WWE Performance CenterOrlando, Florida.
We’re back for another week of NXT Level Up, and getting Ivy Nile which is a treat. Blake Howard is sweating buckets on commentary, and Byron Saxton is pretending he has a personality.
Ivy Nile VS Izzi Dame
Here my first time seeing Izzi Dame. Apparently she’s a former Volleyball player, she dwarfs Ivy Nile, but Ivy is snug enough to be able to to make the size difference not matter. I paused this to check out Izzi’s Instagram and… yep, woah. Ivy Nile dominant early on using her technical wrestling skills to keep Izzi at bay with a super tight headlock. Izzi finally gets out of it, time for some heat, although she was a little shaky on the kneebreaker.
She’s… yes, clearly a little bit green. Her timing on slamming Ivy’s knee into the mat was slightly off, she will get there eventually, but you can see that Ivy is on time, whereas Izzi is just slightly behind. That’s okay, she’s a rookie, she will get better. She also messed up getting sunset flipped. I feel bad because she’s new but she’s not ready for TV yet. Ivy chokes her out eventually! It’s probably getting towards that time to take the Diamond Mine to the main roster but history tells us that doesn’t go well most of the time as they struggle to find direction for a lot of former NXT talent up there.
Luca Crusifino interview with Kelly Kincaid
Luca was getting worked up about Ikeman Jiro’s signature jacket, talking about Ikeman using the jacket as a weapon during matches and the legality of it, what a stupid character, and he won me over in this 45 second interview. Kelly also made me laugh now 3 weeks in a row by overruling Luca’s objection.
Singles Match
Ikeman Jiro Vs Luca Crusifino
I feel so bad for Ikeman, here he is, happy as Larry, back on TV, it’s Jacket time baby, but no, he got released after this episode of Level Up went out. I liked Ikeman, but I guess they didn’t really know what to do with him. I’m laughing at Luca Crusifino’s entrance, please don’t tell me this guy is a lawyer and a wrestler on the side. What a great theme song too. The fact the commentary team keep calling him the Legal Beagle is pop worthy. Luca’s selling is really entertaining as well. Luca removes the jacket and keeps trying to hit Ikeman with the jacket which is absolutely ridiculous. Luca throws the jacket into Ikeman’s face and Ikeman can’t see, Luca rolls him up and that’s the end of Ikeman’s WWE NXT career. What an amazing first impression from Luca and he’s handing business cards out at ringside.
Global Heritage Invitational Group A Match
Axiom Vs Charlie Dempsey
Axiom makes his annoying entrance, I hate Axiom. I’m sure he’s a nice guy, I just hate the character. I can’t believe Charlie and Axiom are having a match when their group is pretty much set and Butch is headed to the finals. Could anything mean ANY LESS than being in a Global Heritage Cup Tournament match when the Tournament results have already, essentially been decided. That is hilarious to me. I am assuming Charlie wins this one. I just don’t think this Axiom character works in a company like WWE. No chance at even seeing a facial expression.
Axiom with a dive to the outside and he slammed his back into the announce table. Charlie catches the crossbody off the top rope and hits an amazing fallaway slam with a bridging pin. Never seen that before! The pin exchange into Dempsey hitting the bridging wheelbarrow suplex… that was fantastic. Charlie is definitely showing a huge amount of promise. Axiom with the Spanish Fly, then the Golden Ratio and he wins. Where is Drew Gulak? Why does Charlie go winless in the tournament? These are questions that won’t keep me awake at night. This was another enjoyable episode of NXT Level Up!
