By John Moore, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
NXT 2.0
Live from Orlando, Florida at the WWE Performance Center
Aired July 12, 2022 on USA Network
[Hour One] Highlights from last week’s NXT Great American Bash themed show aired…
Roxanne Perez was attacked in the most dangerous location in NXT, the NXT parking lot, before the show. Robbie Brookside, trainers, and Cora Jade were checking on the injured Perez…
John’s Thoughts: I don’t think we ever discovered who attacked Kenta in that parking lot. I still blame Samoa Joe’s kidnapper ninjas who hang out around NXT parking lots after the Universal Studios Impact Zone closed shop.
Vic Joseph and Wade Barrett were on commentary. Alicia Taylor was the ring announcer…
1. Apollo Crews vs. Giovanni Vinci. Vinci and Apollo started out the match with a collar and elbow with Vinci getting the first takedown. Apolo came back with a snapmare, but Vinci went right back into a side headlock. Both men got to their feed and no sold a shoulder tackle. After running the ropes, Vinci took down Crews with a lariat. Both men traded chest slaps.
Crews managed to get momentum leading to a takedown off a dropkick. Crews hit Vinci with a Super Blockbuster for a two count. Vinci dumped Crews to ringside with a gutwrench suplex. Vinci press slammed Crews heading into the picture-in-picture.[c]
Apollo ended Vinci’s momentum by catching Vinci mid-air with a dropkick off a crossbody attempt. Crews rallied back with lariats and fired up the crowd with a kip up and roar. Crews hit Vinci with chained German Suplexes. This invoked a Suplex City chant. Both men traded counters. Vinci grounded Apollo by catching a kick and returning with a stiff lariat. There was an odd moment where the referee prevented Vinci from continuing his momentum. Crews recovered and went for a dive, but he dove right into Vinci’s signature deadlift suplex.
Vinci rolled up Crews for a two count. Crews came back with a lariat and twist out power bomb. Vinci rolled to ringside. Some random “fan” was taking pictures of Vinci. Vinci took the fan’s camera and tossed it in the ring. As the referee was distracted by Vinci, Xyon Quinn showed up and gave Crews a forearm. Vinci hit Crews with a Spirit Bomb for the win.
Giovani Vinci defeated Apollo Crews via pinfall in 12:09.
Quinn and Crews jawed at a distance. They gave Vinci his cheesy “Vittoria!” (which means “Victory”) effect…
John’s Thoughts: Solid TV match that gave Vinci a signature win while setting up a feud between Quinn and Crews. Crews is protected because of the interference. Vinci’s a great wrestler, but they really need to ditch and rework the entrance. I get they’re going for Euro Fashion week, but it comes off more as an opening to a 90s sitcom, like Full House, where the main characters turn and smile awkwardly at the camera.
McKenzie Mitchell interviewed Cora Jade about a Roxanne Perez health update. Jade was over the top, saying she doesn’t know who attacked Perez and she knew that she should have accompanied Perez to the Performance Center. Jade said it’s easy to assume it’s Toxic Attraction. She said those three bitches will have hell to pay…
Cameron Grimes was shown heading to the ring from backstage…[c]
John’s Thoughts: Jade acting hammy is making her the number 1 suspect (which is why I question putting the tag titles on them? Unless they’re going to take them off them soon.
Tiffany Stratton was at a nail salon, ranting about her feud with Wendy Choo. Stratton thanked the nail stylist, but then told her boss that she wasn’t good…
Cameron Grimes made his entrance in formal attire. He was slowly walking to the ring looking crestfallen. Grimes soaked in cheers and “to the moon” chants. Grimes said he really wishes he could come out here and give everyone an excuse as to why he didn’t leave last week with the NXT championship, but he can’t. The crowd chanted “you got robbed”. Grimes said he wasn’t robbed, he said he came into the night with a plan and even caved’ in Breakker.
Grimes said he couldn’t walk out of the arena with the NXT Title (he accidentally said North American Championship first, but then said he also had that on the mind due to losing the title.). Grimes said he couldn’t succeed after doing the right thing. JD McDonaugh made his entrance to interrupt, he still has his old NXT theme. He said he doesn’t want to kick a man while he’s down but Grimes needs to wrap up his pity party. JD said right after Grimes lost he became old news due to the Irish Ace walking through the door.
He said he fooled everyone who thought he was debuting this week. Grimes told JD to look at him. Grimes dared JD to attack him. He said he knows about the Irish Ace, but all we see is the Irish Asshole in the ring. An asshole chant ensued. JD gave Grimes a headbutt. Grimes came back with an Irish Whip. JD rolled away to avoid a Cave-in. Grimes yelled at JD while his theme played…
The Creed Brothers were running over their past match footage with Damon Kemp. Kemp thanked the Creeds for the advice and he’d like to run it back with the Creeds down the road. After the Creeds left, Roderick Strong showed up to berate Kemp, saying that Kemp cost him a tag team title. He said after Kemp embarrassed him, he’s going to embarrass Kemp next week. Strong said Kemp is an idiot for wanting to run it back…
Katana Chance and Kayden Carter made their rave entrance, but through the entrance ramp this time…[c]
John’s Thoughts: It wasn’t perfect, but that was the best babyface promo I’ve seen on TV in the 8 years I’ve been reviewing Trevor Lee/Cameron Grimes (remember, I’m so used to him cutting goofball promos). Again, he did flub a bit, but what I did like was him sounding like he was having a conversation with the fans as opposed to reading off a script. Him bouncing off the crowd’s chants directly and addressing his “North American” flub made him come off as organic. Grimes vs. McDonagh should be fun. I’m hoping Grimes continues to get a chance to come off as an organic babyface now that he’s had some character development.
McKenzie Mitchell interviewed Grayson Waller who was making excuses as to why he lost to Carmelo Hayes. He ultimately blamed Wes Lee for costing him the title…
The camera showed Cora Jade and medical trainers continuing to check on Roxanne Perez…
A replay was shown of a segment last week which set up Tatum Paxley vs. Kayden Carter, featuring Ivy Nile inviting Paxley to the Diamond Mine dojo for training…
2. Kayden Carter (w/Katana Chance) vs. Tatum Paxley. Paxley had the advantage initially but Carter came back with an axe kick and dropkick for a two count. Barrett noted that we don’t see Carter wrestle singles matches often. Carter dropkicked Tatum to ringside. Ivy Nile showed up to check on Paxley, and give her pointers. Paxley avoided a splash in the corner and hit Carter with a neckbreaker. Paxley hit Carter with a corkscrew flip for a two count.
Paxley hit Carter with headbutts in the corner (they looked bad). Carter rolled up Paxley into a twisting deathlock. Nile encouraged Paxley to get to the ropes. Paxley made her way to the bottom rope for the break. Paxley managed to reverse Carter into a rollup for the win.
Tatum Paxley defeated Kayden Carter via pinfall in 3:31.
John’s Thoughts: Paxley is still understandably rough. Those headbutts in particular looked really bad. That said she does have good camera presence and a good look. She’s someone to keep an eye on to see how quickly she improves. They have her in the right gimmick with the whole kohai-sempai relationship she has with Ivy Nile.
Joe Gacy and his bath robe ninjas interrupted Wade Barrett and Vic Joseph. I think Gacy renamed “The Dyad” as “The Schism”? He said his usual gibberish and then teased “The schism” showing up next week…
John’s Thoughts: I don’t think it was the name that was the turnoff. This whole act needs to go. Sucks too, because Gacy’s delivery is top notch. They’re just forcing all this weird low budget bath robe mess on him for some reason.
Sanga, Valentia Feroz, and Luisa Leon were enjoying footage of Sanga doing a cannonball in the pool. Duke Hudson showed up and said he wasn’t happy of all the water that Sanga got in his ears. This would lead to Sanga challenging Hudson to a match later in the show…[c]
Josh Briggs, Brooks Jensen, and Fallon Henley were drinking beers in a bar. Pretty Deadly, Kit Wilson and Elton Prince, showed up to confront Briggs and Jensen, saying that Briggs and Jensen were disrespecting the NXT UK Tag Team Championships. Jensen wanted a bar fight. Henley calmed everyone down by waving around a baton. She said they should have a fight next week in the ring…
3. Duke Hudson vs. Sanga. Sanga gave Hudson a whip and corner splash. Sanga hit Hudson with Snake Eyes and a shoulder tackle. Hudson grabbed Sanga by the beard to get some punches on him. Hudson hit Sanga with a DDT to barely get a one count. Hudson ripped at Sanga’s chest hair to keep momentum. Barrett and Joseph said that Duke should join the Maximum Male Models. Sanga fought out of the corner and hit Hudson with a sidewalk slam and elbow drop. Hudson came back with a back elbow and big boot. Sanga fought through with a chokeslam for the victory.
Sanga defeated Duke Hudson via pinfall in 3:01.
John’s Thoughts: Poor Duke, who continues to lose quickly to everyone. It’s weird too. I get that he was called up way too soon back in 2020, but I really thought they’ve done a good amount of work to finally get him main roster ready. I thought he was great coming out of his feud with Cameron Grimes. They just continue to use him to put other people over, which is weird for a guy that huge and good in the ring. Someone who is really good is Sanga though. I actually think he’s more main roster ready then his old tag partner Veer Mahan. He’s got good size and he can talk. Simple as that.
Mr. Stone, Sofia Cromwell, and Von Wagner were backstage. Stone hyped up Wagner. Stone and Cromwell talked about how good of a sports athlete Wagner is. Wagner cut them off saying that it’s about fighting. Wagner said we’re about to find out how good of a fighter Solo Sikoa really is. Solo said that Von Wagner is gonna have to try to do what he’s doing to everyone else, “on me!”. Solo vs. Wagner was happening after the break…[c]
An ad aired for WWE’s Fall House Show events…
[Hour Two] McKenzie Mitchell interviewed Mandy Rose and Toxic Attraction. McKenzie assumed Toxic Attraction attacked Roxanne Perez. Jayne denied it and joked about Perez getting hurt. Dolin noted that Perez just wasted her contract. McKenzie said she still thinks Mandy did it based off her threat last week. Rose said when you’re champ, everything falls into place…
Entrances for the next match took place. Both men brawled before the bell…
4. Solo Sikoa vs. Von Wagner (w/Mr. Stone). Solo and Wagner jawed at each other in the center of the ring. Both men were at a stalemate during the collar and elbow. Wagner and Solo traded side headlock and waistlock positions. Wagner took down Solo with a shoulder tackle. Solo tried to grind down Wagner with methodical holds. Wagner no-sold a shoulder tackle. Solo ran the ropes more and took down Wagner with a series of shoulder tackles and body slam. Solo hit Wagner with a head drop for a two count. Solo hit Wagner with a running senton. Wagner rolled to ringside to recover with Mr. Stone. The show cut to regular commercial.[c]
Wagner hit Solo with a big boot and continued to dominate him with methodical heel offense. Solo avoided a shoulder tackle in the corner and hit Wagner with a back suplex. Solo rallied back with right hands. Solo no sold a front kick to the face and gave Wagner a Samoan Drop. Solo gave Wagner a splash in the corner. Solo hit Wagner in the corner with the Umaga hip attack. Wagner tried to slam Solo’s head into the announce table, but Solo no-sold it. Wagner and Solo brawled to a double countout.
Solo Sikoa vs. Von Wagner ended in a double countout in about 6:50 of on-air time.
Solo and Wagner continued to brawl…
Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams were walking the streets, bragging about their wins last week. They had “groupies” with them, for a lack of a better term. Melo and Trick took them to hang out at a penthouse (which may or may not be the same penthouse that EC3 and Lio Rush used). One of the shawtys told Trick and Melo that it was time for the jacuzzi where Melo continued to brag…
Lash Legend was backstage dribbling a basketball. Lash Legend trash talked about Indi Hartwell. Legend headed to the ring and rolled the basketball away. The camera showed that a red bat stopped the ball from rolling…[c]
John’s Thoughts: Decent match between Solo and Wagner. Both guys have the family lineage and are crisp in the ring (Solo being more of a complete package though, being naturally an Uso). I’m okay with them stretching this out a bit, but I hope they add more story development to the story as opposed to have this copout finish just be there to stall the feud to fill time on a later show.
Vic Joseph and Wade Barrett advertised Summerslam. They then sent the show of Chace University’s field trip to London. Chace, Hayward, and Hail were enjoying the sights. Chace started ranting because one of his students said that Chace U was ranked #7 in the world…
Indi Hartwell got a televised entrance for the next match…
5. Indi Hartwell vs. Lash Legend. Hartwell gave Legend a back elbow. Legend and Hartwell blocked suplexes. Hartwell dumped Legend to ringside with a running forearm. Legend tackled Hartwell to the apron. Legend worked on Indi with methodical strikes and kept the match at a methodical pace. Hartwell rolled up Legend for a two count. Hartwell rallied back with punches and a sidewalk slam for a two count. Legend slammed Hartwell into the buckle. Alba Fyre showed up at the crows nest holding Legend’s basketball. Hartwell shoved Legend off the top rope. Hartwell then terribly botched her slingshot elbow finisher. Legend and Hartwell tried to cover up (not so well) by rolling each other up and Hartwell somehow getting the win.
Indi Hartwell defeated Lash Legend via pinfall in 3:45.
Fyre taunted Legend from a distance…
Several of the developmental women were getting their makeup done. Von Wagner and Solo Sikoa brawled into the makeup room with referees trying to stop them.
McKenzie Mitchell interviewed Legado Del Fantasma (Wilde, Del Toro, and Lopez) and D’Angelo and Stacks. McKenzie said that Legado is famous for parking lot attacks and wondered if they had anything to do with injuring Roxanne Perez. Lopez denied Legado having anything to do with attacking Roxanne Perez. D’Angelo said Lopez is the only one putting in any work in the criminal business for the D’Angelo family and Wilde and Del Toro need to prove themselves. Wilde, Del Toro, Stacks, and D’Angelo made their entrance heading into break…[c]
John’s Thoughts: Ooof. That match didn’t end up well. Not only does Lash still come off as a bit rough, but Indi totally flubbed that slingshot elbow which she usually executes well (maybe Lash was out of position or something, but from what we could see that was Hartwell’s flub so I don’t want to put the blame whatsoever on Lash). Now that they’re doing live events again, maybe they don’t have to rush Legend to featured TV matches? (Again, this might have been Hartwell’s botch, but Legend isn’t quite ready for primetime yet either despite her being really good on the microphone). One thing that’s good is that it looks like WWE has given up on Legend’s cheesy talk show gimmick.
Solo and Wagner brawled to the parking lot. Norman Smiley joined the referees in trying to stop the fight. Sofia Cromwell calmed down Wagner. Mr. Stone got in Solo’s face. Solo chucked Stone into a trash can…
The mystery QR Code was on the screen again. This time it sent my phone to some picture with the words Quinn, Becky, Crews, Trick, Brock, and Toxic on a smartphone screen. For some reason the letters O and C were highlighted in yellow and the last C was in green. This looked to be over a smartphone keyboard…
6. Tony D’Angelo and Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo (w/Joaquin Wilde, Raul Mendoza) vs. Edris Enofe and Malik Blade. Enofe hit Stacks with a dropkick and armdrag. Blade tagged in. Enofe hit Stacks with tandem offense. D’Angelo managed to tag in and trade quick tags with Stacks to cut the ring in half on Enofe. Enofe managed to get a two count on Lorenzo with a sunset flip. Lorenzo came back with a running uppercut. Lorenzo and D’Angelo went back to isolating Enofe. Enofe managed to use a judo roll to tag in Blade ho had momentum against Lorenzo.
Blade hit Lorenzo with a leg drop and hit him with a spinebuster for a two count. D’Angelo shoved Enofe into the steel steps. Lorenzo rolled up Blade for a two count. Lorenzo hit Blade with a snake eyes. D’Angelo tagged in and hit Blade with a swinging backbreaker for the win.
Tony D’Angelo and Channing Lorenzo defeated Malik Blade and Edris Enofe via pinfall in 5:23.
D’Angelo ordered Wilde and Del Toro to put the boots to Blade, who complied. Legado hit Blade with their Legsweep Leg Lariat combo to leave Blade lying…
McKenzie Mitchell asked Nikkita Lyons on who she thinks attacked Perez. Lyons said she is hearing all over social media that she’s a suspect. She said she’s not the type of person to attack a person from behind. She said if someone needs to challenge Rose now, she’s ready to put on her gear to challenge Rose for the NXT Women’s Championship…[c]
John’s Thoughts: Jade’s hammy delivery made her suspect while Nikkita’s bad acting made her a suspect. I’m partially kidding (Lyons was good in her WOW vignette, let’s get her produced better at least). Not sure what the QR code thing is? It’s either a big debut, a red herring dud, or some lame marketing thing. We all better hope that clicking on these QRs don’t give us all some weird WWE virus on our phones or something.
A vignette aired for Axiom (a.k.a. A-Kid). This week he talked about being a comic book fan and how he wanted to be a superhero growing up. he said he wanted to inspire others and be a symbol. He said he remains anonymous because it’s not about him, it’s about everyone else (A-Kid was short for “anonymous kid”). He said “I am Axiom” as he revealed a new black luchador mask that he wears…
John’s Thoughts: Okay, he’s not just “math guy”, he’s a smart luchador. WWE isn’t usually good at pushing non Rey Mysterio luchadors, but Axiom is more technical than your usual high flying luchador; but so is Santos Escobar and he’s not on Raw and Smackdown for some reason. I mentioned how the vignettes reminded me of Lucha Underground, but they are very similar to Ricochet/Prince Puma’s presentation as well. Here’s hoping that Axiom doesn’t present himself like Ricochet did initially on the main roster by laying it on too thick with the love for superheroes (on a side note, I’m curious as to what WWE had in mind when they wanted to give Blake Christian a “superhero” gimmick?). In-ring though, he should be different enough from Ricochet/Prince Puma because A-Kid wrestles more of a MMA based style as opposed to primarily aerial.
JD McDonagh vs. Cameron Grimes and Briggs and Jensen vs. Pretty Deadly for the NXT UK Tag Team Championships were announced for next week’s NXT show…
Mandy Rose, Gigi Dolin, and Jacy Jayne made their entrance for Rose’s presumed title defense. Alicia Taylor announced the match as a NXT Women’s Title match. Rose took the mic and called the fans peasants. Rose said Roxanne Perez isn’t woman enough to suck it up and challenge for the title tonight. Rose said Perez couldn’t beat her anyway and noone can. There were dueling “shut the hell up” and “let her talk” chants. Rose reiterated that no one can beat her and said that nothing will change.
Cora Jade made her entrance holding her skateboard. Jade said Rose can shut the hell up. Jade said Rose’s night isn’t over yet because everyone was promised a NXT Women’s Championship match and that’s what they’re going to get. Jade said she’s willing to step in and take the title from Rose. Roxanne Perez ended up making her entrance, selling a gut injury with rib tape. Cora Jade tried to advise Perez against it, but then said that Perez should go kick Rose’s ass…
6. Mandy Rose (w/Gigi Dolin, Jacy Jayne) vs. Roxanne Perez (w/Cora Jade) for the NXT Women’s Championship. Perez started with a Thesz Press. Rose got to her feet and punted Perez in the gut. Perez rolled up Rose for a two count. Rose caught Perez and hit her with a fallaway slam. Rose hit Perez with knees to the injured ribs. Perez came back with a shotgun dropkick while selling the ribs. The crowd chanted “Rok-C Two Belts!”. Rose draped Perez’s injured gut on the top rope. Rose tackled Perez’s ribs into the apron heading into picture-in-picture.[c]
[Overrun] Rose was jabbing her elbow into the injured rib of Perez. Rose hit Perez with a spinebuster for a two count. Perez rolled up Rose for several pin attempts. Rose tackled Perez into the corner, focusing on the ribs. Perez got a sunset flip for a two count. Perez staggered Rose with a high knee. Perez hit Rose with a high crossbody, but sold the ribs. Joseph said a win for Perez would be a “Liv Morgan moment”. Perez rallied with clotheslines and uppercuts. Perez hit Rose with a Russian Legsweep for a two count. Rose escaped a Pop Rocks attempt. Rose crashed and burned into the turnbuckle when Perez avoided her.
Perez hit Rose with a suicide dive. Perez sent Dolin and Jayne into the ringpost to get them out of the way. Perez hit Rose with Pop Rocks at ringside. Jayne and Rose distracted the ref inside of the ring, which allowed Cora Jade to nail Perez with the Women’s Tag Team title. Mandy Rose hit Roxanne Perez with the running knee finisher for the win.
Mandy Rose defeated Roxanne Perez via pinfall in 9:17 to retain the NXT Women’s Championship.
After Toxic Attraction left, Jade entered the ring, carrying her skateboard. Jade kept calling Perez selfish. Jade beat up Perez with her skateboard which broke in half. Jade yelled that she brought Perez here and she hates her. NXT closed…
John’s Thoughts: A fun match to lead to the Cora Jade heel turn, but an odd booking path they took to get to it? First off with the match, the match was laid out well making Roxanne Perez look strong in defeat. Perez did a good job selling the rib injury and Rose seemed good in the ring when she had a story to focus on, which was pummel injured ribs. Only thing that really hurt the outcome of the match was NXT laying it on way thick that Jade was going to turn heel on Perez. That said, why did they book the heel turn like this, with them also putting the titles on Jade and Perez, who still have them.
As I noted several times over the past few weeks, it would have been logical to have Toxic Attraction cheat to defend the titles (thus extending their title reign) and have Jade try to conflict Perez over cashing in the not-Money in the Bank contract on either the tag team or women’s titles. That would have had logical nuance and lead more into Jade’s “selfish” heel logic. Here, Perez took Jade to the top and didn’t have to expend the tag titles. Yes it makes Jade look petty, but petty over winning? It’s not like what they did was better either because all they did was make Jade ham it up to make her look most in line for the heel turn. That aside, let’s see where they go with Cora Jade as a heel now. It’s interesting, it looked like WWE wanted to build up Jade to be their next plucky women’s babyface, but once Rok-C was signed they shifted that character to her. Jade has played a dark gothic heel from what I hear on the indies, so this might be a good fit. Overall, decent NXT with a decent whodunnit (that they laid it on a bit thick as to the reveal). Anyways, what are they going to do with the women’s NXT tag titles. The Raw and Smackdown ones are already in limbo, so do they just go there too?
It’s so obvious it’s Jade,but who else could it be if not Toxic Attraction?
I feel like they really missed the boat on Duke Hudson. Maybe if he went to impact he could be a champion / big fish / small pond kinda guy?
I thought the Jade turn was too telegraphed. I didn’t suspect it was Jade until the match almost ended and here’s why. Perez was on the outside towards the end of the match and she fought off Toxic Attraction by herself. Where was Jade? Then I think Vic Joseph said something like “What is Jade doing” before Jade turned. Then,to me, when Jade was encouraging Perez to get back in the ring, that was way too long was way too telegraphed that you knew Jade was going to turn on her.
Did you also, that I think, that the skateboard split in two before Jade hit Perez with it?
Not a fan of Wordle then John?
I have friends that want me to get into that, but I just haven’t been dragged in quite yet…
Yes, I noticed after the fact that the QR was a wordle screen
I didn’t see the show, but as Fabian Aichner is Italian, the word was probably “Vittoria” with double t, which is the Italian word for victory.
It probably is. My lack of Italian knowledge and me constantly going from the screen to laptop made me miss the proper spelling. Mah bad
@John when shouted “Victoria” and “Vittoria” obviously sound very similar so no reason why you should have noticed, just thought I would let you know!