WWE NXT Vengeance Day 2024: 3 Things We Hated And Three Things We Loved
Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s review of "WWE NXT" Vengeance Day! With three titles on the line, plus the finals of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, there was a lot at stake Sunday night, and that's without evening mentioning the No DQ match and the six-person mixed tag. And believe it or not, we are actually going to touch on every single one of those things in this column, at least a little bit! It sounds crazy, and you should still check out our Vengeance Day live coverage/results page, but yes, all six matches from this premium live event will be mentioned in our analysis.
However, that doesn't make this column any less subjective or based around pure opinion! For the most part, the WINC writing and editorial staff were big fans of Vengeance Day, but there are some things we felt strongly could have been done differently, and here in this space, we're all about strong feelings. Here are three things we hated and three things we loved from "WWE NXT" Vengeance Day 2024.
Loved: Dijak and Gacy showed us all what crazy looks like
Recently, weapons in WWE have been saved for special occasions, like betrayals and intense premium live event contests. Even then, when they are used, they are relatively restrained — the most unique spots will probably be fire extinguisher-related (my personal favorite), or hair whip-related (my second personal favorite). So, when Dijak and Gacy were announced to have a No Disqualification match after Dijak launched Gacy into a dumpster last week, nobody was expecting their match to be as chaotic as it was. Come Vengeance Day, and Dijak and Gacy have to follow an awesome Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic finals match. Dijak and Gacy must have known that they needed to pick their sick, twisted minds for something to wow the "NXT" audience.
Consider the "NXT" audience, and me, sufficiently wow-ed.
When Dijak pulled out his signature nightstick, I was intrigued. When Gacy pulled out a collapsible club, I knew we were about to enter some "Star Wars" territory. They clashed their melee weapons in a sequence that looked like it should have been in a medieval sword fighting reenactment, and not a WWE ring. Then, the two men went to the outside — Dijak by force, and Gacy by choice.
Here, I expected Gacy to keep his foot on the gas pedal, and deliver some hand-to-hand blows to his opponent. Instead, he used his field trip to the outside to peruse the under-the-ring weapons catalog, and began throwing all sorts of accessories into the ring: trash cans, duct tape, probably other things that I'm forgetting. Gacy kept the theme going by using a steel chair to prop up a slowly-recovering Dijak, then used the steel steps to give his rolling senton some momentum. It all made sense: the theme of this match was weaponry, and both men were armed to the teeth throughout the entire contest.
I would be doing you all a disservice to not mention some of the most insane moments during the match. Dijak's dive from the apron to a toy-covered table five feet away will live in my head, rent-free, for the rest of the week. When was the last time you watched someone blindfold another person with duct tape in a WWE ring? These two competitors pulled out all the spots, and left no possibility for pain unexplored. It paid off in spades.
Do I think that all WWE stipulation matches should have this level of gratuitous weaponry? Not really. The novelty of a match as weapons-intensive as tonight's was is part of the appeal, and to oversaturate WWE programming with similar fights would diminish their impact. However, when the tensions between two Superstars are at an all-time high, creative and utterly unhinged offense can create a match that will not be so easily forgotten. "NXT" is developmental, experimental. I would love to see the main roster take notes from the successes of this match and its involved talent, and deliver a truly extreme match sometime in the future.
Written by Angeline Phu
Loved: Rizzo has the 'rizz and Parker shows out
Vengeance Day only had one women's match tonight, but the brand that's notable for how well it showcases its female talents did not disappoint, and that started with the six-person mixed tag team match between The Family and Out The Mud. This match wasn't for the tag team titles, so it didn't entirely feel like a big deal prior to the night, but boy, was it a lot of fun, and I realized I had a great time watching the match when all was said and done. What made it more fun was the integration of Adriana Rizzo (formerly known as "Big Ang") and Jaida Parker. Neither woman has been seen in the ring too often in "NXT," but they are pretty darn good and they got to show that off tonight. Rizzo has only been seen in the 20-woman Women's Championship #1 Contender Battle Royal, where she got eliminated right away; prior to that battle royal, Parker was last seen in the Women's Breakout Tournament, but was similarly eliminated in the first round by Karmen Petrovic.
The spot that stood out to me most in this match was Rizzo's frog splash off the top turnbuckle to the floor onto all three members of OTM. For what I really consider her first match, that was an incredibly gutsy move, and she did it extremely well. Parker also had a much smaller but pretty cool spot where she mixed it up a little bit with Tony D'Angelo, delivering a good slap on "The Don" in the middle of the ring. Both Parker and Rizzo are GREAT characters (can you believe Rizzo is from the mid-west, because her accent is pretty incredible) and it was great to see them bring that to the ring, rather than just playing valets on the outside.
I think with more reps, even if they're involved in a few more mixed tag matches with their respective teams, Rizzo and Parker may have what it takes to be great. They may not be championship material just yet, or maybe even ever, but the brand NEEDS mid-card women who are enjoyable and great at storytelling. With Tiffany Stratton's move to the main roster, potentially more call-ups after WrestleMania, and a slew of injuries still plaguing the women's roster, building up newer talent is something "NXT" needs, and thankfully, something it does very well.
Written by Daisy Ruth
Hated: A nonsensical cash-in strategy
So, the "NXT" Breakout Tournaments guarantee each winner a title shot anytime they choose, and I guess now they're just like Money In the Bank, in that "anytime" can be taken literally, since tonight's came mid-match. But hey, that's fine. That could have worked out wonderfully for Lola Vice had she, you know, timed her cash-in when both opponents were equally battered — something Wade Barrett relayed on commentary, as well. But she didn't do that at all. She casually entered herself into the "NXT" Women's Championship match between challenger Roxanne Perez and champion Lyra Valkyria, making the contest a triple threat match.
WHY? Why on Earth would you do that when you could AT LEAST wait until the match was over to cash-in and take advantage of the winner who had just had to endure and survive an otherwise full, grueling championship match? It just doesn't make any sense, and that Vice was unsuccessful is equal parts worse and fitting. Know what? You deserve that for the tactic you employed. Not even Damian Priest would be that stupid. (For the record, I do not think Priest is stupid, but rather the way he's been booked with the briefcase sure makes him appear to be.)
Now, I guess the contract doesn't lend itself to outright cheating so much as the effectively-used-as-a-weapon briefcase does, but you don't even necessarily need that. Just time your cash-in when it benefits you most. Entering yourself into a triple threat match of all things, which automatically makes for no disqualification rules on top of making it so that you don't even have to get beat to lose, absolutely, 100% IS NOT THAT.
Good grief.
Written by Jon Jordan
Hated: Lexis King tries too hard
It was pretty difficult for me to find anything I really hated necessarily about this show, because overall it gets 4.5 out of 5 stars from me, and really cheered me up after last week's awful, major news with horrible real-life implications, terrible booking decisions, and everything else. But if I have to be extremely nit-picky, I would say the appearance of Lexis King backstage was something I mildly disliked and found unnecessary, especially for where and when it occurred. We saw King backstage creeping on Thea Hail and Jacy Jayne, who were signing copies of their sexy Chase University co-ed calendar for fans to help save the school. It was a fun segment that we knew was probably planned following last week's episode of "NXT." Prior to King annoying the ladies, Riley Osbourne showed up and asked Hail to be his valentine, which was pretty darn adorable, and when King showed up, Osbourne defended Hail and Jayne and challenged him.
The segment may have set up a match for Tuesday between King and Osbourne, but it just seemed slightly out of place and weird to me on a premium live event that was just so good with amazing pacing. I think this is something you could have somehow set up earlier in the night on Tuesday, and had the match following a confrontation between the two. That being said, I'm also not yet a big fan of King's work in the ring, so the match being announced a few days in advance doesn't really do it for me, and I wouldn't be tuning in Tuesday simply for that. Long story short, this could have waited, and we could have had a more simple, funny, cutesy segment about Chase U backstage in between matches. Maybe send Andre Chase out there and get some kind of wacky inflated number of calendars sold announced or something, or just once again say that they will actually be available on WWEShop soon, because that's the most interesting aspect of all of this, not Lexis King.
Written by Daisy Ruth
Loved: Oba Femi makes a statement
WWE has wasted little time in positioning Oba Femi to be the next breakout star in "WWE NXT," and based on his performance at "NXT" Vengeance Day it's easy to see why. Despite having only 23 matches in his entire career, the North American Champion looked like a seasoned pro against Dragon Lee, showcasing to the world exactly what he is capable of.
The need to maximize your minutes is important in wrestling, particularly in the competitive world of modern WWE, and that's exactly what Femi did. He easily convinced any new fans that he's the real deal and didn't look out of place on a premium live event card at all, despite this being his first time on one. Getting to work with a talent as good as Lee certainly benefited him, but Femi more than held his own.
Unlike their first encounter, this was a competitive match that wasn't rushed, giving Femi the chance to not only showcase his offensive qualities but also his ability to sell. For someone as inexperienced as Femi, that was the most impressive aspect of his performance, as he gave Lee a lot of offense without looking any less dominant as a monster because of how impressive his own moves were.
In a world where wrestlers of his size often feel the need to bust out acrobatic moves because they think it will pop the crowd, Femi kept things simple, bringing an old-school feel to how he carried himself. From his mannerisms and facial features to the way he launched Lee around the ring, Femi was able to convey his size advantage perfectly, while adding a level of vulnerability that allowed audiences to believe he could lose.
The entire card was stacked with impressive performances, but Femi's was arguably the best of the bunch due to his experience level, and the fact the machine is already getting behind him can only be considered a good thing.
Written by Matthew Wilkinson
Hated: What was Carmelo's plan, exactly?
Similar to Daisy, this is a very half-hearted "hated" from me. I loved this match, I loved this whole show, I loved Carmelo Hayes finally turning on Trick Williams, and I love that we finally get Heel Melo back, because Heel Melo is 100% the best Melo. So don't take this as much more than nitpicking of something I largely enjoyed.
But.
I really don't understand why Melo wasn't involved at all in the finish of the "NXT" title match. He got involved in the action a couple times in ambiguous ways — first taking a shot from Dragunov on the outside that caused him to "accidentally" chop block Trick's knee, then causing the referee to get knocked down while Trick had Ilja pinned — but not in the actual decisive part of the contest. That implies that either Melo legitimately didn't care who won, or he wanted Trick to lose and was confident that he'd done enough on the margins to make that happen. Either way is fine, but it would have been much clearer storytelling to have Melo pull the ref out of the ring at a critical moment like he's Jimmy Uso or something. Or a different way, however you want to do it, just get him actively involved somehow. I think the turn should have been what decided the match, not something that happened afterward, especially since they protected Trick in defeat anyway via the ref missing the three-count. It would have elevated the drama of the finish, which felt somewhat anticlimactic on its own. I get that it's "NXT" and everyone wants to wait until the signature graphic shows up before turning on their best friend, but this was a situation where it made way more sense to have Melo directly and obviously impact the match result.
(I also don't totally understand the finish of the Dusty Classic finals — which ruled, by the way — where Melo took a Spear meant for Trick and lost. It seems like it was a ploy to get Trick to agree to have Melo ringside for the main event, but Trick has barred Melo from ringside before only for Melo to come out anyway, so...?)
Like I said, it's not a huge deal, and I'm sure they'll provide some sort of explanation for everything on "NXT" TV (they'd better, since this Trick/Melo thing goes back at least to October and I'm struggling hard to connect all the dots). And the crowd certainly reacted in all the right ways, if the "f*** you Melo" chants are anything to go by, so all's well that ends well. For me, it's just one of those things where you're like, "Man, that could have been 100% perfect, and it's only 85% perfect."
Which, oh well. After the last week in wrestling, "85% perfect" is something I will absolutely take.
Written by Miles Schneiderman