A Long Overdue Welcome to Vice City

This weekend, we were treated to NXT's annual Stand and Deliver event, which is NXT's biggest event of the year. This was the sixth Stand and Deliver event; it started as one of NXT's many "Takeover" events in 2021, and then the "Takeover" label was removed on the following year. One constant remained true: Stand and Deliver always took place on the first weekend of April, which served as WrestleMania weekend until last year. The event usually took place early on that Saturday due to WM being a two night event since 2020, but ever since WWE made WM a mid-April event, Stand and Deliver gets the primetime spotlight.

This year's Stand and Deliver event saw three women's matches on the card (four if you count the mega mixed tag bout on the pre-show). One bout was a Women's North American Championship contest between Tatum Paxley and former titleholder Blake Monroe. In another, Sol Ruca and Zaria engaged in a heated battle between longtime friends who were torn apart by ambition and jealousy. However, the main bout for me was the Triple Threat contest for the NXT Women's Championship, with champion Jacy Jayne defending against challengers Lola Vice and Kendal Grey.

Here's how this came to be. A #1 Contender's match between Lola Vice and Kendal Grey ended with the combatants cancelling each other out. Jacy figured that she had a way out, but Interim GM Robert Stone made the announcement that it will be a Triple Threat Match for the title. I was quite confident that I would get the result that I wanted, and here's why:

Jacy Jayne had been running wild with the title for a good bit. I see it as one long reign, but it's two reigns, as she first lost the title to Tatum Paxley, but got it back weeks later after Izzi Dame betrayed Tatum. I have never been crazy about this forced fast push, because WWE does this too much. They force push their favorites knowing that they're not ready, but those who are actually worthy either have to jump through unnecessary hoops, get buried, or get released--or all of the above. I remember Toxic Attraction. Jacy was basically the third wheel of that group. Mandy Rose was, well, Mandy Rose. Gigi Dolin was known all over the indies as Priscilla Kelly. Jacy's the question mark. I still don't understand them releasing Gigi, but I don't understand a lot of the dumb things WWE does, including overpushing a not ready Jacy Jayne.

Kendal Grey. Loved her in WWE Evolve, she definitely earned her path to becoming Women's Evolve Champion, even continuing to hold the title as she made NXT appearances. Her partnership with Wren Sinclair is amazing, and as we expected, with Kendal appearing on NXT pretty much on a regular basis, Kendal vacated the title, which she held for many months. Stand and Deliver wasn't Kendal's first shot; while she was Women's Evolve Champion, Kendal won the Iron Survivor match and received her first opportunity at New Year's Evil in January.

The match was chaotic, and of course, Jacy's Fatal Influence cohorts, Fallon Henley and Lainey Reid, got involved, because of course they did. As we all remember, Lola's last attempt to become champion was thwarted by a masked Lainey Reid at No Mercy; a moment that still angers me. Regarding this event, the shenanigans were put on hold by Wren Sinclair, who (on her own) rushed after Fallon and Lainey and took them out of the equation.

So Jacy was on her own, and when Jacy's her own, it doesn't end well for her. Jacy ended up pinned and dethroned, and guess who did it?

About damn time! This should have happened six months earlier at No Mercy, but at least it happened, and at the NXT equivalent of WrestleMania! Lola Vice was overdue. They owed her this. It's why they didn't call her up, because she needed to rule NXT first. I was in tears when Lola won the title, because she reminds me so much of another woman from WWE who I am a huge fan of: Melina Perez. I see a lot of Melina in Lola; the passion, the attitude, the talent, the fact that even as a face she can still be a tad venomous. When Melina won her first title on February 19, 2007, I was overjoyed. On April 4, 2026, Lola's victory sealed a perfect day hours after I watched the Colorado Avalanche shutout the Dallas Stars.

So Lola has the big one on NXT; I hope her reign's a moderately long one. I want at least five months of this. Part of me wants Lola to turn heel again, but I'm willing to wait for that. I love babyface Lola because it's against type, and she is amazing on the heroic side. I am so excited to see what Lola will bring now that she's NXT Women's Champion. We may see her defend that title in an Underground match, oh wow!

All I have to say is this: Welcome to Vice City!