{"id":173491,"date":"2024-02-08T13:42:10","date_gmt":"2024-02-08T19:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=173491"},"modified":"2024-02-08T13:42:10","modified_gmt":"2024-02-08T19:42:10","slug":"nxt-hits-misses-2-6-dragunov-vs-dijak-carmelo-hayes-lexis-king-vs-osbourne-byron-saxton-on-color-commentary-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2024\/02\/08\/nxt-hits-misses-2-6-dragunov-vs-dijak-carmelo-hayes-lexis-king-vs-osbourne-byron-saxton-on-color-commentary-more\/","title":{"rendered":"NXT HITS &#038; MISSES (2\/6): Dragunov vs. Dijak, Carmelo Hayes, Lexis King vs. Osbourne, Byron Saxton on color commentary, more"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-1826302958\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p><strong>Carmelo Hayes: Major Hit<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Finally! I\u2019ve been saying for a long time that Hell Melo is money and he was genius tonight! From his first sit-down in the ring (walking away was a great hook for later), he\u2019s heelish (yet, logical) explanation for his turning on Trick, his beatdown of Ilya: that was heel turn perfection. Hats off to Trick Williams, as well: I don\u2019t know if Melo\u2019s turn would have been as effective against anyone, but the popular Trick. I seriously thought there would a few more Melo fans, but it seemed like almost the entire Performance Center hated Melo. Just excellent stuff!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Axiom &amp; Nathan Frazer vs. Malik Blade &amp; Edris Enofe: Hit<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Stellar match. All four of these guys move so fluidly, especially Frazer. I wasn\u2019t high on the random pairing of Axiom and Frazer at first, but I think they\u2019d make a great pairing and have some great matches, if creative doesn\u2019t have anything for them singularly. I actually went back and watched this match again, since I enjoyed it so much.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ilya Dragunov promo: Hit<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s just something about this guy\u2019s intensity. I mean, he\u2019s not a Rock or an Austin, but he always sounds believable and I guess that\u2019s what\u2019s most important. I was also thinking how refreshing from his time in NXT:UK to now, they treated a Russian as a babyface, instead of the tired trope of \u201call Foreign people are bad guys\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lexis King vs. Riley Osbourne: Hit<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I think the star of this match was Osbourne, he\u2019s just so fun to watch. King has the personality, but he always seems to get stuck in second gear in his matches. They\u2019re not bad, just\u2026average, I guess. That\u2019s not a knock at King and I think as he acclimates to the WWE?NXT styling, he\u2019ll be fine. The right guy went over here, as Osbourne can absorb the loss from the \u2018distraction\u2019 finish, while continuing his own Chase U storyline.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-2759761452\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><strong>Lola Vice vs. Roxanne Perez: Hit<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Lola Vice gets progressively better every time she\u2019s in the ring and it helps when she\u2019s in there with someone line Roxanne. Vice is at her best when she\u2019s striking or kicking and she executes thoughts wonderfully. The loss doesn\u2019t hurt her here, now she doesn\u2019t possess the Breakout Contract.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Fallon Henley &amp; Wren Sinclair vs. Lash Legend &amp; Jakara Jackson: Hit<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This was the match on the card I was least interested in, but it ended up winning me over. Legend is leaps and bounds ahead of when she was featured on NXT 2.0, Jackson had a good showing, Sinclair plays the \u201cfish out of water\u201d babyface very well and Fallon is one of my favorite women on the roster. Nice tag match.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ilya Dragunov vs. Dijak: Hit<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Was the winner ever in question: for such a talented guy, Dijak loses\u2026a lot. I had read his contract was coming up this year, so maybe he\u2019s on his way out and is serving as gatekeeper, but he\u2019s fun to watch, especially with a guy like Ilya. They beat the hell out of each other. My only gripe was the finish: really? A boxing glove on a stick? I\u2019m trying to get behind Gacy\u2019s character, but couldn\u2019t he have done the same under-the-ring attack with a sledgehammer or crowbar? It marred a very good match, but not enough to take away the Hit for the overall match-up.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Special Hit Mention: The Announce Team<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>No Booker (although I hope whatever he\u2019s going through isn\u2019t serious and he\u2019s doing well). I was seriously hoping we\u2019d get a Wade Barrett appearance after Vengeance, but we got Byron Saxton, who as a color commentator, was pretty good. I never liked him as the \u201cthird wheel\u201d so this was a pleasant surprise. And I know some will disagree, but I think Vic Joseph is a treasure. I love the casual way he dresses, the bowl of candy on the desk\u2026and the deadpan look he gave the camera when Saxton didn\u2019t realize he was trying to shake his hand made me laugh out loud. I wouldn\u2019t mind seeing\/hearing this pairing moving forward.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-2042549856\" class=\"pwtor-content-1 pwtor-entity-placement\"><!-- Tag ID: pwtorchcom_test_300x600 -->\r\n<div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __300x600\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-2516425279\"><div id=\"pwtor-4209426690\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Carmelo Hayes: Major Hit Finally! I\u2019ve been saying for a long time that Hell Melo is money and he was genius tonight! From his first sit-down in the ring (walking away was a great hook <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2024\/02\/08\/nxt-hits-misses-2-6-dragunov-vs-dijak-carmelo-hayes-lexis-king-vs-osbourne-byron-saxton-on-color-commentary-more\/\" title=\"NXT HITS &#038; MISSES (2\/6): Dragunov vs. Dijak, Carmelo Hayes, Lexis King vs. Osbourne, Byron Saxton on color commentary, more\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":173492,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,28,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-173491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opnionandanalysis","category-specialists_hitsandmisses","category-specialists"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2024\/02\/Screenshot-2024-02-08-at-1.41.43\u202fPM.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173491"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":173493,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173491\/revisions\/173493"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}