By John Moore, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
NXT TV
Live from Orlando, Florida at the WWE Performance Center
Aired October 11, 2022 on USA Network
[Hour One] Vic Joseph checked in on commentary. After introdoucing the show, he introduced his new broadcast partner Booker T. Alicia Taylor was the ring announcer…
Entrances for the opening match took place. A picture-in-picture screen showed Ilja Dragunov entering the WWE Performance Center. While Javier Bernal was making his entrance, JD McDonagh made his entrance as well to join Booker and Vic on commentary…
1. NXT Champion Bron Breakker vs. “Big Body Javi” Javier Bernal in a non-title match. Breakker tossed Javi around the ring, causing Javi to cower in the corner and beg for a respite. Breakker took Javi down into armbar position. Javi managed to get a wrist lock, but Breakker came right back with a Fireman Carry Takedown. Breakker hit Javi with a running lariat. Breakker then followed up with a Belly to Belly suplex. On commentary, McDonagh continued to take credit for causing Ilja Dargunov to relinquish the UK Title due to injury.
Javi managed to rally back with strikes. Breakker hit a series of shoulder tackles and a swinging spinebuster. Booker talked about how he took that move many times from Bron’s dad. Breakker stared at JD and then hit Javi with the Military Press power slam for the victory.
Bron Breakker defeated Javier Bernal via pinfall in 3:20.
Breakker and McDonagh went face to face in the ring. Ilja Dragunov then made his entrance. When Ilja joined the face off, JD gave Ilja a headbutt to stagger him. Bron and JD started to brawl. JD dodged allowing Ilja to hit Breakker with the Torpedo Moscow. Vic noted that it looked like Ilja intended to nail JD with the move based off him taking credit for putting Ilja on the shelf…
John’s Thoughts: Standard warmup match. Nothing too special, but decent enough to give Breakker momentum heading into the Halloween Havoc show. The post-match stuff was pretty standard too and nothing too out of the norm. What I think NXT needs to do is give Bron Breakker some more character development because it seems like ever since the Joe Gacy feud, his character development has been halted. NXT is giving JD McDonagh, on the other hand, a lot of time to develop on-screen. I wonder if they are trying to set him up with a fluky NXT Title win?
An Alba Fyre promo aired where she was standing in front of fire. She hyped up her feud with Toxic Attraction…
A hype package aired to hype up Axiom vs. Nathan Frazer for a spot in the North American Championship Ladder Match….[c]
Vic Joseph plugged the Undertaker One [Dead] Man show…
Entrances for the next match took place…
2. Axiom vs. Nathan Frazer for a spot in the North American Championship Match at Halloween Havoc. Axiom dominated the early chain wrestling sequence with ground game. Frazer went for a leapfrog dodge, but Axiom countered it by yanking Frazer’s leg out of the air into a leg lock. Both men ended up in a stalemate after blocking and dodging the other person’s signature moves. Both men had an extended Test of Strength sequence. Axiom went for a springboard but was tripped by Frazer. Frazer dragged Axiom to the mat heading into picture-in-picture.[c]
The picture-in-picture graphic still says “NXT 2.0” with the old logo and paint splat. Frazer had Axiom in a deep Boston Crab back from the break. Frazer went for a Lionsault, but Axiom German Suplexed him out of it. Axiom hit Frazer with a high crossbody for a two count. Frazer dropkicked Axiom off the top rope. Frazer hit Axiom with a moonsult into an Eye of the Hurricane at ringside. Axiom beat the ten count, but walked right into a missile dropkick.
Axiom countered a Phoenix Splash into a Triangle Choke. Frazer escaped but Axiom countered into a modified Rings of Saturn. Frazer got his foot on the bottom rope for the break. Frazer went for a slingshot, but ate a Gamengiri from Axiom. Axiom hit Frazer with a top rope Asai Moonsault. Frazer recovered and went for the Rollins Superplex combo. Axiom countered the Falcon Arrow into a Rear Naked Choke. After Frazer escaped, both men traded fatigued strikes.
Frazer and Axiom took each other out with stereo lariats. Both men traded punches from their knees. Both men double rolled each other up for a two count. Axiom caught Frazer with a high knee. Both men traded rollups. Frazer got the final rollup for the win.
Nathan Frazer defeated Axiom via pinfall in 12:53 to earn a spot in the North American Championship match at Halloween Havoc.
Frazer and Axiom shared a handshake after the match…
John’s Thoughts: A good and unique match. The technical details of this match reminded me of good matches from Dean Malenko or Lance Storm. Both of these guys actually remind me of PAC (a.k.a. Adrian Neville) in terms of moveset. Frazer continues to shine and looking forward to see what he adds to the Halloween Havoc ladder match. Interested to see what they do with Axiom moving forward too. There’s a low ceiling for the weird “Mathematical Superhero” character, but if he sticks around it long enough, he can maybe use that generic character as a good impetus for a heel turn. I bring up PAC because he was stuck in a generic superhero character only to show main event ascension when he went to “The Bastard” character.
McKenzie Mitchell interviewed Ilja Dragunov in the parking lot about weather the Torpedo Moscow was meant for JD McDonagh, not Bron. McKenzie was cut off by Grayson Waller who cut one of his bragging promos. Ilja yelled and asked Waller why he was wearing his grandma’s sunglasses. Waller said his eyes were still sensitive after what happened last week (Apollo’s premonition). Ilja challenged Waller to a match later and walked away. Waller blamed McKenzie for making Ilja mad at him…
Valentina Feroz asked Sanga to be in her corner for her match against Indi Hartwell. Indi Hartwell showed up and intimidated Feroz…[c]
A Bray Wyatt hype package aired to hype his appearance for Smackdown…
The show cut to the latest Apollo Crews “Dear Diary” cinematic. Crews told his diary about how people create their own points of view. He said most people see things in a uncomplicated way with forced perspective. Crews said when you change one detail, everything around you changes. He said when you see that different view, you may not like it. He said he’s been waiting for months to get back at Waller, and we’ll see what happens at Halloween Havoc. Crews had a premonition and he saw creepy stock footage as well as the Chucky doll for some reason. Crews said he’s forcing his perspective on Waller and at Halloween Havoc he’s leaving Waller in the dark….
Entrances for the next match took place. Vic Joseph noted that Indi Hartwell trained at Booker T’s Reality of Wrestling school. Booker didn’t really give a response…
John’s Thoughts: Booker hasn’t been great tonight, but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt week one. He still says a lot of the stock lines that he used to overuse on Smackdown, but at least he’s not overbearing as he once was. He also doesn’t seem to be educated on the NXT product, but I wonder if he even knew he was going to be NXT commentator before last week? So I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt for a few weeks and hopefully it works. Hey, Wade Barrett came in not-too-educated on the product and all it takes is a few weeks go get acclimated to the new show they’re calling (That said, my preferred team would have been the old FCW commentary team of Wade Barrett and Byron Saxton).
3. Indi Hartwell vs. Valentina Feroz (w/Sanga). Hartwell dragged Valentina to the mat with a headlock. Suddenly Veer Mahan showed up. Veer whispered something in Sanga’s ear causing Sanga to head to the back. Valentina took down Indi with a Juji Gatame. Indi deadlifted Valentina into a Back Suplex. Feroz went right into the Juji Gatame again. After the rope break, Feroz hit Hartwell with a hip attack. Feroz hit Hartwell with a jawbreaker. Feroz was bewildered to see Sanga gone. Feroz still managed to hit Hartwell with a meteora and dropkick for a two count.
Hartwell dragged Feroz to the top rope and hit her with a Superplex. Hartwell picked up the pinfall win.
Indi Hartwell defeated Valentina Feroz via pinfall in 3:33.
Pretty Deadly showed up on the Crow’s nest shirtless and painted up like College Frat boys at a tailgate party. Elton Prince had a foam cowboy hat while Kit Wilson had a beer drinking helmet. Wilson did Joaquin Wilde’s annoying air horn chant (which I’ll forgive him for). He congratulated Hartwell and said “Go Sports” because American’s love sports. They then trash talked the other tag teams in the division. Wilson talked about swigging beer for the working man. They did a football run, yes boy, and showed they had the letters P and D on their backs…
Entrances for the next match took place…[c]
John’s Thoughts: Good match for the time given and both women looked smooth in the limited amount of time. Hartwell has stopped using her slingshot elbow drop finisher, and she hasn’t used it ever since that horrible botch against Lash Legend. I wonder if that match was the reason she stopped. Anyways, I’m also very high on Valentina Feroz, who really reminds me of former Brazilian Judoka NXT Wrestler Taynara Conti (a.k.a. Tay Melo). Similar moveset too and I really like the use of Judo ground game in her offense. She also seems to be a quick learner too.
McKenzie Mitchell asked Cora Jade about her pick your poison choice. Jade said she’s been contacting everyone from the roster and she thinks Roxanne is being ghosted. Mitchell said Roxanne’s DMs are blowing up and she’s even showing up to Smackdown this week…
Wilson and Prince were watching the next match from the crow’s nest, eating potato chips…
4. Edris Enofe and Malik Blade vs. Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen (w/Fallon Henley) vs. “The Dyad” Jagger Reid and Rip Fowler (w/Joe Gacy) for a future title shot at the NXT Tag Team Championships. Briggs and Jensen hit Blade with their signature baseball slide punch. They then beat up The Dyad. Blade gave Reid and Briggs a dropkick. Reid came back with a backbreaker on Blade. Fowler gave Briggs a lariat. Joe Gacy hugged The Dyad. Fowler and Reid traded quick tags to cut the ring in half on Blade. Blade gave Fowler a knee drop and tagged in Enofe.
They swarmed Fowler with knee strikes. Enofe hit Fowler with a handstand into a leg drop. Briggs choked Reid and tossed him to ringside. Jensen tagged in and hit the pile of people at ringside with a tightrope dive. The show cut to regular commercial.[c]
[Hour Two] The Dyad traded quick tags to isolate Enofe. The Dyad and Enofe brawled to the top rope leading to Briggs Jensen hitting them with a Tower of Doom. Briggs tagged in and cleaned house. Briggs hit Reid with a suplex and standing splash as he fired himself up. Briggs sent Reid up with an Atomic Drop into Jensen’s knee and then took down Reid. Blade cleaned house. Enofe got a blind tag in. Blade hit Jensen with a Blockbuster. Enofe hit Jensen with an elbow drop. Briggs tossed Blade on Enofe for the break.
Blade hit Reid with a knee. Everyone traded quick strikes. Reid caught Briggs with a kick. Briggs and Jensen took out The Dyad with stereo punces. Enofe and Blade hit Briggs with a Double Paydirt. Enofe hit the Dyad with a Corkscrew Plancha. Blade hit Briggs and Nensen with a flip dive. Gacy gave Enofe a discus lariat. Grimes came in out of nowhere to hit Gacy with a Cave In. Grimes tripped up Fowler to prevent Ticket to Mayhem. Enofe rolled up Reid for the win.
Enofe and Blade defeated The Dyad and Briggs and Jensen via pinfall in 9:10 of on-air time to earn a future shot at the NXT Tag Team Championships.
Pretty Deadly trash talked at Enofe and Blade from a distance…
John’s Thoughts: Fun, fast-paced, action from all three teams. We know the Dyad can go, but the other two teams have shown immense improvement over time. Briggs and Jensen actually impressed me the most. Briggs showed great big man fire in his hype sequence and Jensen continues to get better and better every match. On a side note, now that Bray Wyatt is back and presumably getting his own stable/cult, can we finally scrap Joe Gacy’s ghetto ass bathrobe ninja cult? I just see too many cults on Wrestling TV these days. On Thursdays, I have to deal with Eric Young and hit bootleg Control Your Narrative cult. Not to mention, Control Your Narrative may or may not still exist. I don’t think there’s a need for this many wrestling cults. Moving along, shout out to Pretty Deadly for their Tailgate Party gimmick this week. These two are two of the best things going in WWE right now low key.
McKenzie interviewed Jacy Jayne and Gigi Dolin. Jayne complained about Alba Fyre jumping them in the parking lot last week. Gigi hyped up Jacy beating Fyre in their upcoming match. Jayne said she’s going to make Fyre a hot mess. Jayne also talked about having a surprise in order…
Alba Fyre made her entrance…[c]
Kianna James was shown in her office (which may or may not still look as cheap as a porno set). She was still doing business deals on the phone. She also has a secretary now…
Toxic Attraction made their entrance…
5. Alba Fyre vs. Jacy Jayne (w/Gigi Dolin). Both women traded forearms. Jayne gave Fyre a knee to the gut. Fire gave Jayne a chop block and right hand. Dolin distracted Fyre, which allowed Jayne to nail her with a discus foraerm. Dolin gave Fyre a cheap shot right hand when the ref got distracted. Fyre rallied back with chops and a front suplex on Jayne. Jayne hit Fyre with a neckbreaker for a two count. Fyre hit Jayne with a Fireman Carry into a Power Bomb for a two count. Dolin dragged Jayne to ringside.
Fyre hit Jayne with a Suicide Dive. Dolin distracted Fyre to block a Gory Bomb attempt. Jayne rolled up Fyre for a two count. Fyre hit Jayne with a kick and Gory Bomb for the victory.
Alba Fyre defeated Jacy Jayne via pinfall in 3:34.
Joseph noted that Fyre knocked down the first pillar on her way to Mandy Rose. As Fyre was walking up the ramp, a hooded figure pulled at the hair of Fyre. The hooded figure revealed herself as Sonya Deville. Joseph said this must be the “surprise” Jayne talked about. Deville and Toxic Attraction put the boots to Fyre. Deville hit Fyre with a pump kick. Deville and Toxic Attraction gave Fyre a Shield Bomb through the table. ..
John’s Thoughts: Interesting surprise. I wonder if they’re sending Deville over to NXT for some seasoning or if this is just one of those trial deals. I’m curious how they explain the Deville and Rose alignment, because even though they are best friends in real life, the last time we saw both women in the ring they had a blood feud that culminated in a loser leaves town match (It was supposed to be a loser loses their hair match but they understandably retconned that). What I liked from Deville here was she looked more vicious than recently as she’s sorta still come off as an executive that doesn’t wrestle (and when she does wrestle she comes off as inferior to all her opponents).
The Schism beat down a camera man in the parking lot and took his camera. Gacy talked about trying to save Cameron Grimes from his pathetic existance. Gacy challenged Grimes to a three on one handicap match…
Wes Lee made his entrance…[c]
John’s Thoughts: Ugh, end this. We don’t need the Schism. I’m just afraid that every time I think this feud with Grimes is gonna end, they just keep dragging it out in unentertaining fashion.
Vic Joseph plugged WWE’s partnership with a women’s empowerment charity. Joseph noted that today was the National Day of the Girl…
A Nikkita Lyons and Zoey Stark promo package aired. Stark was excited to be potential champions. Lyons said that she and Stark complement each other. They cut to a WWE Tryout at Las Vegas last year where Paul Levesque talked to Lyons and compared Lyons to Stark. Stark and Lyons continued to hype up being future champions…
Quincy Elliot, Hank Walker, and the generic security guards weere watching a TV monitor. Walker said he has Elliot’s back next week for Elliot’s match. Elliot thanked Walker and the guards for their support..
Stacks made his entrance. A replay aired of Tony D’Angelo suffering his leg injury…
6. Wes Lee vs. Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo. lee dominated Stacks with a kick. Lee got a rollup on Stacks. Stacks gave Lee’s knee a Dragon Screw on the 2nd rope. Stacks then gave Lee a Chop Block. The commentary team noted that Stacks is trying to return the favor by taking out Lee’s knee. Stacks put Lee in an Indian Deathlock. Lee fought out with a right hand. Lee hit Stacks with his signature CQC. Lee caught Stacks in the corner with a European Uppercut.
Stacks recovered and hit Lee with a Reverse TKO for a two count. Lee hit Stacks with a Final Flash (Spiral Tap) for the win.
Wes Lee defeated Stacks via pinfall in 3:57.
Trick Williams and Carmelo Hayes ran out to put the boots to Lee. Oro Mensah ran out and cleared house. Oro teased a big move, but Trick and Melo rolled to ringside. Wes Lee hit Trick and Melo with a flip dive to leave the babyfaces standing tall…
McKenzie Mitchell interviewed Jacy, Sonya, and Gigi. Sonya acknowledged that she had her issues with Rose, but Rose is still her best friends. She said by association, Gigi and Jacy are her friends. Deville told McKenzie to tell Alba that she’ll be waiting in the ring for her next week on NXT, but if she does she won’t make it to Halloween Havoc on Saturday…[c]
The Creed Brothers were looking somber in a hospital waiting room. Ivy Nile rolled an injured Roderick Strong to them. He was in a wheelchair and had a neckbrace. Nile said Roddy has been looking his best since last week. Brutus said that Damon is going to pay and Julius will put him in the hospital.
Strong said they’ll definitely find some space for Damon in the hospital. Strong then said he’s sorry. He said he brought Damon in and that’s why Diamond Mine might end up being over. Strong said that he wants to fight by Diamond Mine’s side next week, but he can’t. He said he has one wish for Julius, to win, because it’s Diamond Mine forever…
Vic Joseph and Booker t checked in from the commentary table…
Entrances for the next match took place. Thea Hail, as usual was overly energetic (but it kinda works for her)…
John’s Thoughts: Someone keep Thea away from the sugar. She always seems to be on a sugar rush.
7. Thea Hail (w/Andre Chase, Bodhi Hayward) vs. Kiana James. Robert Stone ran in the ring and talked about how Thea Hail embarrassed him last week with a body slam. A “You got slammed” chant ensued. Stone said she’s here to ruin hail’s night. Stone ran at Hail and took a backdrop. Hail put the boots to Stone. James came out of nowhere with her swinging Paydirt for the victory.
Kiana James defeated Thea Hail via pinfall in 1:18.
Stacks was in the locker room looking disappointed. Tony D’Angelo showed up on a crutch. Stacks apologized Tony for being a part of Tony’s injury. Tony said Stack needs to prepare for a match next week. Tony said Stacks will find out who his opponent is when the entrance plays…
Ilja Dragunov made his entrance…[c]
Robert Stone was seething backstage as everyone was laughing at him. Von Wagner confronted Stone and asked him “what was that?”. Wagner said Halloween Havoc is two weeks away and they need to get serious. Wagner said “cut the bullshit” (censored). Wagner said Stone needs to help Wagner win the North American Title. Stone fired himself up…
McKenzie Mitchell interviewed Cameron Grimes. He talked about how happy he was to cost the Dyad a match. Grimes teased finding someone on Raw and Smackdown to team with him against The Schism. Before McKenzie could send the show to Vic, Cora Jade showed up and said she’s going to find her pick your poison choice at Raw…
The following segments were hyped for next week: Cora Jade’s and Roxanne Perez’s Pick Your Poison matches, Alba Fyre vs. Sonya Deville, and Stacks vs. a mystery opponent…
John’s Thoughts: Lots of mystery partners and teases of Raw and Smackdown wrestlers? I wonder why specifically for next week’s go home show?
Grayson Waller made his entrance…
8. Ilja Dragunov vs. Grayson Waller. Waller quickly ran to the ropes to stall. Dragunov took down Waller with a headlock and armbar. Dragon then wrenched at Waller’s arm. Waller came back with a knee to the gut. Waller flipped Dragunov to the mat. Dragunov came back with a knife edge chop. Dragunov hit Waller with a Knee. Waller went back to the ropes for a break. Waller hit Ilja with a throat punch and crescent kick. Waller gave the commentary team a crotch chop. The show cut to picture-in-picture.[c]
John’s Thoughts: It seems like we get at least one crotch chop on each episode of Raw, Smackdown, and NXT each week. We all knew Vince had his weird mandates and quirks. Has Papa Paul mandated that there’s a one crotch chop quota each TV show? I kid, I kid. I’ll take this over random Too Sweets all over the place (which we might be in store for now that Gallows and Anderson are back).
Ilja rolled up Waller for a two count. Ilja hit Waller with a chop and clubbing blow to the back. Ilja gave Waller stiff forearms. Ilja grounded Waller with a jump kick. Ilja hit Waller wiht a hip attack and deadlift Pumphandle Suplex. Vic hyped Waller vs. Crews at Halloween Havoc. Waller gave Ilja a thumb to the eye. Waller took down Ilja with a kick combo. Joseph also hyped Grimes vs. The Schism with Grimes having two partners from Raw and Smackdown.
[Overrun] Waller hit Ilja with a crossover elbow drop for a two count. Waller went to town on the back of the neck of Ilja. Waller put Ilja in a sleeper. Ilja got to his feet and pressured Waller to the corner. Waller hit Ilja with back elbows. Ilja hit Waller with a Tiger Feint Lariat. Waller came back with a low dropkick and Rear naked Choke. Ilja broke the move, but Waller went into a sleeper. Dragunov escaped with a Judo toss. Waller retreated to the stage.
The lights went blue and all of a sudden the Spin the Wheel make the Deal wheel spun by itself. Waller ran into a German Suplex by Ilja. Ilja hit Waller with a Gotch Style suplex. Ilja hit Waller with Torpedo Moscow for the victory.
Ilja Dragunov defeated Grayson Waller via pinfall in 11:07
While Ilja was celebrating, Bron Breakker appeared and gave Ilja a spear. This caused Booker to Shuky Ducky Quack Quack. JD McDonagh was shown pleased in the crowd, giving a slow clap. Vic Joseph closed NXT… (by the way, Chucky was after NXT, where the uncensored F-bombs were already dropping in the first minute of the show. I’m just annoyed by the stupid “shit” mutes on NXT and Raw)…
John’s Thoughts: A good match with a goofy ending. That was some TNA ass stuff. So Waller gets spooked by a spinning wheel. Ok? It was just hokey. This didn’t feel like a main event. They probably should have gone with Axiom vs. Frazer or the Tag Title Triple Threat as the main. This Apollo Crews vs. Waller stuff deserves to be in the middle of the show.
This wasn’t a bad show. Weird main event ending, but everything else served as solid character development and storyline progression. Week 1 of the Booker T and Vic Joseph era was okay. Booker needs to maybe not overdo his stock catchphrases all the time (He can use them, but just not shoehorn them in every sentence. It’s almost, but not as bad, as annoying as Matt Taven shoehorning the word “Melvin” where it doesn’t have to be). To Booker’s credit, he and Vic did get better in the 2nd hour. His weakness this week is the same weakness Wade Barrett had when he came in, in that he probably didn’t have enough time to study up on the NXT product as a whole. Let’s give Booker a month or two and see how it goes. If anything, he’ll have plenty to say about Roxanne Perez at least (his star pupil from RoW).
Yeah,I would’ve had Vic Joseph on Raw or Smackdown actually.I wasn’t a fan of Jimmy Smith and Kevin Patrick is not good either..
Although the “OMG TRIPLE H IS AMAZING WWE IS AMAZING NOW AND TRIPLE H OMG IS AMAZING” attitude that I knew (and posted here as soon as it was announced he was taking over) is already played out, I’m glad to see someone write a column and be positive. Wish this site could get a person who does that for AEW shows, and isn’t blantantly “no matter what I can find something to complain about” every review…..
As for Booker T, he’ll be fine. I won’t “Give him the benefit of the doubt” (which you typed not once, but twice….don’t be TOO obvious, right? LOL) because he shouldn’t be rusty when it comes to him calling matches (whether he knows the performers or not, and he claims he watches Raw, Smackdown, and NXT regularly), but he will be “OMG EVERYONE IS AMAZING” while on NXT just as he does on his podcast when speaking of the WWE.
Jeez, what crawled up your butt?
Tony Khan