I started off tonight’s episode of “NXT” really liking that they acknowledged they lost some major talent right off the bat. The first thing we saw was a meeting between General Manager Robert Stone, Matt Bloom, and Shawn Michaels backstage, with the “Heartbreak Kid” basically telling Stone that he could worry and think things over, and plan it all out, or he could throw a metaphorical stick of dynamite into the locker room and see what happens. Seems like the latter happened tonight, and I really, really enjoyed all the chaos.

Every new person we saw, whether it was a new face to WWE entirely, or someone who has performed on “WWE EVOLVE” before, was a man, but I actually thought it was fine that we didn’t see any new, surprise women tonight. A Nikki Blackheart debut would have been cool, but I think WWE was smart to give Lizzy Rain her time to shine and really get over with fans.

The way the debuts happened felt so chaotic and was really fun. I didn’t expect to see anyone after Myles Borne’s successful defense over Saquon Shugars, since the story there is the dissension within DarkState, so when Tristan Angels appeared out of nowhere, I was surprised. I then didn’t expect Kam Hendrix to appear behind Borne and take him out, all while I was pondering who the heck the first guy is. It set a nice tone for the chaos that was to come throughout the night.

NXT Champion Tony D’Angelo was set to address the crowd and his challengers after receiving a box marked with Japanese letters. He didn’t have to wonder about the box for long, however, as former NJPW star EVIL’s music hit, and he made his way down the ramp to confront the champion. The chaos was built even further after his big debut, however, with a bigger blonde man, identified as former Progress talent Will Kroos, who hit an impressive moonsault to D’Angelo. Tavion Heights also made his presence known, and though not a debut, after his backstage confrontation with Borne later in the night, I thought it was very effective. We also got Wilder involved in the tag match with BirthRight, and while I don’t know much about him, it seems like the crowd already loves him.

While I kind of expected someone to come out and beat down Shiloh Hill after his win over Ricky Saints, I was glad that WWE let that one breathe. Immediately after, we were taken backstage again, with D’Angelo telling Michaels he also loved the chaos, and he was ready, which I think was a solid way to end an interesting and exciting edition of “NXT.”

Written by Daisy Ruth