WWE NXT Review - May 23, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Lyra Valkyria def. Cora Jade in an NXT Women's Championship Tournament Semifinal Match

This was a rematch from Spring Breakkin' last month. I don't know if it was any better or worse, but I do know that this wasn't a great match due to Valkyria in particular not having the strongest performance. The finish was flat and a majority of the fans in attendance were not happy. In fact, they cheered when Jade attacked her afterward. That seems to give Valkyria an out for losing at Battleground.

Dabba-Kato def. Axiom

I was curious how this would be booked since we haven't seen much of Kato since he wrapped up his short-lived feud with Apollo Crews and Axiom has been fairly protected and featured quite a bit in recent months. Ultimately, they approached this perfectly. Axiom scored plenty of offense and was made to look like a valiant underdog in defeat. They kept it short and sweet and Kato came off like a monster. I don't know if there are more matches to come, but this was well done.

Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo Saved The Creed Brothers From Gallus

This was a decent way to build toward the NXT Tag Team Championship match at Battleground between Creed Brothers and Gallus, but it leave me a little confused. Lorenzo made the save for Gallus, so I thought that would lead to a six-man tag team match on this show or Lorenzo and Tony D'Angelo being added to the Battleground bout, but neither of those things happened. That said, I'm glad we're not getting the latter since we've had too many multi-team matches for the tag titles in NXT lately. Maybe Creed Brothers win at Battleground and their first challengers are Lorenzo and D'Angelo (assuming he gets out of jail).

Tyler Bate def. Eddy Thorpe

I have no idea why Thorpe was randomly thrown out there as an opponent for Bate without any setup. Both guys are babyfaces, so that didn't help since the crowd was clearly going to favor the more established Bate over Thorpe. Bate is obviously challenging for the NXT North American Championship at Battleground, so Thorpe was never going to win. Weird for Thorpe to suffer his first loss in NXT in this way. They had a quality contest, though, and the post-match angle with Bate, Wes Lee and Joe Gacy with Gacy standing tall was well done.

Nathan Frazer def. NXT Heritage Cup Champion Noam Dar (Non-Title)

Personally, I'm not a fan of the Heritage Cup Rules stuff, so I appreciated that this was a regular singles match and it was an enjoyable affair. Dar can go in the ring and I maintain Frazer has plenty of potential. Dar losing was a questionable choice. He's defending his title against Dragon Lee at Battleground, so this seems to indicate he'll be winning that match, which may make Lee feel like an afterthought if we're headed toward Frazer vs. Dar for the title.

Hank Walker def. Tank Ledger

Walker and Ledger have been partners as of late, but they decided to have a friendly test of competition against each other, so it's not like one turned on the other. This was fine while it lasted and thankfully didn't go longer than it needed to. Bron Breakker emerged afterward to lay both men out to get some last-minute heat ahead of his NXT Championship clash with Carmelo Hayes. The video packages that aired for both men during this show were excellent, specifically the one for Hayes.

Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jane Agreed to Face Off in a Weaponized Steel Cage Match on Next Week's NXT

This feud has definitely dragged and I'm ready for it to be over, so I'm happy we're getting the blow-off next week with this Weaponized Steel Cage match. It's a shame it's not going down at Battleground, but I understand they want to save some attractions for NXT TV and not give everything away at the event. This was a solid verbal exchange between the two to set it up, even though the "bitch" line is extremely overdone in wrestling.

Luca Crusifino def. Von Wagner by Disqualification

Crusifino was the one disrespecting Wagner in recent backstage segments, so I appreciated that there was a reason behind this bout. I assumed it would be a straightforward squash, but it actually made more sense for Wagner's frustration to get the better of him and cause him to be disqualified. We'll see if Crusifino benefits at all. Admittedly, this is the most interesting Wagner has been in his entire NXT run, and the timing is hilarious because he was just declared a free agent in the 2023 WWE Draft.

Tiffany Stratton def. Roxanne Perez in an NXT Women's Championship Tournament Semifinal Match; Ilja Dragunov and Dijak Brawled

This was the match I was hoping we'd get in the finals of the tourney and not in the semifinals, mainly because Valkyria vs. Stratton doesn't feel nearly as big and Perez vs. Stratton was what capped off the NXT Women's Breakout Tournament last year. Nonetheless, this was good stuff from them and Stratton advancing was the correct call. Dragunov and Dijak closing out the show with a ringside brawl was random, but at least it got me excited for their Last Man Standing match.

Overall Show

I'd say this was an effective go-home show for Battleground on the whole. NXT has put together a promising card for the event and they managed to hype up every advertised match on this episode. As previously mentioned, I loved the video packages for Hayes and Breakker as they gave the upcoming main event a big fight feel. The live specials almost always deliver (I can't think of a single one since NXT's rebranding that was bad) and I assume Battleground will be no exception given what's on tap.

SEE MORE: NXT Reviews