Leighty’s NXT Level Up Review 3.17.23

Leighty’s NXT Level Up Review: 03.17.23

-My Uniontown Red Raiders advanced to the Pennsylvania State Basketball Tournament Semi-Finals tonight with a 3 pointer at the buzzer. Congrats Uniontown! Couple that with Pitt winning earlier and I am rather ecstatic right now. Let’s get to it!

-Announce Team: Blake Howard and Byron Saxton
-Taped: WWE PC, Orlando, FL

Lyra Valkyria vs. Dani Palmer

-Lockup to start and Lyra takes things to the mat. Dani tries an armdrag, but Lyra just cartwheels out. Lyra gets a backslide for two and then a rana into another pin attempt. They do a pin-fall reversal sequence into a bridge and then into a Palmer backslide for two. The crowd appreciates the work and start a faint Level Up chant. It was a good try! They start trading roll-ups and pin attempts again and ends with Palmer getting a seated dropkick for two. Lyra starts firing off strikes and kicks and then a Northern Light Suplex holding the bridge for two. Palmer lands a leg kick and gets a two count. She hooks a modified camel clutch, but Lyra is able to free her hands and get to her feet with Palmer on her back. Palmer transitions to a sleeper, but Lyra runs Palmer into the corner to break. A charge misses, but Palmer runs into a back elbow. Palmer misses a flying splash and her version of Black Mass finishes at 3:54.

Winner: Lyra Valkyria via pin at 3:54
-Lyra is impressive and Palmer looked good here as well. This was short even by Level Up standards, but I enjoyed what I saw. *1/2

-Eddy Thorpe cuts a promo backstage and he faces Xyon Quinn tonight. He talks about lifting his Native American people up as he grew up watching Cowboys kill Indians on TV.

-WWE2K23 commercial! I am still debating as I did buy 22 last year and I tend to buy one every 2-3 years instead of every year.

-John Cena and Rhea Ripley WrestleMania commercial! Again, Cena refers to Rhea as being The Main Event of WrestleMania.

<Xyon Quinn vs. Eddy Thorpe

-Quinn laughs at Thorpe as he makes his entrance and I am sure that won’t come back to bite him. Xyon controls with a side headlock and then runs Eddy over with a shoulder. He catches Thorpe trying a crossbody, but Thorpe escapes and ends up getting a crossbody off the middle ropes. Thorpe misses his shot in the corner and crashes into the middle buckle. They start trading chops and Quinn just murders Thorpe with an elbow. He buries a knee to the gut and gets a backbreaker out of the corner which gets two. Modified Cobra Clutch as Eddy fights to his feet. Quinn drops him with a short-arm clothesline and then goes to a bow and arrow. He steps on the back of Eddy’s head while pulling on his arms for good measure. Thorpe fights out and goes to the knee. He starts to run wild and gets a head kick. Running boot in the corner connects this time and he sticks a Saito Suplex. Quinn is out at two and comes back with another shoulderblock. A clothesline misses and Eddy hits a release German Suplex. Roll The Dice Neckbreaker (you know the one) finishes for the pin at 5:36.

Winner: Eddy Thorpe via pin at 5:36
-This was solid as they hit each other hard and Eddy got tested a bit more against a name on this show. This was fine. **

-WWE Live commercial!

-NXT Stand and Deliver commercial!

Oro Mensah vs. Charlie Dempsey (w/ Drew Gulak)

-DEMPSEY IS BACK! I also love the pairing with Gulak! Oro controls early and he gets a side headlock. Dempsey tries to suplex out, but Oro rolls it to the mat. Dempsey transitions to an arm-bar, but Mensah gets to his back and lands an up kick. Dempsey lands a forearm, but gets caught with an elbow to the gut. Mensah misses a strike in the corner, but catches Dempsey on the way back. Mensah springs in and Dempsey catches him on the way down with a forearm. Dempsey works the arm and gets a sweet capture suplex into a bridge for two. Nice! Hammerlock from Dempsey as he goes to work on the damaged arm. He bridges and applies enough pressure to the arm that Oro goes flipping over in a cool spot. Oro sells the pain really well as Dempsey just tortures the arm here. Oro fights to his feet and gets a suplex to get some breathing room. He lands a clothesline and gets a springboard moonsault press off the middle rope. Flipping head kick by Mensah as he is using his unique style to combat Dempsey here. This time the springboard hits as he lands a kick for two. Great height on that one! Dempsey with another forearm and then a back hand slap. Mensah fires back, but a kick gets caught and Dempsey whips the knee. He hooks an anklelock and transitions to a waistlock. Mensah lands on his feet off a suplex, but the knee is damaged. Mensah is able to get a sleeper, but Dempsey rolls out and out and hooks a cross armbreaker that he turns back into the anklelock. This kid is awesome! He gets a crossface and keeps pressure on the knee as he bends Mensah in half and he has no choice but to tap at 6:46.

Winner: Charlie Dempsey via tap-out at 6:46
-This kid is awesome and I want him on every week just running through people. These two meshed well together and I enjoyed this greatly. I want more from these two! ***

-Thanks for reading!

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

-Good show here as each match got better and even the opener was fun though short. Dempsey is fantastic though and I enjoy the way he punishes his opponent and the pairing with Gulak is perfect. Good stuff this week!