NXT LVL Up – September 16, 2022: They’re Doing The Good Things!

NXT LVL Up
Date: September 16, 2022
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Sudu Shah, Nigel McGuinness

I actually got a bit of hope last week as we had a slightly bigger name in the main event to make it feel a bit better. Then again there is always the chance that they are going to completely drop it and switch back to the normal way of doing things. That would be the LVL Up way so let’s get to it.

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

Opening sequence.

Ivy Nile/Tatum Paxley vs. Sloane Jacobs/Erica Yan

Paxley takes Yan down to start and she seems a bit surprised. Back up and Paxley pulls her to the mat for a hammerlock before it’s off to Nile for some more arm cranking. Yan tries to roll out and gets hammerlocked again as this is one sided so far. An escape over to the corner brings in Jacobs, who is kicked down just as fast.

Paxley flip splashes onto her but stops to glare at Yan, allowing Jacobs to grab her own armbar. A spinning middle rope crossbody gives Jacobs two and we hit the neck crank. Paxley elbows her in the face for a breather though and the hot tag brings in Nile to wreck things. Everything breaks down and Ivy Iconoclasms Paxley into a twisting splash for the pin on Jacobs at 5:19.

Rating: C. This was the kind of faster paced and above all else different match that that it needed to be. Just mixing things up a bit makes the show feel that much better and that is what they have needed to do around here for the better part of ever. I’m not sure what took so long, but I’m assuming that a lack of caring had something to do with it.

Bronco Nima and Lucien Price talk about going to school together and then reuniting after losing contact. Duke Hudson comes in to mock the idea so they say get a partner. That’s not going to work for Hudson, so he’ll face Nima one on one. See what they did here? They set up a quick story and gave us a bit of a backstory for a new team. This took about two minutes and did SOMETHING that has been lacking around here for years. Do more of this, even on a small scale.

Bronco Nima vs. Duke Hudson

Lucien Price is here with Nima as they take turns powering each other into the corner. Hudson hits a knee to the ribs and grabs a headlock but Nima comes back with a grab of the hair. A Samoan drop plants Hudson but he hits Nima in the throat and stomps away. The chinlock goes on until Nima fights up and hits a corner splash. A dancing forearm takes too long though and Hudson hits a German suplex. There’s a belly to belly suplex into a big boot to finish Nima at 5:41.

Rating: C. This was close to a hoss fight and I’m glad to see Hudson get a win as I still think there is something to him. Other than that, it was weird to see someone like Nima, who seemed to be getting a bit more established, to lose like this. Granted some of that was due to taking too long to set something up so maybe he can get some experience out of this.

Indi Hartwell vs. Amari Miller

Miller goes for the arm to start and la majistral gets two on Hartwell. The headlock takeover keeps Miller in control as the fans get behind Hartwell. Back up and a slam into an elbow gets two on Miller, followed by the chinlock. Fans: “SHE’S IMPRESSIVE!” Miller fights up and grabs a rollup for two but walks into a spinebuster for the pin at 5:12.

Rating: C-. Not much to see here but it was nice to have the fans into someone like Hartwell, who they will at least know. Hartwell has fallen a long way since the Index thing ended and that was pretty clear again this week. Miller has all the charisma she could ask for, but she is still pretty basic in the ring and that is going to need to change.

Overall Rating: C. The main thing here is that, in the same vein as the main roster shows, it feels like there is a new energy here. This show featured some bigger NXT names (in perspective that is) and it made the show seem that much better. What we got here was a show that didn’t exactly light things up, but it was a lot more interesting than so many of the dry, dull LVL Up/205 Live shows over the last few years. Do more of the new stuff and see what you can do with this show, even if it is as low on the totem pole as you can get.

Results
Tatum Paxley/Ivy Nile b. Erica Yan/Sloane Jacobs – Twisting splash to Jacobs
Duke Hudson b. Bronco Nima – Big boot
Indi Hartwell b. Amari Miller – Spinebuster

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