NXT LVL Up – October 20, 2023: The New Format Is Working
NXT LVL Up
Date: October 20, 2023
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Byron Saxton, Blake Howard
Things were actually a bit different last week as there were only two matches with a slightly shorter run time. It made things a bit easier to watch, though granted having the best match NXT LVL Up has presented in months helped as well. I could go or more of the new format as it did make for a tighter show. Let’s get to it.
Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.
Opening sequence.
Edris Enofe/Malik Blade vs. Boa/Dante Chen
Blade works on Chen’s arm to start but Chen reverses into a headlock. That’s broken up and Blade hits a dropkick before Enofe comes in to elbow away. It’s off to Boa, whose armbar doesn’t work in the slightest. Enofe has to fight out of the corner, allowing Boa to get in a kick to the ribs.
Chen’s belly to back suplex gets two as commentary actually gives us a backstory for the villains (Boa has been around since Chen’s tryout and kept his eye on him the whole time). Enofe backflips out of another suplex attempt and hands it back to Blade to pick up the pace. A high crossbody takes Boa and Chen, setting up an assisted Blockbuster to finish Chen at 6:08.
Rating: C+. Not exactly a surprising result but Boa and Chen worked well enough together as a makeshift villainous team. Blade and Enofe continue to be a team that feels like it has a lot of potential but this is about all they’ve gotten to do in recent months. For a quick opener though, there were far worse options.
Fallon Henley, with Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen, is ready for Lash Legend, who is loud and annoying.
Fallon Henley vs. Lash Legend
Josh Briggs, Brooks Jensen and the rest of the Meta Four are here too. Legend shoves her against the ropes to start and talks a lot of trash before firing off an elbow to the face. A hard slam puts Henley down again for two. Henley tries to fight up but gets caught with a right hand to slow her back down.
A pump kick sends her to the floor and Legend sends her face first into the apron back inside. Legend grabs a delayed suplex before putting on a torture rack (a move that needs to make a comeback), only to be reversed into a sleeper. With that broken up, Henley gets in a facebuster, leaving the others to brawl on the floor. Henley hits the Shining Wizard for the pin at 6:12.
Rating: C. Legend isn’t great in the ring but she’s a good bit better than she was a year or so ago. Letting her get in the ring more and more often is the best thing or her so even a six minute match can help her advance. I still see something in Henley and could go for having her around a lot more often but that doesn’t seem likely to happen anytime soon.
Overall Rating: C. It’s not just the shorter run time but I like the new format a good bit more. This lets the matches get a bit more focus instead of trying to get three matches and two commercials into half an hour. It also might help keep things feeling a bit fresher around here as it’s one less match to have each week, which could help things out nicely. For now it’s not exactly a game changer, but it is an improvement, which is long overdue around here.
Results
Edris Enofe/Malik Blade b. Boa/Dante Chen – Assisted Blockbuster to Chen
Fallon Henley b. Lash Legend – Shining Wizard
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