Posted on 3/08/123 by Bob Magee
Opening the show is a pre-tape featuring "Tiffany's
Epiphanies" hosted by Tiffany Stratton. She runs down the
card and gives her thoughts. At Roadblock, all roads lead to
Stand & Deliver in Los Angeles over WrestleMania weekend.
Kicking off the show live from the sounstage at the
Performance Center is a gimmick match where the loser gets
locked in a cell.
Tony D'Angelo (with Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo) defeats Dijak
in a Jailhouse Street Fight
The rules are similar to a ambulance or casket match, except
the prop is a cell. D'Angelo wins by putting Dijak into a
cell and shutting the door. The match also played out like a
WWE-style street fight. Other punder is used, like metal
folding chairs, tables, a crowbar and such.
Dijak piles chairs into the ring just before the show is
ready to take its first commercial break. Dijak goes to the
top rope, but the chairs come back to bit him. D'Angelo cuts
him off with a chair shot, and D'Angelo then suplexes Dijak
off the top rope onto a pile of chairs in the ring.
Dijak turns the tables during a picture-in-picture break. He
also sets up an actual table during the break, much to the
delight of the live studeo audience. They chanted for tables
earlier in the match.
Upon the show returning from the break, Dijak springboards
off the top rope into a flying elbow drop on D'Angelo, who
is laid out on the table. The table crumbles to pieces.
Highlight reel type of spot.
Stacks interferes at one point, looking to help D'Angleo.
That backfires when D'Angelo throws Dijak into the cell, and
Dijak takes Stacks as a hostage. D'Angelo cannot bring
himself to close the cell on Dijak while Dijak is choking
out his charge. This allows Dijak to escape the cell, and he
then boots Stacks in the face.
D'Angelo fights back, and he fires up on Dijak. Chairs shots
by D'Angelo as Dijak feeds him his back. Low blow by Dijak
to turn the tide. Dijak executes his Feast Your Eyes
finisher, and Dijak goes to drag D'Angelo into the cell.
Dijak is able to shut the door when Stacks throws himself in
the way. Stacks takes Feast Your Eyes, and he is out.
The save by Stacks allows D'Angelo to recover, and D'Angelo
gets up swinging a crowbar. Dijak eats shots from the
crowbar, and D'Angelo slams the door in Dijak's face to win
the match.
Really good babyface promo by NXT Women's Champion Roxanne
Perez in an interview with McKenzie Mitchell. Perez says
beating a legend like Meiko Satomura means as much to her as
winning the title altogether. Perez vows to leaving
everything in the ring in trying to defend her title
tonight.
Gallus and Pretty Deadly are face-to-face
NXT Tag Team Champions Gallus, dressed in street clothes,
are heading to the ring to call out Pretty Deadly for a
face-to-face meeting. Instead, Pretty Deadly appears on a
perch overlooking the ring.
There is bantering back and forth, which leads to Pretty
Deadly to challenge Gallus to defend their titles against
them. Gallus takes off the straps, and they lay the belts
into the ring. They dare Pretty Deadly to come take them.
Pretty Deadly charges to the ring, and Gallus cleans house.
Gallus makes short work of Pretty Deadly, and Gallus boots
them out of the ring. Pretty Deadly sure looked like geeks
here. Nonetheless, this somehow sets up a tag title match
for next week on NXT. The match is made official later in
the show.
A vignette hypes Ilja Dragunov in his feud with JD McDonagh.
Dragon Lee in his NXT debut is seen in the front row at
ringside. He waves to the crowd, and the announces put him
over.
NXT Champion Bron Breakker, Julius Creed & Brutus Creed
defeated JInder Mahal, Veer & Sanga in a six-man tag team
match
Brutus Creed pins Veer to win this trios bout. It was a
slobberknocker by the end.
Lumbering giants and hoss fights early on. The trios bout
then goes through a commercial break. Just before the split
screen break, Breakker and the Creeds jump over the ropes
with a flip dive trifecta. Suddenly, a lumbering match looks
more like Fantastica Mania.
Heat on Julius Creed, and he is being worked over as the
show returns from the break. Meanwhile, Carmelo Hayes is now
at the announe desk for surprise guest commentary. Hot tag
to Brutus, but he is soon cut off. Brutus quickly comes back
with feats of strength. Breakker does a moonsault, and
Julius follows with a 2 Cold Scorpio 450 splash.
The teams trade near falls. Near fall as Veer saves Sanga
from taking a pin. Indus Sher does the old Demoltion
finisher, but that pinning attempt is also broken up. Amid a
melee, Breakker delivers some spears. Veer strikes to take
out Breakker.
The Creeds double team Veer, and he is placed in a Doomsday
Device. Brutus then leaps off the top rope wth a cannoball
on Veer, and Brutus covers Veer for a three count.
A promotional tie-in with Progressive insurance highlights
the toxic feud between Gigi Dolan and Jacy Jayne.
Johnny Gargano returns to NXT on The Grayson Waller Effect
with special guest Shawn Michaels
Waller welomes viewers "to the most important Grayson Waller
Effect of all time." He gets right into it as Waller
introduces Shawm Michaels. Full entrance for HBK, as he
dances on stage dressed like he is going to a country music
awards show. The crowd sings HBK's theme, and they chant his
name. He is over huge of course.
Michaels sits down with Waller behind a desk. Waller starts
with a zinger about Bret Hart. Michaels asks Waller what is
his problem with Michaels. Waller says Michaels is doing to
Waller what Vince McMahon did to Michaels -- he is holding
him back. Huge eye roll.
Waller keeps accusing Michaels of holding him down. Michaels
scoffs at that, and Michaels says Waller is not "the guy"
because Waller lost at Vengeance Day. Michaels tells Waller
to look in the mirror.
Waller claims the only reason Micahaels is in charge of NXT
is becuase his friend Hunter had a heart attack. Shots
fired! Michaels deflects that zinger, with Shawn saying he
stepped in to help out his friend.
Michaels tells Waller to get something straight -- Triple H
used to run NXT, but HBK is steering the ship now. Waller
responds by saying that ship is headed into an iceberg.
Waller rants some more about how he is being held back.
Michaels says Waller is a part of NXT, but only a part.
Waller does not take this well. He sarcastically asks
Michaels when did he suddenly become a team player. HBK
admits during his active career it was all about him, but
Michaels says that changed the moment he walked into NXT.
HBK felt this place was special.
Waller gets up and mocks Michaels. He rants about being
tired of this place, and Waller runs down the NXT brand.
Michaels finally has enough, and he shouts "ENOUGH!" Head
coach Shawn suddenly morphs fully into The Heartbreak Kid as
Michaels proceeds to cut a promo on Waller.
HBK can handle someone running down his name, but he will
not allow Waller to run down the NXT brand. Waller asks HBK
if that pisses him off, and HBK says it does. Waller then
dares HBK to do something about it. Michaels takes off his
jacket and says nothing more would make him happy that
kicking Waller's ass. But there is someone else who wants to
kick Waller's ass even more than HBK.
Michaels introduces a returing Johnny Gargano as Waller's
opponent for Stand & Deliver. "Johnny Wrestling" is back in
NXT to defend the honor of the brand. Gargano rushes into
the ring and he peppers Waller with punches. Waller powders.
Gigi Dolan defeated Jacy Jayne
Dolan pinned Jayne, and Jayne attacks Dolan after the match
to get her heat back.
They had a wrestling match to settle a blood feud. Granted,
they brawled and worked hard, but this was anticlimatic.
Escpeially considering the build to this match and the other
gimmicks used on this show, this grudge match never felt
intense enough.
Jayne gets the heat on Dolan as the live studo audience
seems to mostly sit on their hands. There is some chants and
such, but there seems to be a clear lack of energy. Dolan
eventually fights back, and she counters Jayne with a
curcifix bomb to score a pinfall on Jayne.
Jayne jumps Dolan after the match to get her heat back.
Jayne gets a folding chair, and they tease Pillmanizing
Jayne's neck. Referees pour into the ring to break up the
post-match beatdown.
A reoccuring skit on the show has Josh Briggs finally
agreeing with Fallon Henley that Kaina James is cheating on
Brooks Jensen. Henley knows just what to do about it.
Main event made for Stand & Deliver
NXT Champion Bron Breakker comes out in what is sold as an
impromptu segment. Breakker comes to the ring and grabs a
microphone. Breakker addresses the main event of Stand &
Deliver, and he calls out Carmelo Hayes.
Out comes Hayes to confront Breakker in the ring. This leads
to them both agreeing to a title match at Stand & Deliver.
Tyler Bate is doing breathing exercises with Thea Hail in a
backstage skit. Bate is helping Hail overcome her trauma.
Andre Chase is happy to hear it is helping Hail. However,
Duke Hudson is not buying it.
Joe Gacy (with Ava & The Dyad) defeated Andre Chase (with
Duke Hudson & Thea Hail)
The match begins during a commercial break and is joined in
progress. Silly gimmicks aside, Chase and Gacy have a good
match.
Hail is trying to do her breathing exercises, but she
suddenly explodes with rage. Hail storms over to Ava and
screams at her. Ava just smirks at Hail, but Hail has
apparently overcome her fear.
While Hail might have overcome fear, her antics at ringside
distracts Chase. He takes the Upside Down from Gacy, and
Gacy covers Chase for a pinfall.
Hudson's explodes in a backstage skit, and there is turmoil
within Chase U. Hudson says they aren't a university, they
are a joke.
Isla Dawn and Alba Fyre are practicaing witchcraft, or
something like that.
Another open challenge next week for NXT North Amercian
Champion Wes Lee.
NXT Women's Champion Roxanne Perez defeated Meiko Satomura
to retain her title
Perez pinned Satomura in a great match. Although Perez
retains, she is unconsious after the match in an injury
angle. In a takeoff of an angle with Shawn Michaels on Raw
in the mid-90s, Perez takes a number of shots to the head.
That leads into the injury angle after the match.
After the ring introductions, the match begins during a
split-screen commercial break. The bout is joined in
progress when the show returns from the break.
Satomura works a leg, but Perez is able to counter. Satomura
plays subtle heel. Perez shows a ton of fire as she fights a
mentor. Proverbially turning of the tables as Perez uses a
dragon screw to target Satomura's leg.
Perez fires up on Satomura, showing even more fire. Perez
avoids Satomura's finisher, and Perez leaps through the
ropes with a dive outside the ring. They go on to tease a
superplex and other spots on the top rope. Satomura goes for
a splash, but Perez gets her knees up.
Satomura cuts off Perez with a lots of kicks. They trade
near falls and they trade strikes down the home stretch.
Combos and and a Saito suplex by Satomura, but Perez kicks
out. Satomura uses a Death Valley Driver, and Satomura
follows with a signature falling kick. Yet, Perez valiantly
kicks out again.
The fight spills onto the apron, and they trade strikes and
kicks. They fight on the floor, and Perez goes for Pop
Rocks. Satomura blocks it somehow, and Satomura delivers a
kick on the floor. Perez is rolled back into the ring, where
she gets a foot on the bottom rope to break a count.
Satomura goes for her Scorpio Rising finisher, but Perez
counters to roll up Satomura for a three count. Perez
withstood the onslaught and retains her title. Perez is
motionless as she lays face down in the ring. She is
unconscious as referees pour into the ring.
Booker T leaves the announce desk to check on Perez. Medical
staff and referees tend to Perez as Satomura is in tears.
Perez leaves on a stretcher. Shawn Michaels also comes out
to check on Perez as she is taken to a waiting ambulance.
Michaels is fittingly involved in an on-screen role with the
injury angle, as he starred in a similar cliffhanger years
ago. The show closes with Perez being loaded into an
ambulance.