I usually find Cross's act to be cheesy and not all that good, but it worked well contrasted with Baszler's MMA hardass character. Cross milks the mind games and Baszler's perplexed reaction to them is entertaining.

 

You aren't going to find many epic spots here. It's the brilliant character work and compact running time that makes this Nikki Cross's best match in an NXT ring so far.

 

★★★¼

Thankfully this didn't went long - not because either wrestler is bad, but there's only so much you can do with this dynamic before the match gets boring.

 

Cross is great at her character and the fact that she got a kick out of being put to sleep is some great touches but also indicative that NXT books for fetishists sometimes.

 

Shayna is just great. Just vicious as fuck.

This match was a bit of a disappointment considering what both wrestlers are capable of. I really liked the opening moments of Nikki messing with Shayna's head and keeping the normally dominant champion off her game. But after the promising first few minutes, things never really took off. Very much just an exchange of moves until Shayna could lock on the choke. Nikki's expression of bliss was cool but the finish still felt a tad anti-climactic.

 

Not bad but not exactly very good either. **1/2.