary spinning. But, the crowd still seemed to love him, and he served the role as a wacky babyface here well. Gacy’s push only seems to be starting to as he has a match against the NXT Champion Ciampa next week.

Dunne vs Grimes Ruled

While you’ll see some gripes I had about Dunne and Grimes below, this match ruled. The crowd was so invested, and it felt like it could’ve been a Takeover match with more time. This was two of the best in NXT working a wonderful match, and their chemistry was really impressive given this was just a throw-away match in the setup. I’d love to see more from these two and, to be honest, this match gave me hope that NXT 2.0 could someday be as high quality of television as its predecessor.

WHY DID THE GANGSTER CHARACTER WORK!?

Seriously, why?! For weeks, Tony D’Angelo has been hyped up, and the crowd loved him despite how cheesy his persona seemed on paper. He tried to bribe the ref, he used every Italian meme in the book, and he kept what was essentially a squash match on paper engaging. Blade gave him more fight than expected, but it made me want to D’Angelo sooner than later. I just can’t believe this character is a hit so far.

The Women Are Important

Okay WWE, so you do know how to make a women’s division feel important. For years, NXT had the best women’s wrestling anywhere, and stars like Gonzalez, Rose, Shirai and Monet are just some of the reasons why they might be in that same place of prominence again soon.

Main Event Brought the Energy

The main event was a great example of what made tonight a must-watch for me — the energy of this show. The old NXT got famous in part to having simple stories, good matches, and a knowledgeable and giving crowd. Those were here all night, and in this match especially. Yes, we need more from the tag division to make it feel three-dimensional, but this built some stars and gave us a champion that makes sense.

Trick and Melo showed they could be a full-time team with the high-octane moves and connection they had to the crowd even as heels, and while Jensen and Briggs felt like the rawest team here by a long shot, they have a good act going and could be a good part of matches going forward with more experience. Grizzled Young Veterans and MSK have been the heart and soul of this brand for a while, and while GSV needs more love from booking in the future, I’m glad MSK gets to be the team everyone has to go through to prove themselves on NXT.

NXT Lowlights From 10/5

Why is Grimes Desperate For Love?

Cameron Grimes versus Pete Dunne is great, but Grimes being desperate for love is so unnecessary here. Grimes was looking all over a “special lady” backstage, and the segment almost ruined the build to this great match for me because it was so random. Grimes may have the most over character in the whole brand, why mess with it at all? Especially since if anything it makes him less likable when he’s just started his face push. Here’s hoping they keep his character more focused on what makes it great going forward instead, and he can pick up some wins too.

They Should’ve Addressed the Draft Moves More

Those drafted to RAW and Smackdown this year won’t move until next month, which is a great idea on paper. It should give stars a chance to build momentum for themselves and others and to wrap up any current storylines before their move. However, NXT did far too little to address the moves this week. Ridge Holland was out there for multiple segments, and they didn’t even talk about what his leaving meant for Pete Dunne. This draft should have been a shock to these stars, or at the very least resulted in them changing their current storylines in some way. But mostly the attitude seemed to be “I guess they’ll just leave in a couple of weeks.” This needs to be addressed going forward, and more should have hyped it up as Hit Row did in their promo.

Mei Ying is Dead in the Water

Mei Ying loses again, and this character is just so dead in the water. How can she be Boa’s wise eternal master when she loses and Boa wins? Also, her character prevents her from having smooth matches, so she’s having slow, spooky matches which she is then losing. They need to throw this angle away and start from scratch I’m afraid.

Dexter and Indi Need Direction

Dexter and Indi need a new direction together. They’re popular, and I think can work, but the dumb sex jokes and just bland portrayal so far need more specifics to flesh out their character work, and more matches to build towards as well. Also, The Way wasn’t mentioned this week, and with Theory leaving soon, are they just ditching this stable in this storyline? That would be a shame after it’s been a mainstay of the brand for the past year.

NXT Headlines

Hit Row, Aliyah, Austin Theory, Xia Li and Ridge Holland were all drafted from NXT this past week, so the next two weeks will show how they choose to transition those stars out of the rainbow brand.

WWE announces the return of the King of the Ring Tournament and a new Women’s counterpart: The Queen’s Crown. These two tourneys are set to start this Friday on Smackdown and next week on RAW, which could be a great way to showcase the new rosters following the draft.

The big news tonight is all of the title pictures are much more clear, with Halloween Havoc now set for the end of this month. That special edition of NXT should be our best showcase for what NXT 2.0 can be like at its highest level, and all roads are leading to what could be shaping up to be one hell of a breakout party for the new version of NXT