wrestling / TV Reports
Cook’s NXT Heatwave 2024 Review
Image Credit: WWE
Loading...Hey kids! Steve Cook here with you for the latest presentation of NXT Heatwave! When you think Heatwave, you think Toronto, Ontario. At least I do, after all, Toronto was the birthplace of the careers of legendary wrestling hotties like Trish Stratus, Gail Kim, Traci Brooks, Taylor Wilde & others I’m probably forgetting. Tonight’s show should be a hoot & a holler, and I’m glad y’all are here. Let’s have some fun!
Karmen Petrovic & Arianna Grace vs. Jacy Jayne & Jazmyn Nyx: The preshow gets a match this time around. I know I’m in the minority on this, but I hope this doesn’t become a trend. I need time to get home for these things! Karmen lets us know where she & Arianna are from with the printing “We The North” on her backside. I also see her birth year on the arm of her jacket, so that’s as far as I’m going with this discussion. Grace & Jayne start with a tieup into the corner. Jayne climbs the ropes and vaults Grace over. Grace comes back with a slam, then tags Petrovic. Elbow gets two for Karmen. Jacy punches her down and tags in Nyx. Karmen with a neckbreaker for two. Into the corner, boot. Tag to Grace. Vertical suplex & an albow drop get two for Grace. Tag to Karmen, kick in the corner and a face plant get two. Jacy with the distraction and Nyx with an elbow. Tag to Jayne, and a neckbreaker takes Karmen down. Clothesline gets two for Jayne. Jayne with a splash in the corner. Tag to Nyx, who dropkicks Karmen in the corner. Tag to Jacy, a cannonball in the corner gets two. Karmen fights out of a chinlock and rolls Jayne up for one. Jacy with a nice sequence and a kick to the jaw. Double suplex by Jayne & Nyx gets two. Nyx with a kick to Karmen before locking in a headscissors. Karmen gets out, but is clotheslined down for two. Karmen blocks another double suplex, evades her opponents and eventually tags Grace. Grace with some elbows and clotheslines. Kneelift, kick, into the corner, an elbow off the middle rope gets two. Tag to Karmen, this leads to a modified Hart Attack that gets two. Jayne gains the advantage on Karmen with a hairpull. A doubleteam gets two thanks to Grace breaking it up. Nyx with a gutbuster, she gets kicked down. Nyx with a rollup on Karmen, Arianna yanks on her hair to roll Karmen on top for three!
Winners: Karmen Petrovic & Arianna Grace (7:36 via pinfall)
Match Rating: **1/4
Nothing too fancy here, just a nice little win for the local girls.
Cook’s NXT Heatwave 2024 Review
We open with a video looking at the upcoming matches and featuring some fun music. Vic Joseph & Booker T are our hosts.
Earlier today, Ethan Page arrived in his Canadian tuxedo. Trick Williams was surrounded by his adoring fans.
NXT North American Championship Match: Oba Femi (c) vs. Wes Lee: Lee with a couple of kicks to start before Femi takes him down. Lee gets backed into a corner, but gets out and hits some shots. Femi not impressed, but Lee keeps punching away. Femi tosses Lee into the corner, but Lee’s still got some kicks for Femi. Some trouble on the ropes, but Lee hits the springboard kick eventually. Lee tries another springboard, Femi catches him, places him up top and knocks him to the floor. Lee back in with another kick, but gets punched in the gut. Lee gets tossed in the air and twirls to the mat like a sack of garbage. Lee grabs onto the ring apron and lands more kicks. Femi chokes Lee and tosses him to the floor. Some trash talk from Femi, and he whips Lee head-first into the side of the ring. Lee is partially under the ring after this. Lee breaks the count, then gets uppercut in the corner. Backbreaker by Femi. Lee gets whipped into the corner, and stomped on the mat. Femi stands on Lee’s back for a little bit. Lee tries to get up but gets stomped down. Femi punches Lee back down to the mat. Backbreaker by Femi, he tosses Lee down. Femi beats Lee in the corner, tries to whip him to the other corner but Lee slumps to the mat. Lee is in the Tree of Woe, but Femi misses a charge. Another kick to Femi, Lee goes for a sunset flip but Femi blocks. Femi gets sent over the top rope. Lee tries some cute stuff on the apron but Femi slaps him down. The fans think it’s awesome, they must not like Wes Lee very much. Another backbreaker by Femi. Femi stretches Lee and smacks him down for two. I think that’s the first two count nine minutes into the match. Femi slaps Lee around while Vic quotes Eminem on commentary. Lee with more kicks. Some punches rock Femi. More kicks, then a tornado DDT gets two. Lee jumps on Femi on the floor a couple of times. The third time bounces Femi off the announce table. Lee with a rana after a series of reversals gets a two count. Meteora on Femi from behind. Lee back up top, but he dives into an uppercut from Femi for two. Femi lifts Lee and takes him up top, but Lee fights off. Goes for a rana, Femi blocks, goes for a powerbomb, Lee blocks and hits an avalanche X-Factor. Cardiac kick gets two on Femi! Lee goes up top, hits a frog splash but Femi powers up. They end up on the outside, Lee goes for a moonsault, Femi blocks and hits a shoulderbreaker. Back in the ring, Lee comes back with kicks. Femi blocks the cardiac kick a couple of times and tosses Lee up in the air again. Femi hits a sitout powerbomb for three.
Winner: Oba Femi (16:19 via pinfall)
Match Rating: **3/4
Got off to a bit of a slow start, but really picked up. Lee took a beating but kept coming back like the firey young babyface he is. It wasn’t enough to stop Oba Femi, who continues to look like one of the most dominant people currently on television. The fans liked this a lot more than I did, which is a good thing! It’s always good to have an excited crowd, and Toronto delivers that more often than not.
Lola Vice & Roxanne Perez walked around backstage earlier today.
NXT Women’s North American Championship Match: Kelani Jordan (c) vs. Sol Ruca: Two good friends going at it here, hopefully it stays that way. Sol & Kelani do their best Ricochet/Will Ospreay impressions to start. Headlocks exchanged. Some more gymnastics to the delight of the crowd. Sol with a headlock. More gymnastics, tough to call here. Some nearfalls for Jordan. Kicks evaded, an X-Factor by Sol gets two. Is X-pac working there now? Sol with a head & foot vice on Kelani, then she goes for a surfboard. She gets it, and releases Kelani after a little bit. Kelani & Sol exchange shots. Rana sends Sol outside, Kelani hits a twisting splash to Sol on the floor. Sitout DDT by Kelani gets two. Sol evades a moonsault, hits a kick and some springboard crossbodies. Kick sends Kelani down. Sol hits a springboard 450 into a clothesline for two! They exchange forearms. Kelani blocks a kick, hits a kick of her own. Kipup, Kelani hits the poison rana! Kelani hits a springboard moonsault on the outside. Kelani gets back in the ring, but gets out to try & get Sol in the ring. Sol takes advantage and hits a PK on Kelani. Sol with a springboard moonsault of her own! Both women barely beat the ten count. Kelani rolls Sol up on a slam attempt, this leads to a series of rollups. Sol hits a powerbomb for two. Sol places Kelani up top, but Kelani knocks her off. Kelani’s arial move hits Sol’s knees. The Solstice gets blocked and Kelani slams her down for two. Kelani up on Sol’s shoulders, she gets bounced off the turnbuckle. Sol takes Kelani up to the middle rope, but that ends with a poison rana from Kelani. The split legged moonsault ends it in favor of Kelani.
Winner: Kelani Jordan (11:35 via pinfall)
Match Rating: ***
This was pretty choreographed at the start, while physically impressive that’s not really my cup of tea. After they settled down and had more of a wrestling match I enjoyed it a lot more. (LOL “settling down” meaning springboard moonsaults & poison ranas. I’m weird.) There’s still a lot of room for improvement for both women, but they’re both starting at a pretty good base.
Hands are raised after and everybody is happy.
Bad Blood will be in Atlanta on October 5th. I think I was at the last one! Shawn Michaels & Triple H had a Hell in a Cell match that I loved live and hated on DVD.
Ava is with Karmen & Arianna. Arianna is grateful she could be there to give the people she wanted. This will be the last time they team up, and they will face each other on Tuesday.
Lola Vice does some air boxing and looks in the mirror. Ethan Page tapes his wrists.
NXT Tag Team Championship Match: Nathan Frazer & Axiom (c) vs. Chase University (Andre Chase & Duke Hudson w/Riley Osborne & Thea Hail): Frazer had some issues getting to the building today, which annoyed Axiom. We’ll see if that leads to anything. Chase & Axiom start. Axiom with a cravate, Chase stays in it for a bit before going to a headscissors. Axiom gets out and they exchange pinfalls. Indy standoff! Axiom with an arm drag and dropkick. Chase gets a rollup for two. Chase with a dropkick, then an arm drag. Frazer tags in, gets the advantage on Chase so Hudson tags in. Overhead suplex by Hudson. Hudson with a chop in the corner. Chase tags in, they do some double teaming. Frazer kicks Chase down, tags Axiom in and they do some double teaming. Chase tries a sunset flip but Axiom rolls through and clotheslines Chase in the back of the head for two. Frazer with a kick, Axiom with a half & half suplex, double superkick gets two on Chase. Chase fights out of a chinlock , blocks a Frazer top rope move and hits a side effect. Tag to Axiom, who blocks Chase from tagging. Axiom goes for an armbar but Chase blocks. Axiom targets the ankle. Chase with an enziguri, but Axiom holds on and applies an anklelock. Chase sends Axiom into the corner and Hudson tags in. He clotheslines both opponents down. Punches and an elbow for Frazer & Axiom. STJoe in the corner on Axiom, Frazer eats a gutbuster for two. Axiom got sentoned in the same move, pretty cool. Frazer sends Hudson outside, Hudson blocks the dive and hits a German suplex! Duke goes for the Border Toss, but Frazer sends him into the corner. Axiom with a rana on Hudson. Some dives from Frazer & Axiom for Chase U on the floor. Frog splash by Axiom back in the ring. Frazer with a 450 on Hudson for two. Axiom dives onto Hudson’s boot. Frazer goes up top, Hudson follows him with the Trish rana in the corner. Twisting uranage gets two for Hudson. Frazer placed up top in the Chase U corner. Hudson goes for a superplex, Frazer blocks and sends Hudson to the mat. Springboard dropkick by Frazer. Axiom tags in, they place Hudson up top. Axiom with the Spanish Fly, Frazer with the Phoenix Splash! It gets two thanks to Chase, who breaks up the count and hits a Canadian Destroyer! Chase & Axiom exchange shots. Chase with a big boot, enziguris for both. Some miscommunication by the champions leads to a Pounce for Frazer & a rollup on Axiom for two. Frazer dropkicks Hudson off the ringpost. In the ring. Chase with the CHASE U stomps. Chase goes up top, hits a crossbody for two. Frazer breaks it up. Chase’s move gets blocked, Frazer tags in and runs into a boot. Chase up top, Frazer vaults up and superplexes him! Superkick/Brainbuster combo on Chase. Frazer dives on Hudson. Axiom hits the Golden Ratio on Chase for the three count!
Winners: Nathan Frazer & Axiom (16:49 via pinfall)
Match Rating: ***1/4
Some pretty rock solid tag team wrestling from these guys for sure. All four got their moments to shine and took advantage of them. Nobody really wanted to boo either of these teams, and nobody needed to. It’ll be interesting to see what happens next for Chase U, which remains one of NXT’s most popular acts after all this time. Frazer & Axiom seem like they won’t last much longer as a team, so we’ll see who gets to take the belts off of them.
Wes Lee talks about how he failed to win tonight. He had one of the best singles runs of all time! Oba Femi was the better man. He’s at a loss for words and needs some time, so he’ll see us on Tuesday.
NXT’s Great American Bash will be on August 6 on SyFy!
Je’Von Evans & Shawn Spears are shown in their respective locker rooms.
NXT Women’s Championship Match: Roxanne Perez (c) vs. Lola Vice: Kinda getting some 1998 vibes with the music playing while the competitors walk towards the entrance. Lola’s been a bit more relatable the last few weeks while building this matchup. Roxanne wears white, which I choose to believe is in keeping with the lucha tradition of wearing white for a match with someone you greatly respect. ROH commentary told me that was a thing. Tieup to start, Perez with a slap. Vice pushes Perez down, goes to a headlock. Shoulderblock by Vice. Vice goes for the armbar but Perez gets out and hits an arm wringer. Vice with a shot to Perez’s gut, some knees and Perez gets tossed down. A spinning backfist sends Perez ducking to the outside. Vice with a flipping splash to the floor, she rolls Perez back in the ring. Perez sends Vice throat-first to the rope and stomps away on her. Vice is sent into a couple of turnbuckles and choked on the rope. Vice with a rollup for two, but her kick is blocked & Perez yanks her down by her hair. Perez with more hair-pulling on the ropes. Perez with an uppercut in the corner, a legsweep gets two. Perez with a chinlock & arm wringer. Vice gets out, blocks another legsweep and hits some strikes. Rollup for two by Perez, Vice with some quick kicks. Hip attack in the corner by Vice, a stomp to the back gets two. Perez with a sunset flip for two. Vice misses a kick in the corner and gets kicked in the back. Vice with a sleeper, Perez rolls through for a two count. Vice with another sleeper, Perez rolls to the outside and breaks the sleeper using the announce table. Vice gets sent into the ringpost and smacks her hand off of it. Perez targets that right hand and hits a Northern Lights on the floor. Back in the ring Perez keeps targeting that hand and hits a Pentagon arm breaker for two. Perez misses an armbreaker & Vice fights back with a kick. Perez goes for an armbar, hits a back suplex instead. Perez misses the Perfect 10 and Vice goes for a triangle. Spinning backfist sends Perez out onto the floor. The injury keeps that from being as effective as Lola would like. Perez gets her foot on the ropes on two. Perez keeps attacking that hand and sends her into the ringpost again. Vice fights back after avoiding Pop Rox, hits some kicks. Vice’s backfist is blocked, Pop Rox is hit but that only gets two. Perez dumps Vice outside and clears the announce table. Perez says that Vice will never be champion, and hits Pop Rox on the table. Back in the ring, Perez gets a two count. Perez locks in the crossface, using Vice’s injured arm. After that gets broken, Perez hits three more Pop Roxs like she’s Randy Savage at WrestleMania VII and finally gets the three count.
Winner: Roxanne Perez (13:09 via pinfall)
Match Rating: **3/4
Pretty decent stuff for the most part, but it kinda fell apart towards the end with the multiple finishers and not all of them looking too great. I’m a big fan of both these ladies and think they have very bright futures, but I’m not sure the chemistry is there with them just yet. I feel like it’d be more effective with the face/heel alignment switched, but appreciate the effort in trying this out.
Lexis King celebrates the 4th of July and mocks Eddie Thorpe’s taste in music. He’ll take on Tony D’Angelo this Tuesday for the Heritage Cup. Tony D’Angelo watched the video and was not impressed. We’ll also see Karmen vs. Arianna, some tag team matches and Wes Lee addressing his future.
NXT Championship Fatal Four-Way Match: Trick Williams (c) vs. Je’Von Evans vs. Ethan Page vs. Shawn Spears: All Ego has a “Resident of the USA” jacket on to make sure his fellow Canadians don’t cheer him. Booker appreciates Trick’s Harlem Heatesque tights, and I don’t hate his schitick during Trick’s entrance as much as I did before. The guy grows on people like a fungus. Page exits the ring but Evans dives on him while Spears & Trick fight in the ring. Trick with a slam, and he clotheslines Spears to the floor. Page decks Evans in front of the announcers and bounces Evans’ head off the steps. Spears does the same to Trick and the veterans get in the ring. They face off and shake hands and eye poke each other at the same time. Trick & Evans attack afterward. Neckbreaker on Page by Trick after a double team. Evans rolls up Trick, springboards into another rollup and hits a dropkick. Rana by Evans on Trick, sunset flip gets two. Clothesline by Trick and a slam on Evans. Dropkick by Trick sends Evans out. Spears tries to attack with a chair but that doesn’t work. Trick with some side kicks on Page & Spears, then a double faceplant for the Canadians. Evans hits a crossbody on them, Trick hits a Book End on Evans for two. Spears backdrops Trick outside, Ego suplexes Evans into Spears while the people chant for tables. Ego hits an iconoclasm on Evans taking Spears & Trick out, a powerslam on Evans gets two. Ego goes up top, Spears blocks whatever was in mind there. Evans joins Ego up there, Trick with an electric chair on Evans, Spears in a facelock, Ego with a clothesline on Evans and Spears landing in a DDT. Pinfalls by Ego & Trick both get two. Trick & Ego strike each other, Spears starts hitting everybody with his chair. Trick with an uppercut on Spears, but Spears hits a DVD into the chair in the corner on Trick for two. Superkicks for everybody, Trick with a neckbreaker on Ego. Trick clears the announce table, but Ego blocks that and bounces Trick off the ringpost. Trick does the same to Ego, but Evans vaults over the top turnbuckle and drives Trick through the barricade! Jeez! Spears DVDs Evans off the top rope, it’s Ego that gets the two count after tossing Spears outside. Ego punches away on Evans and soaks in the boos. Ego up top, Spears follows him. Trick returns and tries a powerbomb, but Spears ends up ranaing him to the floor. Evans with a Spanish Fly on Ego, then a Cody Cutter gets two! Trick & Evans exchange shots. They end up kicking each other down at the same time. Spears blocks whatever Evans was trying to do to Trick from the turnbuckle to the floor. He tries to superplex Evans to the floor, but Evans blocks. Evans with a cutter from the top rope, then a springboard corkscrew splash gets two! Evans tries another springboard, but Trick pushes him off through the announce table! Spears evades a kick from Trick and puts him in the Sharpshooter! Ego breaks it up with a superkick and hits Ego’s Edge on Trick for two! Evans put Trick’s foot on the ropes. Spears blocks Ego’s Edge on Evans. Trick hits the Trick Shot on Evans & Ego one after the other, but Spears yanks him down and Ego lands on top of Evans for the three count! HISTORY HAS BEEN MADE IN TORONTO!
Winner: Ethan Page (17:24 via pinfall)
Match Rating: ***3/4
I thought the veterans did a great job of setting things up to make the kids look good in this match and delivered quite the show. That’s why it’s good to have guys like Page & Spears on this show, even if their die hard fans might want them on Raw or SmackDown instead. Trick & Evans get to look good thanks to guys like that, and both guys have a lot to bring to the table. Evans is uncommonly athletically talented, and while Trick might not have as much of that as some, he makes up for it with an innate charisma. Fourways can be a bit clunky, but this one worked.
All Ego celebrates while Trick rages & Spears sits in disappointment. We end with a quick frame from Joe Hendry’s music video!
