WWE NXT Level Up Review - April 1, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Xyon Quinn def. Dante Chen

Quinn and Chen are prime examples of two guys who looked to be in line for aggressive pushes when NXT 2.0 got underway, and although Quinn's push lasted longer than Chen's, neither of them are in the mix right now. I can understand Chen needing more experience, but I'm still surprised they gave up on Quinn after the Santos Escobar feud. Both guys showed nice intensity in this match and produced a solid opener.

Kayden Carter def. Tatum Paxley

Carter and Kacy Catanzaro have been in NXT for years, and despite there being women's tag titles at this point, they're still directionless. That said, I'm not a big fan of their current partying gimmick, so hopefully they can finetune that. It was weird seeing Carter as the more seasoned of the two in this match, but to their credit, they exceeded expectations here. Granted, it wasn't an entirely smooth encounter, but I applaud their effort and it was a nice match.

Damon Kemp def. James Drake

It's interesting that we've seen Drake in singles action on Level Up a lot more than we have Zack Gibson, especially considering Gibson won that WWE United Kingdom Championship Tournament four years ago (has it really been that long?). They must be high on Drake as a singles competitor with Gibson serving as his mouthpiece. They're clearly getting nowhere as a team, so maybe that wouldn't be a bad idea. They had a decent match, but Kemp scoring the upset was notable seeing as how this marked his first win of an kind in NXT I believe. I assume the distraction assist from Edris Enofe and Malik Blade will lead to them taking on Grizzled Young Veterans next week. 

Overall Show

Of the three matches, the main event ended up being the weakest, but I understand why they'd save it for last with Drake being established and Kemp's win being a big deal (by this show's standards, anyway). Level Up has settled into a Dark-esque formula and that's fine as some of the people featured actually have potential. Although the main event wasn't anything special, I thought the first two matches were well paced and pushed this toward being a slightly better show than usual.

SEE MORE: NXT Level Up Reviews