NXT HITS & MISSES 4/5: Breakker vs. Gunther, Creeds vs. Imperium, Lumis vs. Hudson, Kai & Gonzalez vs. Toxic Attraction, Lyons vs. Legend, more.

BRON BREAKKER IS THE NEW CHAMPION

Well, I’m glad I tuned into RAW last night to see Dolph Ziggler lose the NXT title to Bron Breakker. What the heck was the point of that? Why not have Breakker win at Stand & Deliver where the in-person crowd would actually care about the win. Seeing Breakker regain the championship to a lackluster response in front of a crowd that didn’t necessarily care about NXT was underwhelming.

I’m okay with him being the new champion. But the booking seems so strange.

Gunther made his way to the ring as Breakker kicked off NXT this week, and a match for the NXT Championship was made for later in the night.

Verdict: Breakker as Champ – Lukewarm HIT. Angle leading up to it on RAW – MISS

CREED BROTHERS vs. IMPERIUM

After Gunther challenged Breakker, the Creed Brothers came out and attacked Imperium before the commercial break. After the break, the match between the two teams was already underway.  More stupid booking. What was booked in this time slot originally? Why just let two attackers now have a sanctioned match against the people they’re attacking?

The match itself was as good as you would expect from these two teams, but the story of the match was Fabian Aichner abandoning his tag partner, Marcel Barthel. Barthel was busted open during the match, and Aichner just walked up the ramp and left his partner to fend for himself.

I’m actually completely okay with this. If you aren’t going to build Imperium to be as big as Gunther, then break them up.

Pretty Deadly attacked the Creeds after the match, finally giving us an answer to who attacked the Creeds nearly a month ago.

Verdict: Lukewarm HIT

DEXTER LUMIS (w/Indi Hartwell) vs DUKE HUDSON (w/Persia Pirotta)

Sexy Dexy took on Sexy Dukey, continuing the feud between the two couples. The fans voted InDex as the hottest couple at Stand & Deliver with Duke and Persia taking offense to that. Tonight, they looked to see who is superior after all.

We didn’t wind up getting the answer to this as the match ended in a double count out when the women couldn’t help the men get back in the ring before the ref’s ten count.

I’m hoping this ends sooner rather than later, as I’m starting to tire of Persia and Duke. InDex, sure, keep that going. But I haven’t been impressed with “DuSia” as a couple.

Verdict: MISS

DAKOTA KAI & RAQUEL GONZALEZ vs. TOXIC ATTRACTION

Kai and Gonzalez recaptured the NXT Tag Titles at Stand & Deliver with Toxic Attraction looking to dethrone the newly crowned champions tonight. Toxic Attraction wanted their titles back, and they seemed adamant they’d win them back.

Toxic Attraction did a great job of isolating Kai, making it a bigger moment when Gonzalez got the inevitable hot tag. It’s a shame that the majority of the match took place during a commercial, but it is what it is.

Wendy Choo tried getting involved on behalf of Kai and Gonzalez, but Mandy Rose prevented the distraction. All of that commotion lead to Toxic Attraction regaining their NXT Tag Titles just days after losing them.

More strange booking. Why have Toxic Attraction lose the titles in the first place?

Verdict: MISS

NIKKITA LYONS vs. LASH LEGEND

While this match certainly delivered on a higher level than I ever expected it to, there was still a lot left to be desired from Lyons and Legend.

I may not be a fan of Lash Legend’s gimmick, but she at least feels like she’s trying to be authentic as possible while presenting her character. Lyons character, on the other hand, seems so much more forced and inauthentic. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Nikkita Lyons feels like an instagram-model who’s playing pro-wrestler. Her gimmick may be rooted in reality, as a lot of her real-life persona is part of her character, but she’s unable to effectively portray the gimmick thus far without it feeling forced.

Lyons and Legend’s in-ring work still needs some tweaking and tuning, evident in multiple spots throughout this match. However, I was expecting this match to come off more like a Diva’s era contest. Instead, it did feel like two athletic talents trying to topple one another. No, they aren’t going to win any Match of the Year awards by any stretch. But I expected this match to be a botch-fest, when in reality it was actually passable. Unfortunately, even though the match was passable, I still give it a miss based on the sub-par in-ring work and the ineffective character work by Lyons especially.

Verdict: MISS

BRON BREAKKER vs. GUNTHER – NXT Championship

The booking of the main event scene in NXT this past week has been baffling to me. If the desired end result was to have Bron Breakker as NXT Champion, why book him to lose to Ziggler at Stand & Deliver only to have him win it two nights later on RAW – a show where the NXT Title doesn’t mean much. I feel like having Breakker go over at S&D, then having him defend the title against Ziggler on RAW would have been a better option. It would have made more sense and made Breakker seem more impressive. I understand maybe wanting to put Breakker and the NXT Title on the Raw after WrestleMania to get some exposure for NXT. But Breakker defending the title rather than being coronated as champion probably would have worked better.

That brings us to this match. Breakker beat Gunther clean.

Let that sink in.

Breakker beat Gunther clean.

Gunther has been built as somebody that’s nearly impossible to beat. As far as I am aware, this is Gunther’s second singles pinfall loss after he lost the NXT UK Title to Ilja Dragunov. Now, I’m not against Breakker pinning Gunther clean. But I feel like this match was too one-sided. Breakker kicked out of every single finisher and high impact move that Gunther threw his way. Gunther, however, didn’t get the chance to kick out of any of Breakker’s signature offense. While that may make Breakker feel more important and strong, I feel like it devalued all the effort that they’ve put into Gunther over the last couple years.

Yes, Gunther will recover. But why bother damaging him like this in the first place? Especially if you’re going to be moving right past Breakker/Gunther into a Breakker/Gacy program. Breakker and Gunther could have had a couple/few month long feud first, elevating both Breakker and Gunther. Instead, it feels like they fed Gunther to Breakker without any sort of build. It feels like a wasted investment.

While the match itself was certainly above average and I’m not necessarily against Breakker as Champion, the booking to get us into this match and then into the Gacy feud has seemingly been one odd choice after another.

Verdict: MISS