NXT Level Up results: Kushida vs. Edris Enofe

Harland defeated Javier Bernal

Harland started the first NXT Level Up match in dominant fashion. After being slammed into the mat a dozen times, Bernal tried to rally. Unfortunately for Bernal, Harland withstood the attempt at offence before closing the match with a slam, reminiscent of John Cena’s old Protoplex.

Even with Bernal’s mid-match spark up, this was a total squash.

Ivy Nile and Tatum Paxley defeated Fallon Henley and Kayla Inlay

This was an enjoyable match. Nile is very over with this crowd, and for good reason; she is constantly a standout performer on all of the cards I’ve seen her on.

Nile opened the match with a quick takedown, but stood things back up immediately. While standing, Inlay was able to force Nile into the corner, prompting a tag and double dropkick, leaving Henley in control. Henley, in her offence, allowed Nile to be too close to Paxley, allowing Nile to stealthfully tag in and take control. What followed was a fun sequence, punctuated with a suplex into a standing corkscrew to the leg of Henley.

Nile landed a suplex before locking in head scissors. Henley tagged out after escaping, leading to an intense sequence from Inlay. Inlay landed a slam, prompting Paxley to hit the ring; this distraction bought Nile enough time to lock in a dragon sleeper to score the submission victory.

Edris Enofe defeated Kushida

This wasn’t anything spectacular, but it had its moments. The finish was a shock, at least to me, and the contents were entertaining.

This match opened with back and forth wrestling. Once Kushida found his footing, he continued with the grappling, taking control when on the mat and keeping Enofe there. Enofe eventually rolled through Kushida’s ground control, gaining control of the leg. Enofe tried to capitalize by climbing to the top, but Kushida caught him on the way down with a dropkick. Kushida followed up with a flurry of kicks and a DDT. Kushida locked in an armbar for a convincing finish tease.

Enofe caught Kushida again with a dropkick mid handspring. Enofe then climbed to the top again before connecting with a beautiful dive. Enofe then hooked the leg and pinned Kushida for an upset victory to close the debut edition of NXT Level Up.

Closing Thoughts

While structurally identical to 205 Live, this show had a different atmosphere that added to the final product. The matches were not incredible; in fact, they were pretty on par with 205 Live standards, but the crowd was hot. Also, the show’s name is no longer a lie, so that’s nice, I guess. Overall, this was a slight but still noticeable improvement.