WWE NXT Review - June 14, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

NXT Tag Team Champions The Creed Brothers def. Edris Enofe and Malik Blade

Enofe and Blade simping over Toxic Attraction for as long as they did was really dumb and I hope that's in the past because they're actually a very talented team. I see bigger things in Enofe's future as he has way more charisma than Blade, but they have nice chemistry as partners. They were made to look credible in defeat with how long this lasted. This was the perfect first title defense for Creed Brothers.

Fallon Henley def. Tiffany Stratton

This was a rematch from a few weeks ago when Henley willingly agreed to face Stratton in a Breakout Tournament semifinal match when she had no reason to. She lost and looked like an idiot for agreeing to it in the first place. I don't mind her getting her win back here and the fact she was aggressive out of the gate was a nice touch, but Wendy Choo being the one to cost Stratton the victory was lame. I have no desire to see Stratton and Choo rekindle their rivalry. Stratton is constantly improving, while the Choo gimmick has already hit a dead end.

Wes Lee def. Xyon Quinn

I was high on Quinn at the start of NXT 2.0, but he's really bored the hell out of me lately. There was something there with him as the silent badass babyface, but this heel turn has made him even more generic. They once again had a fun little sprint in the few minutes they were allotted. I feared Quinn would win to set up a rubber match, but Lee winning for the second straight time was the right call. He has way more upside and should continue to be built up.

The Dyad def. Javier Bernal and Dante Chen

The Dyad are who we've been referring to as Joe Gacy's druids for the last several weeks. I have to imagine that The Grizzled Young Veterans are under the hoods considering we haven't seen them on NXT TV in months and it's not like they've been released. Gacy's post-match promo hinted that the two people under the hood were forgotten about and discarded by the audience, so they would fit that bill. The match itself was a pretty standard squash, but I hope The Dyad unmask soon because I feel like the hoods will hold them back.

NXT North American Champion Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams Interrupted Tony D'Angelo

If it wasn't already obvious, this show was taped last week, hence why Troy "Two Dimes" Donovan was present in this segment despite being released over the weekend for what was reported to be a "policy" issue. I'm curious how he'll be written off the show starting next week. Anyway, D'Angelo was in the process of giving his boys "promotions" and talking about wanting a title shot when Hayes and Williams interrupted. Hayes granted him a title opportunity and it will happen next week. It was a serviceable segment.

NXT Champion Bron Breakker def. Duke Hudson

Hudson beat Breakker by disqualification prior to In Your House and I like how that wasn't forgotten about because it makes sense for Hudson's character to brag about that. Breakker gave him what he wanted in the form of a title shot and made extremely short work of him. I would have liked a little longer of a match because I think Hudson has potential, but it's not like Hudson has been positioned as anyone important lately, so booking this as a squash wasn't that big of a deal. The promo Cameron Grimes cut on Breakker afterward was great and I'm looking forward to their title match at The Great American Bash.

Giovanni Vinci def. Guru Raaj

Of course, Vinci is the former Fabian Aichner, who we haven't seen in an NXT ring since he ditched Marcel Barthel on the edition of NXT following Stand & Deliver in April. I was critical of WWE breaking up Imperium out of nowhere and I still feel they could have worked on SmackDown as a trio, but I'm all for Vinci getting the singles spotlight. He shined in the ring, but the presentation of his new character was not very good. That will certainly need some work.

NXT North American Champion Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams def. Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo and Troy "Two Dimes" Donovan

This was a fairly basic tag team match. Lorenzo and Donovan are still developmental prospects, and as I mentioned earlier, Donovan has since been released and thus his performance in this match didn't really matter. It would have been very fitting if he was the one pinned (so they could easily explain his inevitable exile on screen), but unfortunately, that didn't happen. Next week's NXT North American Championship match might also be in doubt with D'Angelo being injured over the weekend unless next week's show was also already taped.

Indi Hartwell, Cora Jade and Roxanne Perez def. Toxic Attraction (NXT Women's Champion Mandy Rose and NXT Women's Tag Team Champions Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jane)

The babyfaces are being primed for title shots and thus it was logical for them to win here. Perez has a guaranteed championship opportunity coming off her victory in the Breakout Tournament, and seeing as how her friendship with Jade has been heavily emphasized lately, that's probably the direction they're headed in. Does that mean Hartwell will challenge for the NXT Women's Championship? I'd love for that to be the case, but if it's not, who else could possibly dethrone Rose at this point? This was a rock solid main event with everyone getting their time to shine.

Overall Show

As previously noted, this was taped last week, which was made pretty clear by the commentary at certain points. That said, it didn't really affect my enjoyment of the episode one way or another. With a lot of the established names from NXT now gone, the brand is starting to build a new core group of competitors with both the men and women. These shows are far from the most exciting, but they're becoming more bearable, which is a start. If they can focus less on the silly crap and more on the in-ring actions and the prospects with the most potential, then NXT should be a better show to tune into week to week.

SEE MORE: NXT Reviews