NXT LVL Up – December 23, 2022: A Good Match!
NXT LVL Up
Date: December 23, 2022
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Sudu Shaw, Byron Saxton
We are in the holiday season and that could make for an interesting show around here. Granted there is little reason to believe that will be taking place, but last week’s show did include some extra star power to make things more fun. Do something similar this week and they might have something. Let’s get to it.
Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.
Opening sequence.
Charlie Dempsey vs. Myles Borne
Dempsey grabs the arm to start but Borne wrestles him to the ground. That’s reversed with a wristlock, allowing Dempsey to flip around a bit. A forearm rocks Borne, who armdrags Dempsey down without much trouble. The fans approve of the wrestling as Dempsey works on the arm and then grabs a headscissors to pull Borne down again. Dempsey stays on the arm and even cranks on the ankle a bit at the same time (showoff).
Borne fights up but gets hiptossed right back down. A short armscissors has Borne in more trouble and Dempsey rolls him around the ring. Borne finally powers Dempsey up and drops back for the break, meaning it’s time to strike it out. Some rolling suplexes rock Dempsey but he avoids the top rope splash. Dempsey’s fisherman’s belly to back suplex finishes Borne at 8:12.
Rating: B-. Oh yeah this worked and was one of the better matches I’ve seen in LVL Up history. They had a story of the two of them trying to out wrestle each other, with Dempsey just being that much better at the concept. This was a blast of a match and made Borne look better than he has at any point in his career so far.
Dani Palmer is ready to prove herself.
Dani Palmer vs. Sol Ruca
They trade armdrags to start with neither getting anywhere, followed by stereo dropkicks for another standoff. Palmer manages something like a seated abdominal stretch before they go into a pinfall reversal sequence. Ruca dropkicks her into the corner though and it’s the Sol Snatcher (that inverted flipping cutter) for the pin at 2:57. Ruca hit it faster this time too and made it look more natural.
Hank Walker vs. Trick Williams
Williams sidesteps him to start and the fans seem to approve. Walker dodges a charge though and Williams goes sailing out to the floor. Williams misses an elbow back inside but manages to grab something like a reverse X Factor out of the corner for two. Some chops in the corner make Walker mad so he shows Williams how it’s done for two of his own. Another shot drops Walker though and Williams hits the chinlock. That’s broken up and Walker hits the running powerslam for two, meaning it’s time to take the shirt off. A running neckbreaker gives Williams two though and the Trick Kick finishes Walker at 6:08.
Rating: C. This is the kind of match that is going to work most of the time as you had two bigger guys hitting each other until one of them couldn’t get up anymore. Williams wasn’t in the most danger but Walker feels like he is starting to figure a few things out. Granted he didn’t have anywhere to go but up so isn’t the greatest accomplishment, but things are starting to work better than they were before.
Overall Rating: C+. The opener alone was a nice thing to see and I had a good time with this show. Believe it or not, they might actually be doing something with this show and again, that is going to be due to the amount of variety around here. The biggest complaint about this show is how repetitive it can be. Vary things up a bit and the show gets easier to watch. That isn’t complicated and now they are starting to get the idea.
Results
Charlie Dempsey b. Myles Borne – Fisherman’s belly to back suplex
Sol Ruca b. Dani Palmer – Sol Snatcher
Trick Williams b. Hank Walker – Trick Kick
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:
http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6
AND
Remember to check out Wrestlingrumors.net for all of your wrestling headline needs.