WWE NXT 8/22/2023 NXT Heatwave 2023

WWE NXT 8/22/2023 NXT Heatwave 2023

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2023/08/wwe-nxt-8152023.html 

 

Big Ange

Stacks calls Tony D. He says he has a situation that needs handled. Stacks says there's a Heatwave going through and he wants him to feel this. Then he splashes him in the pool. Tony then has people splash Stacks. They then sit in the pool and run down the card.  Big Ange (a guess she's a friend of Tony) then comes with some girls. The girls and Tony/Stacks talk about who will win tonight. Stacks says Wes will do the unthinkable tonight and score big as he stares at a girl in a bikini. Tony then asks everyone to raise their glass and toast to an unforgettable summer. Quick, someone tell Tony summer is already over for some people.

Ilja Dragunov vs Trick Williams

 

Big "whoop that Trick" chants for Trick. I feel like Trick has new music.

Drag running facekicks him to start. Trick shoulders him then takes an enzugiri. They trade shots and Drag goes down. Drag spinning chops him and Trick hits a nice dropkick. Drag does a tiger feint and is popped up and Trick misses the shot. Drag germans him on the floor.

We go to a longer PiP break. Drag hipthrows him during it then pounds on him. Drag shoulders him and front kicks him. Drag hits a running knee then forearms him and both go down. Drag facekicks him through the ropes.

We return from break and Drag hits machine gun chops and Trick gets a big pop for firing back with one. They trade some big shots then Drag enzugiri's him and Trick upkicks him. Trick hits forearms then facekicks him. They get up and trade forearms then Trick uppercuts him.

Trick boots him against the bottom rope and they chant, "Trick gon beat your @ss". Trick flapjacks him and hits a flying pumping knee. Trick jumps over him and yanks him in one motion then Drag ddt's him off of it. Drag hits another ddt. Trick uranages him off the 2nd buckle. Drag blocks his spinning face kick and germans him.

Drag tries to powerbomb Trick but can't get him up at first, then Drag pounds him into the mat with a forearm. Dragn then comes off the 2nd rope and pounds a forearm into him to win it.

The break really ruined this one. While you could see what was going on through PiP break, it just wasn't the same and took away from it. They had a couple of sloppy moments here but the crowd loved it and what we did get was good. Trick is still green, but at least he proved he can contribute to a big match here.

Tyler Bate is doing yoga in the back and Nathan Frazer goes up to him. Bate asks Frazer if he's ready to show who the true Heritage Cup champ is tonight. Frazer says Dar has Metafour with him and asks Bate if he will second him tonight. Frazer says he will give him the first title shot as he has now asked him for 2 favors. Bate says let's take care of that fraud.

Dirty Dom and Rhea talk about what they will do tonight. Dom says they will punish. Mustafa Ali comes in and says he wishes them luck. He tells them to break a leg and tells Dom to break his leg in a million pieces so he can go away. Ali said then they can have a champ the people are proud of. Dom says he doesn't care about NXT and just wants money. Rhea says he has 10 seconds to leave and Ali says, "Just 10 seconds? Sounds like something you guys are used to".

Ivy Nile vs Ava

Who's Ava you ask? Well, it looks like they shorted Ava Raine's name.

Ava hits her from behind and slams her. Ava backbreakers her then whips her into the ropes and bends over for a kick. Ava bangs her head off the mat. Ava goes for a slam and Ivy taps her out with the dragon sleeper.

This was very short and while Ava maybe looked a little better than what we saw before, she's still not good. I don't really think anyone could make that bent over kick look good though.

Schism's minions surround the ring after and Iv fights them off 1 by 1. Schism's minions carry Ava off.

Dragunov and Wes Lee talk in the back. Drag says nothing stands in the way of the NXT championship now. Wes asks him if he knows there will be a new champ tonight. Wes says he wasn't destined to be here but he made his way. Wes says he will beat Melo and says it looks like he will have to face him after.

NXT Heritage Cup Title match - Nathan Frazer (c) vs Noam Dar

Round 1 - Legit, I wasn't even sure who was the NXT Heritage Cup champ anymore due to the shenigans with the three different people carrying around supposed Heritage Cups. Dar grabs an arm and works it then Bate bangs his arm over his shoulder. Dar leg kicks him then Frazer rolls him up. They evade each others attacks and Dar slaps him. Frazer punches him and the round ends.

Round 2 - We missed the whole round during the break. Dabba Kato came out and chokeslammed Tyler Bate on the apron then Dar picked up a fall on Frazer to lead 1-0.

Round 3 - Dar rushes at him and hits shots. Frazer hits shots back and puts him in an stf. Frazer goes to springboard and Dar kicks him off the ropes. Dar hits euro uppercuts and stomps his arms into the mat. Frazer goes for an enzugiri and Dar turns it into a dragon screw. Frazer topes him then asai moonsaults into a reverse ddt. Frazer then running ssp's him for 2. The round then ends and Dar gets a cheap shot in after the round ends.

Round 4 - Frazer sliding kicks him then slams him. Frazer misses a corkscrew moonsault and rolls him. Dar spinning back elbows him. Dar goes up top and Frazer runs up the buckles then does a superplex into a spinning neckbreaker. Frazer pins him and the score is 1-1.

Round 5 - This began during the break. We return from break with 20 seconds left. Frazer top rope flip dives Dar and Oro. Lash Legends grabs Frazer's foot and prevents him from getting the pin before the round ends.

Round 6 - Frazer drops him with forearms then Dar hits kicks from the mat. Dar superman punches him then takes an enzugiri. Frazier goes for another asai moonsault into a reverse ddt, but Dar ends up putting a knee bar on him. Frazer superkicks him then misses a phoenix splash. Dar running enzugiri's him and wins it.

This was a complete mess with commercials not letting us see much of Round 2 or 5. It was nearly impossible to watch this due to that and I'm pretty upset about it. While I like Heritage Cup matches, these can't be on TV anymore when there's commercials like this.

Ava is with two Schism minions. She said Ava tried to end her career and says Ivy failed. She said Ivy failed and is a failure like the Creed Brothers and Diamond Mine. She cans she can come and find her if she wants to prove her wrong. She pointed the camera at what might have been a tree, but it was too dark to see.

Tiffany Stratton comes out. She says the summer of Tiff-Tiff is coming to an end. She talks about winning the NXT women's title and then beating Thea Hail twice. She said she's perfect and says things will get even better. She said she will be the greatest women's champ of all time.

Gigi Dolin comes out. She says she is dying to see the fall of Tiffany and says she will be the next challenger. Tiff says if she is shooting her shot, she is shooting it down. Gigi says Tiff shouldn't be able to call herself champ as she tapped out the last time she was in the ring.

Kiana James comes out. Kiana says Gigi doesn't deserve a shot and says Gigi has a bad win-loss record against her. For those wondering, Kiana is 1-3 against Gigi, so she's lying. Blair Davenport then comes out. She said they can argue about various things and said she should get the next title shot. Gigi says she should have to go through the division before giving a shot and makes fun of Roxanne Perez beating up Blair in the convenience store. Kiana says, "cleanup on Aisle Blair" then Gigi says, "I would have rather it been Business B!tch Kiana's head going through the canned food aisle". She said watching her face "ping-pong off the frozen food door was priceless". Blair tells Gigi she doesn't want to mess with her and says if she thought the kick from Jacy was bad, she will mess her face up so bad that her family won't recognize her.

Roxanne Perez "The Prodigy" comes out. Perez said she thought she ended things with her at The Great American Bash. Perez tells Tiffany she has something to tell her then decks her.  Everyone fights, the refs break it up and we cut away.

I liked them bringing up all kinds of past moments here

Damon Kemp, Charlie Dempsey and Drew Gulak are training. Myles Borne comes in and says he swept the ring and washed the mat. Drew asks if he's tired and Borne says he doesn't get tired. Dempsey chokes him from behind and Gulak says we don't tap out or get tired. He tells him to find a way out. 

Ava is with Schism minions. She said Ivy proved she is weak and a failure. Ivy then comes in. Ava tells the minions to get her then they take off their masks and its The Creed Brothers. Ava drops the camera and the Creeds get it. The Creeds say they get a match with the Dyad and are reinstated if they win, or Schism won't see Ava again. The Creeds then say it will be a cage match.

Meta-Four celebrate in the back. Oro says the world is great again. A clerk comes in with something from the Heritage Cup Committee. They say they will have the NXT Global Heritage Cup Tournament starting next week and says Dar will face the winner at NXT No Mercy. Dar celebrates because that means he doesn't have to defend for 5 weeks. Dar tells his crew that they are going to California.

Dragon Lee and Lyra Valkyria vs Dominik Mysterio and Rhea Ripley

 

Lee and Dom roll and trade shots on the mat. Lee rolls him out of the wheelbarrow position. Lee slingshots and rolls but is caught. Dom facekicks him and Lee dropkicks him. Lyra anbd Rhea get in. They go face to face, Rhea pokes her in the head and they push each other. Lyra hiptosses her and is shouldered over. Rhea slaps her then hits short arm clotheslines. Lyra slaps her then strike combos her.

Rhea tags in Dom and slides out. Dom is behind Lyra then Lee superkicks Dom. Lyra 2nd rope twisting crossbodies Dom, which should be a DQ. Lyra hurricanrana's Rhea then dropkicks her through the ropes while Lee hits a tope con hilo.

We go to break and return with Rhea having Lyra in a bodyscissors. Lyra hits mounted forearms then Rhea suplexes her for 2. Rhea pounds on Lyra and ddt's her. Lyra spinning high kicks her. Dom and Lee get in and Lee hurricanrana's Dom. Lee dragon screws Dom then Lee double stomps Dom as he hangs over the top rope. Lee sitout powerbombs Dom. Lyra throws out Rhea and tries to hurricanrana her off the apron but is swung into the rails. Raquel Gonzalez/Rodrigues comes out and nails Rhea. Lee then destino's Dom and wins it.

It was short, rushed and had the usual issues where someone should have been DQ'd for hitting a person of the other sex. The interference also did this no favors.

Trick goes up to Wes in the back. Trick says he wil lput the work in to get better and says the night started with him but finishes with Melo. Trick asks if Melo is good without him. Melo said last time at the Bash, Trick and Dragunov got into it and Melo got the win due to that. He said he can't have that asterisk this time around. Trick asks if he's blaming him and said he can't have any doubters. Trick hands him the title and Melo leaves.

Tiffany Stratton is interviewed and complains about Becky Lynch. She said something about Becky Lynch being NXT champ even though she wasn't and claimed Twitter trolls are harassing her. She then said chaos erupted earlier and says the girls who came out will fight in a four way match for a title shot against her. The announcer kind of asks to confirm if that's true and Tiff just says that's good enough.

We see clips of Jacy Jayne beating Thea Hail last week due to failed help from Chase. Thea begs for the ref to do something last week and he says it counts. Thea blames Chase. Jacy Jayne comes in and says the beast she fougth is not the same Thea she fought a year ago. Jacy says Thea will get through it and says people like "us" always get through it.

Von Wagner vs Baron Corbin

 Corbin nails Von behind as he enters and throws him int othe steps. Corbin has new indy-esque gear with colorful flames on it. Vic says it looks like Harlem Heat gear. They brawl outside and Von's head is banged off the steps. They brawl more and Corbin goes into the steps. Von takes off the table top then Corbin nails him. Corbin backdrops Von on the floor. Corbin grabs Stone and Von stops him from doing more. Von facekicks Corbin then Bron Breakker does a big spear on Von. And that's the end of this.

They have been building up Bron vs Von, but having no ending here sucks.

Schism does a promo. They sk where the Creed's morality are.  Joe says there is nothing Rip and Jagger won't do to save Ava and they said they give to their demands. Rip says they should be worried about who they are locked in the cage with, not who will be kept out of it. Jagger says we will settle this once and for all.

 Dijak does a promo on Eddy Thorpe and blames him for not getting a title shot. He promises a worse beating next time and says Eddy Thorpe's body and spirit will be broken next time.

We get a tweet from Becky Lynch with her saying she hasn't been NXT Women's Champion...yet.

NXT North American Title - Carmelo Hayes (c) vs Wes Lee

 

Melo gets his usual entrance with jerseys of names of people he beat then has a stream of water washing it away, which referenced his waterfalls promo last week. Melo wears flags on his arms that make it seem like he is spelling "HIM" with his body.

They evade each others moves and try to dropkick each other at the same time but miss and do headflips before a stand off. Wes dropkicks him and they trade forearms. They each try to pump kick each other, both kip up and then hit each other at the same time. Wes standing spanish flies him.

We go to PiP break and return. Melo hits corner spears and they hit each other. Wes is up top and hangs from the 2nd rope and is kicked. Melo then hits his blind 2nd rope fadeaway legdrop while Wes hangs. They trade chops and Melo does a nice roll over his back into a lariat.

Melo superkicks Wes then Wes flying meteoras him. Melo jumps up for some reason and is superkicked then falcon arrowed. Wes hits a top rope spiral tap then has his cardoac kick dropped. Melo lifts him for a suplex and cutters him. Melo codebreakers him for 2.

They fight outside. Wes is put on a table and Melo does a wild blind springboard into a ddt on Wes. Wes hits a cardiac kick and Melo rolls out. Wes tries to dive on him, but Melo moves and Wes goes into the rails. They get back in and Melo hits nothing but net on Wes to win it.

I wasn't a big fan of this. It was short and rushed, everything they did seemed to have a flip of some kind involved. They also did too much with a ddt on the table and Wes diving into a barricade not meaning that much.

Overall thoughts: They had too much booked here so nothing got enough time and a lot of things were short or rushed. Not getting a finish for Von vs Corbin sucked. The intergender match should have ended on a DQ. The Heritage Cup match was just destroyed by commercials and the main was shortened, rushed and very indy.