Reviews by Dave
By David E Houston II
Show air date: May 3, 2022
Cameron Grimes (c) defeated Solo Sikoa and Carmelo Hayes
A Triple Threat Match for the NXT North American Championship
Skipping the eye-rolling intro from NXT tag champs Kit Wilson and Elton Prince–Pretty Deadly–NXT started their “Spring Breakin” episode with NXT North American champion Cameron Grimes successfully defending his title in a three-way match against former champion Carmelo Hayes (with the nauseous Trick Williams) and Solo Sikoa. Put together perfectly with Grimes leading and just being an athletic showcase for all three with some great last-second saves. Grimes won hitting his Cave In double stomp on Sikoa as Solo held Hayes up in for Samoan Drop.
The lame scene there just to have Women’s champion, Mandy Rose, in a bikini on TV. Fast Forward (FF).
Nathan Frazier does the most basic, boring babyface interview before his match the stomach-churning Grayson Waller.
They did that weird thing they do on TV now by having a Diamond Mine segment before the Frazier-Waller match, between ring, walks for Waller and Frazier.
I don’t know why they do that but it’s some stupid TV. Roderick Strong is wearing on the nerves of the Creeds so Diamond Mine is not here for too much longer.
Duke Huds…FF
Nathan Frazier defeated Grayson Waller
Oh yeah, that Frazier/Waller match that took forever to get to? FF. I’m not watching any Waller match. I respect myself and even having Andre Chase University involved was not changing my mind.
Fallon Henley got a vignette. Didn’t make her any more interesting. In fact, she’s the babyface country version of the “rich girl” Tiffany Stratton plays.
I tried to watch the parley between Legado del Fantasma and Tony D’Angelo’s Great Value Full Blooded Italians but 30 sec into some horrible talking, my self-respect kicked in. FF.
The show just came to a halt here with that bad segment followed by a dull backstage confrontation between Pretty Deadly and the Viking Raiders then one of those “this is supposed to be creepy not lame” promos from the cult leader now without a cult, Joe Gacy.
Cora Jade and Nikitta Lyons defeated Lash Legend and Natalya
They got back on track a bit with a solid tag bout that saw Nikkita Lyons and Cora Jade beat Natalya and Lash Legend. Legend continues to show that as long as she doesn’t do too much, she is a promising young talent. They lost me a bit when Jade did that soooo WWE sloth crawl across the ring only to NOT make the tag. Legend was pinned after a Jade top rope senton splash.
We meet Tatum Paxley, another entrant in the NXT Breakout Tournament. She’s a powerlifter and that’s cool.
Another goofy vignette with Wendy Choo and Roxanne Perez pulling pranks on tag champs Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne. Just an excuse to show them in bikinis. FF.
The Creed Brothers defeated The Viking Raiders
I had high hopes for the Vikings vs Julius and Brutus Creed and they missed badly. They tried to make it good with a bunch of false finishes but the Vikings were working at half speed and instead of the slugfest it needed to be, it was just another WWE tag match. Roderick Strong helped the Creeds win to their dismay. So he’s on the way out and the Creeds are going face.
Legado still kidnapping ninjas. I guess Tony’s guy is about to join them since that’s how it works.
You Can Tell When Vince and ’em are Running Things
A brain bleed of a segment with Josh Briggs and the injured Brooks Jensen where they snuck in a horrible masturbation joke. You can really tell when Vince and his main lieutenants like Bruce Pritchard and John Laurinaitis are running shit.
Wade Barrett must have been paid by the syllable last night. That dude would not STFU!!! It’s like he’s determined to not let Byron Saxton, Chris Jericho, and Velvet Sky be the worst color commentators in the business.
Main Event: Bron Breakker (c) defeated Joe Gacy
For the NXT Championship
Bron Breakker held off the challenge of Joe Gacy in an NXT title match. This just wasn’t good. Breakker needs to be more like Lash Legend and stay in his lane and they all need to resist having him do a Steiner Brothers Greatest Hits of moves. He threw a very loose-looking Frankensteiner and got no lift on a belly-to-belly suplex.
Then Gacy doing this Bray Wyatt 3.0 gimmick isn’t that interesting either, adding some of Undertaker’s old druids hasn’t helped. The match was just there until Breakker won with a spear (that kid is way more Goldberg in the ring than either his dad or uncle right now). They close with some of Gacy’s druids getting on the ring apron behind Breakker. I hope that doesn’t lead to more of these matches.
Started very strong and just fell apart as it went. I wanted to like this one.
The Real Uncle Dave grade: C
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Reviews by Dave is the best wrestling review on the internet! It’s written by David Houston II, who writes about WWE NXT 2.0, AEW Dynamite, and IMPACT Wrestling.
