Jeremy’s WWE NXT Review 9.13.22

Hello, everyone and welcome to our live WWE NXT coverage on 411! I’m Jeremy Thomas, here as ever, and tonight is a big night for NXT as they celebrate the one-year anniversary of NXT 2.0 with Taboo Tuesday! Okay, it’s not “officially” Taboo Tuesday but we’re on a Tuesday, we have fan-voted situations, so yeah it’s Taboo Tuesday. Anyway, tonight we will see Pretty Deadly defend the NXT Tag Team Championships against The Creed Brothers in (as voted by fans) a Steel Cage, while Carmelo Hayes will defend the NXT North American Championship against an opponent to be named by fan vote between Von Wagner, Wes Lee, and or Joe Gacy. Plus, Cameron Grimes and a mystery partner battle The D’Angelo Family, Fallon Henley takes on Lash Legend and more. Should be a fun show for us tonight, all in all.

Here at Thomas HQ, my week was mostly taken up by the weekend where I attended Rose City Comic-Con! You can see some of the best cosplay from the convention (or at least the ones I got photos of) here. I didn’t have a ton of time for movie and TV watching, but I did manage to watch the fantastic (and queer AF) 2014 German thriller Der Samurai, and knock off another Marilyn Monroe film in the merely okay Let’s Make Love. I watched the Netflix documentary The Anthrax Attacks: In the Shadow of 9/11, which made some weird docudrama-y decisions that didn’t sit well with me, and then the fantastic Aubrey Plaza thriller Emily the Criminal.

In terms of TV, I finally checked out the first episode of Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power which was very well-done, and kept up on She-Hulk which continues to impress. Finally, while travelling back and forth to the con I began to play catch-up on Critical Role campaign three which, as always, is a blast. And lastly LASTLY, get ready to hear me talk a LOT about horror for the next month and a half because HOOPTOBER begins in just over 24 hours! You can check out my Hooptober list for this year’s viewing challenge here.

Anyway, we’re gonna have a lot to cover tonight so let’s hop right in.

As a reminder, the GoFundMe for Larry’s daughters is still active and if you can make a donation, that would be awesome. Thank you so much to everyone who’s done so thus far.

* We’re LIVE in the Capitol Wrestling Center and the Steel Cage match is kicking off the show.

NXT Tag Team Championship Steel Cage Match
Pretty Deadly vs. The Creed Brothers

We’re off to the races and Pretty Deadly quickly try to escape the cage but get caught. Kip nearly get5s out the door but Brutus catches him and both champions are spinebustered down. The Creeds try to slinghost them into the cage but the champs land on the wall and climb up! Brutus and Julius follow up and catch them; Elton Prince almost escapes but Julius grabs him by the arm and dangles him before they get pulled back in!

Brutus with a suplex to Kip, Julius follows suit with Elton. They brawl in the ring and PD take control, they go to send the Creeds into the cage but the challengers block it and instead send the champs into the walls twice. One more time for Kip from Brutus! Back and forth knees to the side of Elton and Kip comes in with a leaping elbow to Brutus before getting beaten down by Julius. Elton goes to escape the cage, Julius catches him but Kip comes over and is lifted into a Codebreaker on Julius for two!

Brutus is back up and catches Elton, powerbombing him onto the cage. It slows down a bit but Kip with a kick to Brutus’ face and then climbs to the top of the cage, with Brutus following suit. They trade blows from the top and Brutus knocks Kip back into the cage. They both slam each other into the side of the cage and fall as Julius leaps up, grabs Elton and flip-slams him down to the mat as we go to PIP break.

We’re back with Julius trying to stop Elton from escaping, but Kip is up there to play interference. Julius fights both of them off from the top of the ropes and PD get him up on the top of the cage — they go for a superplex AND HIT IT FROM THE TOP OF THE CAGE!!!

Brutus gets up now and takes it to both champions, hitting a gutwrench suplex on Kip. He climps to the top rope but gets nailed by Kip, PD go up to grab him but Julius is up and puts BOTH champs on his shoulders! Brutus leaps off for a cannonball splash to Elton and Kip!

And here comes Damon Kemp! Kemp climbs the cage but Julius meets him and nails him with repeated strikes. He kicks Kimp until Kemp leaps off — but Julius is handcuffed now. Meanwhile, Brutus lays into both champs and sends them flying with tackles — belly to belly to Elton before he goes up to help break the handcuff. Pretty Deadly call for the door to open — and Brutus leaps off with a crossbody! Pin attempt on Kip gets two. Elton tries to escape the cage but Brutus catches him, pulling him back in as Kip comes over but gets grabbed by Julius. Brutus with an anklelock but Kip gets free and takes him out — Spilt Milk! Cover but Brutus kicks out!

PD now just kick the shit out of Brutus and send him into the cage twice, then knee him against the cage. They throw him against the cage once more and hit Spilt Milk again for three.

Winner: Pretty Deadly (14:58)
Rating: *** 1/2
Thoughts: Great match to start this show off VERY hot. PD retaining was pretty obvious, especially with the Kemp factor in play, but they made Brutus look like an absolute beast in the process. We had most of the Cage Match tropes but honestly, there’s not much to complain about here.

* Von Wagner, Wes Lee, and Joe Gacy are with McKenzie to find out who is facing Carmelo Hayes — it’s Lee! Von is angry and walks off, Lee says he’s extremely grateful and it means a lot to him. He says he has to walk out as the next North American Champion.

Gace says congratulations and he accepts the result of the vote. Lee goes to get ready and Gacy says it’s okay because there’s important work to do tonight.

* We get a vignette looking back at the last 12 months of NXT. There’s some fun times in there — and some times with Von Wagner, Tony D’Angelo, Joe Gacy, or Lash Legend. Great montage video though, kudos as always to the production team.

Lash Legend vs. Fallon Henley

Lash attacks to start and chops Fallon, then whips her into the ropes. Henley comes off with a dropkick to the knee, she charges and gets sent to the apron, then nails Lash. Lash with a big boot to send Henley to the floor, then follows outside and throws Fallon into the ringpost, then back-first into the apron.

Back intot he ring, Irish whip into a kneelift. Gutwrench into a single-shoulder rack, she drops Henley who fires back with a kick to the head. Henley ducks a clothesline and nails some shots, she comes off the ropes and ducks a big boot, then hits a BIG bulldog off the ropes. Running KO kick for a win.

Winner: Lash Legend (2:17)
Rating: N/A
Thoughts: RIP Lash Legend.

* Yulisa Leon has suffered an injury and is out nine months. Sanga says that it’s Valentina’s time to shine and Robert Stone and Von Wagner walk in to complain about their not getting the fan vote. Wagner nearly swears and Sanga says there are ladies present. Stone manages to get Von away from the potential fight.

* Briggs, Jensen and Henley walk through celebrating and they see Toxic Attraction. Jensen acts like a hormonal teen and Mandy mocks him, Fallon gets in her face and has to be pulled away by B&J.

* Toxic Attraction are in the ring, Mandy says she’s back in the ring and feeling and looking better than ever. She says she took out the bext two women in NXT UK history at Worlds Collide and that when NXT Europe begins, if she wants to she’ll run that too.

Jacy says how appropriate is it that the three biggest stars on NXT are here at the anniversary show, and that they’re the best supergroup in NXT. Gigi says they elevated the Tag Team Titles to be the most important in the industry. Jacy says the titles are on loan to Katana and Kayden.

Mandy says they’re the baddest bitches in the room and have proven that for a year with two-time (soon to be three-time) NXT Tag Team Champions, and herself the soon-to-be-longest Women’s Champion in history. Bron and Melo are great champions but having had their titles as long as her.

And here comes Alba Fyre! She says Mandy may have unified both titles, but she knows nothing about where she comes from. In Scotland they don’t brag to hear the sound of their voice, they let their work speak for her. She’s a battle-tested warrior, and Mandy sees her demise in her eyes. She comes in the ring with the bat, threatens Mandy with it and takes out Gigi and Jacy, then hits Mandy with the KLR Bomb! Gigi and Jacy pull Mandy to safety, but the title is still in there. Mandy manages to retrieve it, and they escape.

* We get a vignette for Cora in which she says the last 12 months were about her finding herself. She wanted to make an impact and get people to like her, but somehow she wasn’t seen as the future. She says it got in her head and cost her the early title matches, but her match with Natalya had an impact on her. She says she’s not wasting any more TV time on Roxy, then proceeds to talk about Roxy a bit before going back to herself. She says she’s living her best life and doesn’t need anyone’s approval, especially the idiot fans or the locker room. She says her show has more personality than Zoey Stark and runs down the rest of the women’s roster. She says she doesn’t like TA but at least understands her. She says the generation of Jade will only get bigger, and by next year she’ll be the #1 woman in this entire industry.

* Wendy Choo is with McKenzie and says the Generation of Jade is jealous of Roxy and she’s so jealous she’s iced anyone out. She says she may dress silly but she’s a smart person. Lash walks in to complain about her match and they snipe at each other before Wendy leaves.

Quincy Eliott vs. Sean Gallagher

We start with Quincy freaking out Gallagher with some wacky moves. He gets ahold of Gallagher and does a somersault, then gets smacked and fights back. Gallagher knocked down and carried to the corner, Goldust pose and then a Yokozuna bomb for three.

Winner: Quincy Elliott (1:21)
Rating: N/A
Thoughts: RIP Sean Gallagher.

* McKenzie is backstage with Cameron Grimes and asks who his tag partner will be. Grimes says it’s not the first time his mouth will get in trouble and won’t be his last. His partner will be the one man he can trust: Cameron Grimes. Whether he’s a man down or a man up, he’s the man that’s going to the moon.

* Wes Lee is attacked backstage by Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams.

Tony D’Angelo & Stacks vs. Cameron Grimes

Grimes starts against Stacks and they lock up. Grimes with a waistlock takedown, Stacks grabs the leg but gets caught in a headlock. Grimes into the ropes and runs Stacks over, Stacks off the ropes into a kneelift and Stacks escapes to tag in D’Angelo.

D’Angelo takes it to Grimes and sends him into the corner, but Grimes goes up and over and lays in kicks to Tony’s chest. He moves in, Tony sends him into the corner but Grimes takes over again. D’Angelo manages to get the tag and Stacks nails Grimes with kicks, they then begin alternating tags and kicks. Double Irish whip, double back elbow off the ropes and then a bodyslam by D’Angelo.

Here come Gacy and the Schism, Gacy gets on the corner and calls for the tag? Grimes is being battered in the hostile corner by Stacks, who charges in and his hit with a kick to the chest. Grimes sees Gacy going for the tag and refuses to take it, D’Angelo takes Grimes down and covers for two.

Tony grabs Grimes and mocks him, asking if he wants to tag Gacy. Grimes slammed into the hostile corner, Stacks tags in. Double Irish whip but Grimes goes behind Stacks and hits a double rana! Grimes is slowly getting up, he swings at Stacks but Stacks dodges. Grimes goes back into the corner, Gacy tags himself in and goes wild. Gace with an avalanch on Stacks and hits a uranage! He’s looking wild and Grimes pulls him around, saying he doesn’t need his help. Tony pulls Grimes out of the ring, he chases Tony and comes into the ring — chaos, Tony eats a Cave-In, Gacy wipes out Stacks and gets the pin.

Winner: Joe Gacy & Cameron Grimes (5:36)
Rating: ** 3/4
Thoughts: The rules logic of this are silly but the match was fairly entertaining. I don’t care about 3/4th of these guys but they did fine this time.

Grimes still isn’t having it after the match and says he doesn’t need or want him. The crowd chants for them to hug it out — and The Dyad attack Grimes! They beat him down and hit their finisher, then hold him up. Gacy says it doesn’t have to be like this and he hits his handspring elbow on Grimes.

* JD McDonagh is getting a shave and talks about attacking Tyler Bate last week. He says the cat and mouse game with Bron will end real soon and gets cut shaving.

* Bron talks about being welcomed to the NXT audience in his debut and then facing Tommaso Ciampa, saying he thought he would win but didn’t and it taught him to deal with adversity and failure and made him better. He says becoming NXT Champion was an unbelievable night and was his dad’s first time seeing him wrestle, and his family’s first time winning a singles champion. He talks about inducting his dad and uncle into the WWE Hall of Fame and says losing to Dolph Ziggler at Takeover: Stand & Deliver hurt but he then won the title on Raw and then beat Gunther the next night. He then battled Joe Gacy and says that rivalry taught him how to handle himself as champion. He then feuded with Grimes and McDonagh and has now united the titles. He says he doesn’t look down the road and is there to uphold the standards of champions before him.

* Tyler Bate is with McKenzie and talks about Bron’s first year in NXT. He says he’s looking for a rematch. JD McDonagh stands between them and they have history he reignited last week. Of JD wants a shot at the title, he has to get through Bate first.

Nikkita Lyons & Zoey Stark vs. Arianna Grace & Kiana James

James and Stark start it off, lockup into a headlock takedown by Zoey, into a legscissors that she quickly flips out of. Headlock by James, Stark reverses and goes up and over in the corner, armdrag takedown. Lyons tags in, headlock to James, she goes into the ropes and nails James, suplex and a kippup. James flips out and comes in with her back, Grace holds her back and we get all four in the ring as we go to break.

We’re back as Arianna Grace has Lyons in a submission move, but Lyons picks her up on her shoulders for a Samoan Drop. She floors Grace with a clothesline and again with a roundhouse for two. Lyons tags in Stark, short-arm punches to Grace and a superkick, WILD suplex and Grace backs up to tag in James. James tries to talk some sense to Stark then goes for a cheap shot, Stark ducks and nails James a couple of times before clotheslining her. James escapes to the outside, James knocks her down and rolls her into the ring. Stomp from James and a cover for two.

Chinlock from James, Stark gets to her feet and elbows out. James with a kneelift, whip into the ropes, backbreaker and jackknife pin for two. Stark goes for the tag but James pulls her back and knocks Lyons off the apron, then eats a backdrop by Zoey. James tags in Grace, Irish whip to Stark but Stark catches the ropes and nails a couple clotheslines, elbow, kick and then a diving dropkick! She knocks James off the apron but eats a big boot for two.

Grace grabs Stark but gets hit with a C-360, Lyons tags in and hits a roundhouse followed by a split-legged legdrop for three.

Winner: Zoey Stark & Nikkita Lyons (9:04)
Rating: ** 1/4
Thoughts: This was sloppy in large portions and had some moments of disjointedness. It wasn’t awful, but wasn’t very good either.

* Edris and Malik are backstage talking about how they’re not voting for Joe Gacy. The Dyad walk up and attack them, brawl in the parking lot. Nate Walker walks up but the other guards say he has a match, they’ve got it.

* We get a vignette for Oro Mensah, who debuts next week.

* McKenzie is here to talk about the fan voting for the biggest star of NXT. Grayson Waller comes in excited to be named the winner. The finalists are TA, Carmelo Hayes, Nikkita Lyons, and Bron Breakker. The others were mathematically eliminated. Waller is pissed and says Breakker’s been ducking him all year, then walks off angrily.

Javier Bernal vs. Nate Walker

Nate doesn’t have entrance music or gear. They circle and Javi calls for a test of strength and briefly do it. Bernal with a waistlock and a slap to the back of the head, he then locks in a headlock. Walker picks Javi up and slams him in the corner, ref calls for the break and Bernal slaps him. Walker chucks him into the corner and then again across the ring.He charges but Bernal with a basement dropkick, followed by a series of strikes and another basement dropkick.

Front facelock by Javi, but Hank picks him up and throws him off. Hank charges in but eats a back elbow, Bernal tries to send him headfirst into the turnbuckle but Hank reverses it and goes for a bodyslam. Bernal slips off into a sleeper, but Walker fights out. Irhish whip by Javi reversed, Thesz press and mounted pounches! The shirt is off! Walker charges in for an avalanch and another, big lariat and a cover for three.

Winner: Hank Walker (3:24)
Rating: ** 1/4
Thoughts: Fine for a three and a half minute match to get a new talent over. The crowd is into him, and though he is green and has a ways to go he has potential.

* We get a look at the biggest NXT entrances over the last year.

* Carmelo and Trick are talking about how Lee is out and Melo says you can’t vote on greatness and this isn’t a game. They’re heading to the ring.

* Vignette for Sol Ruca talking about how she’s about fun in the sun but when she gets to the NXT women’s division, it won’t be a day at the beach.

Set For Next Week:
– Wendy Choo vs. Cora Jade
– #1 Contender’s Match: Tyler Bate vs. JD McDonagh

* The Biggest NXT Superstar of the year is, no surprise, Bron Breakker.

* Melo and Trick are out here and they get mics. Trick says it’s the 1 year anniversary of NXT 2.0 and they are still too good to be this humble. Melo says Wes Lee isn’t gonna make it out here, but he did Lee a favor. He knows guys like Lee; he can’t handle this life. He says everyone in the back is praying on his downfall. Heavy lies the head that wears the crown, and he has the biggest crown and heaviest head in NXT —

SOLO SIKOA IS HERE! Solo is back and Melo does not look happy. Solo has a mic and says like he said before, he’s got next. He lays out Melo, then tosses Trick. We’ve got a match!

NXT North American Championship
Carmelo Hayes vs. Solo Sikoa

Solo takes it to Hayes with strikes right off the bat, Melo into the ropes and gets backdropped down. Melo fights back with kicks and chops, Solo blocks an Irish whip and sends Melo into the ropes for a chop. Melo goes into the corner, Solo splashes in and then goes for the hipsmash but Trick pulls him to safety. Melo comes off the ropes and charges at Solo but gets sent over the top onto Trick as we go to PIP break.

We’re back as Solo works Melo’s neck muscles. Melo gets to his feet and fights out of it, hitting a kick on Sikoa and escaping to the outside. Solo out of the ring and decks Melo, he goes to climb in and Trick slams the knee of Solo down behind the ref’s back. Melo with a leaping back elbow off the ropes, and he begins to work the knee by snapping it into the mat. Front facelock by Melo but Solo fights back, Melo flips over Solo off the ropes and hits a chopblock. Cover for two.

Melo drives his knee into the back of Solo’s knee to wear it down, kicks to the same. Single-leg crab by the champion as Solo fights to get to the ropes. Melo pulls him back and lays in kicks, then goes back into the single-leg crab. Solo finally manages to get to the ropes to break the hold. Solo kicks Melo off of him and slowly gets to his feet, he catches a leaping Melo and throws him off, then begins striking. Superkick off the ropes, Samoan drop! Solo is up not and charges in for a hip check!

Melo goes up on Solo’s shoulders, Trick with the distraction, Codebreaker from Melo! Melo comes off the ropes but gets pushed into the air, right into a Samoan drop! Trick superkicked off the apron, Solo catches Melo for a uranage, he goes up top, Flying Solo! Pinfall!

Winner: Solo Sikoa (10:02)
Rating: ***
Thoughts: The title change was definitely going to happen tonight, though it’s a surprise that it goes to Solo as the Bloodline gets another title. The match was very solid as expected, though what happens with Solo from here makes me curious.

We get a last message from Shawn Michaels talking about acknowledging the past with a focus on the future. But the message to the fans will never change: We Are NXT — and is that a new logo I spy?

And with that, we’re done for the night!

7.5

The final score: review Good

The 411

Tonight's NXT was largely a celebration of the brand and, while it was a step down from last week, still managed to be entertaining. There were a few things I didn't love -- that women's tag match, for one -- but the end result was memorable and we had some very good matches as well. It's an encouraging sign of the brand's direction that it's been increasingly consistent, as opposed to the rough start that 2.0 got off to.