WWE NXT Review - September 14, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Bron Breakker def. LA Knight

Aside from the atrocious name (what the hell was wrong with Rex Steiner?), the son of Scott Steiner has a ton of potential. He dominated a majority of the match and his offense looked really impressive. I assumed it'd be a case where he'd go over strong in defeat, but he actually ended up winning clean. That was certainly a surprise, especially with Knight coming in the NXT Championship main event later on in the night.

Imperium def. Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen

Briggs and Jensen come off as one of those typical country tag team Vince McMahon loves to push, so that gives you a good idea of who was running this show. I'm familiar with Briggs from his time on the independent scene and most recently 20 Live, whereas I know nothing about Jensen. Compared to the opener, this match made sense for the newcomers to go over because Imperium have never been presented as anyone important.

B-Fab def. Katrina Cortez

Cortez was in action last week's 205 Live, but most may know her from the brief stint she had on Raw with Sin Cara in late 2019. She's really young and is still a work in progress despite being at the Performance Center for a while. Speaking of works in progress, B-Fab is rough around the edges in the ring as well, but at least this was kept relatively brief so it wasn't worse than it was. I'm not sure what that eventual match between B-Fab and Elektra Lopez is going to look like.

Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams Attacked Duke Hudson

It was nice to hear Hayes cut an extended promo for a change and I thought he did really well. Williams, not so much. I appreciated him getting as much mic time as he did, but he was confusing to follow at certain points and hard to understand. Based on the lack of reaction he got from the live crowd, I don't think I was the only one. That said, I like this pairing. I realize Hudson is upset that Hayes won the NXT Breakout Tournament instead of him, but it felt like two heels attacking a heel, so I don't blame the crowd for feeling indifferent toward that.

Kacy Catanzaro and Kayden Carter def. Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jane by Disqualification; Mandy Rose, Dolin and Jane def. Sarray, Catanzaro and Carter

The first tag team match was a rematch from a few weeks ago, and Rose running in caused it to turn into a six-woman tag team match. Rose was sporting a new look to go along with her darker turn. The matchup itself was entertaining with everyone getting a chance to shine and working well together. The heels going over was the right call. NXT's women's tag team division needs all the help it can get, so hopefully Dolin and Jayne can be an asset.

Ridge Holland def. Drake Maverick

What's Maverick's deal right now? He's being used as an enhancement guy on NXT while also appearing on Raw in 24/7 Championship segments. In other words, he's impossible to take seriously. To Maverick's credit, he sells extremely well and made Holland look awesome here. As I've said before, Holland has all the tools to be a big time player in the future. He looks dominant in all of his matches and this was another solid step forward for him.

The Creed Brothers def. Dan Jarmon and Trevor Skelly

We saw The Creed Brothers make their in-ring debut last week and they were back in the ring this week, once again looking extremely impressive. Between them, Breakker and Olympian Gable Steveson, WWE sure is picking up quite a few amateur wrestlers, and they're all credible to boot. Following the release of Tyler Rust, The Creed Brothers are exactly what Diamond Mine needed. We found out afterward Ivy Nile is the latest addition to the group as well.

Tommaso Ciampa def. LA Knight, Pete Dunne and Von Wagner in a Fatal 4-Way Match to Win the NXT Championship

What a disappointment. I was really looking forward to this match on paper a week ago (when it was originally intended to be a number contender's match), but I guess I should have known better considering who was running this show behind the scenes. Swapping Kyle O'Reilly out for this random dude named Von Wagner (he's appeared on NXT TV many times as a security guard) was an awful call and made the match worse. Von Wagner held his own, but he absolutely shouldn't have been in this spot. Why not Breakker because he beat Knight at the start of the show? Everything these four did felt rushed because they still had the wedding to go in the main event slot, but they made the most of the time they had.

Dexter Lumis and Indi Hartwell Got Married

As far as wrestling weddings go, this was actually super entertaining. Maybe I'm in the minority here because I've been digging this storyline since it started, but I found it to be a worthy payoff with everyone playing their roles well. There were some funny moments and Lumis finally speaking by saying "I do" to Hartwell was expected yet perfect. I thought this was "sports-entertainment" done right. I don't need to see it every week, of course, but it ended up being the best thing on this show (which I realize isn't saying much, but still).

Overall Show

Well, this was certainly an interesting episode. It wasn't an awful episode by any means and I think "NXT 2.0" has potential, but the biggest problem I picked up on was that they are attempting to introduce way too many people at once. Some of them have skills and can/will get over, others are not TV ready at all. The hope is that they'll learn from their mistakes and tweak the format in the weeks ahead. We were told we'd still be still most of the same established stars, but I felt like we saw more new people than we did the regular roster. On the bright side, I'm happy the NXT Championship is on Ciampa and the wedding was a hit (at least in my opinion), not to mention that we're finally getting Kushida vs. Roderick Strong for the NXT Cruiserweight Championship next week, so there's still some stuff to look forward to and get invested in as these newcomers are in the process of being developed.

SEE MORE: NXT Reviews