By John Moore, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
NXT 2.0 Heatwave
Live from Orlando, Florida at the WWE Performance Center
Aired August 16, 2022 on USA Network
[Hour One] NXT Heatwave started off with a narrated hype teaser to promote the advertised matches. The teaser was narrated by Paul Heyman…
John’s Thoughts: I’m curious, has “The wise man” Paul Heyman filled in for the role with Paul Levesque that William Regal once held? I’m sure most of us would agree that he’s pretty good at picking talent. Hearing Heyman do a teaser did give me ECW vibes. Oh shoot! I just remembered! Heat Wave was a ECW PPV! Interesting to see an ECW theme show as opposed to the usual WCW ones.
Vic Joseph and Wade Barrett were on commentary. Alicia Taylor was the ring announcer…
Entrances for the NXT North American Championship took place. Giovani Vinci’s theme sounded somewhat different and upgraded. Trick and Melo made their entrance with a garbage fire flaming in front of them. Melo burned a Giovani Vinci T-shirt…
1. Carmelo Hayes (w/Trick Williams) vs. Giovani Vinci for the NXT North American Championship. Vinci took down Melo with a shoulder tackle for a two count. Both men traded counters for a stretch. Melo caught Vinci with a springboard Sling Blade for a two count. Vinci came right back with a chest slap and springboard crossbody. Vinci carried Melo to the four corners while chopping Melo’s chest. Trick was wincing at the chops from ringside. Melo came back with a throat punch. Both men took each other out with flying lariats heading into picture-in-picture.[c]
Melo went for a springboard crossbody but he was caught out of the air. Vinci hit Melo with a rolling slam and moonsault for a two count. Melo tripped Vinci in the ropes and hit him with the Fadeaway for the two count. After a rollup, Hayes caught Vinci with a superkick. Vinci went for his signature deadlift catch suplex, but it was botched. Vinci quickly adjusted and hit Melo with a brainbuster for a two count. Melo reversed Vinci into a Final Cut Suplex for a two count.
Vinci backdropped Melo to ringside after Melo went for his finisher. Vinci hit Melo and Trick with a sweet tightrope High Fly Flow. Vinci hit Melo with a tightrope top rope moonsault. Trick put Melo’s foot on the bottom rope to break Vinci’s pin. Vinci hit Melo with a pullin lariat. Trick ran in the ring and Vinci power bombed Melo on Trick. Vinci hit Trick with a Spirit Bomb. Vinci went for a Spirit Bomb on Melo, but Melo reversed it into a Frankendriver for the rollup win.
Carmelo Hayes defeated Giovani Vinci via pinfall in 11:56 to retain the NXT North American Championship.
John’s Thoughts: A good pace setter match for the Heatwave themed show. The match was really good, but both men did seem to get a bit thrown off their game when they both botched Vinci’s Signature Deadlift Catch Suplex (I’ve never seen the guy miss the move, so this is just a simple accident). I do give Vinci credit though for picking up the pace by bringing back some of the cool tightrope Lucha stuff that we saw from him before he was in Imperium. The guy’s an athletic lucha freak. Hopefully they can run this back down the road and make this even more fun.
The Toxic Attraction Trio drove up to the WWE PC in a Range Rover. Mandy Rose approached Bron Breakker and told him that we’d all see if both of them leave with their top titles…
A Twitter video was shown of Julius Creed announcing that he will reveal what he found in the match footage last week that was so important to the future of Diamond Mine. The show then cut to Diamond Mine walking backstage, heading to the ring…[c]
A Von Wagner and Mr. Stone promo aired. Stone talked about how even though Wagner lost, Solo is out 4-6 weeks. Stone said Wagner is a freak of nature and if he wanted to join a NFL Preseason Squad, he’d be accepted like that. Wagner said it’s not the matter if your’re internet famous or popular with the media, the game has changed, but the rule remains the same. He said that no one smaller or weaker will survive in his jungle…
John’s Thoughts: Hey Von! You’re at least popular with me (again, his promos are a guilty pleasure of mine).
Roderick Strong, Julius Creed, Brutus Creed, and Damon Kemp made their entrance to the Creed Brothers’ theme. Julius talked about how he and Brutus were honored to learn under the learning tree of Roderick Strong. They talked about how that lead them to winning the NXT Tag Team Championship. Julius said despite their success, someone has been trying to undermine Diamond Mine recent. Julius called out Roderick Strong! Roderick asked why they point the finger at him. He said he started Diamond Mine and brought in the Creeds because he saw talented guys who needed guidance.
Strong said the Creeds are one of the best teams in WWE and he’d run them against the Usos any week. Julius said you can tell the Usos they can get it, but what he does know is that if Roddy gets a chance, he’ll stab them in the back. Brutus asked is Julius sure. Julius said yes. Brutus said he has Julius’s back. Roderick said Julius better think wisely. Julius told the production truck to run the tape. They showed the clip of Roderick Strong accidentally giving Julius a jumping knee. Julius claimed that Tony D’Angelo was signaling Roddy to backstab Julius. Roddy denied the allegations.
While Roddy was defending himself, Joe Coffey, Mark Coffey, and Wolfgang pummeled The Creeds and Kemp while Roddy went to a corner. Gallus went towards Roddy and put the boots to him. The Diamond Mine writhed in pain on the ground. The lights turned green as Gallus’s theme played. This was the exact scene from Apollo Crews’s vision last week…
John’s Thoughts: So, Apollo Crews doesn’t only have precog powers, but his powers also produce NXT spoilers to the USA audience? Interesting segment. I thought we were finally going to get to the implosion of Diamond Mine. Looks like they’re probably going to still delay that. The segment was a bit weird in terms of content. Julius really seemed to be reaching with his whole tapping thing. Just makes Julius look paranoid even if the writing is meant to make him smart. I assume there’s a bit of merit maybe? Because Roddy has been presented as a bit of a scumbag. Looks like we’re getting Diamond Mine vs. Gallus though. Hey! They all got to keep their names! Is this a Papa Paul influence? Looking forward to Gallus because I’m a huge fan of their group. Joe Coffey in particular is someone with a ton of potential.
McKenzie Mitchell interviewed Roxanne Perez about her upcoming match against Cora Jade. Perez talked about her stomach being in knots due to her facing her friend. She said that Jade has nowhere to hide now. Jade’s theme started playing to signal the match starting. Perez left the interview set…
Cora Jade made her entrance to her new heel theme…
Vic Joseph plugged a WWE NFT…[c]
Nikkita Lyons was hyping up Zoey Stark while she was doing bicep curls. JD McDonagh was shown having an ice bath…
Roxanne Perez quickly marched to the ring to start the match. For some reason it looks like Roxanne’s gear was referee stripes with paint all over it…
2. Roxanne Perez vs. Cora Jade. The action was quick early on. Perez missed a bit off a suicide dive. Jade slowed the pace down of the match. Perez came back with strikes and a shotgun dropkick. Perez dumped Jade to ringside. Jade blocked a suicide dive wiht a punch. Jade hit Perez with a suplex at ringside. The commercial cut to picture-in-picture.[c]
Jade had Perez in a butterfly stretch. Perez got a rollup for a two count. Jade and Perez traded rollups. Perez escaped a pin with a bridge. Jade and Perez took each other out with pump kicks. Perez rallied at Jade with forearms. Jade came back with a knee to the gut. Perez took down Jade with a rally of axe handle strikes. Perez hit Jade with a series of European Uppercuts. Perez hit Jade with a Russian Legsweep for a two count. Perez hit Jade with a Paige Turner for a two count. Jade escaped a Pop Rocks attempt. Jade tripped up Perez for a two count.
Jade took her kendo stick and missed. Perez took the kendo stick and teased hitting Jade but decided not to. Jade blindsided a distracted Perez and hit Perez with a DDT on top of the Kendo Stick for the victory.
Cora Jade defeated Roxanne Perez via pinfall in 11:41.
John’s Thoughts: To be completely honest, this was a bit underwhelming for me. Part of it is this “friendship” aspect. It feels forced and rushed. Jeremy Borash and crew are usually great with those Documentary profile packages, but they didn’t really do any of that for the supposed Jade and Perez friendship. NXT never really sold us that these two were longtime friends, and rushing to Jade’s heel turn doesn’t help. Generico-Steen? This is not! I also felt the match wasn’t anything to write home about. Roxanne Perez was her usual good self, but we’ve seen her in way better wars going back to the Ring of Honor days. Cora Jade felt a bit like the weak link. Her heel character work is great. I’m not sold on her in-ring yet. NXT is developmental, so hopefully she can develop a good heel in ring identity.
McKenzie Mitchell interviewed Briggs, Jensen, and Henley. With Briggs and Jensen holding their UK Tag Title belts. Before they could talk, Gallus showed up to confront them. Mark and Wolfgang bragged about hoding the titles for a long time. Both teams jawed with each other to set up a tag match next week. Officials pulled apart both teams…
A highlight package aired that recapped the long Legado Del Fantasma vs. D’Angelo Family feud…[c]
Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne were shown hyping up Mandy Rose in the locker room. Apollo Crews was hyping up Bron Breakker in his locker room. Crews was also shown glaring at the NXT Championship while Breakker was warming up…
[Hour Two] Alicia Taylor was in the ring and even got an intro graphic (Oh wow! A WWE ring announcer finally has a face). Taylor introduced the upcoming street fight. The camera cut to Santos Escobar making his way to the ring being joined by Elektra Lopez, Joaquin Wilde, and Cruz Del Toro. Escobar was wearing a rimmed leather jacket and an Hijo Del Fantasma mask which he would take off in the ring. Tony D’Angelo had a simple entrance with Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo. Barrett noted that The D’Angelo Family is looking thin these days without Legado (and Cole Two Dimes Karter). Escobar had chucked a chair at D’Angelo before the bell…
3. Santos Escobar (w/Joaquin Wilde, Cruz Del Toro, and Elektra Lopez) vs. Tony D’Angelo (w/Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo) in a Street Fight. Escobar gave D’Angelo a backbreaker on a chair for a two count. Escobar beat up D’Angelo for a stretch. Escobar hit D’Angelo with a bicycle knee for a two count. A chair was set up in a corner. Escobar hit D’Angelo with a High Fly Flow. Stacks took out Wilde and Del Toro with a dive.
Escobar caught D’Angelo with a dropkick. Wilde gave Stacks a lariat at ringside. Escobar went for an Arrow From the Depths of Hell Dive, but D’Angelo blocked it with a trash can lid heading into picture-in-picture.[c]
D’Angelo worked on Escobar with methodical offense, with help from Stacks at points. Escobar rallied back with right hands and a huracanrana. Escobar hit D’Angelo with a diving forearm. Lopez slapped Tony. Escobar hit Tony with a nice Arrow From the Depths of Hell in the corner. This drew censored “Holy shit” chants. D’Angelo was distracted by Del Toro which allowed Escobar to get a victory roll for a two count.
Lopez tried to hand Escobar a crowbar, but was accidentally tackled by D’Angelo. Tony gave Santos a low blow. Santos recovered and hit Tony with a twisting thrust kick when Tony brought the crowbar to the ring. Tony and Santos noticed that they were next to brass knuckles (Escobar) and a crowbar (D’Angelo). Both men picked up the weapons and knocked each other out. D’Angelo fell on Escobar for the win.
Tony D’Angelo defeated Santos Escobar via pinfall in 12:44 to win the street fight. Santos Escobar is gone from NXT.
Lopez, Del Toro, and Wilde checked on Escobar in the ring to help him up…
John’s Thoughts: By the way, it’s annoying when they mute the holy shit’s. Moving along, that was a fun WWE PG style hardcore match. Tony D’Angelo tends to do well at these. I liked that we got to see Escobar pick up the pace a bit where he’s usually more methodical. I’ve know this since 2015, but the guy is very versatile heel-or-babyface and is one of the best overall technical wrestlers in all of wrestling. Best thing from all this. Escobar is main roster bound! Finally! Right? (I’m pretty sure he’s called up, but we’ve thought this in the past, but that was when Vince was running things).
Indi Hartwell was chatting with Katana Chance and Kayden Carter. The tag champs left when a messanger gave Hartwell a note. She opened it up and it was a caricature painting from her “husband” Dexter Lumis, which Hartwell swooned over. Blair Davenport (a.k.a. Bea Priestley) showed up to confront Hartwell. Davenport tore up the paper and walked away saying she’s a future NXT Women’s Champion…
Zoey Stark and Toxic Attraction were shown at different parts of the backstage area heading to the ring…[c]
John’s Thoughts: NXT UK invasion? Lots of good talent coming over though. Bea Priestley was actually an AEW original, signed when the company started. She was released due to travel issues set up via COVID. During that time, she moved over to NXT UK and made a name for herself in NXT UK. I’m a huge fan of the stuff I saw from her before AEW and I checked out some of her NXT UK stuff. She has top level potential and I’m looking forward to her run in the US.
A Tiffany Stratton and Wendy Choo video package aired to set up some sort of darkened arena match next week…
A QR Code flashed on the screen. When you scan it with your phone it goes to a picture of Zoey Stark posing with the NXT Women’s Championship from last week’s NXT…
Entrances for the NXT Women’s Championship match took place. Another QR code appeared, but I didn’t have time to scan it, because it was smaller. Alicia Taylor handled the formal championship in-ring introductions. Vic Joseph told Wade Barrett that he keeps getting annoyed every time Barrett sprays Sex Panther on himself (their running joke that they took from Anchorman)…
4. Mandy Rose (w/Gigi Dolin, Jacy Jayne) vs. Zoey Stark for the NXT Women’s Championship. Stark got a rollup early on after both women traded counters. Stark hit Rose with a flying lariat. Rose dragged Stark to ringside and tossed her into the announce table. Rose slammed Stark’s injured leg into the announce table. Medics ran out to check on Stark’s leg during the picture-in-picture.[c]
Dolin and Jayne tripped up Stark. The referee ejected Dolin and Jayne. Nikkita Lyons ran out and chased Toxic Attraction to the back. Rose went for a chop block on Stark but Stark saw it coming. Rose ended up still getting the upper hand and going after Stark’s braced knee. Rose gave Stark’s braced knee a Half Crab. Stark rolled out to escaped and dumped Rose to ringside with boots. Stark hit Rose with a knee and back elbow. Stark rallied back with lariats and a basement dropkick. Stark got a two count, and the feed cut out for some reason (wardrobe malfunction?).
Stark tripped up Rose again for another two count. Stark sold the injured knee. Rose hit Stark with a flip suplex for a two count. Rose and Stark traded right hands. Stark managed to hit Rose with her Tilt A Whirl GTS finisher on the injured knee. Stark sold the knee. Because of the recovery time, Rose rolled to ringside. Stark went at rose and Rose shoved and tangled Stark’s injured knee against the 2nd rope. Rose unbuckled Stark’s knee brace. Stark sidestepped Rose’s knee and rolled up Rose for a two count. Stark rolled up Rose into a jackknife for a two count.
Rose hit Stark with her finisher running knee. Stark kicked out for a great nearfall. Rose pulled off Stark’s knee brace and put it on herself. Barrett joked that she tweaked her own knee. Mandy Rose gave Stark a Knee Brace assisted running knee for the victory.
Mandy Rose defeated Zoey Stark via pinfall in 11:26 to retain the NXT Women’s Championship.
Rose celebrated her win…[c]
John’s Thoughts: A match that exceeded my expectations. Rose in particular exceeded my expectations and this was her most credible win in WWE yet. Yes, Stark gets protected a bit from the knee injury, but Rose got to look dominant and crafty herself. The finish was clever. There was some added drama at the end with Stark kicking out of Rose’s finisher. I actually thought that Stark would possibly dethrone Rose, but I like that Rose actually gains in-ring credibility from this match.
Quincy Elliot cut a sitdown promo. He was wearing a denim jacket and a Bratz shirt. He talked about being different. He talked about how he brings it and is “it”. He said he’s the super “diva”…
John’s Thoughts: Interesting? If Vince McMahon were in charge, I’d be afraid of how’d they present an LGBTQ character, but things are different now and let’s see how it goes. I’d be willing to give this a shot. Hey, Velveteen Dream was flamboyant, and NXT did a great job at that…
McKenzie Mitchell interviewed Grayson Waller. Waller was over the top. He hyped up Apollo Crews appearing in a talk show segment with him next week…
Vic Joseph advertised Ricochet appearing on an upcoming American Ninja Warrior episode…
Entrances for the NXT Championship match aired. In honor of his new boss Paul Levesque, Bron Breakker brought a sledgehammer to the stage. He smashed a storage crate with the letters “JD” on it. Alicia Taylor handled the formal in-ring championship introductions. Joseph noted that Breakker was no longer wearing the kinesion and might be feeling better. Barrett noted that from experience with lingering injuries, injuries never really go away…
5. Bron Breakker vs. JD McDonagh for the NXT Championship. JD no sold Breakker’s slap early on. Breakker reversed a monkey flip in to a wrist hold. Breakker dominated the chain wrestling sequence. Breakker hit JD with a delayed vertical suplex. Breakker avoided an elbow drop from JD. Breakker hit JD with a Hammerlock Suplex and Standing Moonsault for a two count.
Breakker tossed JD’s shoulder into the buckle. Breakker tripped up a bit, but recovered and hit JD with a lariat. Breakker dumped JD to ringside. The show cut to picture-in-picture.[c]
[Overrun] JD crotched Breakker on the top rope. Joseph noted that it looked like JD was popping his own shoulder into place and deriving pleasure from it. JD rained alternating elbows on the neck of Breakker. JD put Brakker in a reverse armbar. Breakker got to the bottom rope for the break. JD followed up with a cravate. Breakker escaped with a jawbreaker. Breakker came back with flying elbows and a spinebuster.
Breakker went for a spear, but his shoulder was tossed into the ringpost. McDonnagh put Breakker in a Yes Lock. Breakker got to the rope for the break. Breakker staggered JD on the top rope with a punch and hit him with a Frankensteiner for a two count. JD staggered Breakker on the top rope with a gamengiri to the chest. McDonagh hit Breakker with a nice Spanish Fly (credit to Breakker for the flip). McDonagh hit Breakker with a Brainbuster for a two count.
Breakker avoided a moonsault and nailed McDonagh with a spear. McDonagh tumbled to ringside to avoid the pin. Breakker hit McDonagh with a 2nd spear back in the ring. McDonagh stood up with a mouth full of blood to dare Breakker for another one. Breakker hit JD with hit Military Press Power Slam finisher for the win.
Bron Breakker defeated JD McDonagh via pinfall in 13:17.
Bron Breakker’s celebration was cut short as the current and inaugural NXT UK Champion, Tyler Bate made his entrance. Bate and Breakker stood in front of each other with their title belts. Vic Joseph closed the show saying that he wonders if “Worlds are Colliding” (“Worlds Collide” was an annual NXT US vs. NXT UK crossover that they would do back in the Black and Gold days)…
John’s Thoughts: Solid title defense for Bron Breakker. I know it’s not the popular opinion, but I would have changed the title from Breakker to JD for a nice change of pace. Breakker needs some freshening up and JD could have been an intriguing champion with a bit of an “unknown” factor to him. This match was solid and both men carried their ends well. Breakker gets another notch in his title belt, and JD established a bit of a masochistic dimension to himself where he finds pleasure in pain.
As a theme show, it was okay. Pretty good, but not necessarily great. What was interesting was the ongoing story thread of their being a bit of a UK invasion. This was presumably in the works at least a week ago (because we saw it via Apollo Crews’s precog “vision”. All we needed was Crews riding Chavo Guerrero’s stick horse yelling “The British are coming! [I saw it in a vision!]”), but it looks like they’re setting up for the latest NXT Worlds Collide event. That should be fun as those shows are always really good. What is interesting is the unknown status of NXT UK. Could we see NXT UK being merged into NXT US? Or is this just having the UK crew spend time in the US before they fix things up venue wise overseas. We’ll see.
Whelp, this “results” column is obviously going to be full of excuses for anything bad and glowing praise for everything else. Moving on….
Did you not read that I thought the 2nd match was meh? Not read… I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re not a fan of “reading” in general. (Like the last time I praised Madison Rayne for a heel move, and somehow you thought I was bashing Rayne and Impact… somehow)
I kid, I kid. ^_~
They get a C for not moving the titles off two of the best people they have in favor of nobodies with no potential, and a good D’Angelo v Escobar match that probably moves Santos to a main roster spot.
Otherwise we got Roddy talking which is always bad and a snorefest from Cora and Roxanne who both suck out loud at literally every part of pro wrestling.
The muting wasn’t for “Holy Shit” during the street fight. It was when D’Angelo collected Elektra, and the crowd chanted “You fucked up”. Just for the record.
They censored both. If I remember correctly, the censored “holy s*it” chants from both the opening match and this match. By this point though it was getting on my nerves.
It sounded like someone was clicking on and off a mute button and being super annoying about it.
I’m glad Tony D’Angelo won I’ve been a fan since his NXT Debut.
if Escobar is main roster bound is it only him or will his group fallow him I guess we wait and see. there has not been word he was leveing WWE.
They actually edited it both times. Just for the record.
I’m not the biggest 2.0 fan. This show was decent. Some random thoughts:
Brekker has a lot of talent but he is already boring me. Not sure if that’s his fault or the poor opponents he has had so far
Diamond mine needs a new spokesperson. The dojo needs new owner. And where was Ivy?
Outside of Tyler Bate the UK crew got met with crickets. This invasion is gonna need some help
Tony D is great when you consider his short tenure in the ring. Very much looking forward to Escobar on the main roster
Bea Priestley is in WWE now? That has to be another big AEW to WWE move right? Priestley was one of the standout women in the early Kenny Omega booked AEW women’s division. Her and Britt Baker had a physical and personal match at Full Gear 2019. She also ad a strong feud with Nyla Rose
She has been in NXT UK working as Blair Davenport for over a year now.
John said; “They censored both.”
Not in Australia they didn’t. They censored “You fucked up”. “Holy shit” came through here uncensored.