WWE NXT Review - June 21, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Grayson Waller def. Solo Sikoa

Both of these guys are two of NXT 2.0's brightest stars. To me, it virtually didn't matter who won because I know they'll be fine no matter what. They had an enjoyable opener and I liked how Waller won in pest heel fashion. I still don't know where these guys are headed (unless it's the NXT North American Championship picture), but I'd be down for a rematch between them after what I saw here.

Katana Chance and Kayden Carter def. Valentina Feroz and Yulisa Leon

I'm sorry but it's almost impossible for me to care about Chance and Carter at this point. I applaud the effort they put into their in-ring innovation as well as their improvement over the last two years, but they never win whenever it matters most and it's pretty bad they haven't held the tag titles held when the division is as depleted as it is. To their credit, this was a fun little match with good work from both teams, but their act does very little for me.

Trick Williams Interrupted Wes Lee

The bizarre thing about Lee's character development over the last few months is that he's openly acknowledged losing his best friend/tag team partner, but they haven't referred to Nash Carter by now or explained what happened to him in storyline. Could all the talk about him lead to him being brought back eventually? Nonetheless, this was a solid verbal exchange between him and Williams. Yes, it was a little random for Williams of all people to interrupt Lee, but they handled their lines well and if this leads to Lee against Carmelo Hayes sometime soon, then I'm sold.

Diamond Mine (Roderick Strong and Damon Kemp) def. Legado del Fantasma (Cruz Del Toro and Joaquin Wilde)

This was all about the story being told than it was the in-ring action, but it was well wrestled for what it was. Legado coming out to Tony D'Angelo's entrance music was a clever touch. You can never go wrong with Legado, while Strong and Kemp click exceptionally well as partners. Kemp has been damn impressive and has a bright future ahead of him if he can continue to hone his craft. I really hope we get Creed Brothers vs. Strong and Kemp once the tension within Diamond Mine storyline comes to a head.

Roxanne Perez and Cora Jade Challenged NXT Women's Tag Team Champions Toxic Attraction Before Brawling with Katana Chance and Kayden Carter

It's been heavily foreshadowed for several weeks that Perez and Jade were headed for an NXT Women's Tag Team Championship opportunity, even before Perez won the NXT Women's Breakout Tournament. Yes, it's silly she'd cash in her guaranteed title shot on the tag titles and not the NXT Women's Championship, but I suppose it only makes sense after Io Shirai and Kay Lee Ray went after the NXT Women's Championship after winning the women's Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic earlier this year. What doesn't make sense is that Chance and Carter feel like they deserve another shot after already losing at In Your House two weeks ago. I realize they won earlier in this episode, but they came off as whiny babies in this segment.

Cameron Grimes def. Edris Enofe

Enofe and Malik Blade unsuccessfully challenged The Creed Brothers for the NXT Tag Team Championship last week and Grimes scolded Enofe and Blade backstage following their loss, telling them that they should take it seriously. This new heelish side of Grimes has been great and it adds a much more interesting dynamic to his upcoming NXT Championship clash with Bron Breakker at The Great American Bash. Grimes vs. Enofe was a nice sprint with Enofe getting to score some offense before eating defeat.

Von Wagner def. Brooks Jensen

This marked the in-ring return of Jensen after he was injured not too long ago, though I can't say I missed seeing him in the ring. He's decent, but there isn't anything special about him. Hell, I suppose you can say the same about Von Wagner as well. They've improved his presentation by adding the women and Robert Stone as his manager, but he remains abysmal in virtually every other respect. This was a pretty average outing, but at least it wasn't terrible.

Alba Fyre def. Lash Legend by Disqualification

This repackaging of the former Kay Lee Ray hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be, but it's pretty apparent she's solely being elevated/used at this point to put over the up-and-coming women in the division. There's plenty of skilled ladies she can work with, but Legend is not one of them, at least not yet. The feud has been fine, but there wasn't much to this match and the non-finish ensures it will continue. Legend needs much more development before she can be considered ready for television.

NXT North American Champion Carmelo Hayes def. Tony D'Angelo

After Troy Donovan and Channing Lorenzo cost Legado their match earlier in the evening, it was obvious that Santos Escobar would return the favor by costing D'Angelo the title here. Sure enough, that was exactly how it went down, but at least we got an entertaining main event before that happened. Both men are heels, though the crowd are behind both men because they're tremendously talented and the future of this brand. On a side note, the timing was terrible for Donovan to be released because he's been all over NXT these past two weeks since they were taped shows.

Overall Show

We've got The Great American Bash coming up in two weeks, but only one match has been announced so far and that's the NXT Championship main event. I assume we'll also be getting Toxic Attraction vs. Perez and Jade for the NXT Women's Tag Team Championship, but I have no clue what else we might be getting. As for this edition of NXT, it was more of the same. It wasn't awful, but it wasn't must-see TV, either. I appreciate that they seem to be toning down the stuff that wasn't working previously, but the brand is a far cry from what it once was in regards to its quality as a weekly television show. This was par for the course for NXT 2.0, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

SEE MORE: NXT Reviews