7 Ups And 3 Downs From NXT Stand And Deliver 2023

by Scott Carlson

1. Cardiac Event

Wow. Just wow.

The NXT North American Championship five-way match was a fantastic display of talent and athleticism that had fans on their feet the entire time. If that sounds like a clichéd statement, it’s because there’s no way to adequately describe the action. It was a frenzied blur that saw each man get plenty of shine, beating everyone else into tar.

One spot worth singling out: On the weekend that Rey Mysterio was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, there was a nice little nod to him and Eddie Guerrero when Axiom hit the same moonsault DDT off the top rope onto JD McDonagh, a callback to Rey and Eddie’s 1997 Halloween Havoc classic.

The end saw champion Wes Lee nail the Cardiac Kick to on Ilja Dragunov to retain his North American title. But seriously, you could pull up the match and find plenty of spots where each of the five men stole the spotlight.

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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 fortunately became a fan in time for WrestleMania III and came back as a fan after a long high school hiatus before WM XIV. Monday nights in the Carlson household are reserved for viewing Raw -- for better or worse.