WhiteTail Wrestling

NXT tried out a new premium live event as we move towards the end of 2022 featuring 2 unique new matches which could either work or end up a complete disaster.

The opening match was the women’s iron survivor challenge match with the winner earning a shot at the NXT Women’s championship. This was a 25 minute match featuring Cora Jade vs Indi Hartwell vs Kiana James vs Roxanne Perez vs Zoey Stark. The match would start with two wrestlers with another wrestler entering every minutes until all the competitors were in the match. A wrestler would get 1 point per fall and when defeated a wrestler would have to spend 90 seconds in a penalty box. The wrestler with the most points at the end is the winner. A weird match that combines the rules of a number of other matches this was going to be interesting.

The first two wrestlers were Roxanne Perez and Zoey Stark. After a solid start Kiana James entered into the match with no score as of yet. On the nine and a half minute mark Zoey Stark got a pin on Roxanne Perez gaining her first point and sending Perez to the penalty box for 90 seconds. After 10 minutes Cora Jade entered the match. Cora Jade stole a pin on James just under the 13 minute mark. The match has been good so far with the action flying by. Indi Hartwell entered the match last at the 15 minute mark 10 minutes remain. Hartwell gets a pin on Perez to open her account and send Perez to the penalty box once again. Perez gets her first point with a roll up on Stark with 6 minutes left in the match. Perez takes the lead with two minutes left after the pop rox on Jade. Perez survives the final minutes to end an excellent ***3/4 match.

Alba Fyre vs Isla Dawn was up next as two Scottish women faced off against each other. A good match hampered by a terrible finish. Well worked throughout with Dawn in control early in the match with Fyre then taking over until when she had the match won the referee suddenly could not count the pin seemingly due to the supernatural influence of Dawn who then uses an exposed turnbuckle to win the match.**1/4

Then NXT Tag Team Championship match was next with Pretty Deadly (Elton Prince & Kit Wilson) defending their titles against the New Day (Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods). This was such a fun match filled with exciting action from the opening minute with entertaining moments with even the comedy coming off very well. The New Day start well but Pretty Deadly make a comeback but I thought the heel stuff was fine with nothing boring and the action never seemed to slow. Excellent action at the end with New Day surviving the cheating from Pretty Deadly and then picking up the pin. A great **** match.

The men’s iron survivor match was next with the opening wrestlers being JD McDonagh and Axiom. High quality start with some nice moves and fast paced action. Axiom probably getting the better of McDonagh but nobody gaining an advantage on the scoreboard. Carmelo Hayes enters the match at the 5 minute mark and the exciting fast paced action continues. Hayes gains the first point of the match pinning Axiom at the 7.30 mark. Grayson Waller enters at the 10 minute mark taking advantage of the battle between the other three wrestlers by pinning both Axiom and McDonagh. Axiom and McDonagh start brawling in the penalty box even when they could be involved in the match again. Axiom gets a rollup on Waller to score a point and then hits his golden ratio move on McDonagh to even up the match. Gacy enters the match at the 15 minute mark. Gacy starts well and gets a submission on Axiom. McDonagh and Axium keep fighting in the penalty box for a little while. A massive Lariat from Gacy gets him to two points three men are now tied at two points with 7 minutes left. McDonagh tries to prevent Axiom from leaving the box but Axiom climbs to the top of the cage and hits a dive. Hayes uses a crossface on Waller to also move to two points. More fast paced action McDonagh looks to gain a point but with everyone in the ring the count is broken up. Waller gains the lead with less than 30 seconds left capitalizing on the work of everyone else and stealing the win. This was a great all action match clever how Waller won the match but he clearly didn’t deserve it still I’ll go ****1/4 on this match.

Main event time with Bron Breakker defending his NXT Championship against Apollo Crews. This was an excellent ***1/2 match it started with some solid technical work before developing into an exciting main event match with some good attempt at falls however it was always likely that Breakker would retain and he does after a spear.

A surprisingly good NXT show. It was expected that the iron survivor matches would be a complete mess or even a disaster instead both matches were entertaining and flew by with the men’s match in particular being a great match. The tag title match was also a lot of fun as was the main event although that could have perhaps been better. The only match I was disappointed in was the Frye vs Dawn match which featured some good wrestling but had a truly terrible finish that would not have been out of place on WCW Nitro in 1999/2000. Overall though a show well worth watching.