We’re well on our way to the Great American Bash, coming up alongside Night of Champions, Forbidden Door, and Slammiversary, all somehow happening on the same weekend. News that TNA is having trouble moving tickets is hardly a surprise, but our focus here as usual will be on our favorite developmental brand, NXT.

This week, we have a couple of great matchups to talk about, and, in a departure from our usual fare, we’ll also be covering the rare Men’s division event.

Let’s start with our first Women’s match of the night, where we had Kendal Gray vs Kelani Jordan in a heated number-one contender’s match for the NXT Women’s Championship. This one was such a treat to watch. I suspected Kelani and Kendal’s styles would play off of each other uniquely, and couldn’t have been more right.

Kendal’s technical mastery pitted against Kelani’s incredible flexibility and high-flying athleticism made for a match that was nearly hard to follow for all of the creative pins and reversals.

Kelani spent the match playing dirty, grabbing Kendal’s hair at every opportunity, and working her neck. She tries for a pin assisted by having her feet up on the ropes, but the ref spots it and the match goes on.

While Kelani dominates the first half, the match quickly becomes too close to call, right up until Kendal hits Shades of Gray center of the ring and pins Kelani for the win to seize the distinction of Number One Contender. She’ll face off against Lola Vice for the NXT Women’s Championship at the Great American Bash. With weeks still to go, I somehow suspect that this isn’t the last we’ll hear about it from Kelani.

On to our next headline event: our inaugural pageant to name the first ever Mr. NXT. Our contenders? Delightfully hate-able English snob, Tristan Angels, and our favorite hillbilly, Shiloh Hill. The two compete in three categories before a panel of judges, comprised of our current Evolve Champion, Aaron Rourke, along with the Men’s division’s greatest diva, Kit Wilson, and comedian Matt Matthews. The competitive categories include dress, talent, and public speaking.

In the category of dress, Angels takes the win with a two-to-one vote in his favor for the categories of evening wear, casual dress, and…swimsuit. I had way too much fun watching this. I was personally a fan of the snorkel and flippers Shiloh wore for the latter category.

On to the talent competition, Shiloh showed off his skills at solving a Rubix cube in under a minute (a feat Angels failed to replicate), and juggling while on a unicycle. Not sure why, but if someone had asked me if I thought Shiloh could juggle while riding a unicycle I would’ve immediately answered yes without ever having to see him do it. He wins the category with a unanimous vote.

Finally, for the public speaking category, Tristan fails to endear himself to the audience by calling everyone pigs, while Shiloh speaks on what his journey to become Mr. NXT has meant to him. Shiloh wins the vote of Matt Matthews, while Kit Wilson maybe unsurprisingly votes for Angels. Rourke leaves his vote up to the audience (yes, I did go online and vote for my guy Shiloh), and Shiloh takes it, resulting in him taking a beating from Angels.

I sincerely wonder if the vote was rigged for this segment, but the finish where Angels beats up Shiloh with his goofy cane could’ve played out the same either way, so who’s to say.

Now, on to our main event! A match I personally have been waiting for, for a very long time.

It’s Tatum Paxley vs Zaria for the North American Championship. This match was just incredible. I’ll be going deep into the weeds on this one, so let’s start at the beginning.

First thing I noticed were the new studs in Zaria’s hair, which were a nice addition to her look. Tatum’s new gear really jumped out at me, since I think it’s the first time she wears this look. I wasn’t sure what she was going for at first, so shoutout to the person on Reddit who pointed out that the design was inspired by Rouge the Bat from Sonic.

On to the match.

Zaria starts off with the single-minded intensity I’ve been wanting to see from her. She cuts to the chase, attempting an immediate F-5, which fails, before landing a spear and going for a cover right off the bat. She flips out a bit at the kickout, but maintains control in the early goings.

Tatum doesn’t even land a hit on Zaria until she decides to showboat a bit for the audience, and the match turns in Tatum’s favor for a good while as she thwarts Zaria’s efforts to regain the upper hand.

Tatum really shows off her agility advantage against Zaria in this match. It’s fitting that this would be a struggle for Zaria to overcome. I appreciate that, since Zaria and Tatum really are similarly sized, Zaria is never shown to have a particular power advantage. Her edge is her aggression, and her emotional investment in this victory.

Tatum eventually misses an attempt at a 450, and Zaria repays her with an excellent spear. The match grinds to a halt as both collapse.

Zaria is the first up. They exchange blows, with the crowd favoring Tatum, but the two go back and forth gaining and losing control before Zaria attempts a superplex to end up caught in the tree of woe. Fitting for a match against Tatum.

Tatum goes coast to coast, which I didn’t know she could do, and it just looks insane, but Zaria manages a kickout from the cover at two. I’d love to see the move from a different angle, since it looks like the producers didn’t have full confidence it would hit, so the camera hides behind Zaria a bit.

Approaching our sequence for the finish, things heat up, with Zaria reversing out of an attempt at Cemetery Drive. She goes for F-5 again, and Tatum reverses as well. She hits her spinning heel kick on Zaria, but Zaria takes a page out of Tatum’s book, no-selling the move with her hair covering her face.

When she flips her hair back, she looks overcome with emotion, almost like she’s going to cry, and Tatum looks afraid, like she finally understands the lengths Zaria is willing to go to for this win. Zaria charges for another spear attempt, but Tatum ducks it, parting the ropes to send her flying to the outside.

Tatum tries for a moonsault off the apron that misses Zaria, but looks a bit like it shatters both her legs. Zaria gets her up to finally land an F-5 on the outside. She rolls Tatum into the ring to hit another fantastic spear and caps it off with a second F-5, before covering for the three count. And new.

I love how heavy Zaria leans into the cover, even after the massive overkill from the finish. Like me, she refused to believe in the victory until the three-count hit and the bell rang. Nothing left to chance.

When she’s handed the belt, she just holds it, looking in total disbelief that it’s hers now. Not just to hold, not just to protect, but to own, and to carry with pride.

Just a spectacular match, with a squeaky clean, well-deserved win for Zaria. No nonsense at the end, no interference, no beatdown.

Now we can look to Zaria’s reign as champion. Who will she face at the Great American Bash? Will she have a rematch against Tatum? Will Tatum even stick around in NXT, or has she outgrown the brand? Who else might step up to try and dethrone the new champion?

As a final note, this match only makes me want to double down on my opinion that Zaria is not, in fact a heel. At the darkest, she’s an in-betweener. I still only see a rightfully pissed-off woman who’s been screwed at absolutely every turn up until now, and I’m so excited to see what direction her character takes from here. Maybe she’ll go full heel and run roughshod through a slew of contenders, or maybe she’ll move on from her hate and be redeemed, now that she has the prize she’s been wanting so badly.

All will be revealed in time. Join us here for more very soon, since there’s plenty of excitement on the horizon in the Wonderful World of Wrestling. Until next time!