Tonight, WWE’s NXT brand presents “Vengeance Day” from the F&M Bank Arena in Clarksville, Tennessee. While Austin Peay State University calls their athletes “Governors”, the NXT wrestlers who will compete in Clarksville will be trying to call themselves “champions”. Facebook, YouTube, & Peacock will have a half-hour kickoff show, then the event will begin at 8pm ET (7 CT, 6 MT, 5 PT) on Peacock & pay-per-view.
The main event will feature “The Mad Dragon” Ilja Dragunov defending the NXT Championship against Trick Williams. This match was supposed to take place on “NXT: New Year’s Evil 2024”, but Dragunov wasn’t medically cleared to compete. Williams earned a match for the NXT Title by dramatically winning the men’s “iron survivor” challenge at “NXT Deadline 2023” in December. However, the history of Dragunov & Williams dates back to last summer, when Dragunov defeated Williams on “NXT: Heatwave 2023” in a hard-fought battle. A big question coming into this match will be the state of Williams. He will have competed in a match, earlier tonight. Will he be physically able to wrestle Dragunov? Also, depending on the result of his 1st match, what will his emotional state be? If he comes in with a loss, that could make him easy prey for Dragunov. If he comes in with a win, Williams could feel like he could be the next NXT Champion.
Another championship match will feature Lyra Valkyria defending the NXT Women’s Title against Roxanne Perez. Valkyria & Perez are no strangers to each other. They were involved in a ladder match at “NXT Stand & Deliver 2023”, where Perez lost the championship to Indi Hartwell. On the October 3rd episode of NXT, Valkyria won a triple threat match against Perez & Hartwell to become #1 contender for the NXT Women’s Championship at “NXT: Halloween Havoc 2023”. She won the title on night 1 episode of “Halloween Havoc” by defeating “The Man” Becky Lynch. Perez earned her championship match by being 1 of the 4 surviving women from a 20-woman battle royal, then winning a fatal 4-way match against Fallon Henley, Kiana James, & Kelani Jordan. Though both women respect each other, Valkyria will do whatever it takes to remain the NXT Women’s Champion & Perez will do the same to regain the title.
As I mentioned, the NXT Championship match won’t be the only match for Trick Williams, tonight. He & Carmelo Hayes will compete against Baron Corbin & Bron Breakker in the finals of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. In the quarter-finals, Hayes & Williams defeated Edris Enofé & Malik Blade, while Corbin & Breakker defeated (Gallus members) Mark Coffey & Wolfgang. In the semi-finals, Hayes & Williams defeated (Latino World Order members) Joaquin Wilde & Cruz Del Toro, while Corbin & Breakker defeated Nathan Frazer & Axiom. With a win in tonight’s match, not only will one team win the Dusty Cup, but they will also receive a match for the NXT Tag Team Championship. While Breakker & Corbin have been an odd-couple team, Hayes & Williams have had cracks forming in their once-solid friendship for a few months. It will be interesting to see which team will be able to overcome their dissention & achieve victory.
Oba Femi will defend the NXT North American Championship against Dragon Lee. One week after winning the finals of the men’s NXT Breakout tournament at “New Year’s Evil”, Femi would use his guaranteed title match to win the NXT North American Title. Lee had successfully defended the title against Lexis King, but he had little time to celebrate the victory, as Femi ran to the ring have the match, at that moment. Despite a valiant effort, Lee would lose his championship to Femi. Now, with time to prepare, let’s see if Femi will continue his run of dominance or if Lee can regain the championship.
A 6-person tag team match will take place, as (NXT Tag Team Champions) “The Don” Tony D’Angelo & Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo team with Adriana Rizzo compete against Out the Mud members Bronco Nima, Lucien Price, & Jaida Parker. A few weeks ago, The D’Angelo Family successfully defended the NXT Tag Team Titles against Nima & Price, a few weeks ago, thanks to Rizzo preventing (another OTM member) Scrypts from interfering. Parker suggested that she is OTM’s “missing piece” to handle Rizzo. However, the Family usually adapts well to change. The experience that the champions have over Nima & Price is undeniable. The big question comes to the women. Though both women are fairly new to wrestling, Parker has a slight experience edge over Rizzo. Which woman will be more effective in helping their team earn a victory?
Last, but not least, Joe Gacy will battle Dijak in a “no disqualification” match. After Schism (the group Gacy led) disbanded, Gacy had been wandering throughout NXT as a lost soul, until a confrontation with Dijak gave him some direction. For weeks, these 2 have battled back & forth, causing harm to each other to the point, where (new NXT General Manager) Ava had to force these 2 to compete in a match where there will be no disqualifications. We’ve already seen what Gacy & Dijak are willing to do to each other, when there were rules in place. We can only imagine what they will do when there are no rules.
When tonight is all said & done, some will leave suburban Nashville with their heads down in defeat. Others will leave the Music City area saying “Vengeance is mine”, because they will have achieved victory. “Vengeance Day” has arrived & it’s coming for everyone.