I have to admit, Tony D’Angelo’s return to “NXT” had me confused for a few months now, but tonight, he really proved something, despite how crap the story around that return may have been. D’Angelo initially came back and attacked the Iron Survivor winner, Je’Von Evans, at Deadline, and then, after a few more random attacks on other “NXT” stars, set his focus on DarkState.

D’Angelo blamed the faction for the breakup of “The Family,” though D’Angelo’s last match before his hiatus was a triple threat victory against Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo and Luca Crusifino. All of that aside, his final target in DarkState after taking all the other members out was Dion Lennox, who has proved himself to be the faction’s leader in recent months, and their match, and the brawl before it, was a highlight of Vengeance Day, a definition of the word “vengeance” on D’Angelo’s part, if you will.

On the pre-show, Lennox called out D’Angelo and said he’d be waiting for him in the parking lot. Usually, a WWE Performance Center parking lot brawl is cheesy, but tonight, it worked extremely well for them, despite Blake Monroe and Jaida Parker’s street fight right before this actual pre-match street fight. Lennox was indeed waiting for D’Angelo to pull up, and when he did, it was on sight. The men had a wild brawl, which included D’Angelo slamming Lennox onto the hood of a car, and finding a random keg in the parking lot that he sent crashing through the windshield while trying to target the DarkState member.

The pair brawled for just the right amount of time, both in the parking lot, then through the backstage portion of the Performance Center. Of course, the rest of DarkState got involved, but they were fought off by OTM’s Lucien Price and Bronco Nima. After a referee kept calling for D’Angelo and Lennox to get in the ring, they crashed through the wall of the balcony at ringside, and the match officially got underway.

The match was just as good as the brawl, with Lennox pulling out an impressive spot when he suplexed D’Angelo from the ring barricade through the commentary desk. The former “Don of ‘NXT'” got the victory, as he should have here, and did so off a beautiful Dead to Rights, which looked like a powerbomb/chokeslam combo tonight, somehow.

While I didn’t love the thought of this match going in tonight, it was completely saved by the pre-match brawl and Lennox meeting D’Angelo outside to kick things off. I’m glad D’Angelo got the win here, and I’m sure we’ll hear on Tuesday what the second reason for coming back to “NXT” was now that he’s put DarkState down.

Written by Daisy Ruth