Leighty’s NXT Level Up Review 9.20.24

-I did a Retro Review of WrestleMania VI and that can be found here. Spoiler: Hogan/Warrior deserves every one of those five stars. Now, it’s time to Level Up. Let’s get to it!

-Announce Team: Blake Howard and Byron Saxton
-Taped: WWE Capitol Wrestling Center, Orlando, FL

Lash Legend (w/ Jakara Jackson) vs. Lainey Reid

-Lock-up and Legend backs Reid into the ropes. Reid grabs an arm and works on that, but Legends reverses to her own arm-bar. Reid tries to roll to escape, but Legend maintains control and lifts Reid off the mat by the arm. Reid tries a sunset flip, but Legends lifts her off the ground again. Reid with a slap to the face and then she tries run. Legend grabs her by the hair and runs her into the top buckle. Suplex from Lash! She charges, but Reid pulls the rope down to low bridge her. She tries to comes of the apron, but gets caught. Reid is able to counter a move and sends Legend into the post. Back in the ring Legend goes back to work on the arm. Flipping neck-breaker gets a one count and then another. Reid hooks a chinlock, but Legends stands with Reid on her back. Elbows from Reid gets Legend back to her knees. Another go by Legend and she throws Reid off her back. She catches Reid trying to throw a kick and DESTROYS her with a sick clothesline. Wow! SOS Slam from Legend followed by a kip up. Chokeslam only gets two! Reid gets a boot up in the corner and comes off with a head scissors. Float over into a DDT gets two. Reid charges but gets put on the apron. Reid lands a forearm and heads up, but Legend PUMP KICKS HER OUT OF MID-AIR. That looked kind of brutal! Lash gets the pin off a modified slam that drops Reid on her chest at 5:56.

Winner: Lash Legend via pin at 5:56
-Fun little match here as they went at each other with some bad intentions. That ending looked kind of rough, but still good stuff here from both women. **1/2

-Metro and Cody are still in a car in Atlanta waiting for Bad Blood.

-WWE Speed is on Wednesdays. Once the women’s tournament finishes, I will go back and review the entire thing like I did with the men earlier in the year.

Brinley Reece vs. Kali Armstrong

-Armstrong is making her Level Up debut. Cool! She is a former Track and Field star and a model that has been in national commercials. Reece pats Kali on the head to show the newbie what this is all about. Kali gets a head scissors, but Reece is out and works on the arm. They seem to get off the same page with a rope running spot and it looks like there may have been a edit to try to cover for them. That’s going to happen with someone making the Level Up debut. Armstrong goes to the ground and pound and then drops an elbow. She plays to the crowd and delivers a right hand. Reece with a backslide for two. Kali with a clothesline for two which was probably three, but the ref seemed to stop. Even the crowd booed that! Reece escapes an abdominal stretch and fires off some strikes. She gets a running shoulder tackle and hits a shoulder tackle. Cartwheel clothesline gets two. Kali tries a roll-up, but Reece uses the top rope to stop. She charges, but gets caught with a powerslam for two. Kayli runs into a TKO for the pin at 4:46.

Winner: Brinley Reece via pin at 4:46
-This was a little rough, but again, that happens sometimes when people make their debut on this show. They started pulling things together towards the end, but could never get the crowd into it. Still, good on Armstrong for getting that first one out of the way. 1/2*

-Cutler James gives some advice to Shiloh Hill backstage as he faces Mark Coffey in our Main Event.

-NCAA Custon WWE Titles. Why does WVU get one, but not Pitt? Oh yeah, probably because of McAfee.

-This December Saturday Night’s Main Event returns to NBC! OBSESSION! That makes me so happy!

Mark Coffey vs. Shiloh Hill

-The Coffey Brothers had a Tag Match on Main Event this week against Alpha Academy and my review can be found here. Gallus walked out with Mark, but head to the back before Hill makes his entrance. “Gallus Sucks,” chant from the crowd. Coffey shoves Hill off a lock-up.. Another go and Coffey gets in a kick and hooks a side headlock. Hill runs Coffey down with a shoulder and then runs him into the corner. Float over in the opposite corner and he connects with a series of arm-drags. Hill works the arm and shoulder, but Coffey breaks with a well placed forearm. Coffey gets caught with a side headlock. Coffey shoves off and hits a clothesline after a drop down. They start trading blows and Coffey wins the first exchange. They go again and Hill starts to win, but Coffey cuts him off with a back elbow. More punching as the crowd seems a little burned out. Coffey hooks a chinlock, but Hill shoves off and gets a sleeper. Coffey shoves off and tries his own sleeper, but Hill breaks with a belly to back suplex. They trade forearms in the middle of the ring and the crown doesn’t even BOO and YAY. Hill with a back splash in the corner and hits a leaping clothesline, but Hill is out at two. Double under hook suplex gets two! Coffey back with a leaping lariat and he hits a Bull Hammer for the pin at 5:57.

Winner: Mark Coffey via pin at 5:57
-This was a little dull as they never got the crowd into it. The replay showed that Hill lost a tooth on The Bull Hammer. Just a lot of strikes and not much else. *1/2

5.0

The final score: review Not So Good

The 411

The opener was fun and then things went down from there. Not sure what happened to the crowd for the last two matches as part of the charm of this show is the small, but hot crowd. As always, an easy watch, but I was hoping we were in for a really good show after the first match. Better luck next week!