NXT Spring Breakin’ 2024 recap & reactions (Week 2): Break’s over (2024)

Brand New 911

This is firmly Trick Williams’ show now. Bron Breakker, Carmelo Hayes, and Ilja Dragunov set sail for the bigger brands, leaving Trick as the biggest fish in the pond. Considering how over he is with damn near every crowd, it’s important that his title reign have some juice. NXT decided that a little mystery might help, so they started him off by bringing someone back into his life who created one of his best moments: Lash Legend.

The chemistry between these two is still palpable. Their banter is just flirty enough with hints of danger for the NXT champ. Lash is still a heel after all, and she plays the femme fatale role well. Lots of entendres, like their back and forth about which candy Lash prefers, or Trick saying he’ll break her off if she likes Kit Kats.

But what’s in that envelope? That’s the mystery. It’s an immediate hook for following weeks and starts Trick on his own story. For years, everything he did revolved around Melo. He established a bit of who he is outside of that, but now is the time to truly carve out more character. While I’m not sold on Meta Four as a whole being the entity to bring all that out of him, I do like Lash in this spot. What’s she got on him? And what or whom was she referring to when she talked about his title reign being hot? This is simple stuff but it works because Trick works. Without any investment in him, most, if not all of this falls flat on its face like Drake using AI for a diss record.

The lack of obvious challenger also speaks to the lack of depth in NXT’s championship scene. The North American championship scene is stuffed at this point, while the tag division is overflowing. And with Tony D’Angelo setting his sights on the Heritage Cup, that really only leaves Noam Dar and Oro Mensah. I’m not sure I see any of that working at the moment, but, as always, I remain ready to change my mind when the situation changes.

Either way, we got a new champion, a mysterious envelope, and a secret that might make his life more difficult. Hopefully it sets up a memorable run for the man who dubbed this the “Whoop That” era.

B-Sides

Return of the Crooklyn Dodgers

Just to keep it real, I wanted a return song but also just wanted an excuse to reference this particular song.

Why? Well, Wes Lee made his triumphant return and wants his title back! That’s huge. And not just because he’s challenging Oba Femi. Big man and little man matches offer beautiful moments, so here’s hoping these two deliver. I know the story will handle itself since it’s already there. Wes always comes with a compelling narrative.

But I jumped the gun and didn’t mention Oba’s title defense. I liked his match with Ivar but didn’t love it. They had missed a couple moves and I’m not entirely sure their styles worked together. The match revolved around showcasing Oba’s strength. He usually manhandles the competition with ease but Ivar, well, looks like Ivar. How would he put Ivar in that Power bomb? Well, props to both men but he pulled off the Pop Up. Ivar got just enough air under his jump for Oba to prop him on his shoulders and throw him down.

The match paled when compared to Wes’ return. That’s the moment. And it looks like before he gets Oba, he’s gotta run through Josh Briggs and Ivar.

Deceitful Intentions

I wanted more from Thea Hail vs. Jacy Jayne. This is a long-simmering beef that became one of the territory’s focal point. Thea went through changes, she alienated friends, and updated everything about herself. And that’s not even mentioning everything with Jacy and Chase U. Oh, and the calendars.

The match didn’t meet those expectations if only because it ran so short. Now, that said, I believe Jacy got a busted nose, which bled pretty profusely. So maybe that’s a reason for her quick tap to Thea’s submission. Before that, we got a moment where Fallon Henley saved Thea from a Jazmyn Nyx kick. That might be important considering this happened after the match:

Well, I didn’t see that coming at all. Although Fallon’s frustration the past few weeks only grew bigger. Maybe she snapped? I look forward to the explanation even though Thea vs. Fallon doesn’t excite me at the moment.

Catch My Fall

This was another match that set up something else. Possibly something better even if I have reservations.

Nathan Frazer & Axiom started fast against AOP. They took the Street Profits advice and never stopped. They went after them fast and furious before the bell rang. I love moments like this because it feels like real life. Look at AOP. Look at Nathan & Axiom. Why wouldn’t they attack them with speed before the bell rings? It’s the one way to gain an advantage.

Sadly, that advantage didn’t last. the rest of the match really was the AOP show. That I didn’t mind. I liked Nathan’s hot tag evening the odds and getting some momentum for his team. I even liked Scarlett, Karrion, and Paul Ellerling getting tossed after Scarlett got caught with her hand in the cookie jar. But I don’t know how I feel about New Catch Republic helping Nathan & Axiom win their first big title defense. Yes it was “fair” given what the heels tried, but I think there’s something better with the tag champs winning a comeback victory over the monster heels. It puts respect on their names rather than simply setting up The Final Testament vs. New Catch Republic. While that feud sounds tantalizing, I’m not sure it serves the tag champs well.

Hostility

I really dug this fight between Nattie and Lola Vice. I say fight because that’s exactly what it was. This might be my favorite NXT Underground match when it's all said and done. Besides the fact these two looked like they really disliked each other, Lola’s MMA background really made the difference for me. They found a sweet spot between MMA and pro wrestling, which isn’t an easy thing to do as evidenced by past matches. And even within this setting, they managed to work a little psychology into the fight. Nattie spent a good amount of time working on Lola’s knee, which included a Bret Hart homage when she did trapped Lola in the turnbuckle Figure Four. All that work led to a Sharpshooter that saw Lola screaming in agony while reaching for people around the ring.

That gave way to the finish which I thought was really intelligent and fun. Shayna Baszler wrapped Karmen Petrovic in the Kirifuda Clutch right in Nattie’s eyesight. Shayna used Nattie’s friendship and compassion against her, which said so much about both women. Nattie broke the hold, dealt with Shayna, and gave Lola just enough time to recover. Lola nailed Nattie with vicious punch and kept wailing on her till the ref stopped the match.

Really liked this match and it was a great ending to the show.

Singles

• Ava announced a ladder match for the Women’s North American championship. But then Jaida Parker, Sol Rucca, Arianna Grace, and Michim (welcome back!) started talking about a combine. It confused us in the cageside offices. Geno and I wondered if they would do 40-yard dashes or get their verticals measured. Did they not explain that or did I just miss something?
• Tyriek Igwe & Tyson Dupont debuted! After getting a couple hype packages, they didn’t get any intro music and they lost their first match to the Good Brothers. That’s weird. NXT isn’t above bringing in jobbers to give debuting talent a win. They looked good though and with a bit more polish, might make noise as physical and agile tag team with big personality.
• Ridge Holland defeated Shawn Spears. I’m not sure where this goes now. Did Shawn get what he wanted? Is Ridge in a better place? He talked with Andre Chase later on so maybe he’s enrolling in Chase U.
• Roxanne Perez defends her championship against SmackDown’s Chelsea Green next week. The rosters lock on May 6. NXT’s next show is May 7. So, yeah, that roster lock thing really doesn’t mean anything when it comes to the black and gold brand.

I was wrong. I expected to like this week better than last but outside of the last match and the two big returns, this felt like an average show. We got a lost of story, which I’m all about, but most of the matches ran either too short or just did nothing for me. I do like the Trick Williams mystery, along with whatever is going on with Fallon Henley. There’s a lot of interesting seeds planted for the summer, so we got that to look forward to.

What say you, Spring Breakers?