WWE NXT Review - May 2, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

NXT North American Champion Wes Lee def. Drew Gulak

Lee already retained against Charlie Dempsey, so there was no reason to think Gulak stood much of a chance of taking the title. Nonetheless, this was the well-worked match you'd expect from these two. It was shorter than I thought it would, but they made the most of their time. Keep an eye on Tyler Bate, who accompanied Lee to the ring here. I'd definitely be down for a future face-off between them.

Bron Breakker Challenged Trick Williams

It was cool to see Williams spotlighted on his own for a change. He's not ready to break away from Carmelo Hayes quite yet, but he's better on the mic than he is in the ring and I thought he did a really good job of carrying this segment. This was effective in setting up Breakker vs. Williams. I appreciated that it will be saved for next week as opposed to being given away later in this episode.

Jacy Jane def. Gigi Dolin

This was the second straight match that these two have had and it was again underwhelming. For a grudge feud, that shouldn't be the case. I can't pinpoint exactly what the issue is, either, because it's not like they lacked chemistry while partners. Quite the opposite, actually. Maybe because their matches have been on the shorter side so far? There wasn't much to this at all, though I have to assume their rivalry isn't over given Jane's victory.

Axiom def. Scrypts

Axiom and Scrypts have been at odds for a while now, but it hasn't been a feud I've particularly cared about. That's a shame because Axiom shined in the NXT North American Championship match at Stand & Deliver and has been relegated to this crap since then. This was a nice little match, but less of Scrypts, the better. That's why I was happy this was kept on the shorter side. Axiom unmaking Scrypts afterward was even better. Hopefully that marks the end of the terrible Scrypts shtick.

JD McDonagh def. Dragon Lee

It's cool that McDonagh was able to have a swan song on NXT (considering he isn't a champion) before he heads to the Raw roster. Lee was a perfect opponent for him because there was no doubt they'd work well together and they definitely delivered. This could have happened on an NXT live special and wouldn't have felt out of place. I thought McDonagh putting Lee over on his way out was a foregone conclusion, but apparently not. I don't know that I would've had Lee suffer his first singles loss here, but the match was excellent enough that I'm willing to excuse it (not to mention Noam Dar cost Lee the win and thus he was protected in defeat).

Joe Gacy def. Joe Coffey

Per the stipulation, Gacy earned The Dyad another opportunity at the NXT Tag Team Championship by virtue of his victory. If Coffey won, The Dyad wouldn't have been able to challenge for the tag titles as long as Gallus are champions. I thought Coffey would win with that being the case considering The Dyad are obviously on their way out, so the outcome surprised me. The match was decent but too brief to be anything out of the ordinary.

Dani Palmer def. Tatum Paxley

Palmer has been a regular on Level Up for a while now, but much like Oba Femi last week, she wasn't given many (if any) chances to shine on that show. She was her first standout performance and she was impressive. Her athleticism will take her far, but she definitely needs to learn to slow down and not rush everything. Also, the athleticism alone will not make her a great wrestler, so hopefully she can continue to improve. On a side note, I felt bad for Paxley, who got no televised entrance. It looks like she'll slotted as an enhancement talent on the show going forward.

NXT Women's Tag Team Champions Isla Dawn and Alba Fyre def. Katana Chance and Kayden Carter

Yes, Dawn and Fyre did get drafted to SmackDown last Friday. Yes, Chance and Carter did get drafted to Raw on Monday. No, they did not address what this means for the NXT Women's Tag Team Championship. Ideally, Dawn and Fyre would face Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez in a unification match as there's no reason for there to be two sets of women's tag titles in the company, but I'm well aware that's not going to happen. The match itself was very entertaining with some strong, innovative offense from both teams.

Indi Hartwell Relinquished the NXT Women's Championship

Hartwell is in a strange spot at the moment being drafted to Raw last week and being hurt, so she can't formally lose the title. Was Shawn Michaels aware she was main roster bound, and if so, why wouldn't he have taken the title off of her before then? If Hartwell wasn't hurt, would she have done the honors for someone at Battleground? I suppose we'll never know. Regardless, Hartwell came off wonderfully in this segment. She's become a natural talker and this was a fitting end to her time in NXT. Dexter Lumis carrying her out of the ring was an awesome sendoff. I wish that closed the show instead of the silly brawl we got with all of the women instead.

Overall Show

This was a significant show in that it featured the final appearances of McDonagh, Hartwell, Chance and Carter. Plenty of other people were also called up to Raw and SmackDown in the Draft, but most of them did not appear on this episode. This felt like NXT's way of hitting the reset button as they look to replenish the pot with fresh faces and I thought they did an effective job of that on this show. The in-ring action wasn't amazing on the whole, but I enjoyed this episode. Make time for McDonagh vs. Lee when you can.

SEE MORE: NXT Reviews