By John Moore, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
NXT TV
Taped December 14, 2022 from Orlando, Florida at the WWE Performance Center
Aired December 20, 2022 on USA Network
[Hour One] Highlights from last week’s NXT aired which featured Roxanne Perez defeating Mandy Rose for the NXT Women’s championship… Vic Joseph and Booker T were on commentary. Alicia Taylor was the ring announcer… Entrances for the opening match took place…
1. Carmelo Hayes (w/Trick Williams) vs. Axiom. Hayes fended off a heel hook. Hayes jumped back to avoid a jumping kick from Axiom. Axiom took down Hayes with a head drag. Hayes reversed a bow and arrow into a pin attempt. Hayes kicked out of a jackknife pin attempt. Axiom put Hayes in a Half Cattle Mutilation. Axiom dominated with chain wrestling. Hayes escaped, but was swatted out of the air by Axiom’s dropkick. The show cut to picture-in-picture.[c]
Melo dominated Axiom with methodical offense. Axiom got to his feet and the two men traded boo-yay strikes. Axiom hit Hayes with a hard chest slap and a dropkick. Axiom hit Melo with a Gamengiri and Fisherman Suplex for a two count. Melo hit Axiom with a pump kick and La Mistica for a two count. Melo put Axiom in a crossface. Axiom escaped via a rollup.
Axiom blocked a springboard with a running German Suplex. Axiom hit Melo with a crossbody for a two count. Axiom put Hayes in a Kimura Lock. Melo deadlifted Axiom into a sit-out bomb Axiom put Melo back in the Kimura. The referee didn’t attempt the pin for some reason. Melo escaped by ripping at Axiom’s mask. Axiom no-sold short-arm face wash boots. Melo blocked an Old School by tripping up Axiom. Both men had a Test of Strength on the Top Rope.
Axiom hit Melo with a top rope Frankensteiner. Axiom was setting up for the Golden Ratio. Melo called the referee to him. Trick Williams slammed Axiom on the mat while the ref was distracted. Melo hit Axiom with a Codebreaker and Top Rope scissors kick for the victory.
Carmelo Hayes defeated Axiom via pinfall in 12:35.
Axiom nailed Trick with an Asai Moonsault at ringside…
McKenzie Mitchell interviewed Grayson Waller. Waller said that Roxanne Perez inspired him to call out Bron Breakker this week. McKenzie asked Waller if he’s serious? Waller said he is. McKenzie said that Breakker’s on a media tour. Waller said he knows that Breakker is watching USA on his smartphone. Waller called out Breakker and called Breakker a “bitch”…
Vic hyped Zoey Stark vs. Nikkita Lyons for after the break…[c]
John’s Thoughts: Through the power of Sling TV’s DVR, I’m retroactively finishing up my live review, filling in the parts that I missed due to my computer crash. Great match as expected between two of NXT’s best technical athletes. Good usage of the distraction finish because Melo should be in line for the main title and Axiom is finally clicking with the US audience. Speaking of Axiom, I kinda want to see him wrestle Santos Escobar down the road because I feel like their more technical and methodical styles would mesh well together (I also wouldn’t mind seeing Axiom mixing it up with Rey Fenix somehow for a similar clash).
Tony D’Angelo and Channing Lorenzo were hanging out in the Performance Center break room. D’Angelo just got off the phone, saying he got himself a North American title shot next week. D’Angelo ordered Stacks to tell Dijak to not interfere. Grayson Waller was walking around, saying he’s looking for Breakker…
Zoey Stark tried to chop block Nikkita Lyons during her pre-match kata, but Lyons saw it coming…
2. Zoey Stark vs. Nikkita Lyons. Lyons caught Stark with a hook kick. Lyons hit Stark with a Superman Forearm. Lyons pummeled Stark with rapid forearms. Stark turned the tide by tossing Lyons into the ringpost. Stark beat up Lyons at ringside with methodical offense. Both women traded chest chops in the center of the ring with Starks getting the upper hand. Stark kept Lyons under control with a headlock.
Stark slammed Lyons to the mat several times. Lyons dodged two kicks and rallied with right hands and a German Suplex. Lyons kicked Stark and jabbed her butt into Stark’s face for a two count. Stark escaped a fireman carry and hit Lyons with a superkick. Lyons hit Stark with a back elbow. Stark hit Lyons with a overhead kick for a two count. Lyons hit Stark with a punch and Samoan Drop for a two count.
Lyons caught Stark with a superkick. Both women traded rollups. Stark grabbed the bottom rope for leverage for the tainted win.
Zoey Stark defeated Nikkita Lyons via pinfall in 5:23.
Stark rolled away bragging about outsmarting Lyons…
John’s Thoughts: Logical finish to simmer up this budding feud. Lyons is starting to show some in-ring improvement, which is good considering how it felt like she was stalling in that department for a while. Still not sure if she’s able to carry longer matches yet though. That’s what developmental’s for.
McKenzie Mitchell interviewed Cora Jade. Jade was arguing about Roxanne Perez becoming champion. Wendy Choo attacked Jade and the two women brawled…
Toxic Attraction made their entrance…[c]
Briggs, Jensen, and Henley were hanging out at Henley’s bar. They were still worried about paying off bills on the bar. Jensen tried to remain positive and talked about how they’re going to become future champions. Kiana James and her busty secretary showed up. James talked about how she bought up all the debt the bar owes and there’s a lein on the property by the bank. James talked about how she’s in process to buy the property completely.
Henley called James a bitch. Jensen looked conflicted between his friend and crush. Henley challenged James to a match where if Henley wins James has to pay all the debt off and not take the property; but if James wins, Henley will sign over the bar without James having to pay any more money for it. James said she’ll see Henley next week…
Nile and Paxley and the Tag Champs made their entrance….
3. Kayden Carter and Katana Chance vs. Ivy Nile and Tatum Paxley vs. “Toxic Attraction” Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne for the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championships. [coverage continued after the commercial break due to technical difficultiees]. I was able to get to another computer after the commercial break. Nile and Dolin were even. Carter tagged in and dominated Dolin with strikes. Paxley tagged herself in but took a running splash from Carter after Carter hit Dolin with a dropkick. Chance hit Paxley with an assisted Frankensteiner for a two count.
All six women took each other out with superkicks. Dolin and Jayne worked on Nile with alternating strikes. Jayne hit Nile with a corners splash. Nile avoided a cannonball and tagged in Paxley. Nile tossed Paxley on Jayne for a two count. Jayne hit Nile with a neckbreaker. Chance tagged herself in, dumped Jayne to ringside and hit Nile with a neckbreaker. Nile recovered and Carter tagged in. Carter reversed a Dragon Sleeper into a jackknife roll up for the win.
Kayden Carter and Katana Chance defeated Ivy Nile and Tatum Paxley and Toxic Attraction via pinfall in 6:35 of on-air time to retain the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championships.
John’s Thoughts: Sorry for the technical difficulties folks. I’ll append my coverage once the show is over. Anyways, I hooked up another computer after the commercial break. From what I saw that was a good tag team triple threat with all three teams working hard. The person we saw the least of was Paxley, but I assume she’s still not fully ready for prime time (which frustrates me a bit, because she’s sorta become an anchor to the career of Ivy Nile, who’s mostly disappeared from TV ever since teaming with Paxley over 6 months ago). I like the finish and NXT not playing hot potato with the tag titles, but I would have found a way to not have Nile take the pin because Nile is someone who should be protected.
An Oro Mensah vignette aired where Oro talked about how much he loves nightclubs and having a good time…
Vic Joseph hyped up a Roxanne Perez sitdown interview for after the break…[c]
An ad aired for the NXT Vengence Day PLE…
Vic Joseph and Booker T checked in from the commentary table. Joseph sent the show to Booker T’s exclusive interview with his student and new NXT Women’s Champion Roxanne Perez. Booker T said that Roxanne is “The One”, like the Matrix. Booker asked Roxanne for her thoughts the night she won. Roxanne talked about being overwhelmed wtih emotions. She talked about telling Booker at ROW that she wanted to be in WWE and currently she’s a champion in WWE.
They showed a picture of Roxanne as a little kid, being a wrestling fan. Booker asked Roxanne why she asked for the title shot a month earlier than scheduled. Roxanne talked about how Booker told her to bet on herself and she bet on herself by going for the title after Mandy attacked her from behind. Booker congratulated Roxanne again. Perez then asked Booker if he has more advice. Booker talked about how he was always about checks and championships. Booker told Roxanne to go out win, make history, and become a hall of famer…
John’s Thoughts: Good interview. That was Booker T’s best television work in a long while. Of course, he was playing the role of proud papa, and it came off well on TV. I kinda wish we get more of this Booker on commentary. He can still interject some Booker-isms, but he’s much more better when he isn’t mugging on the microphone.
[Hour Two] Apollo Crews made his entrance to the Performance Center ring in street clothes. Apollo congratulated Roxanne Perez for becoming new Women’s Champion. Apollo talked about how he thought he was coming out of Deadline as a champion too. He talked about coming back to NXT to get that title which slipped away several times. Crews said he understands that he’s been knocked down the ladder, but he’s not out of championship contention. Apollo hyped up NXT going back on the road for Vengeance Day.
Carmelo Hayes made his entrance to interrupt. Hayes talked about how he’s actually the next in line, not Apollo. Hayes talked about how he doesn’t mind adding Apollo to his list of defeated opponents. Crews hyped up Melo for being great, which drew a “Melo” chant. Crews talked about how Melo has nice drip and is the top of the NXT depth chart. Apollo said that Melo is missing one thing. Melo cut in and said that Apollo doesn’t have the championship either. Apollo got in Melo’s face and said no matter how good you are, there’s always someone better. Apollo said that someday, he’ll show Melo that he’s better than Melo. Melo and Apollo jawed off mic to end the segment…
John’s Thoughts: Simple and effective segment to set up a Crews vs. Hayes program. Crews showed better mic skills than usual, and this was his best promo work since dropping the Nigerian accent (he was actually great on the mic as the Nigerian prince, but he hasn’t shown the same confidence in his natural voice). This promo exchange had the right amount of tension to make me look forward to this feud.
The show cut to Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston. Pretty Deadly showed up with a stack of Christmas gifts. Kofi said if they got all the WWE memorabilia they requested, they can get a tag team title shot. They said they couldn’t get all the gifts. Woods said they can’t get a title shot then. Prince wanted to do the Pledge of Allegiance this time. New Day did their signature hip swivel thing and left. Pretty Deadly looked disappointed…
Alba Fyre was heading to the ring but was sprayed by Isla Dawn’s poison mist when Isla showed up out of nowhere. A crew member called for a medic…[c]
Footage was shown of Odyssey Jones, Edris Enofe, and Malik Blade trying to invite Ava Raine to party with them. Raine talked about how they should stop trying to fill the void in their lives with temporary pleasure. Gacy, Reid, and Fowler showed up and said some of their usual rhetoric. The Schism walked away…
Booker and Joseph checked in from the commentary table. Joseph sent the show to Alba Fyre who was being checked on by a medic. Grayson Waller was walking around looking for Bron Breakker. Fyre was selling burning eyes and told Waller to go away…
Entrances for the next match took place. Vic Joseph plugged the Undertaker One Man Show. Booker joked about being a part of the “Wrestler’s Court” parts of Undertaker’s stories…
4. Indi Hartwell vs. Elektra Lopez. Lopez fended off Hartwell with strikes. Lopez shoved Hartwell into the ringpost. Lopez hit Hartwell with an elbow drop. Lopez worked on Hartwell with headlocks and mouth fishhooking. Hartwell rolled up Lopez for a two count. Hartwell rallied with lariats on Lopez. Hartwell caught Lopez with a draping big boot for a two count. Lopez and Hartwell took each other out with stereo crossbodies. Lopez reversed a suplex by punching out Hartwell, pinning her for the win.
Elektra Lopez defeated Indi Hartwell via pinfall in 3:35.
Booker and Vic said something seemed off. An instant replay showed that Lopez pulled brass knuckles from the turnbuckle and hid the knuckles in her top after nailing Indi with them…
The doctor cleared Fyre for her match against Sol Ruca as long as Fyre thinks she’s ok…
John’s Thoughts: A better than usual performance from both women. Both women aren’t known for being great in the ring. Lopez is still a bit sluggish though and the pace of the match was slowed way down when she was on offense. I did like the finish, because Lopez did a good job hiding the brass knuckles from the viewer. Booker and Vic were even caught off guard with the finish. It caught me off guard because I thought she was trying to expose the turnbuckle.
McKenzie Mitchell interviewed Wes Lee about defending his title against Tony D’Angelo next week. Lee talked about being a fighting champion and how he’s going after the loudest talker in the division. He then talked about how Dijak would be next in line. Lee talked about how the title is not leaving his shoulder any time soon…
Entrances for the next match took place. Vic Joseph and Booker T talked about how Sol has gained a ton of popularity recently due to her insane looking finisher. While Fyre was on the apron during her entrance, she was dragged down by Isla Dawn, who beat her up at ringside. .Dawn trapped Fyre’s arm in the steel steps and smashed it with Fyre’s bat. Dawn walked away laughing. The arena also glitched out as a part of Dawn’s exit…
John’s Thoughts: I was afraid that Fyre was about to spit out black goo and convulse on the ground. Okay way to continue the feud. Here’s hoping we get more of a complete match next time (seeing is believing on that one because Shawn Michaels throughout NXT and NXT UK has gone above and beyond to over-protect Alba Fyre. We saw it in the Mandy Rose feud where her losses were overbooked to protect her).
The show cut to a Christmas party at Chase U. The students lined up to give Andre baked goods. Chase cursed out one student for giving him fruit cake, claiming he’s allergic go fruit cake. Duke Hudson forgot a gift and then stole a gift from another student, sending the student to the dean’s office. Hudson took credit for the plaque. Hail and Chase hugged Hudson for the gift. Hudson flashed a sinister smile at the camera…
McKenzie interviewed Briggs, Jensen, and Henley. Briggs said he’s still worried about Henley’s bar, but excited for the tag team title shot against New Day. Kiana James and her busty secretary showed up. James wished Jensen luck, which caused Jensen to squirm a bit. McKenzie sent the show to commercial…[c]
The show cut to footage from earlier today, with Drew Gulak sparring with a developmental wrestler. Hank Walker showed up and introduced himself to Mr. Gulak. Drew said to call him “Drew”. Walker talked about how Gulak watched him during his match recently and wondered if Gulak saw anything Walker can improve on. Gulak said he likes Walker’s eagerness. Gulak invited Walker to his in-ring training session next week to watch and learn. Hank thanked Gulak for the opportunity…
Entrances for the tag team title match took place. Vic Joseph continued to tease Booker for hating on New Day. Booker claimed that he’s mad Big E tried to steal his “Can you dig it” catchphrase. Alicia Taylor handled the formal in ring championship introductions…
5. “The New Day” Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods vs. Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen (w/Fallon Henley) for the NXT Tag Team Championships. Kofi ducked and weaved to avoid Jensen’s punches. Jensen got momentum after body slamming Kofi. Woods tagged in. Jensen caught Woods. Woods escaped a body slam and gave Jensen a back kick. Woods caught Jensen with running strikes. New Day cut the ring in half on Jensen. Jensen caught Woods with a blockbuster and tagged in Briggs.
Briggs and Jensen hit New Day with stereo Atomic Drops and baseball slide punches. The camera showed Kiana James and her busty secretary in the crowd. Booker called her a “hawty Biscotti”…[c]
Kofi took out Jensen with a crossbody and hit Jensen with the Boom Drop. Jensen blocked a Trouble in Paradise attempt. Kofi hit Jensen with an SOS. Jensen was bleeding from the mouth. Jensen escaped another SOS attempt and tagged in Briggs. Briggs dumped Woods to ringside. Briggs caught Kofi and Woods in succession and then tossed them into the rope for rebound lariat at ringside. Jensen tagged in and hit Kingston with an Atomic Drop. Briggs hit Kofi with a Big Boot to give Jensen a two count.
Jensen knocked Woods off the apron. Kofi caught Jensen with a right hand. Briggs punched down Kofi and hit Kofi with an amazing looking moonsault for a two count. Vic and Booker were astonished, just like everyone. Woods knocked Jensen off the apron to block a Doomsday Device. Kofi hit Briggs with Trouble in Paradise. Woods hit Briggs with a coast to coast Limit Break (tightrope elbow drop) for the win.
The New Day defeated Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen via pinfall in 11:10 to retain the NXT Tag Team Championships.
New Day shook the hands of their opponents for a good match.
John’s Thoughts: That was a sweet tag team match. New Day took Briggs and Jensen to their best match in WWE so far, but New Day takes a lot of wrestlers to some of their best matches so it shouldn’t be a surprise. Good to have them in developmental to teach the up-and-comers. I like that this didn’t devolve into comedy. What I also liked was that amazing moonsault from Josh Briggs. While I want to see Josh Briggs break out as a top singles star, he and Jensen are finally clicking in the ring, so they don’t have to be in any rush to put him in singles.
Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo was in the hallway, practicing how he was going to confront Dijak to not mess with Tony D’Angelo. Stacks finally entered Dijak’s dressing room…
Grayson Waller talked about how he was heading to the ring…[c]
The New Years Countdown vignette with the unseen blonde woman was shown…
An unseen interviewer caught up with The Creeds, Nile, and Paxley. The Creeds congratulated Nile and Paxley for their effort. Indus Sheer showed up to confront The Creeds. Julius invited Veer and Sanga to watch his match against JD McDonagh to see that he’s ready for a match against Indus Sher…
Vic Joseph plugged the following segments for next week: Wes Lee vs. Tony D’Angelo for the North American Championship, Cora Jade vs. Wendy Choo, Fallon Henley vs. Kiana James in a “Battle For The Bar”, and Odyssey Jones, Edris Enofe, and Malik Blade vs. The Schism.
[Overrun] Grayson Waller made his entrance. He called out Bron Breakker, saying he wants his title shot now. Breakker didn’t come out and Waller called Breakker a coward. Waller talked about carrying the brand and how no one in NXT can live up to him. He said he’s the Iron Survivor and the future greatest Champion in NXT. Waller said that Breakker calls himself a dog, but he’s not a dog at all. The camera then showed that Bron Breakker was getting out of his car, and headed to the ring.
Waller was hyped up to confront Breakker. Bron Breakker made his entrance. Breakker hit Waller with a spear, but knocked himself out. Waller took off his thick jacket to reveal that he had a Kevlar Vest under his jacket. Waller gloated about how he outsmarted Breakker and will become the next NXT Champion. NXT closed with Waller posing with the title and putting it on the chest of the knocked out Breakker…
John’s Thoughts: That was an “interesting” and unique angle. I liked it. Not sure if it was an old school throwback, but nothing comes to my mind about someone reversing a spear with a Kevlar vest (last time I saw a loaded vest used, was Myron Reed doing it in MLW a few years ago). Waller is probably a transitionary opponent for Breakker for whoever is going to face Breakker at either Vengeance Day or Stand and Deliver, but Waller is making the most out of a presumably foregone conclusion. I like that they make him clever and cerebral. This reminded me on his clever way to trick Carmelo Hayes into giving him a title shot by asking for Melo’s autograph.
Solid episode of NXT from what I saw. Sorry about the technical issues. My laptop just shut off out of nowhere and I hope it was just a simple battery issue. I will go back and retroactively fix what I missed. Good in-ring action this week and the usual solid worldbuilding. Raw and Smackdown seem to be slowing down a bit for holidays while NXT continues to chug along not missing a beat.
Bron being knocked out after useing his spear…..is like when Goldberg speared Bret Hart and was knocked out Bret took off a T-shirt he was wearing showing he had a metel plate under it..
ah, nice catch. I mostly only watched the 1st hour of Nitro during the 90s, so I wasn’t familiar with the throwback.
It was a GREAT segment! Bret rules.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zDOJdsABsVI&t=296s&pp=2AGoApACAQ%3D%3D