Jesse’s WWE NXT 2.0 Review: It’s a new era!

This entry is part [part not set] of 9 in the series Bom-Ba-Ye: Redefining Pro Wrestling in the J-MMA Boom

WWE NXT 2.0
September 13th 2021
Orlando, FLA
Aired on USA Network
Report by Jesse Davis, Parts Unknown Press

Hello everyone, we are back with yet another review, but this time, the new era of NXT, NXT 2.0! We start off with a recap of Vic Joseph telling us that Samoa Joe is injured and he had to vacate his title. We cut to Ciampa saying that it’s time for the love story to finally have a conclusion, Pete Dunne details himself as the baddest man in NXT and that’s all really. Kyle O’Reilly states his goal is to become NXT champion after 16 years in this business, LA Knight boasts himself UNTIL HE RUNS INTO BRON BREAKKER AND HE’S ALL EXCITED BABY, AND LA KNIGHT CHALLENGES HIM TO A MATCH ALREADY, double duty LA Knight baby!

LA Knight Vs Bron Breakker

Bron Breakker, the son of Rick Steiner in his first televised match in WWE, against LA Knight, this is big for him, real big. Vic mentions that this is a dog faced gremlin mentality from Bron, so there’s a slight hint on commentary that he’s Rick Steiner’s son, Bron has taken the fight to Knight, Knight has taken it to him. Knight hits Breakker with a knee, Breakker no sells it, hits a powerslam and he beats LA Knight in his debut! This is huge for him and I have no doubt in my mind that Bron Breakker is going places in his career, you can really tell he’s a Steiner as well, this rules. Breakker heads backstage and some new NXT talent shake his hand, big things are coming baby!

WINNER: Bron Breakker (3:41)

Imperium (Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel) Vs Brooks Jensen and Josh Briggs:

Brooks Jensen, aka Bull Buchanan’s son was actually pretty impressive here, hit a sweet powerslam on Aichner, Briggs is just there really, he’s not the greatest, he and Jensen cut a pre match promo backstage and boy did he sound generic as hell compared to Jensen. Imperium get most of the offense in here, they hit a double dropkick on Briggs, Briggs tags in Jensen, Jensen gets this big babyface comeback, Jensen tries to win with a rollup but fails, he goes to the top, Barthel distracts him, Aichner goes up the top for a Double Underhook Suplex for the win, that was decent, Jensen did most of the work here, which is good, Imperium did good as always.

WINNERS: Imperium (Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel) (3:55)

We got a Hit Row vignette promoting B-Fab;s in ring debut tonight, they say she’s badder than she looks and she trained by olympic gold medalists and former world champions, this was a good promo.

B-Fab (w/ Hit Row, Top Dolla, Ashante Thee Adonis and Isaiah Scott) Vs Katrina Cortez:

B-Fab got most of the offense in, production ended up cutting to Pete Dunne and Ridge Holland WARMING UP~! during this match, B-Fab won with the Rick Rude neckbreaker, this was pretty short but B-Fab was impressive for what it was.

WINNER: B-Fab (1:19)

B-Fab cuts a post match promo, calls Elektra Lopez “Senorita Secret Sauce” and you know what, I like that. Elektra and Legado come out, they do a basic promo battle, B-Fab wanted to fight some more but Escobar wasn’t going to allow it.

We cut to Odyssey Jones, Cameron Grimes and Johnny Gargano backstage getting prepared for the big wedding! Austin Theory is back and the boys are happy! He ran away from home but he can’t miss Indi;s wedding! He’s got a surprise, a wedding needs a priest, A DAMIAN PRIEST APPEARS! I popped for this, Priest is all in for the wedding baby! Theory wants a high five from Johnny, Johnny hugs him instead! Good stuff from everyone in this angle. I was lowkey hoping for a Odyssey Jones and Damian Priest stare down but I sadly did not get that.

Carmelo Hayes AND TRICK WILLIAMS cut an in ring promo, Carmelo says NXT is a numbers game and he has a target on his back, so he called up Trick and asked if he was BOUT IT, BOUT IT, the old Konnan phrase is back in action and I love it. Trick cuts a promo, kinda messes up and and repeats the same line about Carmelo being humble, but he saved it, there’s no more holding back and they are bout it, bout it baby! Carmelo calls himself the Chosen One, we’ve had a lot of those in wrestling. DUKE HUDSON comes out, talks some trash, gets in the ring, Carmelo and Trick get back in the ring just to beat Duke Hudson’s ass, poor Duke.

Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne are backstage, saying that the new Mandy Rose is the REAL Mandy Rose.

Kacy Catanzaro and Kayden Carter Vs Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne:

During this match, we cut to Kyle O’Reilly warming up backstage, until Dunne and Holland attack O’Reilly backstage UNTIL VON WAGNER SAVES O’REILLY, I bet you’re wondering who the hell Von Wagner is, well it’s going to get crazier. Well, after all of that shit happened, a Brunette Mandy Rose appears and interferes to cause a DQ, and then Sarray makes the save and we have ourselves a six woman tag match now! And dying your hair black makes your nose feel better! Try it kids.

WINNERS: Kacy Catanzaro and Kayden Carter by DQ (1:50)

Sarray, Kacy Catanzaro and Kayden Carter Vs Mandy Rose, Jacy Jayne and Gigi Dolin:

Gigi continues to get her ass kicked during this match, the Tik Tok twins got offense until Mandy got the tag, Mandy and Gigi have got most of the offense in on Kacy, Jacy hasn’t been in the match once yet, shame, put her in. Jacy finally gets the tag in and hits a nice suplex onto Kacy, Mandy gets tagged back in, Kacy finally gets to tag Carter in. Mandy and Sarray are punching the shit out of each other after the rest of the teams went haywire outside of the ring. Mandy with the best V-Trigger in the business on Kayden for the pin, that was a good match all around, it even got This Is Awesome chants which is very good.

WINNERS: Mandy Rose, Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne (6:27)

We cut to Candice LeRae, Cora Jade, Indi Hartwell and Persia Pirotta backstage preparing for the wedding, Candice hates Cora’s hat and demands her to take it off, poor Cora Jade, she just wants her skater hat at all times!

Ridge Holland Vs Drake Maverick (w/Grayson Waller)

And before this match starts, Regal is backstage, saying Kyle O’Reilly will not be able to compete tonight,so his replacement IS VON WAGNER, AKA WAYNE BLOOM FROM THE BEVERLY BROTHERS, THIS IS HIS SON, THIS TALL, GENERIC DOLPH ZIGGLER LOOKING DUDE IS GETTING A TITLE SHOT IN HIS DEBUT. Good Lord. Ridge Holland beat the ever loving hell out of Maverick here, who you can see on Raw wearing suits, btw, Ridge won with a Brain Buster, sorta.

WINNER: Ridge Holland (1:49)

Ciampa does an interview with McKenzie Mitchell, basically says NXT is now that call your shot, do it yourself mentality, he mentions Goldie, it’s been 900 days, it’s time for him to get back what was once his.

Before we get the CREED BROTHERS~! in action, we have a VIGNETTE FOR TONY D’ANGELO, YES, IT’S ALL ABOUT THE ITALIAN MOB BOSSES BABY! THIS DUDE HAD FAMILY IN THE MEAT MARKET! He says that the real money is in NXT and not Amatuer Wrestling. Bada Bing.

The Creed Brothers (Julius Creed and Brutus Creed) Vs Dan Jarmon and Trevor Skelly

The Creed Brothers are just two white dudes in singles, against two job guys. They have just completely killed these guys, they slapped each other, Julius makes the tag for the other team, that rules. You know, I was unsure about these dudes, but if they just kill people, and have Bivens do the rest, then I like them.

WINNERS: The Creed Brothers (Julius Creed and Brutus Creed) (2:51)

Bivens, Roderick, Hachiman and The Creed Brothers cut a promo, well Malcom does, he introduces Ivy Nile and boy, she is JACKED~!, Bivens promotes her strength, Kushida comes out, says Bivens “talks too much”. Kushida is ready for Roddy, Bivens makes it happen! Cruiserweight Title, Kushida and Roderick next week baby!

NXT Championship Fatal 4 Way: LA Knight Vs Tommaso Ciampa Vs Pete Dunne Vs Von Wagner

Everyone in this match stands out in some form, and then there’s Von Wagner, just a tall dude in blue pants who is in here because he saved Kyle O’Reilly. We get down to Dunne and Ciampa until Wagner starts fighting with Dunne. This was a pretty well worked match from all competitors, even Von Wagner, but then again, he’s in a match with three other very good workers, we’ll see how he is in a singles match, Vince thinks this dude is a future WrestleMania main eventer, so we’ll see. Wagner almost won the title but Ciampa came in, broke up Wagner’s pin on Knight, Ciampa hits Knight with his finisher and gets the win! Ciampa has finally got Goldie back after 900 days! Good stuff here, happy for Ciampa, but we’ll see how far this goes.

WINNER: NEW NXT CHAMPION, TOMMASO CIAMPA (10:38)

We’re not done yet! We have a wedding now! A really awesome InDex highlight package airs detailing everything from Johnny and Candice ruining love, to the proposal, to Johnny finally tolerating Dexter! We have GYV showing up to the wedding being the ole grumpy bastards that they are, I love it. Here comes loving dad Johnny Gargano walking Indi out to the alter. Dexter Gaylord Lumis, is his real name in kayfabe, Johnny gets a chance to go over all of his nicknames and John Gargano gives Indi away. Gargano asks Theory if he has the rings, Theory says we’re in a ring, silly! I popped, Ikemen Jiro has the rings! Mostly everyone was going to pull out a damn axe! Indi reads her heartfelt speech, almost tells to the public that her and Dexter snuck in to have sex while Johnny and Candice were sleeping, but thankfully Dexter stopped her before she could finish. This dickhead of a priest wants Dexter’s vows, but he’s like “that’s It? Oh he’s just shy!” Dexter then chokes him the fuck out. We need a priest, they want Regal to do it, but Regal doesn’t want to! So Beth Phoenix is now the new priest! This rules. Beth says “Let’s cut to the chase” THEN ANDRE CHASE SAYS “DID SOMEBODY SAY ANDRE CHASE?!” Johnny is like no the fuck we didn’t, then Odyssey Jones squeezes Andre’s shoulders and he sits back down, Odyssey got a big pop for this, we got the rings, Beth does the normal things, hoping this marriage doesn’t end via axe murder, Indi says I Do, Beth says it all again to Dexter, she almost stops it until Dexter covers the mic, Dexter says “I…..Do” AND THE CROWD GOES WILD! INDEX ARE OFFICIALLY MARRIED AND DEXTER SPOKE! A wedding actually went well! Man, this was a definite all timer when it comes to weddings. They kiss and Dexter carries Indi away. But, that’s not all, we cut to Ciampa backstage watching the wedding UNTIL BRON BREAKKER congratulates Ciampa and they shake hands and stare each other down, it is ON! What a show.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Man, I loved this show when I watched it the first time, it honestly got better the second time, the wedding was brilliant, the four way was great, the showcasing of new stars, new characters was great, and Bronson Rechsteiner aka Bron Breakker getting this massive push right off the bat is amazing. One thing that was weird, no mention at all on TV of Franky Monet, Raquel and Kay Lee Ray, they’ll probably show up next week though. The Creed Brothers are growing on me, Hit Row are growing on me, we’ll see about Von Wagner but he’s definitely better than Erik Watts. I absolutely love Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne with the new Mandy Rose, Carmelo and Trick Williams have a bright future, Tony D’Angelo is freaking hilarious. Ciampa being champion once again is good to see, I am curious to see if he’ll lose it immediately to Breakker. Knight losing twice in one night is especially weird because I thought he was going to become champion, but nope, O’Reilly is probably going to team with Wagner which is definitely interesting, We had eight matches, most went short, but this was a good short, because these matches were intended to get people over, not like TNA in 2011, when the short matches would end via some type of bullshit finish week in and week out, I hate that. I enjoyed this revamp of an NXT, we have a good mixture of old and new and I hope it stays that way.

Series Navigation