7/5 NXT 2.0 results: Moore’s review of Bron Breakker vs. Cameron Grimes for the NXT Title, Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne vs. Roxanne Perez and Cora Jade for the NXT Women’s Tag Titles, Carmelo Hayes vs. Grayson Waller for the NXT NA Title, The Creeds vs. Roderick Strong and Damon Kemp for the NXT Tag Titles

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By John Moore, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)

NXT 2.0 “Great American Bash”
Live from Orlando, Florida at the WWE Performance Center
Aired July 5, 2022 on USA Network

[Hour One] The show started off with a pool party scene hosted by NXT UK Tag Team Champions Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen. Members of the NXT roster previewed the Great American Bash show…

Vic Joseph and Wade Barrett were on commentary. Alicia Taylor was the ring announcer. At ringside, there were America themed decorations along with food set up on park tables…

1. “Toxic Attraction” Jacy Jayne and Gigi Dolin (w/Mandy Rose) vs. Roxanne Perez and Cora Jade for the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championships. Jade and Jayne started out the match with a collar and elbow lockup. Both women traded collar and elbow armdrags. Jade got a rollup for a two count. Jade rallied with strikes. Dolin tagged in and took an uppercut from Jade. Perez tagged in and hit Dolin with a series of forearms. Jade tagged in but the referee didn’t count it which allowed Toxic Attraction to get cheap shots on Perez. The show cut to picture-in-picture.[c]

Toxic Attraction had the advantage during the commercial with quick tags and isolation on Perez. Perez and Jayne took each other out with dropkicks at the same time. Dolin and Jade tagged in. Jade hit Dolin with a huracanrana and enzuigiri. Jade hit Dolin with a knee in the corner for a two count. Jayne tagged in and took a boot from Jade. Jade got a two count off Jayne. Perez tagged in. Perez and Jade hit Jayne with a Legsweep Missile Dropkick combo to give Perez a two count. Jade tagged in and the face team hit Jayne with stereo superkicks. Rose pulled the referee away which caused him to eject her from ringside. Jade rolled up Jaye for the two count. Perez and Rose tagged in. Dolin gave Perez a boot for a two count. Jade dumped Jayne to ringside. Perez hit Dolin with Pop Rocks (Code Red) for the win.

Roxanne Perez and Cora Jade defeated Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne via pinfall in 10:29 to become the new NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions. 

John’s Thoughts: Good match. I’m a bit surprised with the title change because I thought they were going to have Jade lose the match and possibly plant the seeds for a Jade heel turn with Jade wanting Perez to cash in her guaranteed title shot on the tag titles. Speaking of which, are they going to give Perez and Jade a prolongued title run? Or is this a setup for character development for Jade and Perez?

Tony D’Angelo and Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo confronted Joaquin Wilde, Elektra Lopez, and Cruz Del Toro. D’Angelo showed pictures of Santos Escobar in the hospital. D’Angelo said he put him there for that prank call last week. D’Angelo told Legado to fall in line or they’ll end up like Santos…

Wes Lee made his entrance for the next match…[c]

Kit Wilson and Elton Prince, the Pretty Deadly duo. They talked about coming from Essex, one of the modeling capitals of the world. They talked about how disgusting beer was and how that reminds them of Briggs and Jensen…

Trick Williams made his entrance in boxer’s robe. NXT North American Champion Carmelo Hayes was at ringside with him…

2. Wes Lee vs. Trick Williams (w/Carmelo Hayes). Williams started the match with a takedown. Trick boulder tossed Lee across the ring. Lee hit Trick with a chop block and facebuster. Trick rolled to ringside to drink water and recover. Both men traded kick counters. Lee dropkicked Trick to send Trick back for a sip of water again with Melo. Lee missed a kick. Trick hit Lee with a twisting power slam for a two count. Lee escaped a resthold with an armdrag. Lee hit Trick with a CQC combo into a double stomp. Lee knocked Williams to ringside with a Liger Kick. Trick poured a foreign substance on his hands from the water bottle. Vic Joseph said it smelled like rubbing alcohol. Trick rubbed the foreign substance in the eyes of Lee to blind him. This allowed Trick to hit Lee with a cyclone kick for the victory.

 Trick Williams defeated Wes Lee via pinfall in 3:46. 

Tiffany Stratton had a makeup lady giving her makeup. Wendy Choo showed up and threw powder in Tiffany’s face. The show cut to picture-in-picture with both women brawling backstage…[c]

John’s Thoughts: Trick Williams is still apparently inexperienced. That said, NXT has been doing a solid job not exposing his inexperience by having him play the role of hype man. What trick does do well is all of the other non-wrestling stuff. He’s a good heel, hype man, and talker. I thought Lee carried him decently here. I also like the old school “foreign substance” finish to put heat on the heel while protecting the plucky babyface.

The match started during the commercial break…

3. Wendy Choo vs. Tiffany Stratton. Tiffany slammed Wendy’s hand into the ringpost. Tiffany focused her offense on Wendy’s hand. Tiffany countered a sunset flip into a double stomp for a two count. Tiffany continued to attack the hand of Choo. Choo came back with a Belly to Belly suplex. Choo did a cartweel into an elbow. Choo hit Tiffany with a nap time crossbody. Stratton countered Choo into a pop up power bomb for a two count. Choo countered a power bomb into a huracanrana.

Choo hit Stratton with a Book End for the two count. Choo put Stratton in a rear naked choke. Stratton escaped by twisting the injured hand. Choo hit Stratton with a Brainbuster for a two count. Stratton countered a German Suplex by landing on her feet. Stratton kicked Choo and then followed up with a Twisting Vader Bomb for the victory.

Tiffany Stratton defeated Wendy Choo via pinfall in 5:05 of on-air time. 

Highlights from the match and picture-and-picture portion aired…

John’s Thoughts: A well worked match. As grating as the Wendy Choo character is, the woman playing the role wrestles well. Tiffany Stratton is coming along really well in terms of her in-ring development. She had a rough first few matches in her career, but ever since the first few matches she’s cleaned things up immensely. She’s also very athletic and it translates to her moves set well.

McKenzie Mitchell interviewed Cora Jade and Roxanne Perez. Both of them talked about how they are so happy to win the tag titles with their best friend. Perez said she wants to end Toxic Attraction once and for all by cashing in her guaranteed title shot on  Mandy Rose next week…

Cameron Grimes confronted Bron Breakker and asked him how his shoulder was feeling. Breakker said it’s fine, though he was wincing a bit. Grimes said he’s going to do whatever it takes to beat Breakker later on…

Apollo Crews was shown backstage heading to the ring…[c]

Apollo Crews made his entrance to new music (sounds a bit generic as opposed to his last two themes that had lyrics). Crews said he wanted to share something with the crowd. He said over the past year his kids stopped watching WWE due to them not liking what his father was doing. He said his kids watch WWE again after he reutrned to NXT. He said his kids put a spark in his career. He told his kids through the camera that he loves them.

Crews said he sees a lot of young hungry talent in NXT. He said he’s looking forward to face people like Tony D’Angelo, Nathan Frazer, Grayson Waller, or Carmelo Hayes. He said he can also make magic in the ring with the man in the NXT title match, Cameron Grimes. He was cut off by Giovani Vinci, who wore a business suit. Vinci talked about how Crews left him off his list. He said he can keep up with Crews athletically, but he can also outperform Crews, in style. Crews dared Vinci to enter the ring to challenge him now. Vinci said he is dressed for a night out at the town rather than a match. Vinci said Crews will lose to Vinci next week.

McKenzie Mitchell asked Ivy Nile if Diamond Mine is imploding. Nile talked about how Diamond Mine wasn’t just a catchphrase, Diamond Mine is forever. Ivy Nile then broke up a fight between Tatum Paxley and the Chance and Carter duo. Nile told Paxley she was proud of her sticking up for herself and improving. Nile invited Paxley to a workout at the Diamond Mine dojo…

Grayson Waller cut a promo in the locker room, talking about how happy he was to get that autographed merch last week. He said he’s going to win the North American Championship. The camera cut to Trick and Melo. Melo  said he was once boys with Waller. Melo said Waller is common while Melo is special. Trick and Melo walked off….[c]

John’s Thoughts: Decent enough promo segment from Crews, who’s has gotten way better on the mic than his last stint in NXT. There wasn’t too much substance to the promo though, other than him setting up some potential future opponents. It’s interesting that they had Giovani Vinci confront Crews. Vinci actually has the same strengths and weaknesses as Crews, Athletic guys who struggle charismatically. Crews got better as a character during his Nigerian Prince run. Hopefully Vinci finds himself as a character too.

[Hour Two] A JD McDonagh promo vignette aired. He said the Irish Ace was born when his father told him at the age of 3 that he should reach out to be the best at whatever he does. Highlights were shown of McDonagh’s career in WWE so far. He said next week, NXT 2.0 will change forever. The graphic said that McDonagh will make his return to NXT next week…

The doctor was shown checking on Bron Breakker’s injured shoulder…

Entrances for the next match took place. Carmelo Hayes got an upgraded entrance where Trick Williams set up Melo as hype man. Melo also got sparkler pyro. Vic Joseph noted that Melo’s attire was inspired by Allen Iverson and the USA Olympic basketball team…

John’s Thoughts: I really like the Allen Iverson inspiration from Melo. Iverson was always judged initially for being an undersized player in the NBA, but he proved everybody wrong by becoming one of the best shooting guard of all time. In pro wrestling, you can argue that Melo is undersized. Here’s hoping that Melo can prove everybody wrong in that case by pulling his version of the assent of Iverson.

4. Carmelo Hayes (w/Trick Williams) vs. Grayson Waller for the NXT North American Championship. Waller wanted to start the match with the code of honor, but Melo wasn’t buying it. Both men traded rollups and then rung each other’s bells with right hands. Melo avoided kicks and hit Waller with a back kick. Melo avoided a stunner attempt. Waller hit Melo with a discus elbow. Melo caught Waller on the top rope with a gamengiri and draping springboard leg drop for a two count. Waller recovered and dumped Melo to ringside. The show cut to picture-in-picture.[c]

Waller kicked out of a pin attempt. Hayes hit Waller with La Mistica for a two count. Melo dragged Waller to the center of the ring in a crossface. Waller escaped with a rollup. Melo blocked a Kimura. Once both men got to their feet, they took each other out with dropkicks. Both men went to their corners to recover and soak in This is Awesome chants. Both men traded fatigued strikes. Hayes got the upper hand and hit Waller with a springboard lariat.

Waller tripped up Melo and hit Melo with an innovative Blockbuster Unprettier. Melo kicked out at two. Melo came at Waller with a throat punch. Waller managed to hit Melo with The Stunner. Melo rolled to ringside to avoid the pin. Waller was about to do hit rolling stunner but Trick Williams got in the way. Wes Lee flew in and attacked Trick. Waller went for his finisher, but Melo countered it into a Codebreaker. Melo hit Waller with the top rope scissors kick for the win.

Carmelo Hayes defeated Grayson Waller via pinfall in 11:43 to retain the NXT North American Championship. 

John’s Thoughts: A great match with both men overcoming the handicap most heel vs. heel matches have in terms of the crowd not having a vested interest in a winner. They overcame that with their athleticism and innovation. Speaking of innovation, that was a cool Blockbuster Unprettier that Waller performed. He might want to use that as a finisher as it doesn’t require as much startup as his rolling stunner.

A random QR code was on the screen. I scanned the code and it led to a black WWE.com page that said 8:10:11. Ok?

John’s Thoughts: Last time I saw random QR codes in a pro wrestling character context, it led to Sami Callihan unearthing his scrapped NXT “Hacker” gimmick, where for some reason being a Hacker also gave you teleportation and magic powers. I don’t think this is the case here, but I can’t help but remember that gimmick that Callihan likes now for some reason, but NXT was good to scrap it before Callihan’s NXT debut.

McKenzie Mitchell interviewed Xyon Quinn who said he is the future of NXT…

Ivy Nile was hyping up both Diamond Mine teams for the next match…

Roderick Strong and Damon Kemp made their entrance first…[c]

McKenzie Mitchell reminded Mandy Rose that Gigi and Jacy lost their titles and Perez is cashing in her title shot for the women’s championship. Rose said that Gigi and Jacy lost the title before and won it right back, and she’ll assume the same will happen soon. Rose said Perez made the biggest mistake of her life. Rose said she wonders if Perez will even make it to the title match next week…

Andre Chase was teaching a class on the Declaration of Independence. Bodhi Hayward was dosing off. Hayward said that he can’t get sleep due to his roommate, Thea Hail, not allowing him to sleep. Hail said they were watching Money in the Bank. Random student, Chad, talked about how John Adams says that the 2nd of July should be Independence Day. Chase did one of his usual F-nomn rants asking who the hell did John Adams beat? Chase said “I am America”. Chase kicked Chad out of the class. Thea Hail said that they should go on a trip to England. Chase liked the idea….

John’s Thoughts: Shut up Chad!

The Creeds made their entrance…

5. “The Creed Brothers” Julius Creed and Brutus Creed vs. “Diamond Mine” Roderick Strong and Damon Kemp for the NXT Tag Team Championships. Brutus and Roderick started the match with amateur chain wrestling. Brutus swatted Roddy out of the air with a pounce. Julius and Damon tagged in. Kemp did a leapfrog. Julius countered Damon into a suplex. Kemp hit Julius with a German Suplex after the distraction by Roddy. Strong tagged in. Julius blocked a suplex. Strong took down Julius with knees. Wade Barrett and Vic Joseph talked about how the Street Profits may or may not split up.

Julius tripped up Damon and tagged in Brutus. Julius gave Brutus a Gutwrench Suplex onto Kemp. The Creeds traded quick tags to cut the ring in half on Kemp. Julius dropkicked Kemp to ringside. Strong tossed Kemp right back in. Julius dumped Kemp back outside. Brutus hit Kemp with his signature diving cannonball. The show cut to picture-in-picture.[c]

Kemp and Strong cut the ring in half on Julius. Strong hit Julius with clinch moves. Julius shoved Strong away. Damon Kemp tagged in and cut Julius off at the pass to his tag partner. Julius gave Damon a Gutwrench Suplex to tag in Brutus. Brutus tripped Kemp and hit him with clubbing blows. Brutus did a backflip for show. Brutus yanked Strong in the ring. Strong slapped Julius to fire him up. This allowed him to nail Brutus with leaping knees while Brutus was distracted.

Strong and Kemp cut the ring in half on Brutus with tags and isolation. Brutus got a two count off an inside cradle. Brutus tossed Kemp into the corner. Julius and Roddy tagged in. Julius hit Strong with clotheslines and release Belly to Belly suplexes. Julius hit Roddy with hockey punches and a cartwheel suplex. Julius did a leapfrog over Damon and hit him with a Cartwheel Suplex. Julius hit Kemp with the basement lariat for the win.

The Creed Brothers defeated Damon Kemp and Roderick Strong via pinfall in 12:13 to retain the NXT Tag Team Championships. 

Vic Joseph noted that Julius is continuing to glare at Roderick Strong. The Creeds helped Kemp to his feet and the three men celebrated. Strong stood to the side and glared at the Creeds with a confused look…

The show cut to a vignette. A man was shown writing math equations. The man said he sees fights and real-life problems like a math equation. He was shown also beating up random guys in a wrestling ring. This vignette was to introduce some wrestler named “Axiom”…

John’s Thoughts: Based off the accent and haircut, a lot of people are assuming that this is the former A-Kid. I did like the vignette. Reminds me of the Lucha Underground introductory vignettes. I hope the mathematician gimmick is just an aspect of his character and not overpowering his presentation. We’ll wait and see on that one.

A hype vignette aired for the upcoming NXT title match…[c]

John’s Thoughts: A nice tag team match in the continual storyline about the implosion of Diamond Mine. The Creeds and Strong were their usual good selves. The one who continues to improve every time he’s in the ring is Bobby Steveson, Damon Kemp. If he’s already this good, how good will his brother, Gable Steveson, be once he starts wrestling matches on TV?

McKenzie Mitchell interviewed Von Wagner, Robert Stone, and Sofia Cromwell. Stone said it was a travesty that Wagner is not wrestling on the Great American Bash. Solo Sikoa showed up and said you don’t see someone like Sikoa complain not getting chances. Sikioa said Wagner was running around like people owe his ass somethin. Stone started to complain, but Von Wagner said “Hold on, I got this”. Wagner said that Stone and Cromwell don’t speak for him. Wagner challenged Solo to a fight on the spot. They tried to brawl and were pulled apart by referees and Norman Smiley…

John’s Thoughts: Yes! The return of bad Von Wagner promos. I shouldn’t be happy to see his bad promos, but it’s kinda a NXT 2.0 guilty pleasure. No wonder they gave the guy two mouthpieces. Maybe Wagner should give one of those mouthpieces to Giovani Vinci?

Vic Joseph and Wade Barrett checked in from ringside. The following matches were hyped for next week: Mandy Rose vs. Roxanne Perez for the NXT Women’s Championship and Apollo Crews vs. Giovanni Vinci.

Bron Breakker and Cameron Grimes got the World Championship match introductions where the camera followed both men on their way to the ring. Grimes had gold lining on his ring gear and vest. Bron Breakker wore a United States Flag singlet. Alicia Taylor handled the formal in-ring championship introductions. Wade Barrett noted that he can relate to Bron Breakker now because Wade had to relinquish his IC title due to a shoulder injury and how devastating that felt…

6. Bron Breakker vs. Cameron Grimes for the NXT Championship. Breakker shoved Grimes away to start the match. Breakker got Grimes to a knee with a side headlock. Grimes got his hand on Breakker’s injured shoulder causing Breakker to retreat. Breakker put Grimes into an alligator roll. Grimes reversed a suplex into a few pun attempts. Breakker hit Grimes with a corner splash. Grimes continued to go after the injured shoulder of Breakker. Breakker took down Grimes with a lariat heading into commercial.[c]

[Overrun] The DVR has 8 minutes allocated for the overrun. Grimes focused his attack on Breakker’s injured shoulder during the picture-in-picture. Breakker hit Grimes with a delayed vertical suplex. Breakker continued to wince at his injured shoulder. Grimes tossed Breakker to ringside and hit him with a PK from the apron, followed by a cannonball. Grimes put the boots to Breakker. Grimes got a one count in the ring. Grimes hit Breakker in the shoulder with a PK for a one count. Grimes put Breakker’s injured shoulder into an armbar.

Breakker kicked out of the next pin attempt at two. Breakker no sold Grime’s roundhouse kicks and tackled Grimes into the corner. Breakker continued to sell the shoulder. Breakker hit Grimes with a spinebuster. The commentators noted that it looked like Breakker was getting the worst out of all his moves due to the injury. They also noted that Breakker wasn’t fighting with his right side. Breakker hit Grimes with a spinebuster. Grimes hit Breakker with a Spanish Fly power slam for a two count. Grimes hyperextended Breakker’s shoulder on the top rope.

Both men brawled to the top rope. Breakker hit Grimes with a Frankensteiner for a two count. Breakker stopped on a dime off a missed spear as to not tackle the turnbuckle again. Breakker powered out of a shoulder submission. Grimes shoved Breakker shoulder first. Grimes hit Breakker with a Cave In. Breakker kicked out at two. Grimes pointed to the moon and went for a top rope Cave In, but Breakker caught him mid air with a spear for the victory.

Bron Breakker defeated Cameron Grimes via pinfall in 12:33 to retain the NXT Championship.

Bron Breakker was celebrating his title defense on the stage as the WWE Signature flashed on the bottom of the screen. The show wasn’t finished as JD McDonagh, Jordan Devlin, attacked Bron Breakker from behind. JD hit Breakker with a Devil Inside (Saito Suplex) through the food table set up at ringside. JD told Breakker that NXT’s necessary evil was here. The show closed….

John’s Thoughts: An entertaining title match with Bron Breakker and Cameron Grimes telling a great story around Bron’s injured arm. You could tell the fans in attendance were into that story too as the crowd seemed very engaged in the nearfalls. By the end of the match, I was actually sold that Bron Breakker might lose the title with the out being the shoulder injury, but after he kicked out of the Cave In you had to believe that Breakker was going over. Interesting to see where Grimes goes after this. Again, I fear him going to the main roster because that might lead to him regressing to his goofball persona.

A nice surprise in JD McDonagh blindsiding Bron Breakker to set up Breakker’s next title feud. I do wonder who ends up taking the title from Breakker eventually. Could it be McDonagh? Could it be Crews? Could it be Solo Sikoa? Who knows. What I do know is that Shawn Michaels, who was the person in charge of NXT UK, is very high on JD McDonagh. This could be an entertaining championship feud. See how much more interesting the world title feuds are now, now that Bron Breakker is no longer feuding with Joe Gacy and Gacy’s bath robe ninjas? This was a solid in-ring focused show with solid in-ring storytelling. Even the Trick Williams vs. Wes Lee match was fun with the foreign substance finish.

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Readers Comments (2)

  1. The QR code says:
    8:10:11

  2. Axiom is a way better name than A-Kid, if that is indeed the same person.

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