WWE NXT Results, Winners, Live Grades, Reaction, Highlights From April 28

The April 28 edition of WWE NXT saw the brand dealing with the fallout of WrestleMania weekend and NXT Revenge, highlighting new stars in the wake of multiple call-ups.

Tony D'Angelo addressed his next challengers for the NXT Championship. Lizzy Rain made her debut.

Ricky Saints hoped to make a statement at the expense of Shiloh Hill. Myles Borne defended the North American Championship against Saquon Shugars.

Who would make their mark? Which stars would set their course to take over this new-look NXT?

North American Championship: Myles Borne (c) vs. Saquon Shugars

Last Time in Action: Myles Borne defeated Dion Lennox to defend his North American Championship (NXT Revenge, April 21); Saquon Shugars alongside Dion Lennox, Osiris Griffin and Cutler James lost to Tony D'Angelo, Ethan Page, Ricky Saints and Joe Hendry (NXT, April 7).

DarkState tried to interfere early to take down Borne, but the champion fought hard to avoid any distractions.

During the early parts of this match, the turnbuckle got partially exposed, allowing Shugars to send Borne into unprotected steel and take over.

The champion fought back, countering off the top rope with a crossbody for a near-fall. DarkState got involved again, trying to distract the referee.

Dion Lennox threatened to attack Borne with a steel chair during the distraction, but Shugars stopped him. Borne sent Shugars into Lennox followed by a Borne Again for the victory.

Afterward, a newcomer to NXT, Mr. England Tristan Angel, warned Borne that he was here to make a statement followed by a sneak attack on the champion by LFG's Kam Hendrix.

This was a rushed opportunity for Shugars, who has extremely limited singles experience. Even DarkState as a whole lack credibility right now to pull off the upset with interference.

However, Shugars worked well in this spot, and Borne got another title defense to his name.

The finish was a downer as it made little sense. Shugars had no reason to get in the way of Lennox with the referee thoroughly distracted. It was a contrived issue that further hurts DarkState's credibility.

The post-match was a good way to quickly showcase two new stars as NXT rebuilds its roster following the call-ups.

This is where NXT typically thrives. Fresh stars can prove themselves with bigger opportunities, and it should be interesting to see who amongst the new crop will be the next Trick Williams or Oba Femi.

Result

Borne def. Shugars by pinfall to retain the North American Championship.

Grade

B-

Notable Moments and Observations

The show started with a highlight reel of NXT Revenge.

A video from earlier in the day sowed Robert Stone talking with Shawn Michaels and Matt Bloom about challenging this roster to breakout.

The way DarkState can easily distract the referee to set up uneven odds should make it near-impossible for them to lose singles matches. Instead, they never win.

DarkState started so strong so fast in NXT that it feels like they are actually on track to drop below the brand new additions to the roster from Evolve/LFG.

Tony D'Angelo Meets EVIL and Faces a Surprise Attack

Kevin Sabitus/WWE via Getty Images

Tony D'Angelo called out his next challenge for the NXT Championship.

Tony D'Angelo asked whoever called him out with a box last week to come out and face him. The lights went out, and a new NXT threat arrived in the form of EVIL.

The former IWGP heavyweight champion handed the champion a scroll indicating war was coming for him.

As EVIL walked away, Tavion Heights laid out D'Angelo with a belly-to-belly then a mystery man (English professional wrestler Will Kroos) hit the champ with a Moonsault.

No matter how hard NXT is working to build new stars quickly, the approach of throwing a bunch of wrestlers at the screen does not work.

What started as a strong debut for EVIL became a bloated segment, selling Heights' new heel focus and debuting another star at the same time.

This mirrored the post-match interruptions for Myles Borne, which is bad booking all around. The more NXT repeats itself, the less impact each appearance will have.

Heights going after D'Angelo means so much less than the eventual collision with a former IWGP heavyweight champion going after the gold.

Grade

D

Notable Moments and Observations

Vic Joseph put over EVIL big while giving the surprise Kroos attack a "is that a fan?". Hopefully, that is an intentional gimmick call.

It is unclear what EVIL's NXT name will be yet, but the crowd knew his New Japan name immediately.

Tatum Paxley and Shiloh Hill laid Blake Monroe to rest in a graveyard.

BirthRight vs. EK Prosper and Sean Legacy

WWE/WWE via Getty Images

BirthRight lost to a returning Sean Legacy backing up EK Prosper.

Last Time in Action: EK Prosper lost to Lexis King in the Men's Speed Championship final (NXT, April 21). Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo and Uriah Connors alongside King, Arianna Grace and Charlie Dempsey lost to Prosper, Shiloh Hill, Hank and Tank and Wren Sinclair (NXT: Countdown to Stand & Deliver, April 4). Sean Legacy and Prosper defeated Jasper Troy (NXT, March 10).

BirthRight arrived with a smile, mocking their opponents before revealing they had laid out Dorian Van Dux backstage.

Prosper arrived followed quickly by a returning Legacy, starting a brawl that became a tag team match.

Prosper and Legacy showed chemistry that out-shined BirthRight throughout the fast-paced action in this contest, winning with Legacy's Shambles on Stacks.

BirthRight attacked both men after the match until Evolve's Tate Wilder came in to make the save.

Losses like this certainly do not help BirthRight's standing in NXT, but it was nice to see Legacy back in action.

The action was fast paced and made Legacy look great. In a new-look NXT, he should be a major rising star in the division.

Even with King's Men's Speed Championship win, BirthRight needs so much more credibility as a group.

It is another showcase of NXT's inability to build reliable heel factions, which makes it more difficult to build big babyfaces that can contest them.

Result

Legacy and Prosper def. Stacks and Connors

Grade

C+

Notable Moments and Observations

Backstage afterward, Stone put over Tate and welcomed him to NXT.

Kali Armstrong got in Jaida Parker's face in the locker room until the other women had to break it up.

NXT aired a quick video announcement from Shawn Michaels that NXT premium live events would air on The CW going forward.

Lola Vice Gets Ahead of The Culling Thanks to Mr. Iguana

Andrea Kellaway/WWE via Getty Images

Lola Vice got revenge after last week's Culling sneak attack.

Lola Vice charged to the ring to call out Izzi Dame. Shawn Spears appeared on the titantron to distract Vice for the arrival of Dame and Niko Vance.

Vice countered with the arrival of her AAA mixed tag team champion Mr. Iguana, and the champions cleared the ring together.

This was a better and more focused segment than last week. An angry Vice is a better promo, allowing her to seamlessly mix English and Spanish and keep it short.

Dame and Vance vs. Vice and Iguana makes sense for an immediate direction in NXT, even if WWE should have the NXT women's champion regularly defended her primary title first.

Two weeks ago, three women stepped up as future challengers to Vice, but two of them have lost interest quickly. It is odd booking.

Grade

B-

Notable Moments and Observations

In the locker room, Kendal Grey and Wren Sinclair talked about next steps. Kelani Jordan interrupted and challenge Sinclair to a non-title match.