Pantoja’s WWE NXT Review 8.17.22

NXT Heatwave

August 16th, 2022 | Capitol Wrestling Center in Orlando, Florida

I don’t have the time to cover NXT weekly but I can try to make some for special shows.

Paul Heyman did voiceover work for the opening video package which actually worked well since it gave this an ECW style feel and the show is called Heatwave.

NXT North American Championship: Carmelo Hayes [c] vs. Giovanni Vinci

If you didn’t already know, Carmelo Hayes is the guy. Build around that man. I dig Vinci too. Things were pretty even during the first portion of this match until a double clothesline put both men down heading into break. Through the break, nobody really gained a clear upper hand but the intensity seemed to ramp up. Trick tripped up Vinci to turn the tide a little bit but not enough to fully switch things up. I liked a lot of Vinci’s offense here, specifically the Brainbuster he pulled out for a near fall. It had some snap to it. He also hit a sweet springboard dive to take out both Hayes and Williams. They muted the “shit” part of “holy shit” chants and it sounded terrible. Vinci had this won with the double jump moonsault but Trick put Hayes’s foot on the bottom rope. They went a bit too hard on the Trick interference late and it ultimately led to Hayes countering a Vinci powerbomb into a rana for the win after 11:50. With a little less Trick, this could’ve been something special. As it is, it’s a very good opener. [***¾]

Toxic Attraction arrived earlier looking incredible and bumped into Bron Breakker, who they seemed interested in. They want to see which champion retains tonight.

Mr. Stone hyped up Von Wagner in a vignette.

Diamond Mine hit the ring with Julius Creed saying that being part of this team means a lot to him but someone is trying to break them up. That person is Roderick Strong, who cut an awkward promo about how much he believes in the Creed Brothers. Brutus backed his brother as they aired footage of Roddy hitting Julius with a knee accidentally in a prior match. He noticed Tony D’Angelo sending signals to Strong to hit him. Roddy denied it again but then NXT UK’s Gallus arrived to interrupt and jump Diamond Mine. Strong didn’t really help but also took a beating before Gallus posed over them with a green light over the arena.

Roxanne Perez was interviewed about facing Cora Jade and she admitted to being nervous but is ready to win.

Cora Jade vs. Roxanne Perez

Cora feels another person who I thought had lifetime babyface written all over them only to become a strong heel. We’ve seen this in the past with Sami Zayn, Bayley, Dakota Kai, etc. I loved that this started with Perez coming out aggressively and taking Cora down. Far too often are these “intense” rivalry matches just regular matches. They kept up a good pace throughout the commercial break with Jade hitting a suplex on the outside. Returning, Perez began to rally with some forearm shots. Her run caused Cora to resort to grabbing the stick she came out with and threatened to use it as a weapon. Perez got it from her and teased using it but couldn’t pull the trigger, so Cora took advantage and won with a DDT onto the stick to win in 11:44. A good match that felt more like the start of a feud than the end. The right person won too. [***]

Briggs and Jensen were interviewed and got into a fight with Gallus until security pulled them apart.

Street Fight: Santos Escobar vs. Tony D’Angelo

This got a long video package. If Santos wins, Legado is free and if Tony wins, Santos must leave NXT forever. Legado’s entrance was cool. I love their theme and the presentation was on point. Santos went after Tony before the bell with a chair, getting this off to a fast start. It slowed a bit soon after with the guys going at it inside with no weapons while the folks at ringside had some exchanges that the camera missed. Santos took a trash can lid to the head going into the commercial. During the break, Tony wore Santos down with a chair and upon returning, suplexed him onto a bunch of them outside. Of course, Santos had to rally and the crowd at the CWC really seemed into him. His tope suicida looked better than most. There was a spot where Tony accidentally ran over Elektra Lopez and didn’t seem too sorry. Back inside, both men went after weapons but Tony got to his first and knocked out Santos to win at the 12:41 mark. Another good match though the finish felt a bit flat. [***]

Backstage, Indi Hartwell congratulated Katana and Kayden on winning the titles. Someone brought her a delivery and it was a drawing from Dexter Lumis. Blair Davenport stole it from her and ripped it before introducing herself as a future NXT Women’s Champion.

A Tiffany Stratton/Wendy Choo video package aired to hype their Lights Out match next week.

NXT Women’s Championship: Mandy Rose [c] vs. Zoey Stark

The story here was that Mandy has reigned as champion for a while and Zoey is the resilient underdog returning from an injury. Rose got taken down early but one Stark’s knee was sent into the announce table, we took a break. During that commercial, medics came to check on her. Stark got back into the action and was tripped up by Toxic Attraction who got ejected and sent to the back by Nikkita Lyons (Stark’s Tag Title Tourney partner). Rose remained in control as she relentlessly attacked that leg. Mandy had a wardrobe malfunction that caused the camera to go black a couple of times. Stark hit a big knee but had trouble capitalizing, allowing Mandy to slip outside and avoid a pin. Rose beat on the knee as it was trapped in the ropes and hit her V-Trigger for two. Mandy was stunned and resorted to putting on Zoey’s knee brace and hitting another V-Trigger, winning after 11:40. They told a good story here, Mandy was a really good heel, and Stark showed fire while selling well. [***¼]

A vignette aired to hype Qunicy Elliott, who called themselves the Super Diva and would be coming soon.

Grayson Waller was interviewed and talked trash about Apollo Crews before saying he invites him to his new talk show next week.

NXT Championship: Bron Breakker [c] vs. JD McDonagh

Given everything I watched/covered today and my actual job, I’m pressed for time on this one. So I will just say that it basically was booked like almost every other Bron match. McDonagh found a way to hurt him and put him on the defensive before he fought his way past it and fired up. That led to some power moves in the end and a victory with three Spears and a gorilla press powerslam in 13:11. Like I said, this review was short due to the time I had but the match itself was strong. [***½]

The show closed with the arrival of Tyler Bate as NXT UK Champion (a title he hasn’t won on TV yet) to have a staredown with Bron.

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

Kind of hard not to like this show. It had consistently good matches throughout even if nothing was great or no titles changes hands. Plus, the inclusion of NXT UK talent has things getting interesting.