By John Moore, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
NXT 2.0
Live from Orlando, Florida at the WWE Performance Center
Aired September 6, 2022 on USA Network
[Hour One] Highlights aired from the NXT World’s Collide show…
Vic Joseph and Wade Barrett were on commentary. Alicia Taylor was the ring announcer…
Tyler Bate mate his entrance wearing his chef’s looking shirt (He really did only bring one shirt to the US did he? Someone take this guy to the outlet store!). Tyler cut a promo in the ring. He thanked the fans for cheering him and supporting NXT UK. He talked about how he will always be known as the first NXT US and NXT UK champion. Tyler was cut off by Gallus , Joe Coffey, Mark Coffey, and Wofkgang making their entrance.
Gallus took turns berating Bate for losing the title unification match. They talked about how Bate let down NXT UK and the entire continent of Europe. They also talked about how they are mad that Bate disappointed Scotland. Bate returned fire by saying Gallus didn’t win their unificiation match either. Joe pointed out that it doesn’t matter, there’s three of Gallus and one of Bate. Gallus beat down Bate 3 on one. Bron Breakker ran out and said that last sunday worlds collided, and today worlds unite. Breakker said he’s standing by Bate to kick the asses of Gallus tonight…
John’s Thoughts: Basic setup for a TV main event presumably. Nothing special, but Bate looked more solid than I’ve seen him on the mic compared to in the past. Looking forward to see NXT take their time to introduce their large inflow of UK wrestlers in the US show
The show cut to Kit Wilson and Elton Prince, Pretty Deadly, admiring their four title belts. They did their usual sideplate checks. Lash Legend showed up, saying that people are saying that Damon Kemp is the reason they’re champs. Lash told the tag champs to ignore that…
Jacy Jayne and Gigi Dolin made their entrance…[c]
After leaving a meeting with Roxanne Perez, an interviewer tried to interview Meiko Satomura. Cora Jade cut in, gloated a bit, and challenged Meiko to a match. Meiko refused. Cora wondered if Meiko was afraid of losing. Meiko said she gave the match to Perez instead…
A twitter photo was shown of a naked Mandy Rose poolside with the two NXT Women’s Championships blocking her naughty parts. She was on a break after unifying the US and UK women’s titles…
Doudrop and Nikki ASH made their entrance…
1. “Toxic Attraction” Jacy Jayne and Gigi Dolin vs. Doudrop and Nikki ASH. Doudrop and ASH traded tags to cut the ring in half on Dolin to start. Jayne and ASH tagged in wtih Jayne tossing around ASH. ASH came back with a corner splash and bulldog for a two count. ASH worked on Jayne with a chinlock. Jayne backdroped ASH to ringside. Doudrop got in Jayne’s face. Dolin kicked Doudrop to the ground from the apron.[c]
Jayne dominated ASH back from the break. Toxic Attraction used methodical offense to cut the ring in half on ASH for a few minutes. Nikki managed to get the hot tag to Doudrop. Doudrop no sold a superkick from Dolin and slammed her to the mat. Doudrop body slammed Jayne on Dolin and hit both women with a running senton. Doudrop hit Dolin with a Vader Bomb. Jayne broke up the pin. Nikki trapped Jacy in the apron and did the Finlay Forearms to the chest. Doudrop caught dolin, hit her with a Michinoku Driver and hit her with a running crossbody for the win.
Doudrop and Nikki ASH defeated Toxic Atraction via pinfall in 10:50.
John’s Thoughts: A somewhat dominant win from the team that loses all the time on the main roster against the strongest pushed tag team in NXT 2.0. I wonder what to extrapolate from that? Are Nikki and Doudrop sticking around on NXT a bit (They are really dragging their feet on repackaging them, complete with more hints of dissention on Raw)? Are Toxic Attraction being called up? We’ll see.
Apollo Crews was walking to the same gazebo that Roxanne Perez was hanging out at last week, on a pier. He talked about how he fully sees who he’s dealing with in Waller. He said the first eye poke was accidental, but no the 2nd. He said that Waller tried to ruin his vision, to take away his ability to see monumental moments. He said all he can do is storm a head. He said his vision is hazy. They showed his first person view, and it was blurry. Apollo Crews turned to the camera saying he’s not afraid of the unknown. He showed he had a bloodshot eye…
John’s Thoughts: Either that or Apollo has the bad case of the pink eye. Grayson Waller’s character seems like the type of character that would fart in someone’s pillow.
Entrances for the next match took place. Vic Joseph plugged the Undertaker One Man Show…
2. JD McDonagh vs. Wes Lee. JD had Lee in a side headlock and followed up with a shoulder tackle. Lee escaped a Kata Gatame and landed a few armdrags and a shove on JD. Lee taunted McDonagh with a backflip. McDonagh recovered from a backdrop and slammed Lee to the mat by the hair. McDonagh worked on Lee with a boot in the corner. Lee dumped McDonagh to ringside. Lee hit McDonagh with a flip dive heading into picture-in-picture.[c]
McDonagh was working on Lee with a armwrench. Barrett noted that McDonagh focused on his precision methodical offense. Lee made a comeback with punches and CQC. Lee hit McDonagh with a gamengiri to the chest. Lee hit McDonagh with a hook kick double stomp combo. Lee hit McDonagh with a suicide dive when McDonagh went to get a breather at ringside. The USA mute button kicked in and muted the curse chants.
Lee hit McDonagh with a running meteora for a two count. Lee and McDonagh traded counters with McDonagh getting the upper hand. McDonagh kicked out of a Sunset Flip. McDonagh hit Lee with a Devlin Side for the win.
JD McDonagh defeated Wes Lee via pinfall in 9:37.
Tony D’Angelo and Stacks were drinking cappuccino and eating Biscotti. Kit Wilson and Elton Prince joined them. Tony asked Pretty Deadly how much money it cost to hire Damon Kemp. They said it cost nothing. D’Angelo said they got kemp to interfere for free. Prince said they didn’t hire Kemp to do anything. Wilson and Prince walked away denying the accusation…
Roxanne Perez made her entrance for the next match…[c]
Vic Joseph and Wade Barrett checked in from ringside. Vic Joseph advertised NXT 2.0’s 1 year anniversary for next week. He also said viewers can vote on the most impressive star to come out of NXT 2.0. Barrett said he’s going to keep voting for Mandy Rose…
Meiko Satomura made her entrance.. Cora Jade was watching the match on a monitor backstage. Joseph pointed out that Perez looked in shock, being able to face the legend…
3. Meiko Satomura vs. Roxanne Perez. Meiko started the match with a wristlock which Perez reversed. Meiko converted the move to a headlock. Meiko hit Perez with a back kick and flying shoulder tackle. Meiko worked on Perez with a shortarm roundhouse and double knee drop for a two count. Perez blocked a Juji Gatame with a pin. Perez hit Meiko with a series of armdrags. Meiko did a fighting pose for a bit of a reset of position. Perez hit Meiko with a huracanrana for a two count.
Perez rolled up Meiko into a Jackknife pin. Meiko kicked out into a rear naked choke. Meiko turned to a pin because Perez put in a block. Perez kicked out and put Meiko into a crossface. Meiko got to the bottom rope for the break. Perez hit Meiko with a shotgun dropkick and suicide Thesz Press. The camera showed that Cora Jade had left the monitor area. The show cut to picture-in-picture.[c]
[Hour Two] Meiko had Perez in a butterfly stretch. The replay showed Meiko hitting Perez with hard hitting strikes during the break. Meiko and Perez traded European Uppercuts. Perez rallied at Meiko with axe handle strikes and a shotgun dropkick. Perez hit Meiko with a European Uppercut. Meiko came back with a thrust kick. Perez reversed a fireman carry with a Russian Legsweep for a nearfall. Satomura quickly escaped a submission with a knee to Perez’s shoulder. Meiko hit Perez with a spinning heel kick.
Perez and Meiko brawled to the top rope. Perez hit Meiko with a Frankensteiner for a two count. Perez blocked a roundhouse, but not a Pele Kick from Meiko. Meiko hit Perez with Scorpio Rising (Step Up Axe Kick) for the victory.
Meiko Satomura defeated Roxanne Perez via pinfall in 11:19.
Meiko and Roxanne shook hands and bowed to each other in the center of the ring. After Meiko left, Jade hit Perez with a kendo stick in the back. Jade ran away when Meiko got back in the ring. Jade backtracked. Meiko held up Perez’s arm with Perez’s theme playing…
John’s Thoughts: Solid women’s match. Good to see Perez wrestle up to that level we’re used to seeing her since the Ring of Honor days. Meiko is a legend and it’s always a treat to see her wrestle. I assume this was a favor to both women. Giving Meiko a chance to wrestle the woman WWE is giving the fastest push to, and giving Roxanne Perez a chance to get in the ring with a living legend. I wonder if Meiko is sticking around in the US? If she doesn’t want to move to the US, totally understandable. Meiko would be so valuable in WWE as a player-coach, especially with WWE’s deep crop of young women wrestlers in the pipeline.
Bron Breakker and Tyler Bate were warming up in the locker room. Tyler Bate thanked Bron Breakker for having his back earlier. Breakker said that Tyler is a good representative for NXT and that they’re going to kick some ass later…
A Damon Kemp sitdown promo aired. Kemp talked about how Roderick Strong brought him into WWE. He talked about how the Creeds became a great tag team, and he didn’t get any thanks. He said Roddy always stuck him in the background, and not in singles matches. He said Roddy kept him on standby. He said he’s a Pan American Wrestling Champion and even beat up Brutus in College, made him look like a punk. He said Julius was Jealous due to Roddy liking him more than Julius.
He said because he wasn’t getting the respect, he decided to take down Diamond Mine from inside. He said he left Roddy bloodied in the parking lot. He said he gave the Creeds one more chance to have their back, but they refused his help. He said that was the time to turn on the Creeds. He said the chair to the back signals the end of Diamond Mine. He said he’ll leave everyone with something, it’s not Diamond Mine forever, but Damon Kemp Forever….
John’s Thoughts: Solid promo from the brother of Gable Steveson, Bobby Steveson. I can’t help but wonder if Gable Steveson will end up even better? Or will Bobby be the REAL talented Steveson? Solid explanation here and I did like how he had justified pent up anger due to Roddy and Julius always talking down to him. They planted those seeds well in the past Diamond Mine segments. The pre-tape format is something WWE should really use more often, as it hides the weaknesses of some of WWE’s weaker talkers or younger talkers who haven’t really found a voice yet.
Smackdown star Ricochet made his entrance…[c]
Rip Fowler and Jagger Reed were at their merch table handing out smiley pins. They handed Kiana James a pin, who now has a busty secretary. Kiana took the pin, and threw it in the trash, saying she doesn’t give free advertisements. Kiana ran into Ariane Grace who both agreed that they don’t like Zoey Stark and Nikkita Lyons. They both agreed to help each other out later…
Trick Williams and Carmelo Hayes made their entrance. Hayes joined the commentary table…
4. Ricochet vs. Trick Williams (w/Carmelo Hayes). Ricochet dumped Trick to ringside and hit him with a baseball slide. Melo said “give Trick a chance” to ricochet. Ricochet worked on Trick with armdrags and armbars in the ring. Trick managed to get Ricochet in the corner to put the boots to him. Joseph noted that people are saying that Melo only won due to Trick’s distraction. Trick hit Ricochet with a corner splash. Ricochet came back with right hands. Trick hit Ricochet with a pop up punch. Trick got two pin attempts in.
Ricochet avoided a corner splash. Ricochet went for a slingshot move, but was tripped to ringside. Melo told Trick to slam Ricochet’s bald head on the announce table, which Trick did. Ricochet got a two count off a small package. Trick hit Ricochet with a running neckbreaker. Ricochet avoided a cyclone kick and came back with crossbodies. Ricochet hit Trick with a slingshot lariat. Ricochet hit Trick with the Recoil. Ricochet hit Trick with a Shooting Star Press for the victory.
Ricochet defeated Trick Williams via pinfall in 5:13.
John’s Thoughts: Decent match, nothing special, but we did get to see Ricochet on NXT so at least you get the star power. Trick isn’t bad, he just needs to add a few more moves to his moveset and find an in-ring identity. He’ll get there with time. The highlight was Melo’s heel play-by-play. The guy is ok in long promos, but I think he shines in quick witty statements.
Tony and Stacks were still eating their cookies and drinking coffee. They called over Cameron Grimes again. Grimes said Tony is as persistent as Gacy, and just like Gacy, he’s saying he won’t join Tony’s gang. He said Cameron Grimes don’t need anybody. D’Angelo bragged about running off Ciampa and Escobar. Grimes said he’s not like those two guys. Stacks said people actually respect Escobar and Ciampa. Grimes attacked Stacks. D’Angelo came from behind and hit Grimes with a Uranage through the snack table…
John’s Thoughts: Hey, as long as he stays the hell away from Joe F’n Gacy, I’m all for this Grimes vs. D’Angelo feud.
Nathan Frazer made his entrance. He had new black and red ring gear…[c]
A vignette for Sol Ruca aired. She was on the beach surfing…
Brutus Creed, Julius Creed, and Ivy Nile were interviewed by McKenzie Mitchell. Brutus was angry at Damon Kemp for what he did to them and Roddy. he said Kemp can be a tough guy behind a studio camera but next time it’s destruction on sight. McKenzie talked about how they’re getting their title rematch against Pretty Deadly next week. Julius said they’ll take care of that first and Damon Kemp after. Kit Wilson and Elton Prince showed up to taunt the Creeds. They said the WWE Universe will choose the stipulation to the rematch next week. Julius said he and Brutus will beat Pretty Deadly’s bitch asses…
Axiom made his motion blur entrance…
5. Nathan Frazer vs. Axiom. Both men traded some chain wrestling and ended in a stalemate. Both men traded quick pin reversals for another stalemate. Frazer flipped out of the corner and ducked Axiom’s lariats. Frazer hit Axiom with a front dropkick to send him ringside. Frazer hit Axiom with a suicide dive heading into picture-in-picture.[c]
Axiom wrenched Frazer on the ground with a hammerlock. Frazer and Axiom got to their feet and traded strikes. Axiom dropped Frazer to ringside and hit him with a suicide dive. Axiom hit Frazer with a crossbody for a two count. Aziom put Frazer back in a grounded hammerlock. Frazer got to his feet and Axiom put Frazer in elbow hold. Frazer reversed the submission into a quick Final Cut Suplex. Frazer gave Axiom chops and flying clotheslines. Frazer hit Axiom with a nice Lionsault into an Eye of the Hurricane for the two count.
Axiom got a small package in for a two count. Frazer grazed Axiom with a Sling Blade. Axiom blocked a standing Shooting Star. Frazer blocked a Kimura. Frazer got to the bottom rope before Axiom could lock in a Rings of Saturn. Frazer put Axiom in a Boston Crab. Frazer converted the move to an Indian Deathlock. Axiom got to the bottom rope for the break. Axiom hit Frazer with a Superman Punch for a two count. Axiom hit Frazer with his jumping superkick finisher for the victory.
Axiom defeated Nathan Frazer via pinfall in 11:46.
The commentary noted that Axiom won the first match in the best-of-three series…
Hank the security guard was advising the other guards on how to keep Gallus under control. Javier Bernal showed up and gloated about being a star on NXT Level Up. Javi said he’s a star and Hank is just a security guard. Hank called Javi a prick. Hank and the guards had to leave to escort Gallus to the ring…[c]
John’s Thoughts: A good technical match and A-Kid’s best match under the Axiom mask. One thing that helps is Frazer is more experienced than some of Axiom’s recent opponents. The other part is Axiom has improved by using more of his technical and toning down all the hammy hand motions he was doing in his other matches. He did a hand motion or two here, but it made sense. Wasn’t this supposed to be a Heritage Cup Rules Rounds Match at at Worlds Collide? Speaking of Heritage Cup, is NXT bringing over the WWE Heritage Cup and Heritage Cup Champion Noam Dar? I’d think it’d be interesting to have their own Pure Rules-ish championship.
A cinematic vignette aired for “The Super Diva” Quincy Elliot. He was driving the streets on a moped. He said there’s nothing better than a boy and his scooter and he’s “bringing all of this” to NXT. he said he’s coming to NXT next week…
McKenzie Mitchell interviewed Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams about Williams’s recent loss to Ricochet. Trick said he’s still taller, stronger, and even after a loss he’s still better. Hayes talked about Ricochet not having what Melo’s got, the North American Championship. Melo talked about how he’s going to win the best star vote. McKenzie said the WWE Universe are also voting for Melo’s opponent next week. Melo said that only he gets to choose who challenges for the title. McKenzie said Melo can vote himself. This caused Melo to walk off
Vic Jospeh and Wade Barrett checked in from ringside. They announced the following matches for next week: Pretty Deadly vs. The Creed Brothers for the NXT Tag Team Championship, Tony D’Angelo and Stacks vs. Cameron Grimes and a mystery partner…
Entrances for the next match took place…
6. “The Coffey Brothers” Joe and Mark Coffey (w/Wolfgang) vs. Tyler Bate and NXT Champion Bron Breakker. Breakker ran through Joe early on. Bate tagged in and locked Joe in a wristlock. Joe punched Bate and tagged in his brother Mark. Bate reversed Mark’s armdrag to a headlock. Mark got out of the hold and Bate hit Mark with a dropkick. Breakker and Bate hit The Coffey Brothers with stereo suplexes and stereo standing moonsaults. Bate and Breakker barked like Steiners heading into picture-in-picture.[c]
Bate dumpped Mark to ringside and hit him with a top rope clearing dive. While the referee was distracted with Joe and Breakker, Wolfgang tossed Tyler into the ringpost. Joe tagged in and got a few two counts on Tyler.
[Overrun] The Coffeys cut the ring in half on Tyler for a few minutes. Bate used a clap and Sunset flip to escape a long Bear Hug. Bate crawled under Joe’s legs to tag in Breakker. Breakker it Joe with a spinebuster. Mark got a blind tag in, but Breakker saw it coming and hit Mark with a spinebuster. Bate tagged in. Bate and Breakker hit Mark with a Steinerizer to give Bate the two count.Bate hit Wolfgang with Bop and Bang. Breakker hit Joe with a spear. Bate hit Mark with the rebound shoulder lariat and the Tyler Driver 97′ to pick up the win.
Tyler Bate and Bron Breakker defeated The Coffey Brotehers via pinfall 10:51.
JD McDonagh showed up and dumped Bron Breakker to ringside. McDonagh hit Bate with the Devil Inside. McDonagh retreated to the crowd after Breakker reentered the ring. NXT closed with Breakker checking on Bate…
John’s Thoughts: A fun television main event. A bit odd to see someone other than Trent Seven tagging with Tyler, but Tyler’s still a tag team specialist and worked well with Breakker. Breakker was good in the tag team role too. I wonder? If they call up Breakker, maybe they tag team him with an amateur wrestler for a steiner-like tag team? Bate and Breakker were fun here as a bit of a Steiner throwback. Gallus is good, but I wouldn’t have them eat so many losses to start. I also would keep Joe Coffey out of the tag matches, and have Joe be the centerpiece singles star. Shawn Michaels has booked Joe Coffey well over the past few years, so pushing Joe isn’t foreign to Shawn. Joe is surprisingly charismatic and a good talker.
This was a solid come-down show coming out of Worlds Collide. The dissolving of NXT UK gifted NXT US with a large surge of experienced indy talent. What is already standing out is with less developmental projects on the show, the matches are longer, better, and more refined. Where everyone can gain, even the vets, is improving their mic skills. I wonder who they have next in line for Bron Breakker, and I think they need to take the title off him soon because this stage of his title reign is stunting his character development. The problem is they keep having Breakker defend the titles against wrestlers who weren’t built up for world title programs. The only real good title feuds he’s had were against Tommaso Ciampa and Dolph Ziggler.
Quite the potato with the foot by Jacy Jayne to Doudrop. That’s the most focused, coherent work I’ve seen from the Raw team. If they do repackage them into something less goofy, maybe there’s actually something there.