WWE NXT preview (Mar. 29, 2022): Side pieces

NXT 2.0 returns tonight (Mar. 29) live from the WWE Performance Center in Orlando!

Advertised for the show:

• Cameron Grimes vs. A-Kid vs. Roderick Strong for the final spot in Stand & Deliver’s North American Championship Ladder Match
• MSK & LA Knight vs. Imperium
• Josh Briggs & Brooks Jensen vs. Legado del Fantasma (Raul Mendoza & Joaquin Wilde)
• Nikita Lyons in action
• Bodhi Hayward vs. Von Wagner
• Ivy Nile vs. Tiffany Stratton
• Draco Anthony vs. Joe Gacy

As usual, here are our five questions about NXT tonight:

1) Are the NXT Women’s Tag titles even less relevant than their main roster equivalents now?

Gigi Dolin & Jacy Jayne have defended them once since winning them at Halloween Havoc last year. The Dusty Classic winners just said “no thanks” to a chance to win them, and it looks like they’ll be the only championship not defended at Stand & Deliver. At this point, they’re pieces of jewelry Mandy Rose’s entourage wears.

Meanwhile, Raw & SmackDown have thrown so much talent at the WWE Women’s Tag title scene it can’t help but be entertaining. There are obviously creative issues that led to wrestlers who could and should be singles stars being thrown in pairs for WrestleMania season. But what we’re getting is pretty fun, and makes it seem like the main roster ladies actually want those belts.

So the easy answer here is yes. The tougher part is whether or not we should expect anything to change. It probably will, but not necessarily because the NXT version is suddenly going to be better booked. The 4Way we now have for the brand’s singles championship very well could be a way to keep the belt on Rose, and that probably means Toxic Attraction all stays strapped up (sorry fellow Choo Crew members). Meanwhile, the WWE Women’s Tag titles are likely to recede back into the shadows again after ‘Mania.

Which is a shame, since there are talented women at all levels of the company who could use storylines. And tag wrestling in NXT would be a great way to get experience for the new crop of wrestlers that didn’t come from the independents. But both sets of Women’s Tag titles were introduced for promotional purposes rather than storytelling ones. This is what we get.

2) There’s no way Cameron Grimes is losing tonight, is there?

He’s got the most prominent storyline heading into tonight’s last chance qualifier, and Stand & Deliver’s North American title ladder match could definitely use an underdog the fans in Dallas can get behind (I guess Solo Sikoa is a babyface, but I don’t know that he’s someone folks will rally around — at least with what we’ve been given of his character thus far in his rollout).

Roderick Strong is welcome in any match, but whatever shine he’s getting these days is coming from his run in NXT UK, where he’ll challenge Ilja Dragunov for the title in a couple weeks. And speaking of that show...

3) What does A-Kid’s first few weeks tell us about the prospects of other NXT UK wrestlers?

His arrival kind of came out of nowhere, then he beat Kushida in his debut. That was followed by a loss to Grayson Waller that Waller’s muscle Sanga contributed to, and at least Kid got to dropkick the champ’s hypeman Trick Williams in the aftermath.

It’s decent enough booking for the Spaniard, but it would seem to signal he and similarly-sized fellows from across the pond will find 50/50 booking awaiting them in Florida. We’ll see if anything that happens in the next few weeks proves that notion wrong.

4) Will Chase U prove to be so entertaining it gets a push?

Sharnelli, shut the f*** up and let me finish.

Andre Chase & Bodhi Hayward are doing a bang-up job as the entertaining heels who put over good and bad guys who are rising up the card. But we’ve already reached a point where they’re consistently more entertaining than most of the wrestlers they’re doing jobs for. Chase isn’t going to break out as a singles star, but if Hayward (or a future recruit to the U) does show enough promise, he’d make a good manager. Keep your eyes on this act. It’s got more than just fortitude.

5) Is Tony D’Angelo bringing a defunct mob-owned hockey team to Stand & Deliver?

The Danbury Trashers were, well... I’ll just let the trailer for Netflix’s documentary about them explain it:

Even though the team’s been gone since 2006, they still have an online presence and sell merchandise. And they seem to have found a kindred spirit in NXT’s number one goombah, Tony D’Angelo.

Will Tony D come to the ring this weekend in Dallas riding on a trash truck, escorted by hockey goons? And if so will it be great, or the greatest? What possible answer could Tommaso Ciampa have for that?

Give us your questions and answers in the comments below. Then join us in our live blog, and we’ll see what Qs and As tonight’s show gives us.