WWE NXT Review - February 28, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

NXT North American Champion Wes Lee def. Nathan Frazer

The visual of the NXT men's locker room fighting backstage to answer Lee's open challenge was definitely goofy, but it made sense from a storyline standpoint and we don't see that sort of thing often. I'm happy Frazer made his return as he was out injured for a few months. The timing was terrible coming off his great showings in the Best of 3 Series with Axiom and in the NXT North American Championship Ladder match back at Halloween Havoc, but he had an standout performance here in what was a really fun opener. The open challenge gimmick is working very well for Lee so far.

Indus Sher def. Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen

Personally, I don't care much for the ongoing storyline with Jensen and Fallon Henley, but maybe there are viewers out there who do. Jensen being distracted due to having his mind on Henley cost them the win, so that made sense and the match didn't last longer than it needed to. Indus Sher and Jinder Mahal called out The Creed Brothers afterward, so it will be Indus Sher and Mahal against the Creeds and Bron Breakker in a six-man tag team match next week.

Gigi Dolin Addressed Jacy Jane

Personally, I was far more impressed with Dolin's first post-Toxic Attraction promo here than I was Jacy Jane's. I'm still not sold on them breaking up when they did being a good idea, but fingers crossed they can make the most of it. Dolin spoke with passion here about her rough upbringing and why she feels freed by Jane's betrayal. This was far and away her best promo in NXT and it gave me more hope for her as a babyface. They'll go one-on-one at Roadblock, but I could see it ending in a non-finish to set up a stipulation match at Stand & Deliver.

Meiko Satomura def. Zoey Stark

I thought Stark's string of wins would lead her to challenging Roxanne Perez for the NXT Women's Championship at Stand & Deliver, but obviously not. I'm not complaining, though. Stark has been better character-wise as a heel, but that's not a match that interests me for NXT's next live special. It could have worked at Roadblock, but we're getting Perez vs. Satomura instead (which is much more appealing, anyway). This was a well-worked match and Stark was made to look credible in defeat.

Sol Ruca def. Elektra Lopez

Lopez has been in NXT for a while now and she hasn't improved at the rate she probably should be. That isn't to say she's damaged goods quite yet, but her matches tend to be a bit rough. This could have been much worse considering Ruca is also relatively inexperienced, but they had a Level Up-esque match that was more designed to further the story with Valentina Feroz refusing to help Lopez cheat to win before laying her out with the brass knuckles afterward.

Tiffany Stratton def. Katana Chance

It was smart to put Chance in there with Stratton seeing as how she can sell extremely well for her offense. This wasn't great (and Stratton hitting her moonsault finisher on Chance's knees was a bummer), but it accomplished what it needed to know in giving Stratton another win and furthering Chance's feud with Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn (who distracted her from ringside). Post-match, she announced her intentions to challenge for the NXT Women's Championship, so that will likely be the Stand & Deliver match if I had to guess.

Axiom def. Hank Walker

Walker is officially a generic jobber now that Drew Gulak has realized he's a loser and ditched him. Sorry, but there's just nothing interesting about Walker, but at least he's finally wearing actual attire instead of street clothes. He's perfectly fine in the ring despite being green, but this was all about Axiom as it should have been. Unfortunately, it looks like he's headed for a match with Scrypts, who was seen watching Axiom from afar afterward.

Carmelo Hayes def. Tyler Bate

Bate has been on a roll since returning to NXT and has been racking up wins, but I was okay with him losing here considering Hayes will be challenging Bron Breakker for the NXT Championship at Stand & Deliver. As expected, they worked wonderfully together and had a really fun match. I'm actually surprised they're waiting until at least Roadblock to give us our first face-to-face interaction between Breakker and Hayes.

Overall Show

NXT has put together a real nice lineup for Roadblock next week. I wish it was held earlier so they could have been fully focused on Stand & Deliver by now, but oh well. By NXT standards, this was an above-average episode. The opener and main event kicked ass, there was some solid storyline progression throughout the night, and we also got build for next week's special Roadblock episode. More of this from NXT on a regular basis would be appreciated.

SEE MORE: NXT Reviews