WWE NXT on USA Network: Live Results, Highlights, and Grades for Sept. 18

Aliyah vs. Xia Li

Full disclosure: I got my sart with Daily DDT back in January 2016 as the weekly NXT reviewer. A year later, I started doing Raw — and thus slowly dying a little every Monday. But the one good thing about Raw was what was great about the first hour of NXT tonight: commercials! It gives you a minute to catch your breath and finish writing a thought down.

But this match? Started while I was still finishing up on Dunne/Ruas. Can’t wait for October 2 when both hours are on USA!

The match was somehow both sloppy and crisp, and I’m still not sure how that happened. Li is incredible at adapting and adjusting, as evidenced by that weird moment in the corner. I’m actually kind of stunned at how Aaliyah has kind of plateaued, because this was a match I remember seeing from her in 2016.

As a showcase for Li, this worked fine. If this was supposed to highlight the pairing of Aaliyah and Vanessa Borne, um, not so much.

Winner: Xia Li

Rating: 1.5 out of 5 Stars

Looking forward to seeing what Xia Li does next, and hoping for the best for Aaliyah. I really enjoyed watching her on Breaking Ground, which seems so long ago, but she hasn’t really moved forward much since then. Her skills have obviously increased, but she never really got to where I felt she could have, and that makes me sad.