By John Moore, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
NXT 2.0 TV
Orlando, Florida at the WWE Performance Center
Aired live March 1, 2022 on USA Network
[Hour One] Vic Joseph and Wade Barrett were on commentary…
Tommaso Ciampa and Bron Breakker made their entrance, both wearing colorful Steiner singlets. Yes, we have Tommaso Steiner for the night. Bobby Roode made his old “Glorious” NXT entrance where he stood on his rotating platform to his Glorious entrance theme. Ciampa and Breakker jumped Roode and Ziggler during Ziggler’s entrance. Ciampa hit both opponents with a corkscrew plancha leading to him and Breakker doing Ciampa’s signature self back pat…
1. Bron Breakker and Tommaso Ciampa vs. “The Dirty Dawgs” Dolph Ziggler and Bobby Roode. Ciampa tossed Ziggler into Breakker for a power slam. Ziggler recovered and hit Breakker with a zig zag for a two count. Roode tagged in and worked on Breakker with his signature methodical offense. The Ditry Dogs traded quick tags to cut the ring in half on Breakker. Ziggler crash and burned off a missed corner splash.
Breakker hit Roode with a football tackle. Ciampa tagged in and cleaned house off a hot tag. Ciampa hit both opponents with a flying double lariat. Ciampa went for a Fairy Tale Ending on Roode but Ziggler distracted Ciampa to allow Roode to hit Ciampa with his signature spinebuster. The show cut to picture-in-picture.[c]
Ziggler held on to Ciampa’s arm to prevent him from tagging in Breakker. Ciampa catapulted Ziggler to ringside. Roode snuck to the other corner to pull Breakker off the apron and toss him into the barricade. Roode tagged in. The Dawgs hit Ciampa with a double back suplex to give Roode a two count. Roode gloated to Ciampa and the crowd, leading to him eating a high knee from Ciampa.
Ziggler tagged in and grabbed Ciampa’s leg to prevent him from tagging in Breakker. Ciampa used his boot to shove away Ziggler to tag in Breakker who cleaned house. Brakker ate a knee from Ziggler but quickly recovered and hit Ziggler with a spear. Ciampa tagged in and the face team hit Roode with a Steinerrizer (Doomsday Bulldog). Ziggler broke the pin. Ziggler tagged in. Ciampa got the upper hand and hit Ziggler with a Fairy Tale Ending for the victory.
Tommaso Ciampa and Bron Breakker defeated The Dirty Dawgs via pinfall in 13:05.
Pete Dunne was shown heading to the Performance Center…
LA Knight cut a promo backstage… yeah! Knight called Waller a jackoff and then talked about how he’s heading to the ring now… yeah![c]
John’s Thoughts: A really entertaining match involving three veterans and one rookie who wrestles like a veteran. It helps that a handful of these wrestlers like Roode and Ciampa are considered “tag team specialists” so you can always count on them on putting together good tag team storytelling. What actually stood out was how good The Dirty Dawgs can be if taken a bit more seriously and given more time in the ring. If the main roster took Tag Team Wrestling seriously, the Dawgs could be a strong old school heel tag team in the tag team main event. As for the here and now, this match did it’s job in pushing forward the Ziggler and Breakker feud while also giving Ciampa his win back.
Gunther cut a promo backstage hyping up his match against Solo Sikoa. He caid he’s going to make Sikoa the shame of the island. He also said he’s going to chop all the tribal tattoos off Sikoa and replace that with respect…
LA Knight was in the ring in street clothes. Knight led the crowd in “Yeah” chants. Knight talked about standing tall over Waller at Halloween Havoc. Knight called out the three fans chanting for Waller in the crowd and how pathetic that was. Knight then recapped the rest of their feud through still shots on the titantron. Grayson Waller cut off Knight’s recap. Waller and Sanga were standing on the NXT crow’s nest. Waller said he was the winner last week. Waller said Knight was a roadblock to his success and he’s done now.
Knight then responded by saying something that was censored. Knight showed on the titantron how it was Knight and not Waller standing tall last week even though Waller got the dirty win. Knight talked about how he always stands tall against Waller when they go one-on-one. Knight said people online are calling out Waller for his cheap victory. Knight said that Waller needs to show that he has manhood in his marbles by accepting the match for a Last Man Standing Match. Waller accepted. Knight said for the third time next week he’ll stand tall just because he won’t let Waller have a chance. That’s not an insult, that’s just a fact of life. Yeah!!!
John’s Thoughts: Great promo exchange with LA Knight continuing to shine as a babyface. He’s really coming into his own cutting very inspired promos. Hopefully someone with main roster stroke is seeing this because Knight should be cutting promos like this on Raw or Smackdown. At one point I was tired of the neverending Waller and Knight feud, but flipping the two in terms of being face-heel breathed new life into both men.
Indi Hartwell and Persia Pirotta were backstage. Pirotta was swooning over Duke Hudson while Hartwell was worried about Dexter Lumis…
A recap video aired to recap last week’s women’s Dusty Cup matches…
Wendy Choo and Dakota Kai made their entrance…[c]
Toxic Attraction were shown watching the match from their “Toxic Lounge”…
2. Wendy Choo and Dakota Kai vs. Indi Hartwell and Persia Pirotta in a first round match of the Women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Clasic. Choo worked on Pirotta with her sleep based offense. Hartwell tagged in. Hartwell hit Choo with a sidewalk slam for a two count. Choo hit Hartwell with a front kick and dropkick. Kai tagged in and the two hit Hartwell with a straitjacket slam. Kai and Choo hit Hartwell with consecutive Yakuza Kicks.
Choo and Kai hit Hartwell with a double team facebuster to give Choo a two count. Pirotta tagged in and hit Choo with a standing Yakuza Kick for a two count. Hartwell tagged in and slammed Choo to the mat for a two count. The camera showed Kai twitching in the corner. Choo managed to crawl under Hartwell to get the hot tag in Kai. Kai whipped Hartwell to the corner and gave her a series of Face Wash kicks. Hartwell tackled Kai to her corner.
Pirotta hit Kai with Snake Eyes and a sitout F5. Choo broke up the pin. Pirotta tried to suplex Pirotta, but Kai hit Pirotta with a pump kick. Choo hit Pirotta with a reverse frog splash. Kai hit Pirotta with a double stomp for the victory.
Dakota Kai and Wendy Choo defeated Persia Pirotta and Indi Hartwell via pinfall in 5:21 to advance to the semi-finals of the Women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic.
Vic Joseph noted that this was a bracket buster due to Choo and Kai being the new tag team…
Vic hyped up a video package to hype the Creeds vs. Imperium…[c]
John’s Thoughts: Not given a lot of time, but the women did the best that they could with what litter time they got. You had to know that Kai and Choo were the ones going through given how much time was invested in the last month in putting together Choo and Kai as a tag team. Pirotta and Hartwell losing seems to be leading to an eventual split between those two, presumably also involving a feud between Duke Hudson and Dexter Lumis.
Vic Joseph and Wade Barrett checked in from ringside where they hyped Brock Lesnar defending his title at the Saturday Madison Square Garden show…
The hype video aired to hype up the Imperium vs. Creed Brothers title match happening next week…
Vic Joseph announced LA Knight vs. Grayson Waller in a Last Man Standing match for next week…
Entrances for the next match took place. A video showed that the next match came to be due to an argument backstage…
3. Amari Miller vs. Lash Legend. Lash jawed with Miller. Miller fought back with forearms. Miller kicked Lash in the shin. Lash came back with a pump kick. Lash lifted Miller and slammed her head several times into the ropes. Lash hit Miller with a backbreaker stretch. Miller avoided Lash’s elbow drop. Miller fought back with forearms. Miller hit Lash with a shotgun dropkick. Barrett talked about Lash being a former WNBA star. Miller hit Lash with a springboard Moonsault for a two count. Lash recovered and hit Miller with an awkward looking twisting body slam for a victory.
Lash Legend defeated Amari Miller via pinfall in 2:57.
Lash got in the camera and seemingly called out Nikita Lyons…
John’s Thoughts: Lash Legend has been very awkward in the ring in her few matches on NXT and 205 Live, but that’s expected from someone fresh off the WNBA court with no wrestling experience. Where Legend does seemingly shine is on the microphone where she’s witty and has a bit of the gift of gab.
McKenzie Mitchell interviewed Solo Sikoa about Gunther’s promo earlier. Sikoa said that Gunther is in for a fight right now…
Gunther made his entrance for the next match…[c]
Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen were oogling over some pictures on their phone. Elektra Lopez walked up to them thinking they were talking about her ass. They said they were talking about trucks. Jensen acted like a dork as usual…
[Hour Two] Solo Sikoa made his entrance…
4. Gunther vs. Solo Sikoa. Gunther worked on Solo with his signature chops and kicks. Gunther planted Solo with a high angle body slam. Gunther worked on Solo with his methodical power offense. The commentary teamed recapped Edge turning heel last night. Gunther dominated Solo for about 4 minutes. Solo escaped a Boston Crab by grabbing the bottom rope. Solo showed fighting spirit by absorbing Gunther’s strikes. Solo came back with martial arts strikes.
Solo got Gunther off his feet with a spinning heel kick. Gunther blocked a superkick. Solo managed to lift Gunther and hit him with a Samoan Drop. Solo hit Gunther at ringside with a Uso Splash. Solo hit Gunther with a superkick for a two count. Walter rolled away from a 2nd Uso Splash. Gunther put Solo in a sleeper but Solo escaped with a jawbreaker. Gunther came back with a chop to the back of Solo’s neck. Gunther made Solo pass out a bit with a sleeper. Gunther then flattened Solo with two power bombs. Gunther then picked up the win by putting all his weight behind the pin.
Gunther defeated Solo Sikoa via pinfall in 7:37.
McKenzie Mitchell interviewed Dolph Ziggler about his loss earlier in the show. Ziggler demanded that he get his title match against Breakker next week. Ciampa walked in and said that Ziggler doesn’t deserve to be the number one contender after taking the pin from Ciampa today. Bron Breakker showed up. Ciampa wanted a title shot against Breakker. Breakker said he can kick both of their asses. Ziggler walked off, saying that he’ll see Breakker next week…
Joe Gacy and Harlande were outside acting ominous and hyping up Harland’s match against Draco Anthony…[c]
John’s Thoughts: Solo looked okay against one of WWE’s main event talents and there’s no shame in losing to Gunther. One thing I’m not the biggest fan of is Gunther wrestling so regularly on NXT ever since he moved to the US. Part of Gunther’s mystique came from how well spaced-out his matches were. He’s starting to come off “just like everyone else” the more he is wrestling on TV on a regular basis. We’ll see how Gunther adapts to wrestling more often. One small note, I love the way Walter pins his opponents. He uses the Judo principle of putting all his weight in his pins. Nice attention to detail.
An ad aired for the Corey Graves and Carmella reality series…
Persia Pirotta apologized to Indi Hartwell backstage and Hartwell accepted it. Duke Hudson showed up and hugged Persia. Hartwell gave Hudson a mean glare as Pirotta and Hudson walked off. Hartwell looked nervous after Dexter Lumis wouldn’t respond to her texts.
Vic Joseph announced Bron Breakker vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Tommaso Ciampa for the NXT Championship next week…
5. Harland (w/Joe Gacy) vs. Draco Anthony. Harland dominated Anthony with power moves. Anthony made a bit of a comeback with a rally of offense, but Harland powered up and smashed Anthony’s face into the mat. Harland hit Anthony with a side slam for the win.
Harland defeated Draco Anthony via pinfall in 2:25.
Harland teased attacking Anthony after the match, but instead gave Anthony an aggressive hug to end the segment…
McKenzie interviewed Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams about Melo’s match against Pete Dunne later. Melo wore a shirt with Pete Dunne on it with an X over him. Melo and Trick hyped up Melo winning later. Melo noted that after he takes care of Pete Dunne there might not be any opponents left for him to fight…
Raquel Gonzalez and Cora Jade made their entrance…[c]
John’s Thoughts: One thing that really stands out to me about Harland is that he’s mightily unimpressive. He has the weight of being dubbed “the next Brock Lesnar” by Paul Heyman on his back, but even without that he’s just fairly pedestrian in all his matches. It almost feels like he’s holding the talented Joe Gacy back. So far, Harland is just a less impressive Lars Sullivan (and I was really high on Lars. Lars was a great monster in NXT). I think Harland has the potential to get to where WWE wants to get him. Maybe they should take the Braun Strowman approach where Braun was essentially Bray Wyatt’s “young boy” for a stretch until they dropped the gimmick and were ready to push Braun once Braun was ready for prime time.
Ivy Nile was boxing a training dummy backstage. Tatum Paxley showed up to apologize to Nile for losing last week. Nile said it’s not that simple to join Diamond Mine and if you want to be in Diamond Mine you have to learn the hard way…
Toxic Attraction were back at the Toxic Lounge to watch the next match…
6. Raquel Gonzalez and Cora Jade vs. Yulisa Leon and Valentina Feroz in a first round match of the Women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. Gonzalez and Leon started out the match. Leon managed to lock Gonzalez in a headlock. Feroz tagged in and hit Gonzalez with a dropkick. Feroz and Gonzalez traded a series of counters. Jade tagged in and gave Feroz a uppercut. Jade hit Feroz with a huracanrana and bronco buster.
Cora Jade hit Feroz with a high knee. Feroz was shot into the air by Leon who hit Gonzalez with a dive at ringside. Leon hit Gonzalez with a Tope Cannonball. Leon hit Jade with a power slam for a two count. Feroz hit Jade with an awkward tackle for a two count. Gonzalez tagged in. Feroz went for a crossbody but was caught by Gonzalez who tossed her around. Gonzalez hit Feroz with a Chingona Bomb. Jade tagged in. Gonzalez lifted Jade in Chingona Bomb position so she could splash Valentina for the victory.
Cora Jade and Raquel Gonzalez defeated Valentina Feroz and Yulisa Leon via pinfall in 4:47 to advance to the semi-finals of the Dusty Rhodes tag team classic.
A bunch of the NXT Developmental women were impressed by Sarray’s henshin medallion. Tiffany Stratton didn’t like the medallion leading to Tiffany shoving Sarray into the garage door to leave her lying…
John’s Thoughts: I’m not a fan of the medallion either. It looks like a Cracker Jack prize.
Andre Chase and Bodhi Hayward made their entrance for Chase’s next match…[c]
John’s Thoughts: A good tag team match, but this match is one example of how NXT didn’t have enough women wrestlers to put together a tag team bracket. The big problem here is Cora Jade had a lot of steam behind her when WWE built the War Games match around her and she shined with flying colors. Jade’s big push was immidately put on ice due to this random tag team tournament they had to do. In fact, NXT’s entire women’s singles division is put on ice due to all the singles stars being tied up in the tournament. As for the other side, Leon and Feroz are still green and a bit awkward in the ring, but they are progressing nicely with a handful of innovative moves. Yulisa Leon in particular has shown some promise by whipping out very creative offense in her few matches in NXT.
Tony D’Angelo cut a promo talking about how he has his sights on a match at Stand and Deliver, but he didn’t reveal who he was thinking of facing…
Von Wagner and Robert Stone made their entrance…
7. Von Wagner (w/Robert Stone) vs. Andre Chase (w/Bodhi Hayward). Chase had the early advantage but Wagner tackled Chase into the corner. Wagner hit Chase with a front slam. Wagner hit Chase with a corner lariat and giant toss. Wagner had Chase in a side headlock. Wagner planted Chase with a backbreaker. Chase made a comeback with shin kicks and a chop block. Chase hit Wagner with a running lariat. Chase hit Wagner with his signature Chase U kicks. Stone distracted Chase and Hayward at ringside.
Wagner clocked Chase with a right hand. Chase tossed Wagner into the ringpost. Chase tried to check on Hayward but Hayward told him not to worry. Wagner hit Chase with a modified Burning Hammer for the victory.
Von Wagner defeated Andre Chase via pinfall in 4:10.
John’s Thoughts: Slight improvement for Wagner this week. As long as they keep him off the mic, I think they can work with something (selfishly, I was getting a kick out of Wagner’s bad promos). This also should include him not saying “you’re just living in it” in the most unintimidating way possible. One slight improvement was his new ring gear. The former Harlem Bravado, Andre Chase, does a great job making his opponents look good and he made Wagner look good here.
After the match, Vic Joseph acknowledged that Nikita Lyons blew up Social Media last week. They cut to Nikita backstage. Nikita acknowledged Lash Legend calling her out. Nikita wanted to be a guest on Lash’s talk show so they can talk face-to-face…
Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams made their entrance…[c]
Vic Joseph and Wade Barrett ran through next week’s lineup, dubbed NXT Roadblock: Bron Breakker vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Tommaso Ciampa for the NXT Championship, Imperium vs. The Creed Brothers for the Tag Team Championship, and LA Knight vs. Grayson Waller…
John’s Thoughts: Random themed show. That said even if it wasn’t themed, NXT has been putting together some very hot cards as of late for weekly TV.
Alicia Taylor handled the formal championship in-ring introductions…
7. Carmelo Hayes (w/Trick Williams) vs. Pete Dunne for the NXT North American Championship. Melo and Dunne started the match with chain wrestling. Melo landed the first clean move with a lariat. Dunne came back with his own lariat and PK. Dunne worked on Melo with methodical offense. Melo and Dunne no-sold each other’s lariats until both men got winded. Dunne hit Melo with a modified X Plex heading into picture-in-picture.[c]
[Overrun] Melo reversed a German Suplex into a half crab which Dunne escaped quickly. Melo hit Dunne with a draped Gamengiri. Dunne escaped and hit Melo with a Gamengiri of his own. Trick distracted Pete which allowed Melo to DDT Pete on the apron with a slingshot DDT. Melo locked Pete in a cravate. Dunne escaped and hit Melo with an enzuigiri and knee to the hands. Melo dodged a stomp. Melo went for a springboard dive but was swatted out of the air with a Bull Hammer from Dunne.
Melo gave Dunne a pump kick. Dunne escaped a Final Cut. Both men traded counters. Melo hit Dunne with a Codebreaker for a two count. Dunne reversed a superkick into an ankle lock. Melo escaped. Melo hit Dunne with a bicycle kick for a two count. Dunne Blocked a La Mistica and hit Melo with a Bitter End. Melo managed to roll a bit to avoid a pin. Dunne went into his joint manipulation. Melo pinned Dunne for a two count.
Melo locked Dunne in a La Mistica Submission. Dunne escaped with the wishbone finger break. Melo escaped a Bitter End and hit Dunne with a Final Cut. Dunne punched Melo on the top rope. Trick got in Pete’s face leading to Pete breaking his fingers. Melo shoved Dunne off the top rope. This allowed Melo to hit Dunne with the top rope scissors kick for the victory.
Carmelo Hayes defeated Pete Dunne via pinfall in 12:31 to retain the NXT North American Championship.
Trick grabbed the mic and said “And still the A Champion… Carmelo Hayes”. Carmelo Hayes announced that he’s defending the North American Championship at the Stand and Deliver show in a Ladder Match, in honor of the match that crowned the first champion (Adam Cole)…
John’s Thoughts: A good match for the time given, but you can tell they were pressed for time, complete with Melo seemingly going 30 seconds over the allotted overrun time in the post match promo. Good win for Melo. A win over Pete Dunne is meaningful due to how the guy rarely gets pinned (but it would helped if the announcers would acknowledge that to support the story). It’s odd that they rushed to Dunne vs. Melo though? Why not just build towards the Ladder Match in Dallas? My guess is that the ladder match will involve Pete Dunne, Cameron Grimes, and whoever else they want to throw into the North American title picture (either that or they rushed to this to get Dunne on the main roster? Who knows?).
A solid and packed NXT show with a handful of high profile matches. The best stuff being the opening and main event match. Only wish the main event had more time and that could have been easily given if they didn’t have to present some of the developmental talent on the show. Next week’s show is looking pretty impressive on-paper as well. It helps that not only are they keeping veteran talent like Pete Dunne and Tommaso Ciampa on TV as long as they can, but the main roster crossover helps too.
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