Leighty’s NXT Level Up Review 07.22.22

-Sorry for the delay with this show, but I wasn’t home for the live showing, so had to wait for it to drop on Hulu this AM. I did get a recap of Austin’s interview with Sami Zayn done and you can find that here. Let’s get to it!

-Announce Team: Sudu Shah and Nigel McGuiness
-Taped: WWE Performance Center, Orlando, FL

Thea Hail (w/ Andre Chase and Bodhi Hayward) vs. Brooklyn Barlow

-The Chase U Student Section is out in full force tonight and of course, they love Thea. Lockup and the go through a back-and-forth pin sequence into a bridge and then a backslide. Shoulder tackle from Brooklyn but Hail gets a side headlock and takes it to the mat. Barlow escapes and gets a side headlock of her own. Thea escapes, but walks into a backbreaker for two. That sequence looked a little wonky. Barlow back to a submission as the crowd continues to stay behind Thea. We find out that Nigel hates cheesecake on commentary. Hail uses her strength to get off the mat and drops Barlow with a slam. Rolling neckbreaker and standing moonsault follow. She charges and nearly gets caught with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker, but Hail turns it into a DDT for the win at 5:26.

Winner: Thea Hail via pin at 5:26
-Not much to this one as it was mainly a fight over a few submission holds, but the crowd loves Hail. 1/2*

-Hank Walker gets promo time as he faces Duke Hudson in our Main Event tonight.

-Hulu commercials! The one downfall to missing Peacock’s live feed.

Ru Feng vs. Bryson Montana

-Lockup to start as they jockey for position and nothing comes out of that. Feng does hook a side headlock as the crowd starts a “Mortal Kombat” chant. Nice! Montana shoves off, but eats a shoulder. Fung gets a slam and misses a spinning back kick by a good bit, but a quick camera cut does a good job of hiding it. Montana back with a slam and he flexes. Backbreaker gets two and he goes to a chinlock. Fung escapes and hits another kick, but walks into a Michinoku Driver for two. Feng throws some more kicks and delivers a gut punch which passes as his martial arts kill. Palm strike to the chest, but Montana plants him with a sit-out spinebuster for the win at 4:40.

Winner: Bryson Montana via pin at 4:40
-Again, not much here, but what we got wasn’t good. Super basic with strikes, rest holds and few power moves until the win. The opener at least had the crowd into it. 1/2*

-Hulu commercials!

-We head to RAW for Theory/AJ Styles as the Hulu version always has something from RAW added to pad the show’ run time to around 45-50 minutes. AJ wins by count-out thanks to a superkick from Dolph Ziggler. Styles Clash for good measure.

-Hulu commercials!

Duke Hudson vs. Hank Walker

-Nigel continues with the running gag of Walker being Seth Rogen. You could switch the names of these two and nobody would be any wiser as it wouldn’t change the gimmick for either. Walker tries a slam, but Hudson slides out. He gets powered into the corner through and Walker catches him coming out with a sidewalk slam for two. Walker misses an elbow and Hudson starts laying in the boots. He throws shoulders in the corner and hits a back elbow for two. Walker fights back but sets too early for a backdrop and gets kicked in the chest. Slop Drop gets two for Hudson as I nearly get their names reversed again. Running splash in the corner from Walker and then again. He hits a running body press and takes off the shirt as he means business. Release slam drops Hudson on his face and that gets two. Suplex is escaped and after a missed splash in the corner, Hudson finishes with a running boot at 6:05.

Winner: Duke Hudson via pin at 6:05
-Much like the rest of the show, not much to this one. They got six minutes at least. *

-Thanks for reading!

3.0

The final score: review Bad

The 411

Even by the sliding scale for Level Up this was a weak show. The crowd was into the opener because of The Chase U connection but were rather subdued for the final two matches. As is the norm everything was super basic, but nothing of note to prop this one up even a little bit.