Its Week 3 of the Wednesday Night War and week 2 of WedHead2Head. The column that scores NXT vs AEW like a combat scorecard.
Here are our reviewers, back again for another week.
‘The NXT fan’ - JCH
‘The Voice of Reason’ – Brum
‘The AEW fan’ – Matt
Last week AEW won with a majority decision. Finishing ahead on the scorecard of Brum and Matt, whilst NXT edged home for JCH.
Can AEW take a 2-0 lead in the overall rankings or will NXT level things up. Sit back and take a look at the scorecards.
SCU/Best Friends vs Ciampa/Garza
JCH: AEW opened up with a fun tag match again, not quite on the level of last weeks, whilst NXT welcomed back a great in Ciampa and the beauty of Garza. NXT steals this as it felt like a big moment to see Ciampa back in the ring so soon, with his assault on Garza’s trousers being the decisive factor as the finish to the AEW match felt a bit flat.
NXT 10-9 AEW
Brum: I do love me some Chuckie T (and Scorpio Sky was great tonight) but this was an easy one to judge as Ciampa came back as lovely as ever. Garza did his bit too to make this a good opening segment. Because of the botched finish in the AEW match, I was toying with a 10-8 here but that would have been really unfair.
NXT 10-9 AEW
Matt: The return of Ciampa was fun and he had a solid 5 minute outing with Garza, who I quite like from the little I have seen. For me the opening to AEW was great though. Not even 30 seconds into the broadcast and we are seeing a brawl followed by a package piledriver on the ramp. The match was a little sloppy at times but told a story.
AEW 10-9 NXT
LAX Squash w/Young Bucks Challenge vs Imperium/Lorcan Burch
JCH:The LAX squash showcased them on a big stage. It seemed surreal seeing them in front of such a big crowd considering they were wrestling a stapler at the Ballroom about 6 weeks ago. Imperium vs the 1s and 2s was a stronger match and furthered the growing influence of Imperium as a force in NXT. Jericho announcing the challenge to the Young Bucks made this an important segment for LAX and that grabs a draw for AEW
NXT 10-10 AEW. NXT 20-19 AEW so far.
Brum:LAX are great but again, this was another round for NXT. Lorcan, Burch, Barthel, & Aichner can all go and they bounce off each other well. Because of another finish mistake (wrong man pinned) this could have been 10-8 too but Jericho announcing YB vs LAX whilst Ortiz jawed at the crowd saved that.
10-9 NXT. 20-18 NXT so far.
Matt: Now LAX did a fine job dispatching these bums and setting their stall out but on the other side I don't think the four NXT lads could have done more with their time. Really fast paced hard hitting encounter that I would like to see again in a 15-20 minute time frame.
10-9 NXT. 19-19 so far.
Cody Rhodes Video vs Era/Dream video beatdown & Gargano package.
JCH:The offscreen beatdown of Dream from the Era boys, coupled with Regal announcing him being out of the US title match suggests to me that he may have a proper injury. The Gargano package was fine, but the Cody package was great. From a slightly weird start where he just zoned out on Brandy (which was explained), they made his pursuit of the title seem huge. JR had some good points about how Cody had to concentrate on other things as well as wrestling, whilst Jericho will just be focused on their match. The star however was MJF. His comments about ‘on November 9th a new star will be born’ or something along those lines where he didn’t specifically use Cody’s name screamed he was talking about himself. I’m loving this slow burn and it’s a comfortable win for AEW.
NXT 9-10 AEW. 29-29 so far
Brum: AEW know how to do these videos. Nothing wrong with the NXT segment but AEW take a round back.
NXT 9-10 AEW. 29-28 NXT so far.
Matt:This Cody promo was very well done. I love the angle of a man who has taken on too much but essentially craves more. His character is becoming the most rounded in AEW right now. Era's beatdown continues to establish them as top dogs whilst furthering feuds but didn't hit the spot as much. I don't care much about Gargano personally I just find him a Nerd so that package wasn't for me.
NXT 9-10 AEW. 28-29 AEW so far.
Io Shirai vs Kayden Carter w/Ripley & Nox/Taynara w/Baszler confrontation vs Riho/Baker
JCH:I’ve had to push a couple of NXT matches together as they had so many this week. One of these instances was the respective women’s division representation this week. Similar to segment 2 one of these matches was superior, but the others created more storyline going forward. I thought Riho was excellent again and Britt seemed to grow into the match as it went on. The NXT matches both served as a purpose to put a couple more people into the title picture. Great to see Tegan back and I like Taynara, she’s firmly in the lower mid-card of the NXT women’s division but has gotten to work quite a lot of the upper card which should help her in the future. Rhea setting up another rival and another ace promo from Shayna steals this one for NXT.
NXT 10-9 AEW. 39-38 NXT so far
Brum:Tough one to judge here. Riho/Baker was the best of the three matches (though Baker is still punching above her weight slightly) but I really like how the NXT women’s division is at right now. I hope we get an all female War Games soon. As for the grade, mmmmmmmm….. AEW just pips it.
NXT 9-10 AEW. 38-38 so far.
Matt:AEW's Womens division is not fully clicking for me so far but this title match got hot in the final few minutes. Think these two will have a better match in the future and the ending saves Britt. Love that they established her finish last week and paid it off this week. The NXT division is bubbling nicely and I expect them to produce bangers in the coming weeks but the two matches and promos were just edged out this time for me.
NXT 9-10 AEW. 37-39 AEW so far.
Lee/Dijakiovic vs Lucha Bros/Jurassic Express
JCH:I thought Lee vs Dijakovic was going along fine, probably not at the level of their previous meetings. Maybe it was too much too soon, then Dijakovic started wrestling with one arm and Keith Lee hit a poisonrana. On the other channel Pentagon was beating the crap out of Marko Stunt. I think it was through the US commercial break that made it to the UK version he was just punting him into the air. Which I enjoyed. Two very enjoyable matches. If you told me before the show that Lee/Dijak wouldn’t win a round I’d have called you a liar, but the non-finish coupled with the freshness and brutality of the tag match gives this one to AEW.
NXT 9-10 AEW. 48-48 so far.
Brum:R5: I have a feeling I will be in the minority with this, but I liked the AEW tag match. Marko Stunt getting chucked about is a lot of fun and Jungle Boy as the valiant partner worked, as did Lucha Bros being madheads. Though for the third time tonight, the finish didn’t really land. Penta was tagged in when he was in the ring which was strange. AEW could do with tightening up this stuff. Lee vs DD is always a hoot but this is probably their weakest instalment. Given the non-finish, I’d be tempted to give the nod to AEW but Regal shouting angrily is enough to make honours even.
NXT 10-10 AEW. 48-48 so far.
Matt:Having only just got back into watching NXT weekly I am way less fatigued on Dijak/Lee and thus loved it. Two huge slabs of meat just hammering each other is my kind of wrestling and the finish sets up next week perfectly. It keeps the series tied so there still needs to be a winner plus Roddy gets caught out trying to be the heel. The tag match was fun but would of been way better with Luchasaurus.
NXT 10-9 AEW. 47-48 AEW so far.
Riddle/Reed & Boa/Dain vs Mox & Pac vs Page & Omega
JCH:It’s no secret I’m not big on 3 of the guys in this tag match, but I thought it was good. Pac was brilliant. Him getting angry with Mox about the possible DQ, because wins and losses matter, was superb. Little things that really resonated with me. He probably needn’t have worried with the standard of refereeing though, which was the only down point. Riddle and Reed was a fun competitive squash. Boa got to stand up for himself and put up a fight before being easily destroyed by Dain. Pac wins the day here.
NXT 9-10 AEW. 57-58 AEW so far.
Brum:Matt Riddle Jonah Rock could be a banger but, understandably, the focus should be on Riddle right now so there wasn’t a lot to this. Boa/Dain was the weakest segment of the show. I liked Mox fucking off PAC and this whole match was decent.
NXT 9-10 AEW. 57-58 so far.
Matt:Both NXT matches did what they had to but both were also fairly forgettable in the grand scheme of the show. I will say that I thought Reed did well in the 3 or 4 minutes he got. The tag match AEW put on was stacked with talent and they delivered a fun match with storyline implications for next week. Well woven stuff. Hangman Page is the truth.
NXT 9-10 AEW. 56-58 so far.
Dunne/Priest vs Allin/Jericho
JCH:About 2/3rd of the way through I think Allin and Jericho were on the way to sealing a victory for AEW. I was super impressed with Allin being able to wrestle with no arms .That was bloody good. But the Dunne/Priest match built excellently and wasn’t 30 mins long, so it wasn’t an unnecessarily long slow build. Good length match, with a really strong finishing stretch. Stealing the round for NXT.
NXT 10-9 AEW.
It came out a draw for me. I again enjoyed both shows. The segments were slightly harder to work out with NXT having a fair few sort of enhancement matches. The matches weren't as standout as last week, but there was plenty of story development.
Final Score 67-67
Brum:Damn, this is tough to judge. Darby Allin is an absolute star. He was brilliant throughout this match even though for most of it he had no arms. My only grumbles were (1) Darby should have passed out rather than tapped as it doesn’t really fit with his character; & (2) There was too much ref interaction for a street fight. I’ve never been much of a Martinez/Priest fan but Dunne got a cracker out of him tonight. It’s weird seeing Pete lose but the low blow made that OK. Tight one but because of the minor issues with Allin/Jericho, I’ll give it to NXT.
NXT 10-9 AEW.
We end in a draw at 67-67! I think I preferred NXT overall but the way the head-to-heads landed mainly worked in AEW’s favour.
Final Score 67-67
Matt:I know I am biased but Jericho is the GOAT and I am going for AEW here. Dunne/Priest was a good workrate encounter with plenty of moves but I failed to really connect because I didn't care who won. Jericho has created another fantastic character that you just want to get beat and Allin looked great as the underdog here. It wasn't the greatest main event but it had stakes and I enjoyed it.
NXT 9-10 AEW. Final score 65-68
The Decision is......A Majority Draw.
No winner this week as 2 draws edge out Matt's AEW vote, leaving the overall record at .
AEW 1
NXT 0
Draw 1
Extended Stats:
AEW by split decision - 1
Majority Draw - 1
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