WWE NXT Level Up Review - April 28, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Tyler Bate def. Luca Crusifino

I've seen the rumblings that Bate could be main roster bound in this year's WWE Draft, and although his name wasn't called on SmackDown, that doesn't mean it can't still happen, and I hope it does. He's been way overdue for call-up and shouldn't be toiling in NXT any longer. The crowd was very much behind him here and he carried Crusifino to a competent contest. I'm still not a fan of the latter's silly gimmick, though I guess it fits right into the gimmicky NXT.

Ivy Nile def. Lola Vice

Nile is another name I wouldn't be surprised or opposed to seeing moved to the main roster in the Draft, ideally with the rest of Diamond Mine. She's been doing a whole lot of nothing for months now, so I also wouldn't be upset if she stayed put in NXT and filled the void left behind by the drafted likes of Indi Hartwell, Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn. This was a nice little match with Vice holding her own and scoring a bit more offense than I thought she would before Nile's decisive win.

The Dyad def. Tank Ledger and Hank Walker

The timing of this was interesting coming off Jagger Reid's (f.k.a. James Drake) now-deleted tweet on Monday about how he and Rip Fowler (f.k.a. Zack Gibson) recently requested their release from WWE but were denied. He added that their contracts aren't up until October, so it's going to be a while. You'd think they'd be taken off TV until then as part of a punishment, but apparently not (or at least not yet). In fact, they won here. Ledger and Walker are still works in progress, but both of them had solid showings and it turned into a quality main event.

Overall Show

The faces we see on Level Up could soon be changing depending on who gets drafted. Okay, so The Dyad probably aren't going anywhere given their current situation, but everyone else is up for grabs I'd say. As for this show, it was slightly above average by Level Up standards with three well-worked matches that made the most of the time they had. It's especially criminal that Bate is even on Level Up, so fingers crossed this was his final appearance on the program and that we'll be seeing him on Raw or SmackDown imminently.

SEE MORE: NXT Level Up Reviews