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That Was Unexpected…

Those three words were what I thought after seeing an announcement this past Tuesday, less than an hour before watching this week’s episode of NXT after seeing an announcement that 205 Live was being replaced with a new NXT show entitled “NXT: LVL UP” (pronounced NXT Level Up of course). I also thought to myself “Saw that coming” ever since 205 Live turned from a cruiserweight show to what looked like NXT’s rendition of WWE Main Event or Sunday Night Heat.

Even though this is the seventh newsletter, I’m going to get used to not saying “205 Live” as one of my four “usuals.” (That, as well as jokingly calling it “Evolve.”)

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I’m pretty sure there are those of you asking me this question: Will you miss 205 Live? The answer: Yes and no. Yes, but I will only miss it as a cruiserweight show. No, because of how much changed ever since there weren’t enough cruiserweights on the show after many of them were released from WWE and were headed elsewhere such as WWE’s opponents like Impact Wrestling or AEW. To quote Green Day, even though in irony I also say “Good riddance” to what was left of 205 Live after multiple cruiserweights were wished the best of luck in their future endeavors months before 2021 concluded, “It’s something unpredictable, but in the end, it’s right; I hope you had the time of your life.” Okay then! Now that I’m ready to get used to call NXT: LVL UP…well…NXT: LVL UP instead of Evolve like I used to, why don’t we take a look at what happened this week in the newsletter, shall we? (P.S.: Yes, it does include the debut episode of NXT: LVL UP.)

ICW Fight Club

We start things off at the GPWA—empty once again—in Glasgow, Scotland for this week’s episode of ICW Fight Club.

I can definitely tell that “El Capitan” himself Leyton Buzzard is cementing his status as a babyface on ICW, especially when it comes to competing as well as—recently—vowing to win the Square Go! battle royal. Buzzard has indeed proven to be a top-card contender on ICW after seeing him in the mid-card, even back when he was a heel, when I started watching ICW Fight Club. One example is months ago when he fought and defeated another mid-card turned top-card contender Andy Wild in a 60-minute Iron Man match.

Another example is what we saw this week, which was seeing him kill two birds with one stone; not only did he go toe-to-toe with upcomer Tallon Jr., but also competed in a tag team match that was originally scheduled to be BT Gunn vs. Kez Evans. (The match became BT Gunn and Leyton Buzzard taking on Kez Evans and Theo Doros as soon as Buzzard and Doros got involved in the Gunn/Evans brawl.) Buzzard definitely shows that he can build his momentum by how well he does in his matches, even when closing in on winning gold on ICW in the near future.

Lizzy Evo appears to be doing very well in her run on ICW, ever since debuting and fighting the current ICW Women’s Champion Angel Hayze not too long ago on Fight Club. This week, Lizzy was finally able to pick up a win—even if it’s her second ICW match per se—against Molly Spartan whom she shooed away from Angel on a past episode of Fight Club. I look forward to seeing Lizzy in action more often, especially in upcoming episodes of Fight Club.

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There was one match that I wish was the main event for this week’s episode, and it was—my favorite match of the episode—the six-man tag team bout between the team of ICW Zero-G Champion Daz Black, Che Monet & Xero and the Manifesto’s Dylan Thorn, Eddie Castle & Grant McIvor. That match was indeed a great buildup for the upcoming match for the aforementioned Zero-G title between Black and Thorn at Square Go! I’m curious to see if Che Monet and Xero also get involved with the other members of the Manifesto at Square Go! even after watching that pretty damn good six-man bout.

Onto the match results from Glasgow…

Match #1: Leyton Buzzard defeated Tallon Jr. by submission with the Scorpion Death Lock

Buzzard showed sportsmanship to Tallon Jr. after the match. My score: 2/5

Match #2: Aaron Echo defeated LJ Cleary by count out

Near the end, Echo threw Cleary out of the ring as if they were competing in a battle royal (or Square Go! if you will) and then the two brawled at ringside until Echo hit Cleary with a discus clothesline before getting back in the ring in time to beat the 20-count. My score: 2.5/5

Match #3: Daz Black, Che Monet & Xero defeated Grant McIvor, Dylan Thorn & Eddie Castle (w/ ADM)

Towards the end, McIvor and Castle fought Xero at ringside until Monet dove onto them from the apron. Then, Thorn attempted to hit Black with the Crown of Thorns (bicycle kick) until Black countered with a bridging rollup and pinned him for the win; ADM walked off in disgust after the match. My score: 3.75/5

Match #4: Lizzy Evo defeated Molly Spartan

Near the end after getting back-to-back near falls over Lizzy, Molly grabbed a steel chair and propped it in a corner before arguing with the referee; this led to Lizzy rolling up the distracted Molly and pinning her for the win. Post-match, Molly attacked Lizzy with the chair while calling her “scum”, and then hit her with a crossbody to the spine, sending Lizzy onto the chair. My score: 2.75/5

Main event: BT Gunn & Leyton Buzzard defeated Kez Evans & Theo Doros

Towards the end, Evans attempted to hit Buzzard with brass knuckles until Doros—who tagged in—argued with him over using the knuckles; this allowed Gunn to blindside Doros into Evans before hitting him with the Technodrome (Sister Abigail-like DDT), followed by Buzzard picking up the win after hitting Doros with the X Marks the Spot. My score: 2.5/5

wXw Back to the Roots part 2

Meanwhile, we return to the Turbinenhalle in Oberhausen, Germany—on January 15, 2022—for part 2 of wXw Back to the Roots.

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Part 1 of Back to the Roots gave us five decent matches, with Bobby Gunns vs. Michael Knight being the best of the five, and Absolute Andy vs. Dennis “Ca$h” Dullnig for the wXw Shotgun Championship being a pretty good title match. For part 2, we were given a total of four matches; two of them were title matches, one was a regular one-on-one match that was a rematch from wXw True Colors 2021, and one was a two-on-three steel cage match that also served as the main event.

We saw lightning strike twice for Fast Time Moodo in a True Colors rematch against Peter Tihanyi; Tihanyi keeps closing in on picking up another victory in wXw, even while going toe-to-toe with top names and mid-card competitors in that company. In the end, it was Moodo taking the 2-0 lead in their back-to-back matches after Tihanyi attempted to win in an upset.

Like I noted in the second paragraph talking about this event, we saw two title matches. The wXw Unified World Championship match was of course marred by Tristan Archer’s sneak attack to Levaniel, as well as the champion Axel Tischer being reluctant—as well as ticked off—that he had to fight Levaniel who refused to give up and save the match for another day. It looks like Tischer is closing in on becoming a heel, not only by how he defeated Jurn Simmons in their second encounter at wXw Anniversary XXI but by how he wasn’t happy that he was fighting Levaniel who wasn’t at 100% before the bell rang.

The other title match was for the wXw Tag Team Championship, and was my favorite out of the four matches that took place in part 2 of Back to the Roots. The last time the Arrows of Hungary clashed with Aigle Blanc and Senza Volto was in 2021 during a tournament for the then-vacant wXw Tag Team titles; last year, it was Aigle Blanc and Senza Volto winning, but this year it was Icarus and Dover not only winning the match but retaining the titles. All four competitors gave their all in that matchup, and not only that I’m still happy to see Icarus and Dover continuing their tag team championship reign, but am also happy to see Aigle Blanc and Senza Volto prove that they can be championship material, whether it’s in singles competition or tag team competition.

Unless cage matches don’t really tickle your fancy, this one was pretty good even though the rivalry between the wXw Wrestling Academy and the self-proclaimed “family” had a bizarre ending in that bout. The “family” of Maggot, Baby Allison and Vincent Heisenberg coerced Robert Dreissker and Anil Marik to surrender in the match as the “family” broke Dreissker’s arm a few seconds after Marik—who was handcuffed and chained to the ropes—said “We give up.” Regardless of how it ended, it was still a good main event.

Here are the match results from Oberhausen…

Match #1: Fast Time Moodo defeated Peter Tihanyi

Both men brawled in the crowd near the end of the match, which included Tihanyi hitting Moodo with a moonsault from the top of a fence; the match ended when, as soon as both men were back in the ring, Moodo countered Tihanyi’s moonsault with the Blackbelt Kick and pinned him for the win. My score: 3.5/5

Match #2: Arrows of Hungary defeated Aigle Blanc & Senza Volto to retain the wXw Tag Team Championship

…after Icarus made Volto submit to the Heart of Europe (STF) while Dover had Aigle Blanc in a stretch muffler. Post-match, Icarus and Dover challenged Stephanie Maze and Fast Time Moodo to another tag team match, showing respect for Stephanie by saying that she’s not “a girl” but “a fighter.” My score: 4.5/5

Match #3: Axel “The Axeman” Tischer defeated Levaniel to retain the wXw Unified World Championship

Tristan Archer blindsided Levaniel before the match until Jurn Simmons attacked him out of the ring while Tischer came and glared at both Archer and Simmons angrily; Levaniel still wanted to compete despite Tischer being reluctant. Towards the end, Tischer hit Levaniel with a Death Valley driver and the Liger Bomb for a near fall, then stomped on him angrily before putting him in a rear chinlock; Levaniel was unconscious, leading to Tischer retaining the title. Post-match, Tischer said that he cared less about who he would face at 16 Carat Gold; as soon as Back to the Roots ended, wXw Director of Sports Francis Caspin announced that Tischer will defend the title in a four-way dance against Archer, Simmons and Levaniel at 16 Carat Gold. My score: 2.5/5

Main event: Maggot, Baby Allison & Vincent Heisenberg defeated the wXw Wrestling Academy in a steel cage match

The only way to win was to make their opponent submit or surrender, kind of similar to the stipulation Anarchy Wrestling uses in their War Games matches, dating back to the time the show was called “Wildside Wrestling” and—courtesy of the National Wrestling Alliance—“NWA Wildside.” Heisenberg, Robert Dreissker and Anil Marik were busted open during the cage match that filled up with chairs (including two that broke), a hobo stick (stick with a bag of items to be more specific) that Allison carried to the ring, and a bag—that was tied to the stick she brought in—full of chains, duct tape, handcuffs, and a barbed wire crown of thorns. Allison didn’t enter the match until a hole was made in the cage while the four men were fighting inside. Near the end, Maggot, Allison and Heisenberg handcuffed Marik’s right arm to the top rope, and then duct taped and chained his left arm to the rope before placing a crown of thorns on his head, putting him in a Jesus Christ position. Then, Heisenberg attempted to stomp Dreissker’s arm wrapped in a chair until Marik said “We give up”, even though Heisenberg still stomped the chair closed on Dreissker’s arm. My score: 3/5

NXT 2.0 Vengeance Day

Now, it’s time to return to both February 2022 and the United States; this time, it’s for a special episode of NXT known as “Vengeance Day.” Cue “If I Go Down” by French Montana!

As you may know, “Vengeance Day” originally started off as an NXT TakeOver event last year, debuting on Valentine’s Day in 2021. This year’s “Vengeance Day” took place on an episode of NXT, the day after Valentine’s Day 2022.

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Like last year’s “Vengeance Day”, this year’s also had five matches. For last year, it was three title matches and two Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament matches (one for the men and one for the women). This year, it had three title matches, one DRTTC match, and a weaponized steel cage match.

The last time we saw a weaponized steel cage match was in 2019, which was match #3 in the two-out-of-three falls match between Adam Cole and Johnny Gargano for the NXT Championship at NXT TakeOver: Toronto. (Cole, nowadays on AEW, retained the title that night.) This year, it was part of the Pete Dunne/Tony D’Angelo rivalry and it was a fun start to this year’s “Vengeance Day.” I thought that the cage match brought us to a good start, and yes, we indeed saw cricket bats and crowbars coming into play in that matchup besides a steel chair that Dunne broke after striking D’Angelo in the back with it (a cricket bat broke as well), as well as a toolbox, a wrench, a hammer, pliers, zip ties, a trashcan and its lid, a kendo stick, and a table. (A chain was also in the cage, but wasn’t really used a whole lot.)

Then, the rest of the night ended up being matches with gold on the line; not only did we see titles on the line, but also the DRTTC trophy in the final round.

My favorite matches out of those four bouts that occurred after the cage match were the last two matches of the night. The first one was the final round of the DRTTC tournament between the Creed Brothers and last year’s winners MSK. This match could have gone either way, but I had a gut feeling that the Creed Brothers would win that tournament, mainly because of their current rivalry with Imperium. The second one was the NXT Championship match between Bron Breakker and Legado del Fantasma’s Santos Escobar (who paid tribute to the late Eddie Guerrero and his WWE Championship victory on February 15, 2004). It gave us surprises like last week, courtesy of Dolph Ziggler and Tommaso Ciampa who added their names to whoever would fight for NXT gold next.

Now that we have the upcoming women’s DRTTC as well as NXT Stand & Deliver coming up, let’s take a look at the match results from Orlando…

(P.S.: Before I continue, L.A. Knight did NOT get arrested on this week’s episode; he will, however, fight Grayson Waller on the next episode of NXT.)

Match #1: Pete Dunne defeated Tony D’Angelo in a Weaponized Steel Cage match

During the match, Dunne—after being free from having his hands tied behind his back with zip ties—powerbombed D’Angelo through the table for two, and then broke a cricket bat on D’Angelo’s back before hitting him with the Bitter End for a near fall. D’Angelo came back with a low blow before hitting him with a spinning fisherman’s buster for a near fall, then Dunne grabbed a hidden crowbar from outside the cage and—after D’Angelo was equipped with a crowbar of his own—hit his opponent with it before defeating him with a second Bitter End. My score: 2.5/5

Match #2: Gigi Dolin & Jacy Jayne (w/ Mandy Rose) defeated Indi Hartwell & Persia Pirotta to retain the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championship

During the match, Mandy was ejected from ringside after the referee caught her putting her hands on Indi. Gigi and Jacy won after hitting Indi with a leg sweep/big boot combo. My score: 1.5/5

Match #3: Carmelo Hayes (w/ Trick Williams) defeated Cameron Grimes to retain the NXT North American Championship

Williams interfered at times until, towards the end, Grimes took him down at ringside with the Cave In. Hayes defeated Grimes with a top rope guillotine leg drop. My score: 3/5

Match #4: The Creed Brothers (w/ Malcolm Bivens) defeated MSK to win the 2022 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament

Near the end, Nash Carter dove at Julius until Julius caught him and hit him with a rolling slam on the floor. Then, Julius won for him and his brother Brutus after hitting Carter with a basement clothesline. My score: 3.5/5

Main event: Bron Breakker defeated Santos Escobar (w/ Joaquin Wilde, Raul Mendoza and Elektra Lopez) to retain the NXT Championship

Near the end, Wilde and Mendoza interfered until Breakker fought them away until all of the sudden (while Elektra distracted the referee), Dolph Ziggler ran in and superkicked Breakker, leading to Escobar pinning Breakker for a near fall. Then, Ziggler attempted to interfere again until Tommaso Ciampa came and fought the Raw superstar at ringside while Breakker fought back with a spear to Escobar before winning with a powerslam. My score: 3.5/5

NXT UK

Meanwhile, we return to the United Kingdom, but this time in the—empty once again—BT Sports Studios in London, England for NXT UK.

I was surprised to see three matches end in less than five minutes before the fourth and final match of the episode; if my calculation is correct, the total time for matches #1 through #3 was approximately 13 minutes. I understand that the show lasts for an hour, but regardless of whether or not there are up-and-comers on the roster to keep an eye on or if it’s an addition to an ongoing storyline, I think it would be best to have matches that are longer than each one of those three matches that took place prior to the main event.

Okay, I apologize for venting here…I want to focus on the storylines as well as the matches.

The new rivalry between Sam Gradwell and Kenny Williams has been taken up a notch, even after Gradwell defeated Williams who feigned a knee injury until Sid Scala—assistant to NXT UK General Manger Johnny Saint—appeared on the screen and said that Williams wasn’t injured in the first place and that two crutches were missing. I believe we’re going to see another match between the two after seeing Williams get rid of Gradwell’s mohawk with a pair of scissors…probably with a stipulation that may involve hair or crutches. That’s my prediction.

It’s good to see the women on the NXT UK roster in action this week as well, especially seeing Emilia McKenzie, Angel Hayze, Myla Grace, and Stevie Turner more often, as well as seeing two of the four women I just mentioned picking up wins. I would like to see Myla get her first win in the near future.

The same goes for Angel, even though she picked up a win via disqualification months ago per se; besides if Angel does well on ICW—especially as the ICW Women’s champion—and has been appearing on NXT UK a handful of times (not just in matches but when she praised Amale over her promos of hope a month ago or so), why not have her pick up wins in upcoming matches on NXT UK as well? Just saying…

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The main event was my favorite match of the episode; it has nothing to do with how long the match was, but it has to do with how well both Wolfgang and Jordan Devlin competed in that main event. Regardless of how many tricks Devlin’s character had up in his sleeve, he was still able to take down his opponent a peg or two, even when working on his left arm after Wolfgang crashed into a ring post early in the match. It was a good match that’s part of the current rivalry between Gallus and the trio of Devlin, Noam Dar and Sha Samuels.

Here are the match results from London…

Match #1: Sam Gradwell defeated Kenny Williams

The match was almost cancelled as Williams appeared with crutches feigning a knee injury until Sid Scala appeared and said that the match was still taking place. After Gradwell pinned Williams for the win, Williams attacked Gradwell with a crutch, and then grabbed a pair of scissors from a toolbox and cut Gradwell’s mohawk with it; Gradwell stormed backstage looking for Williams afterwards. My score: 0.5/5

Match #2: Emilia McKenzie defeated Angel Hayze with a wheelbarrow faceplant.

My score: 1.5/5

Match #3: Stevie Turner defeated Myla Grace with a Side Effect (ala AEW’s Matt Hardy).

My score: 1.5/5

Main event: Jordan Devlin defeated Wolfgang.

Wolfgang’s left arm was worked on after he crashed into a post at ringside earlier. Towards the end, Wolfgang hit Devlin with a spear, but was unable to capitalize; he then climbed to the top rope until Devlin threw him off with a top rope Spanish fly before defeating him with a 450 splash. My score: 3.75/5

NXT: LVL UP

Finally, we return to Orlando, but this time, it’s not for 205 Live anymore. It’s for the inaugural episode of NXT LVL UP.

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This replacement show that debuted this week is definitely a good way to showcase up-and-comers including those that we may see on NXT in the near future. Despite having a rocky start in the beginning courtesy of Joe Gacy taking credit for changing 205 Live to NXT: LVL UP (just like he did in the series finale of 205 Live last week), the first episode ended on a high note.

My favorite match of the three that occurred for the inaugural episode had to be the main event between Kushida and Edris Enofé. The match could have gone either way…a win by a Jacket Time member, or a win from a member of a fairly new team. In the end, it was good seeing Enofé picking up a win after he and Blade have been picking up wins as soon as the DRTTC tournament occurred; I would love to see more from the fairly new team.

Before I get to the three matches that occurred, I’m wishing a “welcome aboard” to Kelly Kincaid who will work as the ring announcer for NXT: LVL UP. You may remember her as Quinn McKay, the host and interviewer that worked for Ring of Honor.

Onto the results of the matches from episode 1 of NXT: LVL UP…

Match #1: Harland (w/ Joe Gacy) defeated Javier Bernal

Gacy took credit for changing 205 Live to NXT: LVL UP before the match started. Harland won with a delayed back suplex into a uranage. My score: 0.5/5

Match #2: Tatum Paxley & Ivy Nile defeated Fallon Henley & Kayla Inlay

…after Ivy made Fallon submit to a standing dragon sleeper. My score: 1.5/5

Main event: Edris Enofé (w/ Malik Blade) defeated Kushida (w/ Ikemen Jiro) with a shooting star press

Enofé’s knees landed on Kushida’s ribs on the way down. Both teams shook hands afterwards. My score: 3/5

Next time…

Just like in the fifth newsletter, I will start off the next newsletter with a one-two punch of special events. The first event of course is what’s nowadays a traditional pre-WrestleMania event, that being Elimination Chamber. The second event will be Chapter 128 of Progress Wrestling, the second event—or “Chapter” if you will—of 2022. Those two events will kick off the newsletter, followed by my new usual four—ICW Fight Club, NXT, NXT UK and NXT: LVL UP.

Thanks for reading! I’ll see you next time!

(With the exception of the photo of the six-man tag team match from ICW Fight Club on Peacock—that I watched on my laptop—that I took a picture of with my phone, the rest of the photos shown in the newsletter are from WWE and wXw.)