WWE Hires New Commentator
It appears that the WWE NXT commentary team has added someone new to the roster, and fans will get their first look at them tomorrow night. According to Fightful Select, WWE has hired independent commentator Blake Chadwick to join the NXT commentary team, and he will be known as Blake Howard on WWE TV. He officially started with WWE this week and filmed with them on Tuesday, and he will make his TV debut alongside Byron Saxton on Friday's episode of NXT LVL UP. Howard previously worked for companies such as WrestleCade, West Coast Wrestling Connection, VCW, and Combat Fights Unlimited, and we're excited to see how the new team sounds this week.
Howard will team up with Saxton this Friday, but it isn't known if he will also be a regular part of Tuesday NXT episodes. Currently, NXT's commentary team includes Vic Joseph and Booker T, so WWE could either just be looking to bolster its roster in case it ever needs people to step in on the fly or they could be shaking up another show and have Joseph or Booker T move over.
That said, Joseph and Booker T have been fantastic on NXT and have seemingly been well-received by fans too. The team used to be Joseph and Wade Barrett, but Barrett moved over to SmackDown to join Michael Cole after Pat McAfee stepped away to do College GameDay. McAfee returned at Royal Rumble, but it's not known if he will be returning full-time to SmackDown yet.
Over on Raw, commentary is held down by Kevin Patrick and Corey Graves. Raw's previous team was Graves, Jimmy Smith, and Byron Saxton, but the team was shaken up last year. It remains to be seen if any of the other teams will change in the near future, but we at least know NXT LVL UP will be a bit different this Friday.
WWE NXT recently held its latest premium live event in Charlotte, and Vengeance Day delivered several surprises. While the NXT Championship and NXT Women's Championships didn't change hands, the two Tag Team Championships surprisingly did. The NXT Tag Team Championship Fatal 4-Way resulted in The New Day losing their Titles to Gallus, which I don't think anyone saw coming.
On the NXT Women's Tag Team Championship side, Kayden Carter and Katana Chance lost their Titles to the upstart Tag Team of Fallon Henley and Kiana James, though there was some controversy. James was able to help Henley by holding Carter's legs down as Henley had her pinned, and the referee never saw what happened. James and Henley got the win but Chance and Carter have already confronted them, and Henley is set on giving them a rematch.
What do you want to see next for NXT? Let us know in the comments and as always you can talk all things wrestling with me on Twitter @MattAguilarCB!