By John Moore, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
NXT 2.0 TV
Orlando, Florida at the WWE Performance Center
Aired live May 3, 2022 on USA Network
[Hour One] The show started off with a teaser skit with the flamboyant duo of Pretty Deadly. They bragged about being champions while also previewing the Spring Break In themed show…
Vic Joseph and Wade Barrett were on commentary…
Entrances for the North American Championship match aired. Alicia Taylor handled the formal in ring championship introductions…
1. Cameron Grimes vs. Carmelo Hayes vs. Solo Sikoa for the NXT North American Championship. Melo ducked out early in the match with Solo and Cameron trading advantages. Grimes caught Melo with a roundhouse when he tried to pick his spot. Grimes gave Melo a hip toss but Melo kept control by hitting Solo with a Huracanrana. All three men traded rapid fire strikes. Solo went for a hip attack on Grimes in the corner but Melo hit Solo with a La Mistica. Grimes hit Melo with a Spanish Fly power slam. Solo took down Grimes and Melo heading into picture-in-picture.[c]
Solo went for a senton on Melo, but Melo got the knees up. Grimes took down Melo with a series of clotheslines. Melo blocked Grimes iwth a double boot. Melo hit Grimes with a Code Red after Solo superkicked Grimes. Solo and Melo traded strikes in the corner. Solo managed to hit Grimes and Melo with a slick Tower of Doom in the corner. All three men traded fatigued strikes. Solo stacked Grimes and Melo in the corner and hit both men with a Umaga hip attack (Grimes was in the Tree of Woe). Solo backdropped Grimes. Solo power bombed Melo on Grimes. Solo hit Melo with a spinning Uranage for a two count. Solo went for a hig risk move but Grimes kicked him off.
Grimes missed a top rope move on both opponents, but hit both opponents with a double frankendriver. Grimes hit Melo with a Frankendriver for a two count. Melo countered a cave in with a seamless Codebreaker for a really good nearfall. Solo caught a flying Melo with a superkick. Solo hit Grimes with a Uso Splash. Melo broke up the pin right at three for an amazing nearfall. Solo countered a Codebreaker from Melo to put him in Fireman Carry Position. Grimes caught Solo with a Cave in which caused him to give Melo a Samoan Drop. Grimes picked up the pin on Solo.
Cameron Grimes defeated Solo Sikoa and Carmelo Hayes via pinfall in 14:06 to retain the NXT North American Championship.
Highlights from the match aired…
John’s Thoughts: Fun opener with lots of fast paced action. With all of the cuts in the last few months, Solo, Cameron, and Melo are reaching the level of veterans of the brand and are the wrestlers you can count on to tell a compelling 10+ minute story. One thing I don’t like about opening match spotfests is wrestlers trying to get too cute by doing contrived multi-man moves. These men did those “cute” moves, but they did it in a quick and natural way. The star of this match was Solo, who continues to shine in his young career; but that shouldn’t be surprising coming from the guy who grew up in the same house as Rikishi, Jimmy Uso, and Jey Uso. Melo was a strong North American champion, even elevating the title in the process by making it the center of his world. I wonder if it’s time to move him over to the main title picture?
The show cut to Mandy Rose getting a tan at a tanning salon. Wendy Choo showed up while Mandy was in the tanning bed. She turned up the settings on Mandy’s tanning bed and then snuck away. Mandy Rose came out of the taning bed glowing red. Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne were shocked when they saw Mandy. Jacy said Mandy looks like a strawberry. Jacy and Gigi said that Mandy can’t go to the beach with them like that. Mandy let out a scream when she saw herself in the mirror…
John’s Thoughts: This skit reminded me of those horrible sports entertainment cinematic skits that have tortured me from Impact 2020-2021. Are Jeremy Borash and Jimmy Jacobs trading notes? I kid I kid.
Nathan Frazer was interviewed by McKenzie Mitchell. Frazer was hyped for his match against Waller…
Grayson Waller made his entrance for the next match…[c]
Roderick Strong was trying to hype up the Creed Brothers for their match against the Viking Raiders. Strong kept berating and being overbearing to the Creeds…
The show cut to a sad Indi Hartwell (Dexter Lumis got released from WWE last week). Duke Hudson showed up with a somber face. There was a long pause (and mild sexual tension). Hartwell and Hudson acted disgusted and walked off…
John’s Thoughts: Well, the Dexter Lumis release hit me here. Not only for the Kayfabe marriage with Indi, but moreso for the really good chemistry he showed with Duke Hudson in their one and only match together. Damn. Welp, it’s back to the drawing board for poor ol’ Brandon Vink. This guy has really gone through it all. He gets the main roster callup, gets a ton of gimmick changes, and sees a bunch of tag partners get released (Shane Thorne, Bronson Reed outside-of-wwe , and Dexter Lumis).
Nathan Frazer made his entrance. Barrett noted that Frazer is a student of Seth Rollins…
2. Grayson Waller vs. Nathan Frazer. Waller shoved Frazer to the ground and gloated by doing his crossover move. Frazer caught a running Waller with a dropkick and side headlock takedown. Waller managed to give Frazer a hip toss but Frazer came back with double boots and another side headlock takedown. Frazer eluded Waller and gave Waller a missile dropkick. Waller ran up the ramp when Frazer teased a flip dive. Waller sat down on a beach chair that was set up on the stage. Waller managed to pummel Frazer with punches when Frazer headed in the ring.
The camera showed Andre Chase and his students in the crowd. Waller shoved Frazer to ringside and gave him a baseball slide into a lariat. The show cut to picture-in-picture. [c]
Waller caught Frazer with a scissors kick and Sky High for a two count. Waller mocked Seth Rollins’s setup for the Curb Stomp. Waller dodged a Stomp and dumped Waller to ringside. Frazer hit Waller with a Suicide Dive. Frazer caught Waller with two superkicks. Waller got his hand on the bottom rope for the rope break. Waller rolled away when Frazer went for a Phoenix Splash. Waller hit Frazer with a Butterfly Blockbuster for a two count. Frazer staggered Waller on the top rope with a dropkick. Waller shoved Frazer off the top rope when he went for a Spanish Fly. Waller fell off when Andre chase blared an airhorn. Waller sold the sound by falling off in shock. Frazer hit Waller with a Phoenix Splash for the win.
Nathan Frazer defeated Grayson Waller via pinfall in 12:45.
A vignette promo aired for Fallon Henley. She’s in the Breakout Tournament and she also grew up on a ranch with a horse named Luna…
Tony D’Angelo and Legado Del Fantasma were shown arriving at the WWE Performance Center at different times…[c]
John’s Thoughts: A great match that was given more time than I expected. It seems like they’re really high on Nathan Frazer and are really pushing him as the protégé of Seth Rollins, which means means they are trying to raise his profile. It means something to beat Waller, who rarely loses in NXT (even though the only person he’s been beating is LA Knight).
Vic Joseph and Wade Barrett checked in from ringside…
The show cut to the Legado Del Fantasma and Tony D’Angelo sitdown cinematic. Tony D’Angelo was flanked by his goons and AJ Galante. D’Angelo said that Galante is his consigliere. Santos Escobar said they didn’t need a consigliere here. D’Angelo said that today they settle things like businessmen. Escobar said everybody can trust Escobar, but nobody can trust D’Angelo. Escobar said that everything D’Angelo has did to Escobar up to this point, like the sneak attacks and dead fish, was playing games. D’Angelo said craps, poker, and Yahtzee are games. D’Angelo said there is plenty of pie to split in NXT.
Escobar said D’Angelo is building a family from scratch, while Escobar is building an empire. Escobar said D’Angelo needs to follow Escobar’s lead. D’Angelo said he doesn’t have to listen to anybody because he’s the don of NXT. Escobar said that this tension isn’t helping anybody and Santos Escobar would like to call a truce. D’Angelo said Galante advised him that peace was best for Escobar’s business. Escobar called for a toast. Both men toasted drinks. D’Angelo and his goons said they’d see them down the road. Escobar told Cruz Del Toro to “start the car”…[c]
John’s Thoughts: Not for everyone, but I thought both men came off well here. This was a good showcase as to what both men could do in an acting situation, and I thought both men were pretty good. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Santos Escobar in mafia cinematics, as he’s done a bunch of these as the bounty hunter King Cuerno in Lucha Underground. D’Angelo has the generic gimmick, but he’s going all in and his effort shows. I thought this was okay and a good demo reel for both guys’ acting skills for the main roster. Escobar isn’t a spring chicken, can we get this guy called up already?
McKenzie Mitchell interviewed Erik and Ivar. They did their usual grunting and Viking speak. Pretty Deadly showed up to taunt the Vikings and saying that they softened up the Creeds for the Raiders. Ivar said that if Pretty Deadly interrupts them again, then Pretty Deadly will become damaged goods. Pretty Deadly walked away…
[Hour Two] Joe Gacy cut one of his usual rhetorical promos in a dark room…
3. Natalya and Lash Legend vs. Cora Jade and Nikkita Lyons. Jade and Legend stared off the match. Lash womanhandled Jade to start. Jade came back with forearms. Jade hit Lash with a old school into a huracanrana. Lash blocked a huracanrana into a buckle bomb on Jade. Natalya tagged in. Jade rolled up Natalya with La Magistral for a two count. Natalya escaped Jade’s rollup attempts. Lyons tagged in and got a two count on Natalya. Natalya took down Lyons with a side headlock. Lyons countered with a legscissors. Natalya escaped. Natalya and Lyons traded methodical chain wrestling. Lash tagged in and worked on Lyons with slow strikes. Lyons and Legend dumped each other to ringside. The show cut to picture in picture.[c]
Legend and Neidhart traded quick tags to cut the ring in half on Jade. This isolation lasted for a few minutes. Jade managed to dump Legend to ringside at a certain point of the match. Jade blocked a sharpshooter to tag in Lyons for the hot tag. Lyons hit Nattie with a low, mid, high TKD kick. Natalya rolled up Lyons for a two count. Lyons hit Natalya with a reverse Blockbuster for a two count. Lash tagged in and hit Lyons with a dropkick. Legend hit Lyons with ugly ground and pound. Natalya accidentally superkicked Legend when Lyons and Legend were trading rollups. Lyons hit Legend with a German Suplex. Lyons hit Legend with the splits legdrop. Jade tagged in and hit Legend with a diving senton for the victory.
Cora Jade and Nikkita Lyons defeated Lash Legend and Natalya via pinfall in 13:28.
A Tatum Paxley introductory vignette aired. She’s in the Breakout Tournament and she’s a powerlifter…
The Viking Raiders, Erik and Ivar, made their entrance…[c]
John’s Thoughts: They’re really giving these matches TV time all episodes. The match wasn’t pretty at points, but I thought Jade and Neidhart did a decent job at hiding the weaknesses of Legend and Lyons. I thought Natalya did a great job limiting Legend to quick tag situations so Legend wasn’t exposed too much for her inexperience. I actually think Legend is improving everytime she’s in the ring. I also really liked her look here with the badass all black ring gear. I actually feel like Nikkita has stalled in her development even though Nikkita has more TV Pro Wrestling experience from her time in WOW. Hopefully they separate Legend and Lyons so they can work with better workers. Either that or start up local Florida house shows again to hide their growing pains away from the TV?
Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne showed up on the beach to have a good ol’ time. Roxanne Perez and Wendy Choo showed up and stole Toxic Attractions shoes and car keys while they were having fun on the beach. Dolin and Jayne saw Choo and Perez and chased them. Choo left the keys on the ground and Toxic Attraction had to run to their car on the burning hot asphalt…
John’s Thoughts: I’m done with the Wendy Choo act. Can we bring back Mei Ying? Can Boa vomit those powers out so we can get Tian Sha back? On a side note, as much as I don’t wanna see Rok-C roped into this, there is a part of me that’s happy to see the old workhorse of the Women of Honor division, Karen Q, paired up with the future face of the Women of Honor division, Rok-C.
The Creed Brothers made their entrance for the next match. Barrett noted that the Viking Raiders are undefeated in NXT dating back to their first run…
4. “The Creed Brothers” Julius Creed and Brutus Creed vs. “The Viking Raiders” Erik and Ivar. The Raiders traded quick tags and hit Julius with The Viking Experience for a two count. Brutus tagged in and took down Erik with a double leg takedown and clubbing blows. Brutus hit Erik with a Delayed Gutwrench Suplex. Julius tagged in and suplexed Brutus on Erik for a two count. The Creeds traded quick tags to cut the ring in half on Erik. Erik backdropped Julius. Ivar tagged in and hit Julius with a splash at ringside. The show cut to picture-in-picture.[c]
Julius tagged in and hit Erik with a dropkick. Julius gave Ivar a chop block. Ivar tagged in Erik. Julius planted Erik with a body slam. Brutus tagged in and suplexed Erik for a two count. Erik hit Brutus with a Full Nelson GTS for a two count. Brutus escaped a double suplex from the Raiders. Ivar hit Brutus with a Tiger Bomb for a two count. Erik tagged in. Ivar power bombed Erik on Brutus. Ivar hit Brutus with a splash. Erik got a two count.
Ivar tried to stop it, but Brutus managed to tag in Julius. Ivar grounded Julius with a seated senton. Ivar went high risk. Julius got on the top rope like a cat and then hit Ivar with a Superplex to invoke a “Holy shit” chant from the crowd. Ivar caught Julius with a lariat. The Viking Raiders hit Julius with their finisher. Brutus broke up Erik’s pin. Julius hit Erik with a cartwheel slam. Brutus dumped Ivar to ringside. Julius caught Erik with a knee. While everyone was looking the other direction, a hooded Roderick Strong showed up out of nowhere and hit Erik with a running Knee. Julius hit Erik with the basement lariat for the win.
The Creed Brothers defeated The Viking Raiders via pinfall in 12:58.
Roddy went in the ring to hold up the hands of the Creeds. The replay aired and the Creeds saw that Roderick Strong helped them pick up the dirty win. The Creeds yelled at Strong for the dirty tactics while Strong tried to stress that a Win was a Win…
The show cut back to the cinematic camera. AJ Galante met up with Santos Escobar in the parking lot. Escobar said Tony is blessed to have someone like Escobar on his side. Escobar gave Galante a handshake and then kneed him in the gut. Wilde and Del Toro showed up and put Galante in the back of Escobar’s SUV…
The show cut to Bron Breakker heading to the ring. Joe Gacy was shown meditating at a different part of the Performance Center…[c]
John’s Thoughts: Awesome tag match between two big man teams. The Creeds selling all of the time wasn’t working when they were heels, but ever since they turned babyfaces their selling has been what’s carrying them. These two are great at fighting from behind and even though they are physically imposing, they do a great job making themselves logically look good from positions where they are fighting from behind. Thumbs up to these guy’s selling. They’re pushing Roddy as the delusional taskmaster, which is an interesting story. It did look like Malcolm Bivens was supposed to be factored into this story due to his subtle acting over the last few weeks. It’s a shame he’s gone because he would have added a huge layer of acting to this story and you just can’t count on Roddy in terms of acting. Maybe they can make this work. Let’s see where they go.
An Alba Fyre (f.k.a. Kay Lee Ray) vignette aired. Her bat is still on fire. She’s returning to NXT next week…
Briggs and Jensen were chatting to a medical trainer backstage about Jensen’s wrist injury. The trainers said that Jensen will heal fast due to his right hand being awkwardly stronger than his left (a masturbation joke)…
Vic Joseph and Wade Barrett announced the following segments for next week: Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne vs. Roxanne Perez and Wendy Choo and the beginning of the Women’s Breakout Tournament…
Joe Gacy made his entrance. The light went to black and white for some reason. The show zoomed into a power breaker box. Bron Breakker turned the breaker to the on position and the color was restored to the TV. Bron Breakker made his entrance. Breakker’s singlet had random numbers all over the place (a reference to “Scott Steiner Math”?). Alicia Taylor handled the formal in-ring introductions for the championship match…
5. Bron Breakker vs. Joe Gacy for the NXT Championship. Gacy quickly dumped Breakker to ringside. Breakker dominated Gacy with the collar and elbows. Gacy raked Breakker’s eyes. Gacy ducked to ringside. Breakker tossed Gacy back in the ring. Breakker told Gacy to not mess with his family. Gacy escaped the corner. Breakker tackled Gacy into the corner. Breakker got to a low base to block Gacy’s suplex. Gacy put Breakker in a cravate. Gacy escaped and dumpted Breakker to ringside. Gacy used the momentum of Breakker’s irish whip into a Tiger Feint to lead to a lariat. The show cut to picture-in-picture.[c]
Gacy did a handstand on the 2nd rope, similar to Bray Wyatt’s crab walk psych out. Gacy gave Breakker a lariat for a two count. Gacy got another two count after a leg drop. Gacy put Breakker in a neck-shoulder stretch. Breakker powered out. Gacy came back with headbutts. Breakker gave Gacy snake eyes and a sereis of shoulder tackles. Breakker took down Gacy with a clothesline. Gacy came back with a Scorpion Death Drop for a two count. Random druids appeared behind the ring posts in the crowd.
Breakker caught Gacy with a right hand when Gacy went for a suicide dive. Breakker hit Gacy with a top rope bull dog for a two count. Joseph noted that the move is a tribute to Rick Steiner. Breakker took down Gacy with a running Yakuza Kick. Gacy escaped the press slam.
[Overrun] Breakker hit Gacy with a Standing Frankensteiner. Breakker barely hit Gacy with a Belly to Belly for a two count. Gacy tripped up Breakker and hit Breakker with a twisting elbow drop. Gacy hit Breakker with an Alabama Slam and Power Bomb for a two count.Gacy went for his finisher handspring lariat but Breakker ducked it. Breakker hit Gacy with the spear for the win.
Bron Breakker defeated Joe Gacy via pinfall in 11:03 to retain the NXT Championship.
While Breakker was posing with the championship, a few druids in red masks showed up on the apron behind him. They were a bit heavy set. The show abruptly ended when Vic Joseph got shocked on commentary…
John’s Thoughts: A well worked match and another notch in the belt of the young Bron Steiner. Speaking of “Steiner” Vic Joseph isn’t trying to dance around Steiner references anymore. The match was fine, but the feud has been underwhelming. I don’t see anything compelling from this weird B-movie horror movie gimmick. And it’s not even funny like a B-movie. It’s borderline bad WCW skit, which may or may not be a Steiner reference. Both Bron and Rick have worked television with Chucky. Anyways, Are they continuing the feud, because they had random large men show up as Druids in the end. Why does Gacy need Druids? This reminds me of EC3’s weird “Control Your Narrative” cult in his underwhelming feud with Moose in Impact.
I could see WWE calling up Joe Gacy. Gacy has done a great job reinventing himself from CZW deathmatch legend, to being a really compelling character actor. He’s also very good at the technical stuff in the ring. I could see WWE calling him up in they want to push out a discount version of Bray Wyatt. As for this show, this was a really good show in terms of in-ring action. We got a little bit of weird Wendy Choo in there, but it was pretty harmless. This show actually felt like a two hour episode of Lucha Underground, complete with King Cuerno interacting with the mafia; and hey, Lucha Undergaround had a good formula Seasons 1 and 2. Good matches and solid supplemental cinematics.
After I saw the Wendy Choo/Mandy Rose tanning salon “skit”, I immediately thought did somebody in NXT creative just watch Final Destination 3(?). I guess Mandy should be thankful that NXT is PG & not R-Rated like the movie or else she would had more than just a bad sunburn. Can we stop it with the childish Choo segments already.
Wendy Choo has got to go.
Nathan Frazer did two dangerous neck bumps on the ropes and looks like another generic 5″9″ 175lb guy who does a bunch of flips and dives and can’t work a match.
Natalya and Nikita giving us that Thicc on Thicc crime is a dream come true. Cora Jade is still nothing but the worst parts of Kelly Kelly and AJ Lee.
The big man tag was good and the main event showed that both guys have a ton of potential.
I didn’t enjoy a moment of this slop.
The top two things that need to go are the Wendy Choo character and Cora Jade’s skateboard!
It’s not like Kelly Kelly came out with pom-poms or AJ Lee came out with her Playstation..