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wXw We Love Wrestling 35

We’re kicking things off with a belated recap.

The 35th episode of wXw We Love Wrestling took place on July 16, 2022 at the Batschkapp in Frankfurt, Germany. It was the last episode prior to Dead End which would take place later that month.

Six matches were on the card including two six-man tag team matches that I enjoyed. The first half of the show, consisting of three one-on-one matches, was lukewarm until the second half of the show turned everything up a notch or two.

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Like I said, I enjoyed both six-man tag team bouts that took place on this episode; the two were Amboss members Arrows of Hungary & Robert Dreissker taking on LSG (Leon St. Giovanni if you’re unfamiliar with the wrestler from New Jersey), Elijah Blum & Peter Tihanyi, and Rott und Flott & Tristan Archer taking on Only Friends & Jurn Simmons. The better of those two bouts would have to go to the second six-man tag team match of the night which was the main event (as well as my favorite match of the episode). Besides a pier six brawl that took place in and outside the ring earlier and near the end of the bout, it also showed all six wrestlers looking for a confidence boost heading into Dead End as well as the Tag Team Festival; in the end, it was the trio of Michael Knight, Bobby Gunns and Jurn Simmons that emerged victorious.

Here are the match results from Frankfurt…

Match #1: Ahura defeated Norman Harras to become the #1 contender for the wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship at Shortcut To the Top.

Ahura once again came to the ring with his own wXw Shotgun Championship belt; he posed with it one minute into the match until a tug-of-war with the title occurred between the two. Then, Harras raked his opponent in the eyes before hitting him with the Hostile Takeover (gutwrench neckbreaker) for a near fall. This match then became something straight out of Progress Wrestling as Harras attempted to throw Ahura into the chairs at ringside until Ahura blocked the attempt before the Director of Sports used the referee as a shield and forearmed him. Then, when Harras argued with the referee, Ahura hit him with a springboard corkscrew crossbody into the chairs. As soon as the action returned to the ring, Ahura won with a Zigzag. My score: 2.5/5

Match #2: Levaniel defeated Hektor Invictus.

Before the match started, Levaniel promised to stay away from Jurn Simmons in his upcoming match with Tristan Archer for the wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship, and then told Invictus to feel his wrath. After Levaniel hit Invictus with a Randy Orton backbreaker followed by a clothesline for two, he went for the Galactic Facecrusher until Invictus blocked it before making a comeback including hitting him with a moonsault. The match ended with Levaniel blocking Invictus’ attempt for a second moonsault with a knee before rolling him up for the win. My score: 2.5/5

Match #3: B3CCA defeated Orsi.

This was B3CCA’s wXw debut. After Orsi hit B3CCA with a spear for two, she put her in a Boston crab (ironically since the newcomer hails from Massachusetts). B3CCA, after being pulled away from the ropes, rolled out of the hold and hit Orsi with a double stomp followed by a shining wizard for the win; it looked like Orsi got her shoulder up as the three count was being made, but—according to the referee—was a nanosecond or two too late. My score: 2/5

Match #4: Arrows of Hungary & Robert Dreissker defeated LSG, Elijah Blum & Peter Tihanyi.

Unless my memory of entrance theme songs are way off, it sounded like Blum is sharing the same theme song as “The Phoenix” Jody Fleisch. Also, this was LSG’s return to wXw in four years. Towards the end, Team LSG (as LSG called him and his tag team partners earlier in an interview by Ahmad Dimassi) targeted Dreissker as they climbed to the top rope until Icarus and Dover caused LSG and Blum to land groin first on the top turnbuckle while Dreissker dodged Tihanyi’s attempt for a 450. Then, the three Amboss members won after a spear by Dreissker followed by the Crossfire by Arrows of Hungary to Tihanyi. My score: 3.25/5

Match #5: Maggot vs. Vincent Heisenberg ended in a time limit draw; Maggot retained the wXw Shotgun Championship.

This match, created by Norman Harras, had Baby Allison as the special guest referee. As soon as the match began, Maggot and Heisenberg decided to stay at ringside, and as Allison counted up to seven, Harras appeared and told them not to weasel out of the match or else Maggot and Allison would be stripped of—respectively—their Shotgun and Women’s Championships. Then, Heisenberg refused to be pinned by Maggot and decided to wrestle him instead; Allison refused to do the pin count for Heisenberg before finally deciding to do so. After Maggot hit Heisenberg with a superplex, the action continued even with Maggot using Allison as a shield until she slapped the two competitors and coerced them to sit down as the clock ran out. After the three sat down—as if they were at a campfire—in the middle of the ring as ordered by Allison, the time ran out and Maggot retained the belt.

Afterwards, Allison had Maggot and Heisenberg shake hands, then Harras came into the ring and grabbed her by the hair while berating her until Allison slapped him; she then stood in the ring and celebrated with Maggot and Heisenberg while Harras continued to yell at her like Rick Sanchez accusing his grandson Morty Smith for screwing up. My score: 2.25/5

Main event: Only Friends & Jurn Simmons defeated Rott und Flott & Tristan Archer.

Michael Knight, Bobby Gunns and Simmons ambushed their opponents before the match began until Gunns and Nikita Charisma were in the ring. All six men would then brawl out of the ring a minute or so later; Simmons had two fans hold Archer for him while he was punching him, and—ending the brawl—Knight was beaten down at the entryway by Charisma, Michel Schenkenberg and Archer before he was brought back into the ring. Towards the end, all six men traded finishers in the ring, and then beat each other down again (Rott und Flott and Only Friends beating each other down, followed by Archer and Simmons clotheslining each other down) until Knight and Gunns hit Charisma with an ushigoroshi/running punt combo for two. Then, Knight put Charisma in a dragon sleeper and—while Gunns had Schenkenberg in an octopus—made him submit. My score: 3.75/5

Extreme Rules

Now that the belated recap is out of the way, it’s time to go to the United States and head to the Wells Fargo Center in my hometown of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania! Cue “Villain” by Bella Poarch, bring guests such as NXT wrestlers Nikkita Lyons and Bron Breakker as well as the Philadelphia Flyers’ mascot Gritty, because it’s time for Extreme Rules!

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For the second time in WWE history, the pay-per-view/premium live event Extreme Rules took place in Philadelphia, the same city where the original ECW was born (hardcore wrestling and all); the first time this event took place in Philadelphia was in 2019 at the same venue. This event of course had matches were no count outs or disqualifications occurred; the matches that took place were—in order—a Good Ol’ Fashioned Donnybrook, an Extreme Rules match, a strap match, a ladder match, an “I Quit” match and the Fight Pit.

Before I get to those six matches (which I ended up giving an above average rating by the way), there was one moment that surprised everyone in attendance (as well as those scanning QR codes that appeared on episodes of Raw and SmackDown) as the event was coming to a close. As soon as the event was getting ready to get off the air, the lights went out and a familiar male voice singing “He’s got the whole world in his hands” could be heard; life-size versions of the Firefly Funhouse characters (Huskus the Pig, Mercy the Buzzard, the Rambling Rabbit and Abby the Witch) appeared in the audience, a severed head appeared on the announce table (freaking out Michael Cole and Corey Graves), and someone dressed up as the Fiend also appeared in the audience. Then, what was left of the Firefly Funhouse—cobwebs and all—appeared on the screen as a doorway appeared at the entryway; a TV with distorted static was turned on in the funhouse, and it showed a demon-like face along with someone dressed up as a rabbit. Then, the door opened and it was Bray Wyatt—wearing the demon-like face—who returned, lantern and all. That is indeed one great way to bring back the wrestler Wyatt, even with his ever so famous crazy personas from his “Wyatt Family” days to the Firefly Funhouse and now to whatever he has up in his sleeve.

Onto the matches, not only did we have matches that were under extreme rules (pun intended), but there were two women’s championships—Raw and SmackDown—on the line. I liked the Raw Women’s Championship ladder match more, mainly because it showed Bianca Belair throwing the fact that she was outnumbered (courtesy of the rest of Bayley’s team Damage CTRL) out the window as well as how she and Bayley fought tooth and nail for the gold, ladders and all. The SmackDown Women’s Championship match under Extreme Rules was good too, even though there were a handful of botch spots that did or didn’t involve weapons.

As for the rest of the matches that weren’t championship matches, I thought that the “I Quit” match was the best match of the event. It was a great battle between the Judgment Day founder and member—Edge and Finn Bálor respectively—that occurred in and outside of the ring as well as dark and disturbing moments courtesy of Bálor’s colleagues along with an ending similar to how Spike Trivet defeated Cara Noir in day 2 of Progress Chapter 135. My second best would go to the Good Ol’ Fashioned Donnybrook which was indeed a great battle showcasing six heavy hitters. The other two matches were good as well even though the strap match was more of a one-sided bout as well as having an odd start and finish, and I expected more in the Fight Pit after seeing the past two Fight Pits on NXT (which were pretty much better than this one in my opinion).

Here are the match results from Philadelphia…

Match #1: The Brawling Brutes defeated Imperium in a Good Ol’ Fashioned Donnybrook.

Bar counters, bar stools, shillelaghs and barrels were at ringside. During the match, Butch dove into Giovanni Vinci and Ludwig Kaiser, causing a portion of the LED barricade to collapse. Both teams used shillelaghs during and near the end of this match, with Gunther striking Sheamus with two shillelagh shots for a two count; he then went for a powerbomb until Ridge Holland and Butch stopped him, leading to Sheamus hitting the “Ring General” with a shillelagh shot of his own. Then, Sheamus hit Gunther with the Celtic Cross through the announce table before the rest of the Brawling Brutes held up Vinci who was hit by Sheamus’ Brogue Kick for the win. My score: 4/5

Match #2: Ronda Rousey defeated Liv Morgan in an Extreme Rules match to become the new SmackDown Women’s Champion.

Ronda wore a pink Gi in honor of the late Gene LeBell, and also wore ring gear that had slogans from the movie “They Cult” (which starred the late “Rowdy” Roddy Piper). Liv’s baseball bat (covered in stickers, a pink ribbon and a chain), a steel chair, a table, Ronda’s Gi and blackbelt, and a fire extinguisher were used in this bout. Towards the end, Liv put Ronda through the table with a top rope senton for two until Ronda attempted to put her in an armbar before turning it into a biceps crusher; Liv—while smirking for some reason—was incapacitated, and Ronda won. My score: 3/5

Match #3: Karrion Kross (w/ Scarlett) defeated Drew McIntyre in a strap match.

Before the match started, Kross refused to put on the strap, and Scarlett pulled it to get McIntyre’s attention, allowing Kross to fight him out of the ring and into the crowd. As soon as both men came back in the ring, McIntyre hit Kross with a sidewalk slam on the apron before putting the strap on his opponent to start the match. Kross worked on McIntyre’s left shoulder during the match, and then—after whipping him with the strap at ringside—hit him with the Doomsday Saito for a near fall. Then, McIntyre came back with a Future Shock and went for the Claymore until Scarlett ran in and sprayed him with pepper spray, leading to Kross winning with a running forearm from behind (known as the Kross Hammer). My score: 3/5

Match #4: Bianca Belair defeated Bayley in a ladder match to retain the Raw Women’s Championship.

Bayley wore an arm band reading “Sara”, paying tribute to Tough Enough winner and former WWE wrestler Sara Lee whom we lost days prior to this event. Besides large and small ladders, a broken ladder was also used as a weapon in this bout. Towards the end, Bayley attempted to use a hinge from her knee brace as a weapon until Bianca hit her with the K.O.D.; she then climbed up until Dakota Kai and Iyo Sky knocked her off and attacked her. Bianca fought back and hit Dakota and Iyo with a double K.O.D., and Bayley—with a bloody left elbow and lips—used half of the broken ladder before hitting the “EST” with the Rose Plant and then trapping her under a ladder. Bayley climbed up the ladder until Bianca lifted it while on her back, then after fighting at the top of the ladder, Bayley grabbed the broken ladder half until Bianca hit her—as well as the ladder half—with the K.O.D. before climbing up, grabbing the belt, and winning. My score: 3.75/5

Match #5: Finn Bálor defeated Edge in an “I Quit” match.

Bálor wore a spiked mask, covering his face, to the ring. Edge’s left knee was worked on during the match. Both wrestlers fought out of the ring and into the crowd including the kickoff show set where Edge attacked the Judgment Day member with a hockey stick and used it to stretch his opponent’s mouth. The two then fought up a stairway where Edge sent Bálor head first into an overhang until Bálor sent him gut first into a railing. The action spilled back in the ring and Bálor attacked him with a steel chair until Edge said “I…I…don’t quit.” Edge came back until Damian Priest ran in and he fought him out of the ring. Then, Dominik Mysterio pulled Bálor out of the ring until Edge speared him off the apron and into the JD members. Then, Rhea Ripley came from the crowd and handcuffed Edge to the top rope, leading to Priest, Bálor and Dominik beating down Edge until Rey Mysterio ran and took down Priest and Bálor with a chair before Dominik attacked his father. Bálor attacked Edge with a kendo stick until all of the sudden, Beth Phoenix took the stick and attacked him and Priest with the stick, and then fought Rhea before hitting her with a spear and freeing Edge. Edge hit Priest with a spear, kicked Dominik below the belt, and—after a sling blade from Bálor—hit Bálor with three spears and used a piece of a chair to stretch his opponent’s mouth until he saw Rhea knock out Beth with brass knuckles. The Judgment Day beat down Edge, with Bálor hitting Edge with the Coup de Grace three times until Edge said “Go to hell”; then, Rhea threatened to hit Beth with the Conchairto until Edge said “I quit.” Afterwards, Rhea hit Beth with the Conchairto before the Judgment Day left. My score: 4.25/5

Main event: Matt Riddle defeated Seth “Freakin” Rollins in a Fight Pit.

Daniel Cormier, UFC Hall of Famer and former heavyweight champion, was the special guest referee for this match. Rollins wore ring gear that paid homage to ECW original Rob Van Dam. Cormier got physical and read both wrestlers the riot act after both Rollins and Riddle made contact with him while beating down each other. Cormier even delayed the count to ten attempt after Rollins took down Riddle for some reason. Riddle countered a Peruvian necktie attempt with the RKO until both men got up at 8, then Rollins blocked the second RKO attempt and hit Riddle with the Stomp until Riddle got up at 9. Both men climbed to the balcony where the two fought at one of the four chains that held the Fight Pit, then Rollins hit Riddle with the Pedigree on the balcony until Riddle dodged the Stomp and hit him with an RKO that caused him to fall off the balcony and back into the ring. Then, Riddle hit Rollins with the Broton from the balcony until the two got up at eight, and then Riddle made Rollins submit to a triangle choke. My score: 3/5

ICW Fight Club

We now head to the Asylum in Glasgow, Scotland in the United Kingdom for an episode of ICW Fight Club.

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The buildup for Fear & Loathing XIV continued, especially in one of the three matches that took place. Remember when I predicted that there was going to be a fatal four-way for the ICW World Heavyweight Championship? Let’s just say I was half correct on that prediction as you’ll see shortly. The second and third matches of the episode were much better than the opening match which was short lived (even though the opening match had a surprise post-match moment per se). Chris Bungard got even better in his pro wrestling skills in the second match against the self-proclaimed “wrestling god” Theo Doros even with a result he didn’t like picking up, and the main event ended up being my favorite match of the episode.

The main event was Craig Anthony taking on Stevie James; the two wrestlers are part of the ICW World Heavyweight Championship hunt that also includes Leyton Buzzard. It was indeed a hard-hitting battle between Anthony and James, even with close attempts to getting a three count. If there was a rematch between the two, I would definitely hope that it would be as good as—or even better than—this week’s main event. This match by the way ended with someone receiving a DQ win that no one, not even the competitors in this match, liked one bit. Here are the match results from Glasgow…

Match #1: Moxie Malone defeated Daisy Jenkins in four minutes.

This was Daisy’s ICW debut. Moxie won after incapacitating Daisy with a sleeper/bodyscissors combo. After the match, Moxie attempted to attack Daisy with a steel chair until Angel Hayze ran in and stopped her. Then, ADM came into the ring and played peacemaker until Angel slapped him before he hit her with a chokeslam backbreaker. ADM then whispered in Moxie’s ear, leading to Moxie striking her several times with a chair…and becoming a new member of the Manifesto! That surprising moment definitely overshadowed that short-lived bout; I got a gut feeling that this group is becoming the next Judgment Day (even if the Manifesto still has the same captain per se). My score: 0.5/5

Match #2: Chris Bungard (w/ Rudo) defeated Theo Doros by count out.

Rudo joined Billy Kirkwood and James R. Kennedy on commentary. Bungard had his own rendition of “Suplex City”, hitting Doros with multiple German suplexes, until—towards the end—Doros escaped a sleeper attempt and got out of the ring before deciding to get himself counted out on purpose. After the match, Rudo called Doros a “dafty” for walking out, and then said that he hoped that Aaron Echo knows what he’s in for when facing Bungard at Fear & Loathing XIV. My score: 4/5

Main event: “The Outlaw” Stevie James defeated Craig Anthony by disqualification.

During the match, Anthony went for a tope, but missed and crashed headfirst into a barricade, leading to James coming back and hitting him with a tope of his own. Anthony would then be whipped over another barricade until Anthony fought back including hitting “The Outlaw” with a springboard forearm from the barricade. Anthony later attempted to hit James with a German suplex off the apron until James turned it into a uranage on the apron. Near the end, James struck Anthony with a reverse brainbuster for two, followed by a trifecta of super kicks and a brainbuster for another two; Anthony came back with a superplex until James sprung up with another brainbuster for another two.

Then, Kez Evans ran in and attacked James, giving “The Outlaw” a DQ win. Afterwards, Anthony fought Evans until Leyton Buzzard ran in and attacked “The Natural” while James and Evans went at it. Referees, security guards, and ICW wrestlers (including Daz Black and Vaughn Vertigo) ran in to stop the brouhaha before Mark Dallas appeared at the entryway; he announced that at Fear & Loathing XIV, Evans will defend the ICW World Heavyweight Championship against Buzzard, James and Anthony in a four-way elimination match. After the announcement was made as the dust settled, the challengers chased the champion out of the ring. My score: 4.5/5

NXT

We now head to Orlando, Florida in the United States for an episode of NXT.

Last week, NXT turned from a multicolored brand to a white-and-gold brand. This week, another change up was made as Vic Joseph is now accompanied by WWE Hall of Famer and former WWE and WCW champion Booker T; Wade Barrett, who was with Joseph (as well as Beth Phoenix) since August 2020, is now with Michael Cole on SmackDown. Good luck wishes go out to both Booker T and Wade Barrett on their new commentary roles on those two shows! (The same goes for Kevin Patrick and Corey Graves who are now working as a duo on Raw.)

There were three matches I enjoyed on this week’s episode of NXT. One was a triple threat tag team match where the winning team would become #1 contenders for the NXT Tag Team Championship against Pretty Deadly; those three teams that competed in that bout were Malik Blade & Edris Enofé, Josh Briggs & Brooks Jensen, and the Dyad. All three teams definitely gave their all in this bout, regardless of whether or not they had to keep their heads on swivels or who was at ringside. In the end, the win would belong to a rising tag team—Blade & Enofé—that has been on a roll as of late on both NXT and NXT: LVL UP; I have been a big fan of this duo as of late, and you can tell that they’re closing in on winning gold in the future.

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The other match I enjoyed was the main event match between Ilja Dragunov and Grayson Waller. This indeed made a good warm up match for Dragunov, a couple weeks prior to Halloween Havoc where he’ll fight JD McDonagh and Bron Breakker for the NXT Championship; he showed the 2.0 original Waller what he’s best known for just like he has on Progress, NXT UK, ICW, wXw and other companies he competed back then. Waller showed what he can master as a competitor as well, even with his cocky character coming into play. In the end, it was Dragunov who won courtesy of a sign that he’ll face Apollo Crews at Halloween Havoc, wheel and all. (Oh, and yes, we will see that wheel get spun at that event!)

My favorite match of the episode goes to the conclusion of the best of three series between two NXT UK alumni Nathan Frazer and Axiom. This time, the stakes were higher for the two wrestlers as the winner of this bout would qualify to participate in a ladder match for the currently vacant NXT North American Championship at Halloween Havoc. Their first encounter didn’t disappoint me one bit, and neither did their second and third matches; this was indeed as good as the last best of three series I saw—Aigle Blanc vs. Senza Volto in wXw to be more specific—from high flying action that also consisted of “blind and you’ll miss it” moments to seeing how much the prize, in the form of that spot, meant to the two. In the end, it was Frazer who took the 2-1 lead and won.

Here are the NXT results from Orlando…

Match #1: Bron Breakker defeated Javier Bernal in three minutes.

JD McDonagh joined Vic Joseph and Booker T on commentary. Breakker won after hitting Bernal with a powerslam. After the match, McDonagh came into the ring and walked up to Breakker until Ilja Dragunov came in and approached the two. McDonagh hit Dragunov with a headbutt, then fought Breakker until Dragunov hit Breakker—instead of McDonagh who ducked—with the Torpedo. My score: 1.5/5

Match #2: Nathan Frazer defeated Axiom in a qualifier for the NXT North American Championship match at Halloween Havoc.

During the match, Frazer attempted to throw Axiom off the top rope with a hurricanrana until Axiom slid down and dragged him into the top rope, causing his opponent to land awkwardly. Later, Frazer went for a corkscrew moonsault, but Axiom countered with a triangle choke which he then converted into a crossface until Frazer grabbed the bottom rope to break it. Towards the end, both wrestlers traded super kicks until Axiom hit him with a pump knee; Axiom then went for the Golden Ratio until the two exchanged rollups before Frazer picked up the win with the last rollup made. Both men shook hands afterwards. My score: 4.5/5

Match #3: Indi Hartwell defeated Valentina Feroz (w/ Sanga) in three and a half minutes.

During the match, Veer Mahaan appeared and whispered in Sanga’s ear, leading to the two leaving (an Indus Sher reunion perhaps?); Valentina didn’t notice this until one minute later. Indi won after suplexing Valentina off the apron and back into the ring (ala Claudio Castagnoli). My score: 1.5/5

Match #4: Malik Blade & Edris Enofé defeated Josh Briggs & Brooks Jensen (w/ Fallon Henley) and the Dyad (w/ Joe Gacy) in a triple threat tag team match to become #1 contenders for the NXT Tag Team Championship.

Pretty Deadly—pretending to be shirtless sports fans with “GO PD” on their stomachs and backs (GO on front and PD on back to be more specific), Elton Prince wearing a foam cowboy hat, and Kit Wilson wearing a beer drinking cap—watched the match from the stage; they taunted the three teams prior to this match taking place. During the match, the Dyad attempted to hit Enofé with a superplex until Jensen turned it into the Tower of Doom, powerbombing the Dyad while they superplexed Enofé. Towards the end, Gacy hit Enofé with a clothesline until Cameron Grimes appeared and hit Gacy with the Cave In. The Dyad attempted to hit Enofé—who was put back in the ring by Gacy prior to Grimes’ appearance—with the Ticket To Mayhem until Grimes pulled Rip Fowler out of the ring, allowing Enofé to rollup Jagger Reid for the win. My score: 3.25/5

Match #5: Alba Fyre defeated Jacy Jayne (w/ Gigi Dolin) in three and a half minutes.

After Alba hit the Toxic Attraction members with a tope, she knocked Gigi off the apron until Jacy rolled her up with a handful of tights; Alba kicked out and then won with the Fyre Bomb. Suddenly, after the match, Alba was attacked by a woman in a hoodie from the crowd, and the woman turned out to be SmackDown’s Sonya Deville. Sonya, Gigi and Jacy beat down Alba, and then hit her with a Shield powerbomb through the announce table. (I wonder if Sonya has moved from SmackDown to NXT now that she’s possibly a new member of Toxic Attraction…) No score.

Match #6: Wes Lee defeated Stacks in almost four minutes.

Lee’s left knee was worked on after Stacks blocked a drop toehold into the corner. Lee came back and won with a corkscrew senton (that ended up getting the “didn’t get all of it” treatment sadly). After the match, Trick Williams and Carmelo Hayes ran in and attacked Lee until Oro Mensah ran in and evened the odds, fighting the two out of the ring before Lee dove onto them. My score: 0.5/5

Match #7: Kiana James defeated Thea Hail (w/ Andre Chase and Bodhi Hayward) in a little over a minute.

As the match began, Mr. Stone stormed into the ring and blamed everyone for laughing at him after he was slammed onto the floor by Thea last week; he then vowed to run Thea’s night until Thea made him a laughingstock again by—this time—hitting him with a back body drop. Then, Kiana hit the distracted Thea with a spinning faceplant and pinned her for the win. No score.

Main event: Ilja Dragunov defeated Grayson Waller.

During the match, Waller—while working on Dragunov’s neck—taunted Booker T by pretending to attempt the Spinaroonie before telling him to “suck it.” Towards the end, Waller got out of the ring to set up for a through-the-ropes cutter until he saw the Halloween Havoc wheel spinning next to him; he then went for the cutter until Dragunov countered with back-to-back German suplexes followed by a deadlift suplex and the Torpedo for the win. After the match, Bron Breakker ran in and gave Dragunov a receipt in the form of a spear; JD McDonagh appeared in the crowd and applauded and smirked while watching what happened between his two Halloween Havoc opponents. My score: 3.25/5

NXT: LVL UP

Staying in Orlando, we wrap things up with NXT: LVL UP.

A quick note before the recap: You may have noticed that Sudu Shah teamed up with Byron Saxton on commentary this week; this is because Nigel McGuinness—whom we’ve heard on this show besides 205 Live, NXT UK and NXT—was released from the WWE last week.

Back to the recap, I’m giving this episode a 2.5 out of 5 besides giving the matches—spoiler alert!—2.5 out of 5. This week, we saw a tag team bout followed by two one-on-one matches with the main event involving NXT’s women’s division.

The tag team match, regardless of how much I missed (probably less than 30 seconds or so) because of Peacock’s broadcast delay that occurred for some reason, was indeed a good way to kick off this week’s episode; not only did it show Duke Hudson—who was one of the competitors in this match—looking to overshadow his second straight NXT loss that occurred in a match that lasted for less than a minute, but also how well he did while tagging along with Bryson Montana in their match against Ikemen Jiro and newcomer Tank Ledger. Regardless of how well he and Montana did, they still came up short courtesy of their opponents who had a good showing too.

The second match saw Myles Borne pick up his second career victory over Dante Chen who has been on a roll as of late on NXT: LVL UP just like the aforementioned tag team of Malik Blade & Edris Enofé. Chen showed that he still has what it takes to look for another win, as did Borne who was looking for his second career win which he did as I just noted. Not only do I expect more from Chen in his later matches, but also the same thing for the hearing-impaired competitor who continues to build his momentum match after match. The main event saw Ivy Nile take on Lash Legend. Not only did it show Lash attempting to stop her ongoing losing streak, but it also saw Ivy looking to overshadow her career first NXT loss that occurred in a tag team bout not too long ago. It was size vs. strength in this main event, and in the end, Ivy made the well-known catchphrase “size doesn’t matter” come into play by defeating Lash. The two wrestlers did indeed have a good showing in this match. I wonder when Lash will end her losing streak…

Putting that thought aside, let’s take a look at the NXT: LVL UP results from Orlando…

Match #1: Ikemen Jiro & Tank Ledger defeated Duke Hudson & Bryson Montana.

As mentioned above, this was Ledger’s debut. The team of Jiro and Ledger won after Jiro hit Montana with the Ikemen Slash. My score: 2.5/5

Match #2: Myles Borne defeated Dante Chen.

After Chen hit Borne with a big boot, Borne came back with a belly-to-belly suplex, a dropkick and an elevated flatliner for the win. My score: 2.5/5

Main event: Ivy Nile defeated Lash Legend.

Lash made Ivy’s comeback short lived after her opponent hit her with an enzuigiri and a running boot, and then she went for a reverse DDT until Ivy countered with a dragon sleeper; Lash tapped out and Ivy won. My score: 2.5/5

Next time…

The currently usual three, and a belated recap or two. That is all.

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