TJR: WWE NXT Vengeance Day 2024 Preview
This is WWE NXT Vengeance Day with Ilja Dragunov facing Trick Williams, Lyra Valkyria against Roxanne Perez and more.
I think Vengeance Day has a solid lineup, but I don’t think I would call it great. The two main title matches are matchups between two babyfaces, which tells me that NXT is lacking in terms of top heels right now. I think this is going to be a show heavy on storyline particularly with the Trick Williams/Carmelo Hayes tag team. There are six matches at NXT Vengeance Day with three of them being title matches. The NXT Tag Team Titles are not on the line because the champions are in a six-person tag team match.
You can watch NXT Vengeance Day this Sunday, February 4th at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT on Peacock or WWE Network. I’ll have a live review on Sunday night.
Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Finals: Baron Corbin & Bron Breakker vs. Carmelo Hayes & Trick Williams
The winners of this tournament earn a championship match against the NXT Tag Team Champions.
The odd couple tag team of “Wolf Dogs” Baron Corbin & Bron Breakker have only been together for about a month while the Trick Melo Gang has been an alliance for two and a half years in NXT. They are all big, main event level names on the NXT brand too, so I think it’s a big match that should get plenty of time.
When this was first set up I figured Trick & Melo would lose to some sort of accidental spot or communication issue to set up their split as a team. I figure this would be used a catalyst to really get that angle going. However, now that WWE has Bron Breakker on the main roster shows, it makes me question why his team would win here if he’s probably going to be off NXT soon. I’m still going with Bron/Corbin because I think it’s a better story to have Trick and Melo “accidentally” lose due to some mistake in the match. There could also be a Trick injury that hinders him in the main event later in the show. Anyway, I’ll go with Bron & Corbin getting the win.
Winners: Baron Corbin & Bron Breakker
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Tony D’Angelo, Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo, and Adrianna Rizzo vs. OTM – Bronco Nima, Lucien Price and Jaida Parker
There are some newer faces in this PLE match. Tony D and Stacks have been on many PLE shows, but others are new to it. Since Tony & Stacks are the champions, I’m leaning toward their side losing the match. I think having the women involved in the fall would be an interesting way to do it, so I’ll go with Parker pinning Rizzo. That could set up the OTM boys for another title shot against Tony D & Stacks soon.
Winners by pinfall: OTM – Bronco Nima, Lucien Price and Jaida Parker
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No Disqualification Match: Joe Gacy vs. Dijak
The No DQ Match stipulation means they get to brawl all around the building and there are no countouts too even though it’s not stated in the rules. I would rather they just call it a Street Fight where pinfalls have to be in the ring or Falls Count Anywhere where obviously you can win the match anywhere.
This started as a random feud a few weeks ago when Gacy was on commentary during a Dijak match and now they have a heated, personal rivalry. Dijak has had a lot of personal rivalries with a lot of physicality. While I think Gacy is an interesting personality, I’m not clamoring for a Gacy win or a Gacy push. I think it’s important that Dijak wins a match like this to remind everybody he is still a huge threat. Dijak is one of the most underutilized wrestlers in all of WWE.
Winner: Dijak
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NXT North American Championship: Oba Femi vs. Dragon Lee
Oba Femi recently won the title by cashing in his NXT Breakout contract opportunity. This is likely Lee’s NXT farewell match since he’s already been moved to the Smackdown roster. I think Lee is there to hit some athletic moves, take an ass kicking and make Femi look strong. It will probably be the shortest match on the show that’s under ten minutes. I also think Femi winning is the biggest lock on the show.
Winner: Oba Femi
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NXT Women’s Championship: Lyra Valkyria vs. Roxanne Perez
It’s a matchup between two popular women who are very athletic and easy to like. There’s not necessarily a great story here other than Roxanne earned a title match. Roxanne was the champion a year ago, she had to give it up due to not being able to defend it for reasons we still don’t know and now Roxanne gets a chance to win back the title. Lyra has held the title for over three months, so a loss is certainly possible.
The X Factor here is Tatum Paxley. She is Valkyria’s obsessed fan who has been told by Lyra numerous times that Lyra wants nothing to do with her, yet Paxley continues to be involved. We know where it’s going with a stalker fan that is probably going to end up costing Lyra a big match like this and cost Lyra her title. It just doesn’t feel like the right time yet. It should be when Lyra is against a heel opponent. My guess is that Paxley actually helps Valkyria win even though Valkyria doesn’t want her help.
Winner: Lyra Valkyria
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NXT Championship: Ilja Dragunov vs. Trick Williams
It’s another championship match between two babyfaces, but I think the fans will be chanting “WHOOP THAT TRICK” for Trick Williams throughout the match and the fans are going to want him to win. While I think that at some point in 2024, Trick Williams might be NXT Champion, I’m going to go with the champion Dragunov retaining.
The reason for that is because I think this is the moment where Carmelo Hayes does something physical to cost his best friend Trick the match. It goes back to October when Trick was attacked by somebody mysteriously and a lot of people think it was Melo, but Melo has denied that it was him. I think this is the perfect time for Melo to turn heel on Trick because he is jealous of Trick’s success. If Trick & Melo lose the tag team match earlier in the night, then that will set up Melo being angry and costing Trick this match. As for Dragunov, I hope he gets a meaningful rivalry for his NXT Title because he’s such an awesome worker who makes everybody around him better.
Winner: Ilja Dragunov
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And Finally…
The Match I’m Looking Forward To The Most
Ilja Dragunov vs. Trick Williams.
The Match I Care About The Least
Oba Femi vs. Dragon Lee. Easy match to predict and probably the shortest too.
Longest Match
Ilja Dragunov vs. Trick Williams around 20 minutes.
Shortest Match
Oba Femi vs. Dragon Lee under 10 minutes.
Excitement Level on a Scale of 1-10 (1 being low, 10 being high)
It’s about a 7 out of 10 for me. The card is okay, but it just doesn’t feel great to me. I think everybody will work hard and they likely practiced some of the matches or at least have a good idea of what they are doing. It’s just hard to get into some of them because the two main title matches lack a face/heel storyline and then some of the other matches are just kind of average. In terms of star ratings, I only think there are about two or three matches that could hit the four-star level and I think NXT has been better than that in the recent past.
I’m intrigued to see how the Trick Williams story plays out throughout the night. I know I predicted two losses for him, but if he has two wins then it could be a career night for him and they could save Carmelo Hayes’ heel turn for another time. Anyway, it should be a good show overall.
I’ll have a review of NXT Vengeance Day live on Sunday night on TJRWrestling as usual.
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John Canton
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