Another episode of NXT was broadcast and I was definitely interested to see how they treat their women on this brand. I also was interested in seeing some of the men wrestle, and well, I am relatively new to the latest incarnation of NXT, so I wanted to see what we had tonight, and well here we go, the results and review of the NXT show for 5/23/23.
Lyra Valkyria defeated Cora Jade in a semifinal match for
the NXT Women’s Championship
I was expecting a longer match since it was NXT, but alas,
it was not to be had. Under the 5 minute mark, this match was a fast paced romp
with a few hiccups. With such a short matchup, I was surprised that the two
were able to throw in as many moves as
they did. It wasn’t just slams either, there were some nice dropkicks, roll
ups, counters, and more. I liked this match, even though it was under the 5
minute mark. Not a long one, but definitely something to consider, it was ok to
say the least.
After the match Cora Jade brought in a kendo stick and
struck her opponent in the knee, and then left. That was it.
Dabba-Kato defeated Axiom
Kato is huge, they are saying he is 7 foot 1, and Axiom is a
masked wrestler. Axiom tried to put up a fight, but it was Kato’s big size and
movement that was the story of this match. Axiom kept hitting the legs of the
bigger man, and did manage to chop him down a little, but just couldn’t get the
job done. This was not quite a squash, but it certainly was a short one, with
Axiom losing after about 2 minutes.
Tyler Bate defeated Eddy Thorpe
This match was a slow moving affair. Bate threw around some
nice offense, but it was Thorpe that slowed things down at times, with some
reversals. There was a little back and forth with this match, but at around 5
minutes, it really didn’t do a lot of justice to what was possible. Bate did
some good moves though, including a standing backflip pinfall, a few dropkicks
and more. Thorpe did some nice counters too, and is interesting to watch, but
this was Bate’s night as he was able to get the big win here. Even though it
was short, it had some decent action.
After the match we had a little bit of a brawl as there will
be a triple threat match this weekend for the North American title. I didn’t
know everyone involved, so I can’t speak to that.
Nathan Frazer defeated Noam Dar
I expected a faster start to this match, but it was actually
slow. It started with collar elbow tie ups, and then lead to a headlock rest
hold before getting a little forward progress. Frazer was impressive to me, he
was flying around the ring, ducking Noam Dar’s offense, in a unique way. It was
a fun watch to see him go through the motions here. This would end up being a
good match, with the two going back and forth, and dropping a few solid moves
here and there. Noam Dar is quick, but Frazer was one step ahead in a lot of
ways, and it made for an interesting matchup. Frazer would get the win here,
but it wasn’t easy.
Hank Walker defeated Tank Ledger
In under 3 minutes, this was a fast match with not a lot to
really write home about for me. It was ok, a little back and forth occurred,
nothing too fancy, and Hank Walker would get the win. Post match Bron Breaker
showed up and speared the two competitors, and that was that.
Gigi Dollin showed up and cut a promo, I wasn’t paying
attention because I was on twitter. She kind of looks like Becky Lynch though,
at least the hair.
Luca Crusifino defeated Von Wagner by DQ
Another short match, with not a whole lot to write home
about. I’m shocked that there were so many matches this night that were so short.
This ended in a DQ finish, and well that was that. I can’t blame you if you
were tuning out here, it wasn’t much of a match. Von Wagner was interesting to
watch, but this wasn’t much of a match, it had very little back and forth,
although it wasn’t a squash mind you. After the match Wagner dropped Crusifino
on the announce table, but it didn’t break, which was a cool thing overall.
There was a video of Tony D getting in trouble with the law,
but I’m not sure what that was all about. Booker said it best, “mind your
business”, so I just moved on.
Tiffany Stratton defeated Roxanne Perez tournament
semifinal for the NXT Women’s Championship
A good main event for NXT, and Tiffany Stratton runs away
with it. Roxanne Perez didn’t just roll over, mind you, there was a lot of back
and forth. Stratton however, was one step ahead, and was able to throw a beautiful
moonsault for the victory. I was impressed by her speed and athleticism. She
moves forward into the finals of the NXT Women’s Championship at Battleground.
Good match, definitely worth checking out.
After the match Perez got beat down by a masked individual.
Also, Dragonov ran down and brawled with someone, I wasn’t
sure who it was. The two are set to fight this Sunday, though.
Overall Thoughts
This was a lopsided episode of NXT. I didn’t hate it at all,
but it was up and down for the most part. There wasn’t any clear direction for
me, and the matches were hit or miss. Some matches went longer than others, which
were good. The matches that went over 5 minutes were good, while the shorter
options were just not that great because they couldn’t tell a complete story
for me. A good episode this was not, but it also wasn’t terrible, somewhere in
the middle for me.
