wrestling / TV Reports
Pantoja’s WWE NXT 2.0 Review 10.5.21
Image Credit: WWE
Loading...WWE NXT 2.0
October 5th, 2021 | Capitol Wrestling Center in Orlando, Florida
I was thinking about passing up on a review but it’s Tony D’Angelo’s debut, so I had to cover it.
Ember Moon vs. Mandy Rose
Oh my god, Mandy Rose is basically too hot to even be real. I AM LOOKING, RESPECTFULLY. I feel like I haven’t seen Ember in a long time. This moved at a fast pace, complete with Ember taking out Toxic Attraction with a dive and powerbombing Mandy onto the apron. Mandy took over a bit after that before Ember made a comeback, only to fall to a running knee in 4:35. That was fine for what it was and I’m digging NXT 2.0 having shorter matches. [**½]
A vignette runs for Legado Del Fantasma, where they say Smackdown saved Hit Row by drafting them. Santos Escobar challenged Swerve for one final match.
LA Knight vs. Odyssey Jones
There wasn’t much to this one as Jones got to showcase his power and Knight did the typical heel stuff where he used underhanded tactics. Knight failed on a slam attempt when Andre Chase arrived for a distraction, giving Knight a win on a jumping neckbreaker after 4:02. That finish is so tired at this point. [*½]
Backstage, Cameron Grimes said he was jealous of the love in the air in NXT and wanted to find a lucky lady for himself. Pete Dunne interrupted for…reasons and seemed annoyed by Grimes, who brushed him off to talk to girls.
Elsewhere, Kyle O’Reilly spoke with Von Wagner, who basically sounded like a robot. They talked about helping each other and I didn’t care.
Tommaso Ciampa came out to talk about Halloween Havoc and how he needs an opponent. Of course, that brought out Bron Breakker. Basically, he said he had the biggest balls in the locker room and issued the challenge, which Ciampa accepted. They might be rushing this but it’s a goodie on paper. The promo worked too.
Joe Gacy cut a promo in the back about calling the ring his safe space.
Indi Hartwell spoke with her supposed best friend Persia Pirotta as they walked in on Boa and Mei Ying doing something that involved smoke. I understand nothing.
Ikemen Jiro vs. Joe Gacy
Leave it to WWE to use words like “inclusivity” and “acceptance” to promote Gacy’s heel character. They try way too hard with this gimmick because subtlety isn’t WWE’s strong point. Jiro made a comeback but missed the Ikemen Slash and fell to a handspring clothesline in 3:08. It was wildly basic. [*]
On his way out, a creepy bald dude stared down Gacy.
Duke Hudson got a vignette about playing poker.
Cora Jade vs. Franky Monet
We were set for Jade against Virginia Ferry but Franky Monet came out and jumped the jobber to take her place. Jade is the youngest person on the NXT roster as she’s only 20. As Monet worked over Jade, Trey Baxter came down for a closer look since he’s romantically involved with Jade apparently. From out of nowhere, Jade scored with a rollup to win in 2:04. I wonder if this will mean anything. [NR]
Backstage, Grizzled Young Veterans interrupted an MSK interview to say they found another way around facing them in a straight up match. So, MSK offered to make it elimination rules. The other teams arrived for a random brawl.
Tommaso Ciampa had a promo interrupted by Joe Gacy, who didn’t appreciate his use of “having balls” as the talk about a title shot because it’s not inclusive. Ciampa agreed to face him in a non-title match next week. If Gacy wins, he’s added to the Halloween Havoc match.
Cameron Grimes vs. Pete Dunne
These guys actually had a match and are two of the best wrestlers on the brand. Imagine drafting Ridge Holland but not Pete Dunne. They had the expected quality back and forth. Dunne’s work on the hand is always appreciated like the double stomp onto it. Grimes fought back with more high impact stuff like a cross body. Holland tried to intervene but Kyle O’Reilly showed up from out of nowhere to attack him. The distraction led to the Bitter End for the tired finish in 5:40. That was pretty good even with the lame ending. [**¾]
Holland and Dunne laid out Kyle after the match and during the break, Von Wagner helped Kyle.
Hit Row cut a promo saying they weren’t running from NXT but running to the money on Smackdown. They’ll finish things with Legado first though.
Malik Blade vs. Tony D’Angelo
THE TIME HAS COME! Tony came out in a damn track suit, showing the gimmick is all there. The crowd LOVED him. He actually did some impressive stuff with a few takedowns, backbreakers, and pretty good offense. D’Angelo won with a fisherman’s neckbreaker in 4:44. Tony D’Angelo is the future. [******] Did I do it right, Dave? That’s how I put over someone, right?
Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams were interviewed to say they’ll win the titles without using up Hayes’s contract.
Indi Hartwell vs. Mei Ying
Shoutout to Wade Barrett for calling out how dumb it is that Indi’s “best friend” is someone we’ve never seen before and who wasn’t at the wedding. Mei Ying mostly no sold a lot of what Indi did until she got thrown into the post and lost to a springboard clothesline in 2:52. So I guess the Mei Ying thing is over, huh? [NR]
Lash Legend talked to random people about her upcoming talk show. Tony D’Angelo came up to her to say he liked the show and would like to be on the show next week. She said she loved him in The Many Saints of Newark and took credit for shutting down Facebook and Instagram.
We got a Diamond Mine vignette where Malcolm put over each member individually. This worked well.
Raquel Gonzalez was interviewed in the ring where she said that dying her hair must’ve gotten to Mandy’s brain to touch her title. She will bust up Mandy’s face worse than Sarray for doing so. Toxic Attraction interrupted and Mandy traded unnatural barbs with Raquel that felt forced. Toxic Attraction went to attack until Zoey Stark and Io Shirai to make the save.
Backstage, Von Wagner cut another bad promo to tell Kyle O’Reilly that they face Dunne and Holland next week.
NXT Tag Team Championship: MSK [c] vs. Brooks Jensen & Josh Briggs vs. Carmelo Hayes & Trick Williams vs. Grizzled Young Veterans
Elimination rules are official and it’s an odd call since it kind of kills these potential challengers. Anyway, solid action to start before we got a quick elimination when Trick Williams was pinned after a Hart Attack Blockbuster in 3:55. So much for that. Following a break, the next portion of the match had more meat to it. GYV are so good and they did well to make sure Briggs and Jensen came off well enough. GYV seemed to have MSK eliminated but a blind tag surprised them and Gibson ate a double powerbomb from them for a shock elimination at the 10:30 mark. I guess that keeps MSK/GYV for another match down the line. On cue with that notion, Lee snapped off a rana on Jensen to win in 12:32. That was okay. [**¾]
Briggs and Jensen gave MSK the titles out of respect but then Imperium hit the ting to jump the champs until Briggs and Jensen made the save.
