NXT Vengeance Day kicked off with a barnstorming performance from Dijak and Wes Lee over the North American Championship.
Dijak took control of the match early, trying to end things with a hard shoulder tackle, but Lee kicked out. Things quickly spilled to the outside where Dijak caught Lee off the apron and delivered a brutal Death Valley Driver to the floor.
The bigger man dominated much of the match, keeping Lee down with forearms and elbows. However, Lee was able to make a comeback after dodging a tackle which sent him flying to the floor. When he got back in the ring, he was met with a flurry of punches and a dropkick to the knee.
As the former Retribution man tried to get back on top, Lee countered him at every turn, preventing the Feast Your Eyes Knee and escaping a Crossface.
Late in the match, Dijak got frustrated that he couldn’t put Lee away and resorted to trapping him on a chair and Superkicking him in the face. As he was about to jump on Lee from the top, Tony D’Angelo and Channing Lorenzo appeared, causing Dijak to Moonsault on top of them instead.
This proved to be a mistake as when he got back in the ring, Lee was able to hit him with a Superkick and a backflip into a head kick for the win.
Dijak shows off injury on social media
During the chaos of the match, fans noticed that something appeared to be very wrong with Dijak’s finger. Following the bout, the star took to social media to show he was indeed injured, with his middle finger being bent at an unnatural angle.
— DIJAK (@DijakWWE) February 5, 2023
Bray Wyatt, who also broke his finger at a recent event, shared his sympathies by posting his own misshapen digit.
Same here man pic.twitter.com/BPrtIhFTHK
— WYATT 6 (@Windham6) February 5, 2023
At the post-show press conference, Shawn Michaels provided a positive update on the star, saying his finger wasn’t broken and medical staff were “trying to put it back in.”