Go-Home Shows always have a tall order. You have to build any last minute story wrinkles to the matches on the card and this is the last thing your audience will see before you start your event. I am not sure if NXT exactly nailed this go-home show. I am certainly excited for Deadline as I like the concept of the Iron Survivor Challenge matches and I know that the in-ring quality is going to be second-to-none. However, this show felt rushed and poorly planned out. From little things like Corbin opening the main event segment with “Well here we are” as both men sit peacefully in the ring all the way up to having FOUR brawl segments throughout the show. Despite my complaints, the show did have strong elements. If I was to recommend one thing, definitely seek out Wes Lee’s promo. His emotions were so real and you could feel his passion and it made me remember why I liked him so much as the North American Champion in the first place. Ultimately, a filler show that served its purpose of checking those last few boxes before Deadline on Saturday.
WWE NXT December 5 2023 is the go home show for NXT Deadline. We have two Last Chance Fatal 4-Ways for the last spot in the Iron Survivor Challenge Matches. Factions collide when Alpha Academy takes on Meta-Four in a Six Person Intergender Tag Team Match. Finally, NXT Champion Ilja Dragunov goes face to face with his challenger for Deadline: Baron Corbin.
GOOD Roxanne Perez vs Thea Hail vs Fallon Henley vs Kiana James – Last Chance Iron Survivor Qualifying Fatal 4-Way Match (WWE NXT December 5 2023 Opening Match):
This match begins with the faces jumping Kiana James and tossing her out of the ring. The faces then do a triple collar and elbow lock up and start trading pinfall combinations. James uses the purse on her opponents to take advantage and she throws Perez into the barricade. We get a Tower of Doom spot into Perez’s comeback and she goes for a crossbody but James cuts her off and throws her back outside. Perez then takes the cover off the announce table and starts brawling with James. The two women climb up the barricade and both slip and fall off the barricade through the table. This takes both women out of the match. Back in the ring, Hail rolls up Henley but she kicks out and Henley a Shining Wizard to pick up the win.
Despite the slightly sloppy table spot, this match had a couple of fun spots in it. The choice of Fallon Henley to be in the Iron Survivor Challenge is a good one in my opinion. The match needed another face and Perez and James have their own feud going on. Perez and James will face off in a Steel Cage match at Deadline. Thea did feel a little lost in the shuffle with this match. The Chase U storyline hasn’t exactly landed and she has felt more like a background character recently.
Results: Fallon Henley by Pinfall via Shining Wizard
Austin Knight WR Star Rating – 3.0 Stars
MUST WATCH Wes Lee & Dominik Mysterio Promo:
Wes Lee is in the ring with a crutch and a solemn look on his face. Lee is visibly sad and frustrated as he reveals that he has an injury and that he can’t compete at Deadline. It is revealed later in the show that he has hurt his back and an estimated recovery time is 8 – 12 months. Lee concludes his promo with the classic line: “This is not goodbye. It’s a see you later”. After the emotional promo, Dirty Dom comes out and trash-talks Lee and says that he will have to continue to carry WWE. Dom also says he will get his Saturday off to chill with Mami. Lee says that Mysterio will still defend his title at Deadline but someone else will introduce him. On the Tron, Rey Mysterio appears and says that Dom will face Dragon Lee for the North American Championship at Deadline. To follow this blockbuster announcement, Rey says that he will be in Dragon Lee’s corner at the event as well.
Wes Lee’s promo was absolutely incredible. His emotions felt so real and you can tell that he was beyond frustrated that he got injured 4 days before his big return match on his first angle back from injury. He can’t hold back tears as he tells the NXT Universe that he is going to bust his ass to heal up and to be the best to ever do it. The crowd clearly love Wes Lee and they only want the best for him. I have been a fan of Wes Lee since The Rascalz and MSK and I second his sentiments. I hope he comes back better than ever and more people appreciate what the Cardiac Kid can do. In regards to the replacement match, I am looking forward to that too. I honestly thought that Dragon Lee was going to be the next North American Champion until he got called up to Smackdown. I am not sure if NXT would like their midcard title to be traded between two main roster guys but I wouldn’t be opposed to Dragon Lee appearing on Smackdown with the belt and coming back semi-regularly to defend the title against future NXT standouts.
Austin Knight WR Star Rating – 4.5 Stars
SQUASH Tatum Paxley vs Lola Vice:
This match came up when Paxley stood up to Vice and Electra Lopez when the two heels were antagonizing Lyra Valkyria. Paxley challenged Vice to a match and here we are. Paxley starts the match by doing a contortionist gimmick and Vice is put off by this. Vice slams Paxley down to take control. Vice is trying to keep Paxley contained with submissions but Paxley hits a corner crossbody and a spinebuster. Eventually, Vice hits a series of strikes followed by her seated corner hip attack and her spin kick to pick up the quick win. After the match, Paxley is caressing her hair and smiling as Vice and Lopez leave.
I feel like this match did not achieve either of its goals. One goal was to build up Vice as a credible challenger. That didn’t really succeed as it looked like she struggled with Tatum Paxley (who I had to look up to remember if I had seen her before). The other goal was to build up Paxley’s character and that didn’t do much either. Is she a contortionist? Is she weird and quirky? What is her relationship with Lyra Valkyria? These questions and more were definitely not answered.
Results: Lola Vice by Pinfall via Spin Kick
GOOD Alpha Academy vs Meta-Four – Six-Person Mixed Tag Match:
Gable and Dar start the match and Gable clearly has Dar’s number as he gets him in the Ankle Lock almost immediately. Mensah tags in and does the Meta-Four signal but Gable turns it upside down into his own “Thank You” sign. Legend tags in and Dupri comes in and they do a nice sequence with Legend taking control. Gable starts getting worked over by Meta-Four but he hits a release German on Dar to make the hot tag to Otis. Otis starts cleaning house with a pop-up Powerbomb to Dar and catching a moonsaulting Mensah in mid-air with a powerslam (barely). Otis then turns his attention back to Legend and he starts getting jiggy. He runs over for a hug but Legend doges it and bodyslams Otis to a HUGE pop from the crowd. Dupri takes Legend out of the ring and stands on Gable’s shoulders to dive onto a pile on the outside. In the ring, Gable counters a Nova Roller into the Ankle Lock and Dar taps out.
I have thoroughly enjoyed the Alpha Academy vs Meta-Four feud. I love the idea of feuding factions and these two are good foils to each other. This match in particular was a fun tag match with plenty of silliness. However, I think I am just about done with this feud for now. The matches have all been good but I want the groups to go their separate ways and spread the silliness around a bit more. The absolute best part of this match was when Lash Legend body slammed Otis. The crowd popped huge and the performers built up the spot really well by letting it breathe. I am sure that that clip is going to be circulating social media and will probably rack up quite a few interactions before Deadline.
Results: Alpha Academy by Submission via Ankle Lock
Austin Knight WR Star Rating – 3.25 Stars
ABOVE AVERAGE Women’s Iron Survivor Challenge Summit:
Next up is the Women’s Iron Survivor Challenge Summit hosted by Byron Saxton (NOOO). Stratton starts out the panel and begins the trash talk and reminds the other competitors that she is the only former NXT Women’s Champion in the mix. Jordan is up next and she talks about how much potential she has. After her, Lash Legend speaks up and mispronounces Byron’s name. She also reminds everyone that she trains with Noam Dar and she knows a thing or two about matches with multiple pinfalls. Following her, Blair Davenport doesn’t care to trash-talk just like she doesn’t care about anyone in the ring. She instead lists people she has injured. Lastly, Fallon Henley discusses her storyline connections with every other competitor. However, when she gets to Jordan, it is awkward as the two faces have to “play it nice”. Everyone then starts yelling at each other and Byron throws a fit. Henley ends the promo saying “well behaved women seldom make history” and starts a brawl that ends the segment.
While I generally dislike segments like this (contract signings, face-to-face, etc.), this one was fine. The fact that (almost) every competitor had something relevant to say in terms of building the match was a nice touch. Some of the talking points for some of the more wooden mic-workers fell a little flat but Legend and Stratton more than made up for it. Byron as the host was a pretty unwelcome surprise but he wasn’t involved too much so I can’t be too harsh. In terms of the match being built, I am excited for it. I think it might be the coming out party for Lash Legend but I could also see Stratton or Davenport winning.
Austin Knight WR Star Rating – 2.75 Stars
DNF Axiom vs Nathan Frazer:
This match is happening because Axiom wanted to have some friendly banter about Frazer’s match with Dragunov but Frazer isn’t having it. The two men start at a ridiculously fast pace. The counter-fest is broken up by dueling pump kicks that drop both men. Axiom hits a sliding German Suplex and when he tries to springboard back in, Frazer catches him with a mid-air superkick. Axiom then hits a springboard moonsault to the outside. Once both men rise to their feet, Legend, Davenport, Henley, Jordan, and Stratton are all still brawling and it spills into the ring and the match is called off. In all of the chaos, Nikkita Lyons makes her return and lays out Davenport with a roundhouse and the segment just ends.
This wasn’t even a match. Both Frazer and Axiom are tremendous wrestlers and they deserved to have a couple more minutes instead of getting the “match gets called off” spot. I am thankful that the rematch is on the Deadline Pre-Show so I hope that Axiom and Frazer can continue to show what they can do. This is when I started feeling like the show was rushing and trying to cram a lot into the last 30 minutes of the show.
Results: Did Not Finish
GREAT Carmelo Hayes vs Tyler Bate vs Joe Coffey vs Eddy Thorpe – Last Chance Iron Survivor Qualifying Fatal 4 Way Match:
Before the match, Trick confronts Hayes and asks him to explain himself but Hayes brushes him off as his music has hit. We also see that Eddy Thorpe still has his ribs taped heavily. The match begins with Hayes using a handful of tights in a rollup on Thorpe. Bate hits an airplane spin on Thorpe but switches to Coffey when he gets involved. Hayes lands a double Fadeaway on Bate and Coffey and Thorpe immediately dropkicks Hayes. Thorpe then dives outside on everyone but eats a spinebuster on the stairs from Coffey. This writes Thorpe out of the match. The remaining three hit a Sunset Flip/German Suplex spot. Bate catches both Coffey and Hayes with mid-air uppercuts to stun each of them. Bate lands a Tyler Driver 97 on Coffey to win as Hayes was just too late to break up the pin. After the match, the rest of the Men’s Iron Survivor competitors come out and trash talk each other before a big brawl ensues.
This match was fun and certainly had more spots than the women’s match did earlier. The choice of Tyler Bate was perfect in my opinion. If you can’t pick Hayes because you have to tell the Hayes/Trick story (with the added wrinkle of Lexis King), Bate is definitely the next best choice. Thorpe is still hurt so he is protected and he has feuds ready with the guys that injured him (Gulak & Co, Dijak, and Breakker). Coffey is a great midcard guy but he is still just the “third guy in Gallus”. However, this is the third brawl segment in this show and the diminishing returns are already showing up.
Results: Tyler Bate by Pinfall via Tyler Bate
Austin Knight WR Star Rating – 3.5 Stars
GOOD Dragunov/Corbin Face-to-Face (WWE NXT December 5 2023 Main Event Segment):
This segment already feels rushed as we go immediately into Dragunov yelling intensely at Corbin for making things personal. Corbin is cool, calm, and collected and continues to invoke Dragunov’s family including mentioning Ilja’s father. Dragunov is starting to get really heated and he starts taking off his suit so he can beat up Corbin. Corbin continues his promo by discussing his continued success in WWE and how Dragunov doesn’t have what it takes. Corbin then sets up the table and turns his back on Dragunov and tries to get Ilja to attack him. However, Dragunov hugs Corbin and says “The only one who can stop the dragon is the dragon himself”. After this segment, Bate, Breakker, Trick, Briggs, and Dijak continue brawling in the ring to end the show.
As mentioned above, the last 30 minutes of this show felt so rushed. All of the segments had awkward starting points and ending points. The fourth brawl segment of the night is about 3 and a half brawl segments too many for my taste. Despite the rushed nature of the Dragunov/Corbin segment, I enjoyed some of the lines that each man threw at each other. I liked that Corbin is leaning on his continued success in WWE as a reason to care about him and Dragunov’s final line certainly builds intrigue for the match at Deadline. I have no doubt in my mind that Ilja will retain but I am sure Ilja will put on another 4+ star banger with Baron Corbin and we will all appreciate how great the Mad Dragon truly is.
Austin Knight WR Star Rating – 3.25 Stars
Overall WWE NXT December 5 2023
Go-Home Shows always have a tall order. You have to build any last minute story wrinkles to the matches on the card and this is the last thing your audience will see before you start your event. I am not sure if NXT exactly nailed this go-home show. I am certainly excited for Deadline as I like the concept of the Iron Survivor Challenge matches and I know that the in-ring quality is going to be second-to-none. However, this show felt rushed and poorly planned out. From little things like Corbin opening the main event segment with “Well here we are” as both men sit peacefully in the ring all the way up to having FOUR brawl segments throughout the show. Despite my complaints, the show did have strong elements. If I was to recommend one thing, definitely seek out Wes Lee’s promo. His emotions were so real and you could feel his passion and it made me remember why I liked him so much as the North American Champion in the first place. Ultimately, a filler show that served its purpose of checking those last few boxes before Deadline on Saturday.
Matches: 0.5/1 Stars
Show Structure: 0.25/1 Stars
Atmosphere: 0.5/1 Stars
Storytelling: 0.75/1 Stars
Production/Theme: 0.75/1 Stars
Overall Rating. 2.75/5 Stars
Photo Credit: (wwe.com) For inquiries about the rating criteria check out the article announcing the new system here:
