WWE NXT Level Up Review - September 15, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

The Meta-Four (Lash Legend and Jakara Jackson) def. Dani Palmer and Tatum Paxley

Palmer and Paxley were a weird pairing because Paxley was a heel the last time I checked and Palmer is a babyface. Thus, Paxley turning on Palmer at the end was logical, but from a storyline standpoint, Palmer shouldn't have agreed to be her partner to begin with. Paxley said it was because of something Palmer did to her, but I can't remember what that would have been. The match itself was not very good. Legend and Jackson are still rough in the ring and did not click with Palmer and Paxley.

Bronco Nima and Lucien Price def. Tyriek Igwe and Tyson Dupont

As Big E would say, there was a lot of big men slapping meat in this one. Not a ton of experience, though, so I'm not surprised it was a fairly basic hoss fight. Everyone had solid showings and they made the most of the time they had. Scrypts didn't appear in the corner of Nima and Price, though it made sense for that duo to go over if the idea is to make them a dominant heel tandem in NXT's tag team rans.

Tyler Bate def. Charlie Dempsey in an NXT Global Heritage Invitational Match

This was the technically-proficient match you'd expect from these two. Bate has a big Invitational matchup coming up on Tuesday's NXT with Butch, so there was no way he was losing here, but I enjoyed this for what it was and appreciated that Dempsey was made to look credible in defeat (including not being beaten clean). By virtue of his victory, Bate is now at the top of his group with four points.

Overall Show

As I've said before, the NXT Global Heritage Invitational matches have been a nice boost to Level Up in recent weeks as they've made the show more worthwhile (it's typically an inconsequential developmental program). Bate vs. Dempsey was a treat of a main event and was the only quality match on the whole. The men's tag team match was just passable and the women's tag team match was abysmal. I assume it'll be back to the norm next week with the NXT Global Heritage Invitational winding down.

SEE MORE: NXT Level Up Reviews