WWE NXT Review - October 5, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Mandy Rose def. Ember Moon

Moon has felt like a stepping stone for the rest of the NXT women's division since Shotzi Blackheart left for the main roster over the summer, but at least they're incorporating these losses into her character. As for Rose, she and Toxic Attraction are one of the best things going in NXT today and she needed the win here. They weren't given a ton of time, but it was a good match while it lasted.

LA Knight def. Odyssey Jones

When this was announced a week ago, I automatically assumed Jones would win based on the trajectory he's been on. That's fine, but I didn't/don't want to see Knight reduced to an enhancement role in favor of all the new people on the brand, especially when he's main roster ready and should have been drafted by either Raw or SmackDown. The match was fine while it lasted but, like most matches on this show, too short to be anything out of the ordinary. Jones lost because Andre Chase distracted him and pushed his foot off the bottom rope, so it looks like that feud isn't over yet. Oh joy.

Bron Breakker Challenged NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa

This match has been in the works since the relaunch of NXT last month when Ciampa and Breakker had a staredown to close the show. Halloween Havoc is the perfect place to be doing it as it doesn't look like there's another TakeOver special on the horizon. This was a solid verbal exchange between the two of them that left me looking forward to their championship clash. It can argued that it's too soon for Breakker to win the title, but honestly, what does it even matter at this point? He's the face of this new crop of talent and he's talented enough, so if he wins, I can't say I'd be upset. He'll be on the main roster before long anyway, so NXT may as well give him the aggressive push while they have the chance.

Joe Gacy def. Ikemen Jiro

I've become a fan of Jiro through his work on 205 Live and limited appearances on NXT, so personally, I'd rather see him pushed ahead of Gacy. He's a competent wrestler, but the gimmick is a giant miss for me. I realize what they're going for, but I don't see it translating to actual heat for him long-term. Truthfully, it feels like a poor man's Bray Wyatt. This was a decent outing, but I don't find myself intrigued by Gacy at all.

Cora Jade def. Franky Monet

Jade was scheduled to have a match against a totally different opponent when Monet attacked her at ringside and inserted herself into the match instead. It wasn't long after that Jade pinned her for the massive upset win. I'm happy for Jade who has potential, but I have no clue what the hell they're doing with Monet. Monet just failed to become NXT Women's Champion and now she's losing to a rookie. If this was paving the way for her to join her husband on the main roster, I'd be more okay with it, but I don't get the sense that's where this is leading.

Pete Dunne def. Cameron Grimes

Matches between established stars are hard to come by on NXT nowadays. Dunne has been embroiled in a rivalry with Kyle O'Reilly for weeks while Grimes has been doing a whole lot of nothing, so the outcome shouldn't have come as any surprise. I want to see Grimes doing something meaningful, though, coming off that great feud with LA Knight over the Million Dollar Championship. They had a quality contest that could have been better with more time.

Tony D'Angelo def. Malik Blade

I haven't been sold on D'Angelo's vignettes so far, which have been way too hokey and stereotypical for my taste. The character feels like something you'd see in the WWF back in the '90s. That said, he had an impressive showing his debut here. The guy has skills in the ring, but the gimmick leaves a lot to be desired. That said, it's possible that it's so stupid/over-the-top that it actually gets over with the audience.

Indi Hartwell def. Mei Ying

Now that we know Xia Li has been drafted to SmackDown, we can officially declare Tian Sha a dead act. There was a lot working against it to begin with, but once it became apparent there was no endgame, I lost all hope. Li was the best part about it because she could work, whereas Ying is nothing more than a bad gimmick and Boa is abysmal. I feared for Hartwell, but I was happy she won. The match was total throwaway. On the bright side, it seems Hartwell has gained herself a new tag team partner in Persia Perotta with Candice LeRae pregnant.

NXT Women's Tag Team Champions Io Shirai and Zoey Stark Saved NXT Women's Champion Raquel Gonzalez From Toxic Attraction

You can tell NXT is super high on Toxic Attraction when they're appearing in two segments on the same show, something that I don't believe ever used to happen in the previous incarnation of NXT. They're a great group, but as I mentioned last week, they should have won the tag titles from Shirai and Stark when they had the chance. I liked the fired Gonzalez showed and she's been fine as a face, but I thought she was a better heel. I honestly wouldn't mind Rose taking the title from her at this point. Obviously, this was designed to set up a six-woman tag team match.

NXT Tag Team Champions MSK def. Josh Briggs & Brooks Jensen, Grizzled Young Veterans, and Carmelo Hayes & Trick Williams in a Four-Way Tag Team Elimination Match

WWE's way of booking matches has now bled over into NXT. An eight-man tag team match that was set up last week was advertised for this episode. We found out at the beginning of the show it turned into a four-way tag team match for the NXT Tag Team Championship instead. An elimination stipulation was added later on. That's ridiculous, and the worst part is that the match was hardly memorable. I hated that Grizzled Young Veterans were eliminated in such forgettable fashion when they should have been the ones attacking MSK afterward, not Imperium. Didn't Imperium already challenge MSK for the belts and lose? I don't care to see a rematch.

Overall Show

It's painfully apparent that NXT isn't about the in-ring action anymore. Rather, it feels like a shorter version of Raw. The biggest issue with NXT 2.0 is still that they're trying to incorporate as many people into the program at once and it isn't going to work. A few of the fresh faces have potential, while others simply aren't ready for television. I understand this is developmental, but it doesn't exactly make for an engaging two-hour television show. This is why NXT started out as an hour on the WWE Network and I'm honestly of the mindset that this two-hour format on USA Network isn't going to last. They threw a lot at us on this show and not much of it stuck, at least for me. I'm excited for the return of Halloween Havoc in three weeks, but I can safely say this is the most dull period in NXT I've seen in many years (and yes, even worse than the empty Performance Center era of the show).

SEE MORE: NXT Reviews