4 Ups And 6 Downs From NXT Vengeance Day

by Scott Carlson

1. Underdog Babyface Triumphs

NXT Vengeance Day 2023 Wes Lee Dijak
WWE.com

Show of hands: When Nash Carter was released last year and Wes Lee was left on his own, did anyone think he’d be holding the NXT North American Championship and wowing fans in singles action at a PLE?

But here was Lee on Saturday, leading off Vengeance Day, fighting from underneath against the much bigger and stronger Dijak to defend his title. Since his return to NXT, Dijak has been cast (whether deliberately or ironically) as every '80s action movie villain. And Lee is the undersized, unlikely North American Champion.

The two slammed on the gas Saturday, wailing on each other, with Dijak using his size early on to dominate, until they flipped a switch. After struggling several times to muscle him over, Lee nailed a bridging German suplex for a 2-count. From then on, it was a sprint of counters, dazzling offense (including a Space Flying Tiger Drop) and shows of strength from Wes, who hit Dijak with a variation of Landslide for another close pinfall.

Lee refused to give up and kept fighting from underneath, finally overcoming Dijak (with some help from Tony D’Angelo and Stacks) to retain his title. It was a really good showcase for Wes, and it showed that NXT can book a smaller babyface against a larger heel, which has been a blindspot for WWE forever.

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Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.