WWE NXT Review - May 16, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Cora Jade def. Fallon Henley in an NXT Women's Championship Tournament Quarterfinal Match

Once Kiana James was bumped from the bracket last week, that eliminated any chance of Henley advancing here. Jade was the right choice to move on anyway, and they had a nice little match in the few minutes they were allotted. Henley has potential and has definitely improved as a character since arriving in NXT, but Jade could easily be the next NXT Women's Champion. It isn't hard to see why officials are reportedly so high on her.

NXT Champion Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams Attacked Charlie Dempsey and Drew Gulak

Hayes and Williams emerged looking for a fight after being laid out by Bron Breakker at the end of last week's episode. Instead, they got Dempsey and Hayes, who felt disrespected by Hayes and Williams brushing by them backstage. This was solid setup for the tag team match we'd get later in the night between these teams with good mic wok from all involved. Gulak and Dempsey were supposed to face Wes Lee and Tyler Bate, but Joe Gacy attacking Bate backstage prevented that from happening.

The Creed Brothers def. The Dyad

Unless they change their minds at the last minute, it sure looks like The Dyad are on their way out of NXT, making every match they have on NXT TV from here on out pretty predictable. It's logical for them to elevate other teams in the division, and since they continue to lose, I wouldn't be shocked if Gacy boots them from Schism soon. With all of that said, this was a great match and much more competitive than I was expecting. The Dyad surprisingly got to shine and Creed Brothers had a stellar showing as always.

Nathan Frazer Crashed Supernova Sessions with NXT Heritage Cup Champion Noam Dar and Dragon Lee

I wasn't the biggest fan of Supernova Sessions on NXT UK and my thoughts haven't changed. Dar can talk, but he's not compelling as the host of a talk show and most of his material is lame. This gave Lee a chance to speak, but they didn't have the strongest back-and-forth. On the bright side, Frazer salvaged this thing the best he could, setting up himself against Dar in non-title action next week and Dar vs. Lee for the NXT Heritage Cup Championship at Battleground.

NXT Champion Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams def. Charlie Dempsey and Drew Gulak

Despite this being a fairly basic tag team match where the outcome was never in doubt, it was well wrestled and I enjoy any opportunity I get to see Dempsey work because he's so different from a vast majority of the roster (and reminds me of his father, of course). I wish he wasn't pinned, though. What would have been the harm in Gulak taking the pinfall loss? I liked how Breakker showed up on the big screen afterward and revealed he was in Hayes' barbershop, leading to what we got at the end of the show.

Kiana James def. Thea Hail

Thankfully, James is officially with Henley, Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen, so now she's on her own again. She's definitely improved compared to when the storyline started, but I'm curious where she goes from here. This felt like a match you'd see on Level Up in that there wasn't a ton to it and it didn't last very long, but it was perfectly passable. The idea behind Hail's loss is that she hasn't been as focused with Duke Hudson filling in for Andre Chase as the head of Chase U.

NXT North American Champion Wes Lee Agreed to Defend Against Tyler Bate and Joe Gacy at Battleground

The mind games Gacy has been playing lately with Lee and Bate finally paid off as he finds himself in a Triple Threat with the both of them for the NXT North American Championship at Battleground. The Schism shtick sucks, but they've done a decent job of building toward it (even though Lee looks like a moron for thinking Bate wouldn't want a title shot). Lee vs. Bate one-on-one would have been preferrable, but I don't think adding Gacy will hurt the match quality at all.

Roxanne Perez def. Jacy Jane in an NXT Women's Championship Tournament Quarterfinal Match

Much like the opener, there was no way Perez was losing here after Tiffany Stratton already advanced to the next round on their side of the bracket. I'm just surprised that's not going down in the finals because that's probably the biggest match NXT can do right now. This was a well-worked match, though. Gigi Dolin attacking Jane afterward indicates their feud isn't over yet. A blowoff at Battleground would make the most sense.

NXT Champion Carmelo Hayes and Bron Breakker Brawled

We got a lot of Hayes and Williams on this show, but everything they did served a purpose and thus I didn't mind. Plus, the hype for the NXT Championship match at Battleground was well done as Breakker continues to excel in the heel role. This wasn't the most exciting brawl of all time, but it accomplished what it needed to. The build for their upcoming rematch has been much better than it was heading into Stand & Deliver.

Overall Show

NXT has found a flow en route to Battleground, which currently boasts a promising card on paper and I'm looking forward to being there live for it. The NXT Women's Championship Tournament is moving along, Breakker vs. Hayes is heating up, and everything else seems to be serving a purpose. NXT TV is far from what it used to be, but the shows are also much more bearable and easier to follow than when NXT 2.0 started back in late 2021.

SEE MORE: NXT Reviews