wrestling / TV Reports
Pantoja’s WWE NXT Review 3.22.22
Image Credit: WWE
Loading...WWE NXT 2.0
March 22nd, 2022 | Capitol Wrestling Center in Orlando, Florida
With the New Japan Cup off until the weekend, I figured I’d bring you an NXT review.
We start with Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams running down the names of the guys who can qualify tonight to face him in the ladder match at TakeOver.
NXT North American Title Match Qualifier: Roderick Strong vs. Solo Sikoa
Oh, this is kind of like old NXT against new NXT. Hayes and Williams joined commentary for this. Roddy weathered an early storm from Solo and wore him down, using his experience edge against the young upstart. Every so often, Strong would bust out a big kick or a backbreaker to up the intensity. As Solo started to rally, Santos Escobar strolled out for a closer look. Hayes was great on commentary throughout all of this, continuing to showcase why I praise him so highly. Bivens began to panic as Solo hit a Samoan Drop. He broke up a Roddy superplex and hit an Uso splash to win in 9:18. I would’ve preferred Roddy but Solo is a guy with potential who needs this more. Good idea to put him in there with a quality veteran too. This was solid. [**½]
Indi Hartwell and Persia Pirotta bickered about which smooch last week and which couple is hotter. The dialogue here was awful as nobody talks like this but I appreciate the goofy storyline. It’s like Triple H ran NXT and was like “what if this was basically an expensive indie?” and Shawn Michaels has run it with the idea of “what if everyone in NXT was horny?” Respect.
Dexter Lumis vs. Tony D’Angelo
Confirming my theory of how horny NXT is these days, Wade Barrett discussed the Hudson/Pirotta kiss in detail on commentary. That couple was ringside with Indi. A lot of this match was Tony doing his thing as he’s the budding star and Lumis is kind of just there. D’Angelo was cocky and held serve through a commercial break to the appreciation of Hudson and Persia at ringside. Lumis did a damn kip up and leg drop during his comeback which I don’t think I’ve seen him do before. The finish involved the women as D’Angelo went for his crowbar and when Persia stopped him, it ended up swinging to hit Lumis, giving Tony the win in 10:32. Like most Lumis singles matches, I wasn’t feeling this. [**]
Post-match, D’Angelo cut a promo on Tommaso Ciampa and called himself the new Don of NXT. Ciampa ran in through the crowd and laid him out with the Fairytale Ending.
Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler were interviewed in the back. Roode is upset that people forget about his past as an NXT Champion and he’ll take out Bron Breakker tonight to remind everyone.
Grayson Waller got a vignette to say he will be the next North American Champion after he qualifies past A-Kid tonight.
Elektra Lopez vs. Fallon Henley
Neither one of these ladies have managed to really impress so far. According to commentary, this stems from trash talk between Legado del Fantasma and Brooks and Jensen over who jumped the Creeds. Whatever. A brawl broke out between the teams outside and Lopez won with a Blue Thunder Bomb in 3:42. This was better than expected. They still have work to do but Lopez is doing okay as a somewhat dominant heel and Henley showed fire. [*¾]
Draco Anthony kept getting messages from Joe Gacy about joining his cult. Xyon Quinn said he had his back. I have been given no reason to care about either of them.
Dakota Kai and Wendy Choo were interviewed about the main event. Wendy said Dakota won with her best friend last year and will do the same now but when she brought up Dakota turning on her, it made Dakota nervous.
Bron Breakker vs. Robert Roode
They busted out “Glorious” and gave Roode back his robe for this, which was a nice touch. Like the opener, this was a case of a veteran battling a young gun and it followed a similar format. Breakker started hot but Roode knew how to slow the pace and ground the powerhouse. When Breakker got going again, Dolph Ziggler caused a distraction to lead to Breakker crashing shoulder first into the post. The referee ejected Ziggler but Roode remained in control throughout the commercial break. Roode worked his usual methodical pace but I wish he did a bit more. Ziggler wanted him to soften up Bron, not lollygag and kill time. Breakker rallied with a super rana but ate a Glorious DDT for two. They cut to a “shocked” fan who was clearly trying to get on camera because nobody believes Bron will lose this. Roode made a mistake of trying to jump from the middle rope, getting caught in a powerslam to lose in 15:10. That was a good match though the lack of intensity from Roode hurt it. [***]
Ziggler returned to superkick Breakker after the match.
Indi and Persia argued about the crowbar situation earlier while Persia put over Hudson. The best part about this segment is that Indi disses Hudson, saying Persia should realize her boyfriend is Duke Hudson, not John Cena and when Persia suggested that Duke would beat Cena, the usually stoic Lumis was appalled. He then magically drew a Gunther picture to pick Duke’s opponent tonight.
We got another fantastic Chase U sketch where Bodie Hayward went into a profanity filled rant about Von Wagner. When Andre asked where it was coming from, Bodie said Andre taught it to him and they shared a beautiful moment. Bodie vs. Wagner next week.
NXT North American Title Match Qualifier: A-Kid vs. Grayson Waller
A-Kid had one of the best matches of 2021 against Ilja Dragunov and this is his second match with this brand. He hit some quick offense but found himself in trouble not too soon after. Solo Sikoa watched this as A-Kid rallied with a dropkick and tope suicida. Waller oddly no sold it but got caught in a sweet submission when he got back into the ring. Waller countered and won with a Stunner in 2:48. Well, that was disappointing. A-Kid is dope. [**¼]
Carmelo Hayes decided that the three losers of the qualifiers will meet next week for the final slot. That’s Grimes, Strong, and A-Kid. Trick dissed A-Kid and said something about his mother so he got kicked in the head. Why not have Waller win on a flash pin or something?
Robert Stone and Von Wagner talked about Bodie Hayward when a women came up to Stone to talk business.
The Creed Brothers vs. Grizzled Young Veterans
GYV have fallen hard. They’re a really good team that draws heat but they’re forgotten in a weak tag division. At least Zack Gibson got time to cut a promo beforehand. They also did some solid tag work after knocking Brutus off the apron and isolating Julius, who got a solid pop from the crowd. Brutus got back involved and won with a sliding lariat after 4:14. That was a solid little tag match and the Creed Brothers keep improving while GYV are damn good. [**¼]
After the match, the locker room of Diamond Mine was vandalized and texts came up on screen (strange how that happens) to say they can’t find them so they should just enjoy the view.
Duke Hudson vs. Gunther
Persia, Indi, and Imperium were at ringside. Man, they better give me Gunther vs. Breakker at some point. Gunther dominated and the highlight of this was one particular chop that ENDED Hudson. I’ve legitimately never seen a standing ovation for a single chop. Persia looked heartbroken. Hudson got in one impressive move with a rebound German suplex but then Gunther ended him with a powerbomb in 3:53. [** for the match, ***** for the chop]
Gunther cut a promo about being the toughest around and said he doesn’t like how someone like LA Knight can talk his way into a title shot. Knight showed up and threatened to hit Gunther’s block head off of his dad bod. They ended up agreeing to a match at TakeOver. Knight hit him and Imperium jumped him until MSK made the save.
A Cameron Grimes video played where he talked about how he has disappointed his father (who passed away just before he signed with NXT) by not becoming a champion. Next week means everything to him to get a chance. Wait, how did he make this video, edit it, and everything in the 20 or so minutes since the triple threat match was announced?
Women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Finals: Dakota Kai and Wendy Choo vs. Io Shirai and Kay Lee Ray
We all know the Choo gimmick is dumb but I love Dakota Kai too much. Toxic Attraction watched this from their VIP area. I found this to be an entertaining tag match. Dakota did a lot of the stuff that made her so enjoyable in the first place and played less into her more vicious side. Choo, despite the goofy gimmick, did some impressive things in there as well, making up for it. Meanwhile, KLR and Io are two of the best women on the roster. KLR felt like a big deal in there while Io is a star with everything she does. The underdog duo came close a few times and showed more chemistry than you’d expect given how they were kind of thrown together. Kai was taken out with a backbreaker, leaving Choo alone to fall to the KLR Bomb and Moonsault in 10:18. I had a good time with that. [***]
After the match, Toxic Attraction interrupted to say winning the tourney doesn’t mean Io and KLR will win the titles. KLR revealed that they want to end Toxic Attraction and you do that by taking out the leader, so they’re using their title shot to make the TakeOver match a four-way. So they did a tag tournament to find two new contenders for the singles title. That sparked a brawl with Cora Jade joining the fray. The faces cleaned house to end things.
