By John Moore, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
NXT 2.0 TV
Orlando, Florida at the WWE Performance Center
Aired live May 10, 2022 on USA Network
[Hour One] The show started off with footage of what happened after Bron Breakker vs. Joe Gacy. Breakker was kidnapped by Joe Gacy and his druids and put in the back of a white car. They put a burlap sack on his face. Joe Gacy was narrating a menacing monologue until they got to their destination. Gacy took Breakker to a random grassy area and then gave him a boot to the chest…
John’s Thoughts: For some reason, and this is dating back to NXT 1.0, kidnapping is NXT’s go-to menacing act from heels. That or beating up a person in a parking lot. Sometimes they combine the two by kidnapping a person in the parking lot (as was the case with AJ Galante last week)…
Vic Joseph and Wade Barrett were on commentary. Alicia Taylor was the ring announcer…
Entrances for the opening match took place. Wendy Choo made her entrance from the crowd, which allowed her to hit the Toxic Attraction tag team with a crossbody. The match started when Choo and Dolin were left alone in the ring…
1. “Toxic Attraction” Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne (w/Mandy Rose) vs. Wendy Choo and Roxanne Perez for the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championship. Choo and Perez traded quick tags early on to isolate Dolin. Jayne tagged in and slammed Perez to the mat. Dolin and Jayne traded quick tags to cut the ring in half on Perez. Choo distracted Jayne which allowed Perez to tag in Choo. Choo hit Jayne with a suplex and handspring elbow. Choo dumped both Toxic Attractions to ringside. Choo held open the ropes so Perez could hit Toxic Attraction with a suicide dive. The show cut to picture-in-picture.[c]
Choo tagged in Perez who took the hot tag. Perez pummeled Dolin with a Thesz press. Perez hit Dolin with a Huracanrana Legsweep for a two count. Choo tagged in. Perez hit Dolin with a backflip and Choo followed up with the sleep elbow. Jayne broke up the pin with a senton. Perez gave Dolin a boot after tagging in. Rose pulled Dolin out of the way. Choo gave Rose some ground and pound. Perez went for a Code Red on Dolin but Jayne gave Perez a superkick. Dolin put all her weight behind a pinfall on Perez.
Toxic Attraction defeated Roxanne Perez and Wendy Choo via pinfall in 10:01 to retain the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championships.
Choo tried to attack Dolin, but Mandy Rose hit Choo with the NXT Women’s Championship. Toxic Attraction left Choo lying after putting the boots to her…
John’s Thoughts: The build towards this match has been horrid, with Wendy Choo employing the techniques of water guns, silly string, and sun burn. The match was way better than the horrid build. It wasn’t an in-ring classic or anything, but Perez and Choo had some good chemistry. I think the whole cutesy act has the possibility to work with Choo and Perez, but I don’t trust the NXT writers to write anything of substance aside from bland cartoon antics. If you gave me the choice between keeping or getting rid of the Wendy Choo character, I’d choose getting rid of the bad Choo character. Can we get Mei Ying back? Or at least a gimmick that doesn’t insult the viewer’s intelligence?
The show cut to Grayson Waller and Tiffany Stratton hanging out at a shopping center. They were shopping while also venting about their issues. Waller talked about taking care of his Andre Chase problem…
The camera showed Joe Gacy and his druids walking in a dark hallway…[c]
Roderick Strong was punching a punching dummy. Julius Creed and Brutus Creed confronted Strong about screwing them out of a clean win last week. Strong tried to say that a win is a win. Brutus said they are facing the Viking Raiders next week and they will win the right way. Strong said he’s ok with that and he’s going to bring in a new member to Diamond Mine to help encourage the Creeds. Strong introduced Damon Kemp (Bobby Steveson, brother of Olympic Gold Medalist Gable Steveson) as the new member of Diamond Mine. Julius wasn’t happy and told Strong that new members being added to Diamond Mine should be a group decision…
Joe Gacy and his Druids made their entrance. Gacy talked about how he left Breakker in the wilderness last week and how Breakker has to walk his journey all alone. Gacy talked about starting his journey months ago and how he promotes inclusivity and change. Gacy talked about the two men behind him taking the extra step and following his cause to the highest extent. Gacy said “these are the faces of change” and the expansion has begun. Gacy then invited Bron Breakker to his “movement”. Gacy continued to talk more of his rhetoric, threatening Bron Breakker at the same time…
Sarray, in schoolgirl mode, asked Andre Chase to be her tag team partner against Tiffany Stratton and Grayson Waller. Bodhi Hayward translated for Sarray, saying that Chase U has a foreign language department, which was news to Chase. Sarray, via subtitles, said that this was a teachable moment…[c]
John’s Thoughts: I feel bad for Gacy. The guy is doing his best and delivering his material very well. NXT just doesn’t know what to do with his character aside from giving him the most basic things to do. They also gave him druids for no reason. Bron Breakker isn’t looking too hot either, because he just keeps getting punked out by cheesy-ass Joe Gacy, despite winning his matches.
Vic Joseph and Wade Barrett checked in from ringside. They sent the show to Ivy Nile with a bunch of developmental men wrestlers in at the WWE PC gym. Barrett said it was the inaugural “Ivy Nile Challenge”. The large men all struggled to keep up in pushups with Nile. Nile vowed to be the last person standing after all the challenges…
The brackets aired for the NXT Women’s Breakout Tournament. Alicia Taylor then ran through the individual wrestlers, who were lined up on the stage. Sloane Jacobs and Fallon Henley were in the ring for the first match…
2. Fallon Henley vs. Sloane Jacobs in a first round match of the NXT Women’s Breakout Tournament. Henley took down Jacobs with a belly-to-back suplex. Jacobs rolled up Henley for a few nearfalls. Jacobs ducked Henley and gave Henley a dropkick for a two count. Briggs and Jensen showed up to cheer on Henley. This distracted Jacobs a bit. Jacobs gave Henley a boot for a two count. Henley hit Jacobs with a facebuster and dropkick. Henley hit Jacobs with a punch after a baseball slide to ringside. Henley got a two count.
Henley put Jacobs in a elbow lock which Jacobs escaped with a armdrag. Henley and Jacobs took each other out with stereo facebusters. Jacobs hit Henley with a huracanrana and a few clotheslines. Jacobs hit Henley with a swinging neckbreaker for a two count. Henley escaped a hold and hit Jacobs with a Shining Wizard for the win.
Fallon Henley defeated Sloane Jacobs via pinfall in 4:28 to advance to the next round in the NXT Women’s Breakout Tournament.
Briggs and Jensen ran in the ring to celebrate with Henley…
McKenzie Mitchell interviewed Santos Escobar, who was flanked by the rest of Legado Del Fantasma. McKenzie talked about Escobar not respecting the peace agreement when they kidnapped AJ Galante. Escobar said it was fair game when AJ decided to get involved in Legado’s business. Escobar said if you get involved in Legado’s business, you may not end up being able to walk again…
Alba Fyre (a.k.a. Kay Lee Ray) will be making her return after the break…[c]
John’s Thoughts: NXT has a lot of youthful talent in their women’s division. Sloane Jacobs, Cora Jade, and Roxanne Perez are all hovering around 19 years old with Jacobs being the youngest. This match was pretty good and Jacobs showed a lot of promise and technical ability. Henley can always be counted upon to carry opponents to good matches. There’s a handful of wrestlers I’m looking forward to seeing in this women’s tournament.
Cruz Del Toro was walking in the parking lot (oh no!). Del Toro entered the Legado SUV. Tony D’Angelo showed up. D’Angelo’s goons were in the back seat of the SUV. They beat up Del Toro. D’Angelo and his goons kidnapped Del Toro in their car and drove off…
John’s Thoughts: Seriously! NXT is all about kidnappings and parking lot beatdown. I told you earlier on that sometimes these happen at the same time.
Amari Miller was already in the ring. They aired footage of 2 months ago where Miller was stretchered out due to a neck injury. Her opponent is Alba Fyre, who got new entrance music. Of course her video wall had a lot of fire on it. Wade Barrett compared Fyre reinventing herself to Rhea Ripley joining The Judgement Day…
3. Alba Fyre vs. Amari Miller. Fyre and Miller traded chain wrestling. For some reason, they cut to a picture-in-picture video of Ivy Nile challenging developmental wrestlers to a Burpee Challenge. Miller hit Fyre with a armdrag. Miller hit Fyre with a neckbreaker for a two count. Fyre recovered and hit Miller with a Tornado DDT and kick for a two count. Miller reversed a Gory Bomb into a rollup for a two count. Miller hit Fyre with an axe handle clothesline for a two count. Fyre managed to hit Miller with a Gory Bomb and Swanton Bomb for the win.
Alba Fyre defeated Amari Miller via pinfall in 3:40.
John’s Thoughts: I’m actually digging the soft-reboot of Kay Lee Ray, now Alba Fyre. Ray has always had something missing in her presentation and this is even dating back to her TNA British Bootcamp days. I’m liking the fire aesthetic and the way she’s coming off. It feels like she’s getting more of the creative forces behind her. Here’s hoping for the best. The name change isn’t great, but it could be worse (See: Butch).
The show cut to Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams pulling up to the Performance Center. Solo Sikoa held the door close so they couldn’t enter. They decided to search for another entrance…[c]
[Hour Two] McKenzie Mitchell interviewed Cora Jade about facing her idol Natalya later on. She said she is a bit nervous, but Jade isn’t the same person that Natalya met before and betrayed before. Jade said she’s going to prove that she can hang in the ring with a future hall of famer…
Solo Sikoa made his entrance to the NXT ring. Solo soaked in “Solo” chants from the crowd. Solo noted that it was supposed to be the time where Melo and Trick speak, but it’s Solo’s time now. The crowd showered Solo with “Uso” chants. Solo said that ya’ll know what happened when Melo went after the North American Championship. Solo said he’s ok with Melo getting his one-on-one title rematch, but Solo is going to be next. Solo’s promo was cut off by Cameron Grimes making his entrance. Grimes got mild boos.
Grimes said he respects Solo like the crowd. Grimes said he understands that Solo wants a shot, but at the upcoming “In Your House” themed show, Melo will be getting the title shot. The crowd gave Grimes a “You got lucky” chant. Grimes then promised Solo the next title shot after he defends the title against Melo. After Solo left the ring, Melo showed up and gave Grimes a chop block. Trick and Melo beat up Grimes while Solo looked over his shoulder. Melo tried to drive Cameron’s head into a steel chair with a top rope move, but Solo ran back to the ring and cleared the heels from the ring. Solo picked up the North American title belt. Grimes snatched it from Solo…
Santos Escobar, Joaquin Wilde, and Elektra Lopez were walking in the parking lot. They were worried and wondering about where Cruz Del Toro was. For some reason, the Impact Wrestling-esque generic background music kicked in. The show cut to cinematic camera to show a conversation between Escobar and D’Angelo. D’Angelo sarcastically denied kidnapping Del Toro. D’Angelo got fired up with Escobar brought up kidnapping AJ Galante. D’Angelo then agreed to release Del Toro if Escobar releases Galante. Escobar agreed. Both men then agreed to a match. Escobar ended his phone call with a “f**k you” which was censored. D’Angelo kicked over a table in anger…
Grayson Waller and Tiffany Stratton made their entrance…[c]
John’s Thoughts: Solo Sikoa is extremely popular and doing some great work all around. What’s very interesting is the crowd turning on Cameron Grimes. I don’t blame them totally. They haven’t had the smoothest transition of goofball to serious Grimes (I’ll take it given how much I had to suffer through Trevor Lee’s prolonged run, but the crowd hasn’t had the same experience as me to him). I hope the creative forces don’t decide to go back to the goofball character because of this reaction. Heck, I’d wonder if the guy can excel as a Triple H-esque heel?
An ad aired for the 200th Episode of NXT UK on the Peacock Network…
McKenzie Mitchell interviewed Nathan Frazer. Frazer said he’s still on cloud nine after beating Grayson Waller last week. he said he was rooting for Andre Chase in the next match. Xyon Quinn showed up and asked Frazer to run it straight. Frazer said he didn’t know what that meant. Wes Lee showed up and joked about not knowing what it meant either. Frazer said he thought that “run it straight” was a foreign thing or something. Frazer left. Lee got in Quinn’s face and said he’d be willing to face Quinn…
John’s Thoughts: Ah, so Quinn’s a wandering douche now. Well, that’s better than his last lovesick dope character. Maybe this guy can be a good heel. Let’s see.
The show cut to Andre Chase, Bodhi Hayward, and Sarray (schoolgirl mode) walking backstage. Sarray activated her Henshin medallion. For some reason, it transformed Hayward into a schoolgirl, and made Chase’s sweater blue. Sarray Henshin’d into her magical girl mode…
4. Andre Chase (w/Bodhi Hayward) and (Magical Girl Mode) Sarray vs. Grayson Waller and Tiffany Stratton in a mixed tag match. Chase and Waller had a stalemate in the initial chain wrestling sequence. Chase took down Waller with a side headlock takedown. Sarray and Stratton tagged in. Stratton took down Sarray with a right hand. Sarray put Stratton in a modified Deathlock. Sarray transitioned to a Muta Lock. Stratton escaped by pulling Sarray’s hair. Waller took down Waller with a lariat. Sarray and Chase gave their opponents stereo Chase U boots. The show cut to regular commercial.[c]
Waller took down Chase with a discus forearm. Stratton tagged in and knocked Sarray off the apron. Stratton hit Chase with an assisted moonsault. Waller tagged back in and hit Chase with a slingshot elbow drop. Sarray broke up the pin attempt. Chase got an inside cradle for a two count. Waller ducked an enzuigiri and put Chase in a Rear Naked Choke. Waller adjusted to a sleeper. Chase got to a vertical base. Both men traded headlocks. Waller hit Chase with a Belly to Back suplex. Stratton and Sarray tagged in with Sarray having the momentum. Sarray hit Stratton with two dropkicks. Stratton came back with a forearm.
Sarray took down Stratton with a dropkick. Waller dragged Stratton to ringside. Chase tripped Waller and Sarray hit him with a Face Wash Dropkick. Stratton tackled Saray in teh back and gave her a body slam. Stratton hit Sarray with a corkscrew vader bomb. Sarray got the foot on the bottom rope for the rope break. Bodhi Hayward shot an airhorn at Stratton. Stratton gave Hayward a plancha. Sarray rolled up Stratton for the win.
Sarray and Andre Chase defeated Tiffany Stratton and Grayson Waller via pinfall in 7:00 of on-air time.
The show cut back to the Ivy Nile Challenge. Nile challenged the trainees to a weighted lunge race. The large men all got tired while Nile blew past them all…
McKenzie Mitchell interviewed Von Wagner about injuring Ikeman Jiro. Robert Stone took the mic and talked about how Wagner is on a path of destruction. Ikeman Jiro showed up to attack Wagner. Norman Smiley and referees pulled apart both men…
Ariana Grace and Nikkita Lyons were shown warming up at different areas backstage…[c]
John’s Thoughts: The mixed tag was fun. I was a bit weary of them getting a bit exploitative with Sarray’s whole Schoolgirl thing, but I think there might be some marketability to the children with her whole Henshin Magical Girl act. Magical Girl merch does sell well and it’s a market that WWE might want to get into. I also have to note, I didn’t want to laugh when Bodhi Hayward Henshin’d into a schoolgirl, but I got a chuckle. Hayward has been doing a good job as Andre Chase’s wide-eyed student. They are also doing a good job keeping him out of the ring on TV until he’s ready.
An ad aired for WWE’s partnership with the Special Olympics. Stephanie McMahon talked about how WWE’s supportive of being inclusive…
John’s Thoughts: For some reason, Stephanie McMahon gave me Joe Gacy vibes when she was talking about inclusion.
Mandy Rose, Jacy Jayne, and Gigi Dolin walked up to Indi Hartwell. Rose claimed that she was here to support Hartwell. Hartwell talked about being sad for losing everything. Rose then mocked Hartwell for losing her man. Toxic Attraction mocked Hartwell and Jayne called Hartwell a loser…
Nikkita Lyons as already in the ring doing one of her Tae Kwon Do katas. Ariana Grace got a televised entrance…
John’s Thoughts: Uhm? There’s a part of me that thinks that horny Twitter might blow up for this match. Just a thought.
5. Ariana Grace vs. Nikkita Lyons in a first round match of the NXT Women’s Breakout Tournament. Lyons took down Grace with an Alligator Roll. Grace avoided a roundhouse. Grace put Lyons into a armbar. Lyons powered up into a power bomb to escape the hold. Grace worked on Lyons’s left arm with methodical offense. Grace put Lyons in a Judo elbow headlock.
Lyons got to her feet and tossed Grace into the turnbuckles. Lyons hit Grace with a elbow. Lyons hit Grace with two high roundhouses. Lyons hit Grace with a German Suplex and back Back Hook Kick. Lyons hit Grace with her split leg drop finisher for the win.
Nikkita Lyons defeated Ariana Grace via pinfall in 3:09 to advance to the semi-finals of the NXT Women’s Breakout Tournament.
John’s Thoughts: A bit rough, but both women are still developing in terms of their in-ring ability. Grace looks a bit rough, but she is better than a lot of the green talent we see on NXT 2.0. Anthony Carelli (a.k.a. Santino Marella) is her father, so she should have some experience in MMA and Pro Wrestling. She talked about her beauty pageant experience, and she does look good. No kidding, I wouldn’t be surprised if horny twitter focuses on this match given how they usually blow up over Lyons anyway.
The show cut back to the Ivy Nile Challenge. She was beating bigger men at Battle Ropes. She also beat them at pullups which also had the added weight of giant metal chains…
A sponsored hype package aired to hype Natalya vs. Cora Jade. Vic Jospeh hyped Natalya vs. Cora Jade for after the break…[c]
John’s Thoughts: I’m liking these Ivy Nile challenge videos. It reminds me of those Mark Henry feats of strength challenges from back in the day.
Xia Li and Tamina were featured in a WWE Asian and Pacific Islander PSA…
The Viking Raiders cut one of their grunting viking promos…
John’s Thoughts: Ugh, can these two guys just drop the dumb Christian Bale Batman voices in their promos? Please?
The commentary team advertised Tony D’Angelo vs. Santos Escobar and Bron Breakker giving an answer to Joe Gacy’s ultimatum for next week’s show…
Entrance for the next match took place. Wade Barrett noted that Natalya holds the record for having the most wins as a woman in WWE (really? I almost thought she had a Dolph Ziggler esque record?)…
6. Natalya vs. Cora Jade. Both women started the match with two stalemate sequences. Jade landed an armdrag in the next chain wrestling sequence. Both women traded rollups and countered each others’ moves. Jade hit Natalya with forearms and a huracanrana. Natalya blocked a Sharpshooter attempt and rolled to ringside. The show cut to picture-in-picture.[c]
Natalya put Jade in a Surfboard. Jade rolled out and gave Natalya a shotgun dropkick. Jade slapped Natalya in the face. Natalya came back with a boot. Jade countered a suplex with an armdrag (you could clearly see Natalya call the spot).
[Overrun] Jade hit Natalya with a knee against the rope. Jade hit Natalya with a Tornado DDT for a two count. Natalya staggered Jade on the top rope with a right hand. Jade shoved Natalya off the top rope. Jade jumped over Natalya. Natalya countered Jade into a rollup. Jade escaped a Sharpshooter. Natalya caught Jade with a right hand for a two count. Natalya pummeled Jade with punches and then gave her a Snap Suplex into the bottom rope.
Natalya slammed Jade’s leg into the ringpost several times. Jade escaped a leg stretch by yanking Natalya into the ringpost. Jade got an inside cradle for a two count. Jade hit Natalya with a boot and enzuigiri for a two count. Jade hit Natalya with a slingshot double stomp for a two count. Jade hit Natalya with a ugly Sliced Bread #2 for a two count. Barrett noted that Jade was selling a leg injury. Natalya countered a jackknife pin into a rollup for a two count.
Jade put Natalya in a Sharpshooter. Jade went for a Missile Dropkick but Natalya dragged Jade into a Sharpshooter. Jade almost reached the rope twice, but Natalya dragged Jade to the center of the ring both times. Jade passed out for the loss.
Natalya defeated Cora Jade via ref stoppage in 14:11.
Natalya lifted up Jade and gave her a handshake and hug. The show abruptly ended because they got to their allotted overrun limit…
John’s Thoughts: The match was actually pretty underwhelming for the first half. It was a bit methodical, rough, and you could see them calling spots on the camera. What kept the match fun was the crowd being really into. The match really picked up in the 2nd half once they gave Cora Jade the injury storyline. I felt like they should have had Natalya target Jade’s leg earlier in the match to plant the seed early and have it flourish throughout for a better overall match. I just thought that would have put Jade over better. The match was still good, and they decided to give Jade and Natalya the old Stone Cold and Bret Hart pass-out finish (sans blood).
Solid NXT show with a large focus on the women of NXT. I actually thought that the women carried the show well tonight. They even gave Ivy Nile a bunch of random TV time with her whole workout challenge, which I thought was fun. I kinda wanna see Ivy Nile go against Mark Henry at some weight challenges. I’ll be by in a bit with my audio review for the Dot Net members and Patreon Patrons…
Waller and Solo are more than ready. Call them up now before they get NXT-buried
Cora Jade is trash in human form.
“For some reason, Stephanie McMahon gave me Joe Gacy vibes when she was talking about inclusion.”
Joe Gacy is Stephanie McMahon in drag.