AEW has destroyed NXT in the ratings for over two years, but tonight was NXT’s night. Hands down, Stand and Deliver did just that. Every match was a solid one and set up what will be an amazing second night tomorrow.
Matches:
Zoey Stark vs. Toni Storm: A great opening match that saw Stark counter Storm Zero and win with the Inside Cradle- this kid is going places.
Kushida vs. Pete Dunne: This could have been a main event if one of them had a title. Dunne put Kushida away with The Bitter End, but it took everything he had.
Leon Ruff vs. Isaiah “Swerve” Scott vs. Bronson Reed vs. Cameron Grimes vs. Dexter Lumis vs. LA Knight (Gauntlet match for a North American title shot on Night 2): Swerve and Ruff stole the show here with their speed, tightening up a match that got clunky. Reed eventually won with the Tsunami to earn a shot at the NXT North American Championship.
NXT United Kingdom Champion Walter vs. Tommaso Ciampa: Another match that could have been a main event. Walter ultimately got the win thanks to devastating Boot after a pair of Powerbombs and a Release German Suplex.
Vacant NXT Tag Team Championship: MSK: Wes Lee and Nash Carter vs. Grizzled Young Veterans: James Drake and Zack Gibson vs. Legado Del Fantasma: Raul Mendoza and Joaquin Wilde: All three teams looked great, but someone had to win. MSK managed to reverse The Ticket to Mayhem and after a Double Cutter, hit the Assisted Blockbuster for the win.
NXT Women’s Champion: Io Shirai vs. Raquel Gonzalez: Shirai did everything but win and Gonzalez needed two One-Armed Powerbombs to get the strap.
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports.
Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders.
His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023.
Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief.
Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale.
Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.
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