The John Report: WWE NXT 12/13/22 Review
This week’s WWE NXT featured The New Day celebrating their NXT Tag Team Title win, Odyssey Jones facing Von Wagner, a title match in the main event and more.
NXT Deadline took place this past Saturday with Roxanne Perez and Grayson Waller winning the first Iron Survivor Challenge matches. The New Day won the NXT Tag Team Titles from Pretty Deadly and Bron Breakker kept his NXT Title in a competitive match with Apollo Crews.
As usual for NXT, I’ll go summary style for the show and play-by-play for the main event.
This episode is taking place at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. Follow me on Twitter @johnreport. My WWE NXT Review archive is here. Let’s get to it.
The commentary team of Vic Joseph and Booker T were at ringside to welcome us to the show.
Let’s Hear From Roxanne Perez and Grayson Waller
Roxanne Perez was shown in the ring for a promo. Grayson Waller arrived in the parking lot driving an obnoxious car and he walked into the building with a promo. Perez shouted at Waller saying that she won the Iron Survivor Challenge match before he did. Perez bragged about doing it from the number one spot. Waller shouted out Booker T saying that Roxanne was her favorite wrestler and joked that Roxanne went on first because she had to go to bed. Waller was standing in the crowd saying that Perez has peaked at 21 because there’s no way she is beating Mandy (Rose).
Bron Breakker, the NXT Champion, showed up to say that Roxanne is the ironwoman in NXT. Bron went into the ring saying they don’t give a damn what Waller thinks because Roxanne is the future NXT Women’s Champion. Waller asked “Bronathon” how the jaw was feeling. Waller said he outsmarted everyone in his match when he got two falls in the first 20 seconds and Waller will take the NXT Title at New Year’s Evil. Bron went after Waller in the card, but Waller ran away. Mandy Rose attacked Perez with a forearm from behind. Rose held up the NXT Women’s Title over a fallen Perez to end the scene.
Analysis: It was the usual cocky Grayson Waller promo, but then he ran like a coward when Bron Breakker confronted him. It’s going to be a fresh title match when it happens at New Year’s Evil next month. I liked Roxanne’s confidence in her promo. She’s not as good of a talker as a wrestler, but she is getting better and at only 21 years, she will keep improving.
They showed JD McDonagh getting checked out by a doctor. Waller had a bruise around his eye and the doctor confirmed it. Julius Creed walked up with Brutus Creed with Julius saying he was healthy. Brutus said since JD tried to hurt Julius, Brutus will hurt him.
They went back to the ring with Perez saying she didn’t want to wait until New Year’s Evil. Perez wanted Rose to put her title on the line tonight. Rose said if that’s what you want you’ll get it.
Analysis: A big match for later in the show.
Wes Lee was getting attacked backstage by Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo and they went fighting out to the ring. They got into the ring and the match started.
Wes Lee vs. Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo (w/Tony D’Angelo)
This was not for Lee’s NXT North American Title. Lee hit a bulldog, but Stacks came back with a high back elbow to the head. Lee managed to get a headscissors followed by a dropkick. Lee hit a somersault dive over the top onto Stacks and Lee took a hard fall on his back, but he was okay.
(Commercial)
Lee dropkicked Stacks in the leg and went up top, but Stacks tripped him up leading to a hard bump for Lee. Stacks hit a backbreaker for a two count. After a half crab submission, Stacks hit another backbreaker for two. Lee got some offense going with a high angle belly to back suplex. Lee did some combination offense leading to a dropkick to the back and a German Suplex out of the corner. Lee did a backflip leading to a jumping back kick on Stacks for the pinfall win after ten minutes.
Winner by pinfall: Wes Lee
Analysis: **3/4 It was a solid match with Stacks getting plenty of offense until Lee made the comeback and found a way to get the win. This was the best Stacks has looked in a singles match so far mostly because his matches are usually shorter. I think Stacks is technically very sound, so they just need to work on his personality more. Lee is really skilled at everything.
Dijak made his entrance and stood on the apron for a staredown with Lee. Tony D attacked Lee from behind. Tony D hit a lifting slam with an elbow drop to put Lee down. Tony had a staredown with Dijak and left.
Analysis: That should lead to a triple threat match for the NXT North American Title soon.
Duke Hudson was shown shaking hands with Drew Gulak with Andre Chase & Thea Hail walking up to them. Chase said that Hudson was right last week when he said Thea was not ready for Isla Dawn last week. Chase asked Hudson if he’s ready for his match and Hudson said he’s going to give Damon Kemp a Chase U-sized ass whipping.
Kayden Carter & Katana Chance entered as the NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions to watch the next match.
(Commercial)
Diamond Mine – Ivy Nile & Tatum Paxley vs. Toxic Attraction – Jacy Jayne & Gigi Dolin
The team of Carter & Chance were on commentary. The Toxic ladies were in control early on with a kick/clothesline combo on Nile. Dolin hit a clothesline on Nile, Jayne tagged in and knocked down both opponents on the floor. Jayne tossed Nile onto Carter & Chance on commentary. Carter & Chance went after Jayne & Dolin with punches, so the referee called for the bell. It went about four minutes.
Winners by Disqualification: Toxic Attraction – Jacy Jayne & Gigi Dolin
Analysis: *1/4 It was more of an angle than a match just to set up the post match brawling between the six women.
Nile and Paxley jumped onto the four women on the floor. The fight continued from there between the six women on the three teams. Referees showed up to break it up.
Fallon Henley was shown talking on the phone in the locker room with Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen. Henley said her dad was worried about his bar, but they are looking into some things. Briggs cheered them up while Jensen said 2023 will be their year.
Von Wagner and Odyssey Jones were shown walking in separate parts of the building because their match was next.
(Commercial)
They showed Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams looking at their phone. They were checking out some fine women, but then Trick mentioned people were saying Hayes missed at Deadline. Hayes said he’s still “him” and Hayes showed Axiom doing a dive at Deadline while Hayes looked amazed at it. Hayes told Williams to delete the picture, then Hayes said he’ll delete Axiom and Williams was like “it’s on Twitter.” You can’t really delete it. Anyway, that should set up a match.
Odyssey Jones (w/Edris Enofe & Malik Blade) vs. Von Wagner (w/Mr. Stone)
They are two of the biggest guys in NXT. Wagner got some offense going with a clothesline along with a running boot to the face. Wagner hit a clothesline to the back. Jones got some offense going with a clothesline, corner splash and a front slam. Stone grabbed Blade’s sweater, Enofe chased Stone into the ring and Blade kicked Wagner. Jones hit a running cross body block on Wagner for the pinfall win after three minutes.
Winner by pinfall: Odyssey Jones
Analysis: *1/2 That was quick. Sometimes they push Wagner hard and then at other times he fails to win matches he should probably win. In this case at least it wasn’t a clean loss since Blade did the cheap kick that the referee didn’t see and Jones finished off Wagner after that.
Javier Bernal was interviewed by Mckenzie Mitchell, who said she was rooting for Ikemen Jiro over Javy in their name. Javy went over name ideas for his “fans” by going with Big Body Bandits, Big Body Ballers, Big Body Bulldogs and Big Body Believers. Javy settled on the final name. That match was next.
(Commercial)
They showed Nikkita Lyons reacting to matches at Deadline that were shown on TikTok and Lyons was happy about Roxanne Perez’s win.
Javier Bernal vs. Ikemen Jiro
Javy hit a running clothesline while Booker talked about how Javy is annoying, but he thinks he has a lot of potential. Javy knocked Jiro out of the ring with an elbow smash. Javy told fans in the front row to move and then he tossed Jiro back into the ring. Jiro responded with a dive over the top onto Javy. Jiro hit a Frankensteiner off the top followed by the running kick for the pinfall win after three minutes.
Winner by pinfall: Ikemen Jiro
Analysis: *3/4 It’s been a long time since Jiro has won a singles match in NXT, but he got the win here over Bernal, who rarely wins.
After the match, Scrypts (formerly Reggie) attacked Jiro and Scrypts put on Jiro’s jacket. Scrypts jumped off the top with a somersault attack onto a standing Jiro to end it.
Analysis: A new rivalry, I guess. Jiro is a guy that Scrypts can beat.
The New Day were backstage with their NXT Tag Team Titles since they were up next.
(Commercial)
A commercial aired about NXT Vengeance Day on February 4th featuring some of NXT’s biggest names. I have a feeling that Mandy Rose won’t be on the NXT roster by the time we get to Vengeance Day.
Wendy Choo was featured in a video talking about how she was happy that Cora Jade didn’t win the Iron Survivor Challenge match. Choo said she does it to people that deserve it. Choo told this story about a slumber party as a kid and a girl threw a drink at her just like Jade did to her.
Analysis: This went on far too long. Choo is mad because of a drink to her face because of bad memories. Sure. I like Choo in the ring, but the gimmick of the girl that has sad memories from childhood is a bit annoying.
Roxanne Perez was shown getting ready backstage.
The New Day’s Championship Celebration
Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods made their entrance as the NXT Tag Team Champions as the fans chanted “New Day rocks” for them. Booker T didn’t like it. Woods reminded us that they are the WWE “World” NXT Tag Team Champions and Kofi Kingston they are tag team triple crowners. The fans chanted “triple crown” for them as New Day went into the ring.
Woods mentioned Kofi set the record for most Tag Team Title reigns in the history of the company with 15 reigns. Booker claimed he had 16 reigns. Kofi said he didn’t want to say anything before Booker got insulted more than he already was, but Kofi said it feels good. The fans chanted “you deserve it” to Kofi, who thanked them. Kofi said it’s a more special moment for Woods leading to a “Woods” chant. The fans never stop chanting. Woods said he was there ten years ago when NXT started and he had the first NXT match ever against who…it was against Big E. Woods said he was the first person to graduate from the PC and go up to Raw. Woods talked about how he never had a chance to hold an NXT Championship…but look at your boys now! Kofi called for some celebration music, but here comes Pretty Deadly.
Pretty Deadly – Kit Wilson and Elton Prince – said that The New Day ruined everything. Woods pointed out Santa in attendance saying they wouldn’t do that to him and it led to a “Santa” chant. Woods said he knew they had a terrible week after England lost in the World Cup and PD lost the titles to New Day. Prince wanted a rematch. Woods and Kofi said they are about rematches while Kofi said he thinks Pretty Deadly are a great team, so he’s excited about their future. Kofi wanted Pretty Deadly to do one small thing for them. Kofi wanted them to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
Josh Briggs & Brooks Jensen showed up with an American flag. Briggs congratulated New Day for the title win. Jensen said they can say the pledge. Briggs & Jensen led the crowd in doing the Pledge of Allegiance. Kofi said that was incredible leading to “USA” chants. Kofi said they’ll see about that title match next week. Woods said life is easier when you just do what New Day asks. Woods said they’ll see Jensen & Briggs next week while Pretty Deadly was mad. Booker: “I’m glad that’s over.”
Analysis: There were plenty of good lines in the promo from The New Day as usual. They know how to talk and make it fun with jokes as usual. It’s fine to wait until doing the New Day/Pretty Deadly rematch. They can save that for New Year’s Evil on January 10th instead of doing it next week. I did check Booker’s title reigns and he had 14, so Kofi does have more with 15 title reigns if you include all of the New Day wins.
The NXT Women’s Mandy Rose was shown getting ready in the locker room ahead of her title match.
JD McDonagh entered for singles action.
(Commercial)
They showed some women on the roster chatting backstage. Elektra Lopez trashed Indi Hartwell for not wining the Iron Survivor Challenge, so then Hartwell showed up and kicked Lopez to knock her down.
Analysis: There’s a simple way to set up a match for NXT week.
Brutus Creed (w/Julius Creed) vs. JD McDonagh
Brutus overpowered JD early on with forearm smashes in the corner. JD sent a charging Brutus out of the ring and JD dropkicked Brutus into the commentary table. After Brutus grabbed his left forearm/wrist, JD started working on the injury. Brutus came back with a catapult sending JD over the top to the floor. Brutus launched JD with a suplex leading to JD doing a flip bump onto his chest. JD knocked down Julius on the floor and kicked Brutus as well. Sanga and Veer showed up to stop JD from using a steel chair. JD hit the Devil Inside (belly to back suplex) on the floor and back in the ring with the Devil Inside suplex for the pinfall win after about four minutes.
Winner by submission: JD McDonagh
Analysis: **1/2 A decisive win for McDonagh, who is pushed as a singles guy while Brutus is a tag team wrestler. That made the result feel pretty obvious.
Zoey Stark was interviewed by Mckenzie Mitchell with Stark trashing Nikkita Lyons making TikTok videos. Stark said Lyons was a waste of roster space. Stark challenged Lyons to a match saying Lyons can bring TikTok dances while Stark can bring the real talent.
Lyra Valkyria was up next.
(Commercial)
A promo video aired with Isla Dawn talking about how she’s calling on the spirits to lend her strength. Dawn said her black mist is something powerful. Dawn talked about the winter solstice and the darkness of the light leading to some laughter.
Lyra Valkyria vs. Amari Miller
This is Lyra’s NXT debut after being in NXT UK in the past. Miller is on NXT rarely and she usually loses. During Lyra’s entrance, there were thunderstorm graphics on the screen. Lyra is Irish. Lyra rocked Miller with a jumping kick along with a dropkick. Miller got a bit of offense, but Lyra hit some kicks along with a Northern Lights Suplex. Miller got some offense wit ha running senton. Lyra hit a step over back kick (Miller blocked with the hands, but sold it anyway). Lyra went up top and hit a Frog Splash for the pinfall win. It went about four minutes.
Winner by pinfall: Lyra Valkyria
Analysis: * A squash match to put over Lyra. Miller got some offense, but not a lot. Lyra has a lot of impressive move and the Frog Splash finish looked great.
Axiom was interviewed by Mckenzie Mitchell about Axiom’s match against Carmelo Hayes next week. Axiom said he’s not afraid of Hayes, he fears absolutely no one and after he wins, he’ll have a huge smile on his face (we can’t see the smile).
Duke Hudson was up next week to represent Chase U in the next match.
(Commercial)
Brooks Jensen was shown walking in a hallway with Kiana James showing up to say he looked sad even though he’s getting a title shot. Jensen talked about how Fallon Henley was having problems with her family’s bar. James got her assistant G (a really hot woman) to hand her a present, which James gave to Jensen. It was a dress shirt and she told him to dress like a champion.
The camera showed the three women’s NXT Tag Teams that were fighting earlier and they got into another fight. It was Carter/Chance, Nile/Paxley and Jayne/Dolin getting into a fight that was quickly broken up.
Duke Hudson (w/Andre Chase & Thea Hail) vs. Damon Kemp
Hudson hit a body slam, but Kemp managed to send Hudson into the turnbuckle and that was followed up by a neckbreaker. Kemp hit a gutwrench suplex for two. Drew Gulak showed up at ringside to stare at the match. Chase yelled at him saying Hudson was Chase U and I think Gulak said he was watching Kemp. Hudson made a comeback with a sidewalk slam along with an overhead suplex across the ring. Hudson set up the boot in the corner leading to a running kick to the head for the pinfall win after four minutes.
Winner by pinfall: Duke Hudson
Analysis: ** A decent match to put over Hudson showing that he is fitting in well as a member of Chase U and he’s genuine in wanting to be in the group.
Roxanne Perez was shown walking backstage for her match. Mandy Rose was also shown walking backstage with her title. That main event was up next.
(Commercial)
A video aired about the New Year’s Evil event on January 10th.
Next week on NXT:
* NXT Women’s Tag Team Championships: Kayden Carter & Katana Chance vs. Ivy Nile & Tatum Paxley vs. Jacy Jayne & Gigi Dolin
* Carmelo Hayes vs. Axiom
* NXT Tag Team Championships: The New Day vs. Josh Briggs & Brooks Jensen
* Zoey Stark vs. Nikkita Lyons
* Elektra Lopez vs. Indi Hartwell
Roxanne Perez made her entrance with Booker T mentioning that she was the Reality of Wrestling Women’s Champion (Booker’s promotion), the first-ever ROH Women’s Champion (rare for WWE to mention ROH now since it’s owned by AEW) and now she’s going for the NXT Women’s Title. Mandy Rose made her entrance looking alone wearing a Toxic Attraction hat. At least Rose was wearing the hat forwards instead of backward, which led to Nikki Bella comparisons by people. Alicia Taylor did the championship introductions. Mandy Rose has been the champion for 413 days.
NXT Women’s Champion: Mandy Rose vs. Roxanne Perez
Perez with a shoulder tackle followed by a cartwheel. Rose did a cartwheel into a dropkick. Perez got an armdrag into an armbar. Perez got a takedown leading to a pin attempt. Rose charged with a shoulder tackle, but Perez moved and Rose hit the ring post. Perez dove onto Rose on the floor. Rose managed to avoid the Pop Rox on the floor and Rose sent Perez into the steel steps. They went to a picture-in-picture break.
(Commercial)
Rose was in control with an armbar until Perez got out of it and hit a jawbreaker. Perez hit two forearm smashes, then Rose grabbed the arm to block a move and Perez came back with a dropkick. Perez hit a running uppercut, but Rose came back with a kick to the right shoulder that Perez had taped. Rose was seated on the top rope, but Perez got a kick to the arm. Perez hit a Frankensteiner off the top for a two count. Rose blocked a kick attempt and hit a gutwrench suplex for a two count. Rose went for the running knee, Perez avoided it and got a rollup. Rose went for a Crossface submission while trapping the right arm, but Perez managed to turn out of it into a nearfall. Rose hit the Kiss By The Rose knee to the face for one…two…and no! Booker called it a “championship kickout” right there. Rose was furious with the referee about it. Rose went for a double underhook suplex, but Perez countered it with an inside cradle for two. Perez with a kick to the ribs and the Pop Rox (Code Red) for the pinfall win after 10 minutes. New champion! Booker T was so happy.
Winner by pinfall AND NEW NXT Women’s Champion: Roxanne Perez
Analysis: ***1/4 I thought it was a good match for the time given. They really didn’t go that long, but it was what it needed to be. Rose got plenty of offense, she worked on the shoulder a bit and Perez kicked out of the running knee that hasn’t been kicked out of very often in NXT. After that, it was obvious Perez was going to win. Perhaps if they got more time it would have been an even better match, but I think it was fine overall.
Roxanne Perez was so happy and she was handed the NXT Women’s Title. They immediately showed Booker T, who was so happy for the woman that he trained to be a wrestler. They replayed the key spots in the match. I think Booker was clapping during all of that.
Perez celebrated with the NXT Women’s Title in the aisle while Rose was sad in the ring. Poor Mandy. Anyway, Perez got some streamers and some weak pyro as she celebrated with the title. Booker was laughing because he was so happy about it. Perez celebrated some more to end it.
Analysis: Perez is one of the youngest NXT Women’s Champions ever at 21 years old. I make no secret about Mandy being one of my favorites in NXT, but I also think she’s more than ready to go back to the main roster, so I hope there’s some plan for her on Raw or Smackdown. They could just give her some time off and come back for the Royal Rumble.
The next two weeks of NXT are being taped on Wednesday (December 14) to wrap up their 2022, so we’ll be able to see if Mandy will be on again or if she’s going to the main roster soon.
NEW CHAMP! NEW CHAMP!!!@roxanne_wwe dethrones @WWE_MandyRose on #WWENXT! pic.twitter.com/fifLXxD8Qr
— WWE (@WWE) December 14, 2022
The below photo wasn’t on TV, but they put it on WWE’s website of Booker T celebrating with his former student.
Three Stars of the Show
- Roxanne Perez
- Mandy Rose
- The New Day
The Scoreboard
This week: 6.75 out of 10
Last week: 7
Final Thoughts
I thought it was good this week, but not as strong as some of their better shows. The match quality wasn’t as good as normal. That’s understandable because they were just coming off the Deadline event and a lot of the bigger names in NXT weren’t in action. The big news was Roxanne Perez beating Mandy Rose to end Mandy’s 400+ day reign as NXT Women’s Champion. I’ll need a few moments to wipe the tears away. Just kidding. I’m certainly fine with it since Mandy held it for so long. I think Mandy became a better performer during her title reign, so she should do fairly well on the main roster whenever it happens for her again. They put Roxanne over big at Deadline and followed it up here. It’s hard not to be impressed by Roxanne, who at 21 years old is very talented in the ring already. She’s going to win a lot of titles in her WWE career.
The women’s division was featured heavily with three matches including the main event along with several backstage segments. They really do a nice job of trying to build the tag team division and creating rivalries like Dawn/Fyre & Lyons/Stark that don’t involve a title. A little effort is all it takes. There are a lot of stories going on in NXT. They utilize the roster very well. That doesn’t mean that every performer is great and polished, but at least they try to tell different stories.
I liked The New Day’s championship celebration segment. It was interrupted, but I thought the crowd reaction to them was perfect and it made the title win feel like a big deal. Whoever beats The New Day to win those titles are going to be a bigger deal because The New Day are the champions now. That’s why you do that title change. Anyway, as I mentioned earlier, they are taping the next two weeks of NXT on Wednesday to give the roster a break during the holiday season.
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John Canton
Email mrjohncanton@gmail.com
Twitter @johnreport