WWE NXT Review - January 17, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Apollo Crews and Axiom def. Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams

Crews and Axiom make for a great team. They had wonderful chemistry in this match and worked really well with Hayes and Williams. This was a really fun opener with smooth action and an invested crowd. The babyfaces were able to get a measure of revenge on the heels, and with Crews pinning Hayes, I assume their rivalry will continue at least through Vengeance Day and they can have their rematch there.

NXT Women's Champion Roxanne Perez Saved Lyra Valkyria From Toxic Attraction

It was almost alarming how quiet the crowd was during Jacy Jane and Gigi Dolin's promos. They're still over as an act without Mandy Rose, which is why I was surprised they got no reaction while they were speaking. Worse yet, their promos weren't great and sounded overly scripted. The rest of this was simple stuff Perez making the save for Valkyria to set up the night's tag team main event.

Sol Ruca def. Alba Fyre

Fyre is still a babyface as of now even though she hasn't exactly been acting like one lately. Ruca beat her off a distraction from Isla Dawn, who was shown standing on the side of the arena. I have zero interest in the feud between Fyre and Dawn continuing. Ruca vs. Fyre was adequate but way too short to be anything out of the ordinary. On the bright side, Ruca continues to impress with her incredible athleticism.

Gallus (Mark Coffey and Wolfgang) def. Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen

This was a rekindling of their rivalry from a few months ago. The last time we saw Gallus on the show (before last week), they lost to Briggs and Jensen in some sort of a bar fight and were suspended in storyline. Now that they're the number one contenders to the NXT Tag Team Championship, it made sense for them to avenge that loss. This was a good match with the right result. Personally, I don't really care for the stuff with Jensen, Kiana James and Fallon Henley.

Thea Hail def. Valentina Feroz

Hail has won multiple matches on Level Up in recent months but never on NXT TV before now. Instead, she's positioned as an underdog on the show, so it was notable that she finally won here. The match was fine for what it was. Feroz is decent and both women are works in progress. The story was that Feroz didn't want to cheat despite Elektra Lopez passing her the brass knuckles, so we'll see if she ends up taking Lopez's advice following this latest loss.

NXT Tag Team Champions The New Day, Pretty Deadly and Gallus Brawled

Fightful Select was the first to report that New Day were dressed the way they were because the plan was for them to hold a funeral claiming it was for Pretty Deadly's title shot before it was scrapped after news broke of Jay Briscoe's passing. That's a classy move on WWE and Shawn Michaels' part. The segment seemingly didn't have to be changed too much as they set up the Triple Threat tag team match for the titles at Vengeance Day, anyway. Why would Pretty Deadly get a title shot if they've done nothing to earn it?

Tyler Bate def. Javier Bernal

I'm happy Bate is back in NXT, but unfortunately, this wasn't the most impressive return from him. For whatever reason, he and Bernal didn't click and had a sloppy match. The finishing sequence in particular looked awful as both of Bate's powerbomb attempts were weak. Hopefully Bernal isn't injured. Putting that aside, Bate is another excellent addition to the roster. Now I await the return of Ilja Dragunov.

NXT Women's Champion Roxanne Perez and Lyra Valkyria def. Toxic Attraction

Valkyria can be a main player in NXT's women's division with a sustained push. I was digging her work in NXT UK until she randomly disappeared (I believe due to injury) and I'm hoping she can continue to build that momentum in NXT. This was a well worked main event, but it started so close to the end of the show that they didn't have much time, which was disappointing. I'm all for booking Perez to look strong as champ, but Toxic Attraction eating a loss one week after becoming number one contenders (especially given they had the numbers advantage) wasn't ideal.

Overall Show

First and foremost, rest in peace, Jay Briscoe. I know it's not technically NXT related, but the news broke during the show and the commentators acknowledged it, which I really appreciated it. Just a tragic situation all around. At any rate, this was a serviceable build as Vengeance Day approaches. The best part of the show was the opener and everything else was fairly standard stuff. That said, I thought Vic Joseph's separate sit-down interviews with Bron Breakker and Grayson Waller were well done and added to the build to their Steel Cage match for the NXT Championship at Vengeance Day.

SEE MORE: NXT Reviews