WWE NXT Review - February 20, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

NXT North American Champion Oba Femi def. Lexis King

King has won a few matches recently, but I still wouldn't have rushed him into another NXT North American Championship opportunity, especially if he was going to get squashed so decisively. Yes, it made Femi look dominant and that's great, but any momentum King had pretty much went to waste here. I genuinely have no idea what NXT is doing with him and why fans should care. This was too short to be anything substantial.

Chase U and Axiom and Nathan Frazer Confronted NXT Tag Team Champions Bron Breakker and Baron Corbin

I love how comfortable Breakker has gotten as a character. Being a heel and Corbin himself have really brought it out of him and I hope that translates to the main roster. He and Corbin have strong chemistry together, so it's unfortunate their tandem will have to be cut short with Breakker heading to SmackDown. The mic work from Chase U and Axiom and Frazer was nothing special, but the segment did set up the number one contender's match for later in the night.

Roxanne Perez def. Wren Sinclair

Sinclair has been playing the role of plucky babyface rookie well, but I'm looking forward to her eventually turning heel because that's where she does her best work. This was mostly meant to be a showcase for Perez, which is why this was on the shorter side. What we got was fine, but Sinclair didn't have much of a chance to show what she can do. Perez's heel transformation has been fun to watch and the turn should be complete soon enough.

Josh Briggs def. Brooks Jensen

I believe Jensen has been wearing different gear lately on Level Up in an attempt to establish a new identity for himself as a singles star, but he was back to wearing his usual jeans here for his gear. Strange. Of the two, Briggs has a much higher ceiling on his own, so it made sense for him to go over, but I liked that Jensen scored enough offense to look somewhat credible in defeat. They brought the intensity and thus their match exceeded my expectations.

Jacy Jane def. Arianna Grace

Along with Thea Hail, Jane brought Jazmyn Nyx with her to ringside. You may not know the name, but you'd definitely recognize her if you saw her. She was shown with Grayson Waller a lot toward the end of his time in NXT. In fact, I interviewed her the day she got hired by WWE back in August 2022! At any rate, I assume her role in this story is to side with the "bad girl" Jane while Hail has to decide where her allegiance lies between them and Chase U. This was a basic bout, but I'm intrigued by the story they're trying to tell.

Chase U (Andre Chase and Duke Hudson) def. Nathan Frazer and Axiom in an NXT Tag Team Championship No. 1 Contender's Match

These are two babyface teams, so I don't know that the crowd had any incentive to cheer for one over the other, but it was enjoyable and easily the best match on the show. Chase U have been back on the ascent since their university was "saved," so it shouldn't have been too surprising that they won. What was surprising was Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows showing up afterward and laying everyone out. It's not like they're doing anything on SmackDown at the moment, so why the hell not? Maybe they're linked to the mysterious Superstar with Japanese-esque vignettes that have been airing since Vengeance Day.

Lash Legend def. Kelani Jordan

Legend has improved from where she was, but I'm still far more impressed by Jordan. She has a certain aura about her that stands out and she's making strides in the ring as well. That said, did Legend need to go over here? She dominated a majority of the match and then won clean. Jordan managed to escape Kiana James and Izzi Dame afterward, so she may as well have beat Legend. This was okay for what it was.

NXT Women's Champion Lyra Valkyria def. Shotzi by Referee Stoppage; Valkyria def. Lash Legend

It was weird seeing this hyped up as the main event throughout the show knowing as early as last week when it was taped that it had to be cut short due to Shotzi suffering a serious knee injury. I thought they might cut it and replace it with something else, but nope, it aired exactly as it happened. We didn't get much of a match because Shotzi got hurt early on. Knee injuries are running rampant in NXT these days, aren't they? It turned into an open challenge with Legend accepting (obviously, this was a decision made on the fly, and it's possible Legend was going to get the shot at Roadblock prior to Shotzi's injury). Legend wasn't exactly an exciting replacement opponent, but they did what they could to make the most of an unfortunate situation and produced a perfectly passable matchup.

Overall Show

As noted in the previous paragraph, this show was taped immediately following last week's episode. You could tell based on how quiet the crowd was at times. Most people watching probably knew it'd be brief with WWE mentioning on last week's SmackDown that Shotzi wasn't cleared to compete in her Elimination Chamber qualifier, so without that, this was a pretty pedestrian stuff. It was a show that happened, I'll say that much. Some storylines were furthered, but not too meaningfully, so if you missed this episode, you missed very little.

SEE MORE: NXT Reviews