NXT Vengeance Day | |||
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Promotion | WWE | ||
Brand(s) | NXT | ||
Date | February 4, 2023 | ||
City | Charlotte, North Carolina | ||
Venue | Spectrum Center | ||
Attendance | 5,719 | ||
WWE Network event chronology | |||
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Vengeance chronology | |||
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NXT major events chronology | |||
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The 2023 NXT Vengeance Day was the 11th Vengeance professional wrestling event produced by WWE, and the third annual held for the promotion's NXT brand division. It took place on Saturday, February 4, 2023, at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, marking the first major NXT event to be held in North Carolina and the second Vengeance event held at this venue after the 2006 event, when it was formerly known as Charlotte Bobcats Arena (renamed in 2016).
Unlike the previous year's event, which was held as a television special, the 2023 event was held as a livestreaming event, marking the first Vengeance Day to air on Peacock. It was also the first Vengeance, as well as NXT's first major event, to be livestreamed on Binge in Australia. This also marked the first standalone NXT livestreaming event to be held outside of Florida since NXT TakeOver: Portland in February 2020, and the second NXT event overall held outside of Florida since then, after the WrestleMania 38 week event, NXT Stand & Deliver in April 2022.
Six matches were contested at the event. In the main event, Bron Breakker defeated Grayson Waller in a Steel Cage match to retain the NXT Championship. In other prominent matches, Gallus (Mark Coffey and Wolfgang) defeated defending champions The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods), Pretty Deadly (Elton Prince and Kit Wilson), and Chase University (Andre Chase and Duke Hudson) in a fatal four-way tag team match to win the NXT Tag Team Championship, and Roxanne Perez defeated Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne in a triple threat match to retain the NXT Women's Championship. The event also saw the return of Dabba-Kato, formerly known as Commander Azeez.
Vengeance was originally established as a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event for WWE in 2001 and it was held annually until 2007, followed by a one-off event in 2011. Since its revival in 2021, it has been held annually in February for WWE's developmental brand NXT under the title NXT Vengeance Day, a reference to the event taking place on or around Valentine's Day. [1] On December 8, 2022, NXT's third Vengeance Day event, and 11th Vengeance overall, was announced to be held on Saturday, February 4, 2023, at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, marking the first major NXT event to be held in North Carolina and the second Vengeance event held at this venue after the 2006 event, when it was formerly known as Charlotte Bobcats Arena (renamed in 2016). Tickets went on sale on December 16. [2]
Unlike the 2022 event, which was held as a television special, [3] the 2023 Vengeance Day was a livestreaming event (but not PPV), airing on Peacock in the United States and the WWE Network in international markets, in turn marking the first Vengeance to air on Peacock due to the American version of the WWE Network merging under Peacock in March 2021 (beginning with the 2022 calendar year, NXT's major events no longer air on PPV, only livestreaming). [4] It was also the first Vengeance, as well as NXT's first major event, to livestream on Binge in Australia after the Australian version of the WWE Network merged under Foxtel's channel Binge in January. [5] This also marked the first standalone NXT livestreaming event to be held outside of Florida since NXT TakeOver: Portland in February 2020, just before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the second NXT event overall held outside of Florida since then, after the WrestleMania 38 week event, NXT Stand & Deliver in April 2022. [2]
The card included matches that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the NXT brand, while storylines were produced on the weekly television program, NXT , and the supplementary online streaming show, Level Up . [6] [7]
On the January 3 episode of NXT, a brawl broke out among many of the female wrestlers. Later that night, NXT Women's Champion Roxanne Perez announced that a battle royal would occur at NXT: New Year's Evil to determine the number one contender for her title at Vengeance Day. [8] At New Year's Evil, Toxic Attraction members Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne were declared the co-winners of the battle royal after they simultaneously eliminated each other. It was then decided that Perez would defend the title in a triple threat match against Dolin and Jayne at Vengeance Day. [9]
At NXT: New Year's Evil, Bron Breakker defended the NXT Championship against men's Iron Survivor Challenge winner Grayson Waller. During the match, Waller stood on the middle rope to perform a move, but the rope broke, causing him to fall out of the ring. Waller was unable to make it back in the ring in time to beat the referee's ten count, thus Breakker retained by countout. Later that night, NXT lead official Shawn Michaels announced that due to the issues with the ropes, a rematch would occur at Vengeance Day, this time as a Steel Cage match. [9]
After Wes Lee's successful NXT North American Championship defense on the November 22, 2022, episode of NXT, Dijak made his return to NXT and attacked Lee from behind—Dijak previously performed in NXT as Dominik Dijakovic before being promoted to Raw as T-Bar. [10] At NXT: New Year's Evil, Dijak defeated Tony D'Angelo to become the number one contender to Lee's title and the match was scheduled for Vengeance Day. [9]
At NXT Deadline, SmackDown's The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods) defeated Pretty Deadly (Elton Prince and Kit Wilson) to win the NXT Tag Team Championship. [11] At NXT: New Year's Evil, the returning Gallus (Mark Coffey and Wolfgang) won a gauntlet match to become the number one contenders for the NXT Tag Team Championship, lastly eliminating Pretty Deadly. [9] The following week, Pretty Deadly interrupted The New Day as they spoke in the ring, followed by Gallus, and then a brawl started between the three teams, which led to Pretty Deadly being added to the match, turning it into a triple threat tag team match. [12] However, on the January 24 episode of NXT, The New Day announced a tag team invitational match between The Dyad (Jagger Reid and Rip Fowler), Chase University (Andre Chase and Duke Hudson), and Malik Blade and Edris Enofé for the following week's episode, where the winners would be added to the title match, [13] which was won by Chase University. [14]
On the December 20, 2022, episode of NXT, Apollo Crews made his first appearance since his NXT Championship loss at NXT Deadline. He talked about not staying out of title contention when Carmelo Hayes interrupted. After the two traded barbs, they agreed to a match at a future date. [15] The following week, Hayes and Trick Williams promised to defeat Crews and Axiom, respectively, on the January 3, 2023, episode, [16] which they subsequently did. [8] At NXT: New Year's Evil, Axiom and Crews agreed to take on Hayes and Williams the following week, [9] where Axiom and Crews won when Crews pinned Hayes. [12] On the January 24 episode, during a segment in a barbershop, Crews challenged Hayes to a two out of three falls match at Vengeance Day, which was made official. [13]
Role: | Name: |
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Commentators | Vic Joseph |
Booker T | |
Spanish commentators | Marcelo Rodríguez |
Jerry Soto | |
Ring announcer | Alicia Taylor |
Referees | Adrian Butler |
Chip Danning | |
Dallas Irvin | |
Derek Sanders | |
Joey Gonzalez | |
Interviewer | McKenzie Mitchell |
Pre-show panel | Sam Roberts |
Matt Camp |
The event began with Wes Lee defending the NXT North American Championship against Dijak. In the closing moments, Dijak attempted a moonsault, but Tony D'Angelo and Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo appeared, and took the bullet for Lee. Lee took advantage to perform the Cardiac Kick on Dijak to retain the title. [17]
In the next match, Kayden Carter and Katana Chance defended the NXT Women's Tag Team Championship against Fallon Henley and Kiana James (accompanied by Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen). In the closing stages, as Katana and Kayden were preparing for their Neckbreaker/450° splash combination, Henley countered it into a version of the schoolgirl pin, with James holding Carter's legs outside the ring to keep her pinned and become the new NXT Women's Tag Team Champions. This win made Henley and James the first team to win the NXT Women's Tag Team Championship on the main card of an NXT premium live event. [17]
Next, Apollo Crews took on Carmelo Hayes (accompanied by Trick Williams) in a two out of three falls match. Carmelo secured the first fall after a crossface chickenwing, forcing Apollo to submit. The second fall came after the returning Dabba-Kato distracted Apollo, allowing Hayes to perform the Nothing But Net to score a sweeping 2-0 win. After the match, Kato acted like he was helping Apollo to his feet, but instead dragged him into a headbutt and performed the Sky High onto a steel chair. [17]
In the fourth match, The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods) defended the NXT Tag Team Championship against Pretty Deadly (Kit Wilson and Elton Prince), Gallus (Mark Coffey and Wolfgang), and Chase University (Andre Chase and Duke Hudson) (accompanied by Thea Hail) in a fatal four-way tag team match. In the closing moments, with all four teams taken out, Coffey and Wolfgang performed a forearm assisted Emerald Flowsion combination to pin Woods down and become the new NXT Tag Team Champions. [17]
In the penultimate match, Roxanne Perez defended the NXT Women's Championship against Toxic Attraction's Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne in a triple threat match. In the end, Dolin was thrown through a table and Jayne suffered a top-rope Pop Rocks to secure the win for Perez. [17]
In the main event, Bron Breakker defended the NXT Championship against Grayson Waller in a Steel Cage match. While Breakker made his entrance, he broke a logo of Waller's talk show on a poster. Before the match, Waller slammed the cage door into Breakker, who did the same to Waller, with the match starting afterwards. Waller performed an elbow drop on Breakker for a nearfall. Waller then tied Breakker in the ropes and speared him. Breakker then untangled himself. Waller performed an Ace Crusher on Breakker for a nearfall. In the closing moments, Waller went to the top of the cage, but Breakker met him up there and performed a superplex. Breakker followed up with a Spear, and then a second Spear on Waller to retain the title. After the match, Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams appeared. Hayes and Breakker stared each other down as the event ended. [17]
Dave Meltzer rated Wes Lee vs. Dijak 4.5 stars, the highest of the night. The main event received 3.25 stars, with the 2/3 falls match receiving the same rating. The NXT Women's Championship match received 3 stars, while the NXT Tag Team Championship match received 3.5 stars. Finally, the NXT Women's Tag Team Championship match received 2.25 stars, the lowest of the night.
Carmelo Hayes (with Trick Williams) opened the following episode of NXT to talk about his win at Vengeance Day, and turned his attention to Bron Breakker and the NXT Championship. [18] Over the coming weeks, he continued to set his sights on the title until a title match between Breakker and Hayes was made official for NXT Stand & Deliver. [19]
Also on NXT, new NXT Women's Tag Team Champions Fallon Henley and Kiana James argued about the way they won at Vengeance Day before they walked into a party to celebrate their win, hosted by Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen. [18]
During the party, Pretty Deadly (Kit Wilson and Elton Prince) and Chase University (Andre Chase and Duke Hudson) declared for a match later that night, where Pretty Deadly won. After the match, they were confronted by Gallus (Mark Coffey and Wolfgang). [18] This sparked a feud between the two teams, which led to a title match on the March 14 episode, where Gallus retained. [20]
Footage was shown of Grayson Waller storming into Shawn Michaels' office after Vengeance Day, resulting in him being suspended for a week. [18] After more confrontations, on the February 21 episode of NXT, Waller told Michaels to meet him face-to-face at NXT: Roadblock on March 7, [21] which was confirmed the following week. [22]
On the February 21 episode of NXT, Dabba-Kato explained that he turned on Apollo Crews at Vengeance Day because he blamed him for leaving Kato behind when Crews returned to NXT in June 2021. [21] The two would have a match on the March 14 episode, where Kato was victorious. [20]
After costing Dijak his NXT North American Championship match at Vengeance Day, Tony D'Angelo continued feuding with Dijak. On the February 21 episode, D'Angelo challenged Dijak to a Jailhouse Street Fight for NXT: Roadblock, [21] which Dijak accepted a week later. [22]
After they failed to defeat Roxanne Perez for the NXT Women's Championship, Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne were guests on Bayley's talk show, "Ding Dong, Hello!". Dolin and Jayne talked about whether they should go for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship on the main roster or go their separate ways. After it looked like Dolin and Jayne would stay together, Jayne attacked Dolin with a superkick, breaking up Toxic Attraction in the process. [18] Over the next few weeks, Jayne and Dolin talked about their breakup and on the February 28 episode, a match between the two was scheduled for Roadblock. [22]
Christopher James Dijak is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to Major League Wrestling (MLW), where he performs under the ring name Donovan Dijak and is a member of the World Titan Federation stable. He also currently works on the independent circuit. He is best known for his tenure in WWE, where he performed under the ring names Dominik Dijakovic, T-Bar, and Dijak.
Barry Young is a Scottish professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT brand, under the ring name Wolfgang. He is a member of Gallus and is a former NXT Tag Team champion with stable mate Mark Coffey, as well as being a former tag team champion in now defunct NXT UK brand alongside Mark Coffey.
Christian Brigham is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand, under the ring name Carmelo Hayes. He is a former one-time NXT Champion, a two-time and longest combined reigning NXT North American Champion, and a one-time and the final NXT Cruiserweight Champion, having unified it with the NXT North American Championship.
Carla Gonzalez is an American professional wrestler. As of March 2022, she is signed to WWE where she performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Roxanne Perez. She is the NXT Women's Champion in her record-tying second reign, and a former NXT Women's Tag Team Champion with Cora Jade. Prior to signing with WWE, Gonzalez wrestled under the ring name Rok-C in Ring of Honor (ROH), where she was the inaugural ROH Women's World Champion. She also worked for several independent promotions such as Reality of Wrestling.
Toxic Attraction was an American villainous professional wrestling stable in WWE on the NXT brand. The group originally consisted of Mandy Rose, Gigi Dolin, and Jacy Jayne. After Rose was released from her WWE contract in December 2022, Toxic Attraction became a tag team of Dolin and Jayne before they split in February 2023, ending the group.
The 2021 NXT Halloween Havoc was the second annual Halloween Havoc professional wrestling event produced by WWE, and 14th Halloween Havoc event overall. It was held exclusively for wrestlers from the promotion's NXT brand division. The event aired as a special episode of WWE's weekly television series NXT, broadcast on the USA Network. It took place on October 26, 2021, at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. The television special was hosted by Chucky in a crosspromotion for the Chucky TV series, with NXT wrestlers Grayson Waller and LA Knight also serving as hosts.
Taylor Grado is an American professional wrestler signed to WWE where she performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Jacy Jayne and is a member of the Fatal Influence stable. She is a former record-tying two-time NXT Women's Tag Team Champion.
The 2021 NXT WarGames was the fifth annual and final NXT WarGames professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was held exclusively for wrestlers from the promotion's NXT brand division, which reverted to being WWE's developmental territory in September. The event took place on December 5, 2021, at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, and was the first WarGames to livestream on Peacock. It was also the last WWE PPV and livestreaming event to carry the term "pay-per-view" as WWE began to use the term "premium live event" for these major events beginning with Day 1 the following month.
The 2022 NXT: New Year's Evil was the second annual NXT: New Year's Evil professional wrestling television special produced by WWE, and third New Year's Evil overall. It was held primarily for wrestlers from the promotion's NXT brand division. The event took place on January 4, 2022, at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida and aired live as a special episode of WWE's weekly television series NXT on the USA Network. This was the final event to feature the NXT Cruiserweight Championship, as it was unified into the NXT North American Championship at this event.
The 2022 NXT Stand & Deliver was the second annual Stand & Deliver professional wrestling livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was held primarily for wrestlers from the promotion's NXT brand division. The event took place on Saturday, April 2, 2022, at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas as part of WrestleMania Weekend, being held the same day as WrestleMania 38 Night 1 with a special start time of 1 p.m. Eastern Time.
The 2022 NXT Vengeance Day was the 10th Vengeance professional wrestling event produced by WWE, and the second annual held for the promotion's NXT brand division. It took place on February 15, 2022, at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. It aired as a special episode of NXT. In lieu of its normal channel, the USA Network, the television special aired on Syfy due to USA's broadcasting of the 2022 Winter Olympics in NXT's normal slot.
The 2022 NXT Roadblock was the third Roadblock professional wrestling event produced by WWE. It was held primarily for wrestlers from the NXT brand division. Unlike the previous two Roadblock events, NXT Roadblock aired as a special episode of NXT on the USA Network. The television special took place on March 8, 2022, at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. The event's title is a reference to its position on the road to NXT Stand & Deliver, NXT's WrestleMania week event. This was the first Roadblock event since Roadblock: End of the Line in December 2016.
The 2022 Spring Breakin' was the inaugural Spring Breakin' professional wrestling event produced by WWE. It was held primarily for wrestlers from the NXT brand division. Spring Breakin' aired as a special episode of NXT. The television special took place on May 3, 2022, at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida and aired on the USA Network.
The 2022 NXT Heatwave was a professional wrestling television special produced by the American promotion WWE. This was the first Heatwave event held by WWE, as it was previously produced by the former Extreme Championship Wrestling promotion, which WWE acquired in 2003, thus making this the eighth Heatwave overall and the first since 2000. The event was held for wrestlers from WWE's NXT brand division. It aired as a special episode of the NXT program on the USA Network and was broadcast live on August 16, 2022, from the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.
The 2022 Worlds Collide was the third Worlds Collide professional wrestling livestreaming event produced by WWE. While the event was held primarily for wrestlers from the promotion's NXT and NXT UK brand divisions, Worlds Collide also featured some wrestlers from WWE's main roster brands, Raw and SmackDown. It took place on Sunday, September 4, 2022, at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, and was the first Worlds Collide to livestream on Peacock. This was the first Worlds Collide event since 2020 and also the final event for NXT UK, which was meant to relaunch as NXT Europe in 2023. This was also NXT's last major event in which the brand was referred to as "NXT 2.0", as nine days later, the "2.0" moniker was dropped.
The 2022 NXT Halloween Havoc was the third annual Halloween Havoc professional wrestling event produced by WWE, and 15th Halloween Havoc event overall. It was held exclusively for wrestlers from the promotion's NXT brand division. Unlike the previous two years, which aired as television specials, the 2022 Halloween Havoc aired as a livestreaming event. It took place on Saturday, October 22, 2022, at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. SmackDown wrestler Shotzi returned to co-host the event with NXT wrestler Quincy Elliott; Shotzi previously hosted the 2020 event when she was still on NXT. In a cross-promotion with the Chucky TV series, Chucky returned to participate in the Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal segments.
The 2023 NXT Stand & Deliver was the third annual Stand & Deliver professional wrestling livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was held exclusively for wrestlers from the promotion's NXT brand division. The event took place on Saturday, April 1, 2023, at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California as part of WrestleMania Weekend, being held the same day as WrestleMania 39 Night 1 with a special start time of 1 p.m. Eastern Time 10 a.m. Pacific Time. WWE wrestlers Pretty Deadly served as the hosts of the event. This was also the first Stand & Deliver to livestream on Binge in Australia.
The 2023 NXT: New Year's Evil was the third annual NXT: New Year's Evil professional wrestling television special produced by WWE, and fourth New Year's Evil overall. It was held exclusively for wrestlers from the promotion's NXT brand division. The event took place on January 10, 2023, at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida and aired live as a special episode of WWE's weekly television series NXT on the USA Network.
The 2023 NXT Roadblock was the fourth Roadblock professional wrestling event produced by WWE. It was primarily for wrestlers from the NXT brand division. Like the previous Roadblock event, NXT Roadblock aired as a special episode of NXT on the USA Network. The television special took place on March 7, 2023, at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. The event's title is a reference to its position on the road to NXT Stand & Deliver, NXT's WrestleMania Weekend event.
The 2023 Spring Breakin' was the second annual Spring Breakin' professional wrestling event produced by WWE. It was held primarily for wrestlers from the NXT brand division. Spring Breakin' aired as a special episode of NXT. The television special took place on April 25, 2023, at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida and aired on the USA Network.