By Jon
COMMENTATORS: Sudu Shah & Matt Camp
VIEWING METHOD: Hulu (On Demand)
This week’s NXT Level Up features three matches:
- Edris Enofe & Malik Blade vs. Quincy Elliott & the debuting Damaris Griffin
- Fallon Henley vs. Thea Hail
- Chase U’s prized student Bodhi Hayward vs. Dante Chen
CHAMPIONS
- NXT CHAMPION: Bron Breakker
- NXT WOMEN’S CHAMPION: Mandy Rose
- NXT NORTH AMERICAN CHAMPION: Cameron Grimes
- NXT TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS: Pretty Deadly (Kit Wilson & Elton Prince)
- NXT WOMEN’S TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS: Toxic Attraction (Gigi Dolin & Jacy Jayne)
*****
MATCH RESULTS & RATINGS
- Edris Enofe & Malik Blade defeated Quincy Elliott & Damaris Griffin when Enofe pinned Griffin following a Frog Splash from Blade (6:34) (*1/2)
- Fallon Henley defeated Thea Hail via pinfall following a Shining Wizard (4:18) (**1/4)
- Bodhi Hayward [w/ Andre Chase] defeated Dante Chen via pinfall with a spinebuster slam (5:53) (**)
NOTES
- This was Griffin’s in-ring debut as a member of the NXT roster.
- Bodhi Hayward’s tan lines/sunburn were so severe and blatant that the crowd spent a lot of his match chanting “LET’S GO TAN LINES!” and “YOU NEED SUNSCREEN!” to the point even commentary had to address it.
- Matt Camp joined Sudu Shah on commentary this week in place of Nigel McGuinness which I hope isn’t a permanent thing. No shade to Camp, I just like Nigel’s commentary.
- This week’s RAW clips involved Cody Rhodes taking on Seth Rollins’ mystery opponent Kevin Owens. Rhodes won via countout after Owens quit the match. A sizeable piece of the match PLUS the segment that set it up earlier in the show were shown here so if you want your Cody fix without RAW have I got the show for you!
REVIEW
A fun and surprisingly bloody episode of NXT Level Up this week as both Thea Hail & Bodhi Hayward showed some color in their matches. If the show went any longer this could’ve been the Starrcade ‘85 of the NXT B-show era. Fallon Henley vs. Thea Hail was my favorite match on the show, with Hail getting to show a lot more here than she did against Ivy Nile a couple weeks back. It was also surprisingly stiff as both Henley and Hail laid into each other, which I appreciated. As for the rest:
- Edris Enofe & Malik Blade vs. Quincy Elliott & Damaris Griffin was alright, Enofe & Blade showed off their skills as a tag team by working together to defeat opponents much larger than them. Griffin ate the pin in his debut but he looked…fine, I guess. Could tell he’s still getting comfortable in the ring. Elliott has a TON of personality.
- Bodhi Hayward vs. Dante Chen was pretty good as well outside of the NXT crowd being far too distracted with Hayward’s tanning faux pas. God help me I become more and more into Chase U every week.
Easy watch, good way to see what’s coming up the NXT pipeline, and if you’re a Cody Rhodes fan who hates the main roster shows it’s even got full Cody Rhodes clips from RAW in between the matches. Win win win!
