NXT LVL Up – April 29, 2022: LVL Down

NXT LVL Up
Date: April 29, 2022
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Sudu Shah, Nigel McGuinness

I’m almost looking forward to this show in a way and that should make for an interesting enough week. They’re starting to do something a bit differently around here as you see wrestlers debut here before moving up to the main NXT show a week or so later, making this a glorified preview show. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

Opening sequence.

Dante Chen vs. Damon Kemp

Busy week for Kemp, who was on NXT UK yesterday and since the schedule for these shows couldn’t possibly have anything nefarious or misleading going on, he must have some jet lag issues. Chen goes for an armbar to start but gets taken to the mat for some easy riding. This prompts a discussion of pretty much any main roster story the fans can think of to avoid talking about the match.

Back up and Chen starts working on the leg to put him in a bit of trouble, including some cranking on the mat. A backslide gives Kemp two but Chen is back with a spinning toehold. The Ric Flair cannonball down onto the leg is countered into a rollup for two and Kemp is back up with a running shoulder. The running powerslam finishes Chen at 5:13.

Rating: C. The more I see of Kemp, the more I like him. He has some charisma to go with an amateur wrestling background and that is more than you could expect in a situation like his. I could go for more of him, though not so much with Chen, who continues to just be there with little of note about him.

Amari Miller vs. Arianna Grace

Miller is returning from two months off due to an injury and Grace is better known as the daughter of Santino Marella. Miller takes her down with a headlock to start but eventually gets powered down into an armbar. Said armbar keeps Miller down on the arm as we move on to a discussion of the main roster Women’s Titles. Back up and Miller hits a running kick to the chest, only to get small packaged to give Grace the pin at 5:15.

Rating: D+. This was as interesting as four and a half minutes of armbars are going to be. I get that they want to push Grace as someone in the Breakout Tournament, though I’d like to believe that she has something more than we got to see here. If nothing else, it is a bit frustrating to see Miller come back and lose after she was starting to get somewhere before her injury.

Respect is shown post match.

Andre Chase vs. Quincy Elliott

Bodhi Hayward is here with Chase. Quincy shoves him into the corner and gives us a hip swivel, followed by a crushing in another corner. Chase swivels his way out of a waistlock but gets run over again, meaning even more swiveling. Back up and for some reason Chase tries a slam, earning himself another knockdown (and a sore back to go with it).

The big splash doesn’t even warrant a cover before Quincy hits a side slam for two. Chase fights up and manages to stagger Quincy, setting up a high crossbody. The spelling stomps set up a failed sunset flip attempt, but Chase grabs the leg to break up more swiveling. A fairly impressive slam finishes for Chase at 6:19.

Rating: C-. I can go for watching Chase for a good while, but Quincy pretty clearly ran out of stuff he knew how to do and started repeating things with about two minutes left. I know WWE likes rushing things, but if you can’t make it through a six minute match without repeating that many spots, you might not be ready for TV. The slam was good, though it didn’t exactly make up for everything else.

Nigel praises Chase’s 13 inch pythons to end the show.

Overall Rating: C-. This was a pretty disappointing show, but the run time continues to be its saving grace. Even if the show isn’t very good, it’s only not very good for less than half an hour (including ads between matches) so its hard to get that annoyed. Hopefully this was just a one off though, as this was a pretty bad step backwards for the show.

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