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Leighty’s NXT Level Up Review 1.27.23

January 27, 2023 | Posted by Robert Leighty Jr.
NXT Level Up 1-27-23 Image Credit: WWE
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Leighty’s NXT Level Up Review 1.27.23  

-Announce Team: Vic Joseph and Byron Saxton
-Taped: WWE PC, Orlando, FL

Dante Chen vs. Kale Dixon

-This is Kale’s debut. Lockup to start and the crowd is solidly behind Chen in this one. Dixon flusters Chen early and forces him to chase. Another lockup and Chen clowns Dixon to make them even. Chen snaps off some arm drags and hooks an armbar. Dixon reverses to a headlock, but Chen powers out and goes back to the armbar. Dixon escapes again, but again, Chen counters and goes back to the hold. Dixon breaks for good and gets a belly to back suplex. He fires Chen into the corner, and something seems off, so he does it again and then brings Chen out with a suplex. Dixon hooks a body scissors and rolls Chen on his back for a two count. Chen rocks side to side to roll to his knees and carries Dixon around on his back and falls backwards to break the hold. Chen lands some strikes and gets his own belly to back suplex. Inverted Atomic Drop followed by a Pump Kick. Double chop finishes at 5:54.

Winner: Dante Chen via pin at 5:54
-Little boring at times with a decent ending sequence. We didn’t get to see much from Dixon other than a belly to back suplex. This was a start though. *1/2

-Lola Vince introduces herself backstage and says we may know her from MMA. She faces Dani Palmer tonight!

-WWE2K23 commercial. It’s all about John Cena! Obviously that will help sell the game.

-Mt Dew Pitch Black Match tomorrow night!

Dani Palmer vs. Lola Vice

-Vince has spent the last six months at the PC and this is her debut. Palmer gets a head scissors, but Vice escapes and gets a side headlock. Vice lands a shoulder tackle and twerks which gets a reaction from the crowd. They fight in the corner and Vince lands a spin kick followed by a scorpion kick. Snap suplex from Vice gets a two count. She goes to a bow and arrow which Palmer is able to flip out to escape. She hits a few splashes in the corner and gets a slam. Standing moonsault gets a two count. Palmer heads up top, but Vice moves. Palmer lands on her feet, but eats a head kick that gets two. Vice throws some knees, but gets caught with a jackknife cover for the win at 3:59.

Winner: Dani Palmer via pin at 3:59
-They like beating people making their debut on thsi show. Not much here to rate as they got just under four minutes. Vice threw some decent kicks and the crowd seemed to be into her. *

-This is Awesome Season 2 debuted today with an episode about The Royal Rumble. My recap can be found here.

-Roman vs. KO! Tomorrow!

Oro Mensah vs. Scrypts

-The announcers want to know who is behind The NXT Anonymous account. Scrypts controls with a side headlock, but Mensah gets an up kick and gets a side headlock. Scrypts rolls Mensah back for a two count. Fancy head scissors take down from Mensah and he sends Scrypts to the floor with a clothesline. Slingshot crossbody to the floor from Mensah. That’s what I want from a match between these two. Scrypts flips out of a suplex and gets a hair pull down. He hits a running Whoopie Cushion for two. Spinning crossbody gets two. Scrypts hooks a headlock as the crowd rallies Mensah, but Scrypts goes back to the hair. Dropkick from Scrypts and then he uses the middle rope to choke. Mensah back with a boot to the face. Scrypts ducks a clothesline and shoves Mensah from the middle rope over the top to the floor. Scrypts is content to take a count-out, but Mensah beats the count. Scrypts stomps a mud hole and gets a two count. Scrypts goes back to a chinlock. Mensah breaks and gets a running forearm followed by a nice clothesline. Scrypts blocks a charge with a boot, but Mensah gets a submission hold in the ropes. Mensah gets a sprinboard missile dropkick, but Scrypts rolls to the floor. Scrypts hangs Mensah on the top rope and heads up top. They battle over a roll-up and it looks awkward, but Scrypts ends up getting the pin at 6:36. It looked a little better on replay.

Winner: Scrypts via pin at 6:36
-This was okay, but I was expecting more as I just wanted a 5 minute match where they hit flying move after flying move. Instead they tried working an actual match. Mensah looked better than Scrypts here, but I am okay with the gimmick change for Reggie. *3/4

-Thanks for reading!

5.0
The final score: review Not So Good
The 411
Not much this week as far as in ring work. but we get two new faces which is always nice to see. They need to work in front on a crowd and that's the whole point of this show so that makes it a success. As always it's a breeze to watch even with the in ring action being less than stellar.
legend

article topics :

NXT Level Up, Robert Leighty Jr.