WWE NXT Review - August 29, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

The Creed Brothers def. The Dyad in a Steel Cage Match

By virtue of their victory, the Creeds have gotten their jobs back in NXT. The outcome was never in doubt, and they've wasted their time with this program, but I guess it was Shawn Michaels' way of keeping them busy until their inevitable main roster call-up. Then again, I can't imagine they get moved to Raw or SmackDown so soon after returning to NXT TV. Nonetheless, this was a good cage match. This was a nice swan song if The Dyad are indeed on their way out. Their contracts are up in October and I can see Joe Gacy kicking them out of Schism within the next few weeks to write them off.

Butch def. Charlie Dempsey in an NXT Global Heritage Invitational Match

Butch is basically Pete Dunne at this point, just without the name and entrance music. Why not use his return to NXT as part of Global Heritage Invitational as a chance to repackage him? That aside, it's cool to see him getting some singles spotlight on the brand and this was a really well-wrestled match. You'd think Dempsey would be representing England instead of America, but this was a chance for him to shine as well and he made the most of it.

The Meta-Four Interrupted Ilja Dragunov

Dragunov praised Trick Williams for his performance last week and hinted at putting Carmelo Hayes on notice, so it looks like they'll settle their unfinished business at No Mercy in a rematch for the NXT Championship. The Meta-Four are largely annoying, and while I realize that's the point, I could do without them being featured so frequently. This wasn't a great exchange, but Dragunov held up his end of it well and they set up their match for next week.

Elektra Lopez and Lola Vice def. Kelani Jordan and Dana Brooke

For those keeping track, the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship was unified with the NXT Women's Tag Team Championship over two months ago and the belts have yet to be defended in NXT even though they can be. In other words, these women were fighting with no stakes, but it was clear this was less about Lopez and Vice and more about teasing more tension between Brooke and Jordan. The match itself was passable.

Dijak def. Eddy Thorpe

Dijak beat Thorpe in a matter of minutes a few weeks back, so I assumed Thorpe would get his win back in a longer match here. Instead, Dijak scored his second straight win over Thorpe here, again by nefarious means. Obviously, the feud isn't finished, and I'm glad Dijak is picking up some victories. What we got from them was solid, but they're obviously capable of better with more time (and possibly a stipulation).

Joe Coffey def. Nathan Frazer in an NXT Global Heritage Invitational Match

Coffey can use the NXT Global Heritage Invitational to finally show what he can do on his own instead of being a background player in Gallus. It was the other way around in NXT UK, but Joe is overdue for some singles spotlight. He and Frazer worked well together and had an enjoyable affair. I wish Frazer would move on from the Heritage Cup stuff, but I can't complain about getting some fun matches from him as part of this thing.

Kiana James def. Gigi Dolin, Roxanne Perez and Blair Davenport in an NXT Women's Championship No. 1 Contender's Fatal 4-Way Match

James was easily the least interesting choice of the four to go over, so I was surprised by the outcome, especially since both she and Tiffany Stratton are heels. On the bright side, they're getting it over next week on NXT, so maybe Dolin or Perez will get the shot at No Mercy instead, unless Stratton is actually defending against Becky Lynch after last week's tease. This was a quality main event with all four stars putting forth a commendable effort.

Overall Show

Coming off Heatwave last week, this edition of NXT did an effective job of resetting the deck and moving several storylines forward with No Mercy on the horizon. We don't have an obvious answer as to what the NXT Championship match will be on that show, but the subtle drama surrounding the title with Hayes, Dragunov, Williams and Wes Lee has been well done. NXT has hit a stride as of late and it's definitely improved the weekly show on the whole. I wasn't hyped for the NXT Global Heritage Invitational initially, but it has promise and I applaud the powers that be for trying some different yet again. Bonus points for another touching tribute to Bray Wyatt. NXT is where his iconic character was created after all.

SEE MORE: NXT Reviews