The NXT 2.0 Rewind: 9.14.21 – The Wedding of Indi Hartwell and Dexter Lumis

After working through the 1999 era of SmackDown, it’s time to jump the timeline to another era. Who is nostalgic for a little NXT 2.0? Just me. Yeah, probably just me. After being bored to death of what NXT had become in the early 2020s, the colorful change of 2.0 was just what I needed. It’s an interesting show to look back on in 2026 with all of the names that appeared and who has moved up, who has moved out, and occasionally just asking, “who?” We’ll see how long it can hold my very short attention span!

September 14, 2021 was the start of the NXT 2.0 era so let’s head on into the newly brightly colored Capitol Wrestling Center.

We learn that Samoa Joe relinquished the NXT Championship due to injury over the weekend, so have a big Fatal 4-Way tonight to determine a new champion. Will it be Tommaso Ciampa, L.A. Knight, Kyle O’Reilly or Pete Dunne?

Tommaso Ciampa is our first person to talk to us backstage, telling us he will always be Mr. NXT. Tonight, the greatest love story in sports entertainment gets a new chapter as his love with Goldie is reunited. Pete Dunne tells us he is the baddest man in NXT. Kyle O’Reilly says they all strive for opportunities like this and he is a win away from achieving his goal sixteen years in the making. L.A. Knight knows Samoa Joe was scared of him and it’s his game. He turns to his left to see a Steiner-ish newcomer in a multicolored singlet. “Sir, my name is Bron Breakker and tonight is NXT 2.0 and I want a chance to prove myself.” Knight tells Breakker to head out in two minutes and he’ll beat the breaks off him too.

L.A. Knight vs Bron Breakker

Boy, I hope these two don’t get tied together forever on Raw in a few years. This is Bron’s third match ever according to Cagematch, though there was plenty of PC stuff I’m sure. The great Alicia Taylor is on the call while we have Vic Joseph, Wade Barrett and WWE Hall of Famer Beth Phoenix on commentary. Now that the fans are blighty lit, you’ll notice the face mask policy was still in effect. Bron tosses Knight around early, Vic calling it a Dog Faced Gremlin mentality. Bron runs into a boot and the fans boo as Beth correctly notes that Knight is taking on a match he shouldn’t be taking on before the title match. Knight hits a neckbreaker before Bron hits the speed button and clotheslines and then suplexes Knight across the ring. Bron powerlifts Knight and drops him into a powerslam, getting the impressive three count.

Bron Breakker pins L.A. Knight. A great debut for young Bronathon, looking like a star against a willing Knight. Short and fun. This Breakker guy could be a big deal in the next few years if he can avoid the injury bug and not get stuck in a Paul Heyman vortex.

Backstage, newbies including Lash Legend (NXT debut!) congratulate Bron on his big win.

Imperium (Fabian Aichner & Marcel Barthel) vs Josh Briggs & Brooks Jensen

Looking into the future, Aichner has recently joined TNA while Marcel became Ludwig Kaiser, a man who we haven’t seen in a while in the ring but I assume is ready to put on a 5.75 star classic at any time. Jensen and Briggs are still kicking around NXT. This was the TV debut for Jensen debuted a few months earlier, losing in the Breakout Tournament to Carmelo Hayes. The Imperium boys had been in the NXT universe for a bit.

Briggs & Jensen give us picture-in-picture promo telling us they’ll be happy to give a knockdown, drag-out fight to anyone. Jensen and Briggs get an early good start against Aichner, but Barthel gets the tag and regains control. Briggs plants Bartel with a one-armed slam but Bartel breaks out the chops and a running knee. Imperium hit Briggs with running dropkicks to the head before Briggs can get the hot tag. Jensen hits some nice slams on Aichner and the fans boo, choosing to pick the guys they know. Barthel shoves Briggs into the stairs outside, leaving Jensen by himself. Brooks heads to the top and Fabian climbs up with a double underhook suplex from the top rope, scoring the three.

Fabian Aichner pins Brooks Jensen, Imperium defeat Briggs & Jensen. A good victory for Imperium and a good showing for the new guys as well. It’s a solid showing for the NXT tag division.

Hit Row hype up B-Fab, Top Dolla telling us that she had trained with Olympic Gold Medalists and world champions. B-Fab says the time for talking is over.

B-Fab (with NXT North American Champion Isaiah “Swerve” Scott, Top Dolla, and Ashante “Thee” Adonis) vs Katrina Cortez

B-Fab is still with us today, now on SmackDown as one of Jade Cargill’s baddies. This was her first TV match, having only wrestled eight matches at live events prior to this. Cortez is better known as La Catalina. She left the company a little over a month later, had a rivalry with Stephanie Vaquer in CMLL, and returned to WWE as part of AAA just weeks ago.

Cortez tries some boots and a leap from the second rope but leaps right into B-Fab’s pump kick. B-Fab hits her with a Rude Awakening and covers for the pin. Easy win.

B-Fab pins Katrina Cortez. It was only a minute long.

After the match, B-Fab gets a mic and tells the crowd that “Senorita Secret Sauce” and her Legado del Fantasma buddies put their noses where they didn’t belong. That leads out Elektra Lopez, her big ass hat, and the rest of Legado del Fantasma (Santos Escobar, Joaquin Wilde & Cruz Del Toro). Lopez and B-Fab exchange words and Santos holds Lopez back for now.

Cameron Grimes, Odyssey Jones and Johnny Gargano are backstage all in matching Lumis-style gloves. Gargano thinks we’re missing one thing tonight and in walks Austin Theory, something we generally do not miss. Theory says he brought somebody with him for the big wedding, in this case a priest. Damien Priest, to be exact. Priest is ready to celebrate the open bar and Gargano gives Theory a big hug.

Here’s a look at Connor’s Cure.

2021 NXT Breakout Tournament Winner Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams come out for some words in the ring with Samantha Irvin. This is our first appearance of Trick as well. Hayes knows he has a target on his back so he’s brought in Trick to be his backup. Wherever Melo goes, Trick goes too. Trick says he is here for two reasons, because he was born with the gift of the gab and the gift of the jab. He’s proud of Melo but has a bone to pick with him. He thinks Melo is being a little too humble right now and Melo agrees. Melo says he has a guaranteed championship around his waist with the Breakout win and tells us that when Melo shoots, he don’t miss.

As Melo leaves, out comes Duke Hudson for his match. He shoves past Trick and Carmelo, Trick runs in the ring to beat down Duke and Carmelo joins in.

Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne have some thoughts backstage, telling a person off-camera that THIS is the real Mandy. We pan back to a woman in a black hoodie who we will assume is Mandy Rose. Black hoodie? Could be anyone on the entire roster. Watch out, Seth Rollins. Or maybe it is Seth Rollins.

Kacy Catanzaro & Kayden Carter vs Gigi Dolin & Jacy Jayne

Carter and Catanzaro would stick around for a while, winning both the WWE and NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions before being released. Carter has gone on to AEW under her pre-WWE name Lacey Lane while Catanzaro/Katana Chance has not competed since being released. We’ll see a lot more of Dolin in the months to come, though she’d be released in 2025 and return to the indies. Jayne just moved up to SmackDown and looks like she’s going to be a big deal. This feud is carrying over from pre-2.0 days.

We start off with Carter and Dolin before it quickly breaks down to chaos. Kacy tags in and we see Kyle O’Reilly working out in a split-screen view before being attacked by Pete Dunne and Ridge Holland. Poor Kyle. Jayne tags in as does Kayden. The hooded woman runs out and is clearly Mandy Rose, who strips it off to reveal her new brunette hair. Sarray runs out and we have a six-woman brawl to send us to a commercial break.

Sarray, Kacy Catcanzaro & Kayden Carter vs Mandy Rose, Gigi Dolin & Jacy Jayne

We come back from commercials and this has transformed into a six-woman tag. Sarray is a house of fire , taking down all the Toxic women and hitting a beautiful Fisherman’s Suplex on Gigi. Barrett keeps telling us that Kacy & Kayden are the TikTok tag team. Rose tags in and the heels stomp down Kacy as the camera crew get a bad case of the Kevin Dunn zoomies. We get a long beatdown of Kacy before she finally gets the hot tag to Carter. Carter rolls Mandy into a kick to the jaw and a pin attempt which is broken up by Jayne. It all breaks down again and we come down to a Rose/Sarray brawl as the fans chant for NXT and a “this is awesome” chant, our first of the 2.0 era. Rose hits Carter with a big boot and the pin.

Mandy Rose pins Kayden Carter; the team of Rose, Dolin & Jayne defeat Sarray, Catanzaro & Carter. This WAS pretty fun, especially once it really got going.

Indi Hartwell is admiring her gown with Candice LeRae, Cora Jade and Persia Pirotta.

And now, the Progressive Smart Moves: Raquel Gonzalez is generally threatening with her NXT Women’s Championship.

Mackenzie Mitchell is with NXT General Manager William Regal. Regal tells us O’Reilly isn’t cleared by medical, so the man taking his place is the man that saved Kyle… Von Wagner. Welcome to the Von Wagner Era.

Ridge Holland vs Drake Maverick (with Grayson Waller)

Holland and Maverick had both been a part of NXT at this point. Ridge will be here with us in NXT for a while though will eventually hit the main roster and come back to NXT before being released. This would be Maverick’s last standard match in wrestling, though he’d have some very successful and very unsuccessful battles for the 24/7 Championship before joining the team of WWE agents we see running out to ineffectively break up brawls. Waller made his NXT debut a few weeks earlier.

This does not go well for young Drake Maverick. After beating Drake around, he hits Norton Grip and gets the pin.

Ridge Holland pins Drake Maverick. This was a squash.

Mitchell is with Tommaso Ciampa backstage. He tells us that tonight is his redemption.

We meet Tony D’Angelo, Italian music playing as he tells us about his family’s success and being named an All-American wrestler. The real money is in NXT. Tony D’Angelo, coming soon. That’ll never work.

The Creed Brothers (Brutus & Julius Creed with Malcolm Bivens, Roderick Strong, Ivy Nile & Hachiman) vs Dan Jarmon & Trevor Skelly

Alright, let’s break down the names. The Creeds are still around though have been seen sparingly, just like Ivy. Bivens is Stokely Hathaway and is in AEW. Strong is in AEW. Hachiman is Hideki Suzuki who had zero matches during his time in NXT/WWE, working primarily as a coach in the PC before rerturning to Japan. Jarmon has been all over the indies, though he had two previous NXT jobber appearances under two different names prior to this. Skelly has been around the indies as well, his sole prior NXT appearance being a loss in twenty seconds with Jonathan Octagun against Hunico and Camacho.

I feel like there could have been so much more with Diamond Mine. Brutus tosses a human being around for a bit. He scoops one up and tosses him at the other as Julius comes in. They scoop up the jobbers and run them together. Julius tags in officially and grabs one of the opponent’s hands, making him tag in his reluctant partner. Julius scoops the poor man up for a giant slam and plants him with a huge clothesline for the three.

The Creeds defeat Dan Jarmon & Travor Skelly. A fun squash. Watching the Creeds throw men around was something when they debuted.

Bivens has a mic and says the Creeds will destroy any human being with two legs. He introduces us to the newest Diamond Mine member, Ivy Nile. He tells Ivy to flex for ‘em and show ‘em that “bawdy”, saying she hasn’t had a carb since 2005. This is all interrupted by NXT Cruiserweight Champion Kushida who says, Maffew-style, that they talk too much. Bivens sets up Strong vs Kushida next week.

Dexter Lumis is inspecting his suit and combing his mustache.

Vic, Wade and Beth greet us from ringside and Beth tells us that Edge is resting up after the attack of Seth Rollins on Raw.

NXT Championship Fatal 4-Way Match: Tommaso Ciampa vs Pete Dunne vs Von Wagner vs L.A. Knight

Knight is still around. Ciampa stuck around for quite a while, finally hitting the main roster before leaving to battle Jericho in AEW. Dunne is still a WWE talent but we haven’t seen a man with that name since May 2025. I assume he’s enjoying a nice vacation and not up to anything else unbelievable. And then there’s Von Wagner, making his NXT TV debut though he had lost as Cal Bloom on SmackDown to Sheamus and Main Event to R-Truth in 2020. He’ll disappear eventually.

The winner claims the vacant NXT Championship. Things break down as you’d expect early before Dunne gets the arm of Wagner to bend in awkward ways. Ciampa and Dunne trade blows before Wagner reappears and takes some Dunne chops. Knight sneaks in and gets slammed down by Wagner as well to send us to a commercial break. Ah yes, that’s what that feels like. I almost forgot. Needed more DoorDash commercials.

Back from break, Ciampa is chopping Dunne and Knight. Ciampa smacks them both with running clotheslines and is clearly the crowd favorite. Wagner backdrops CIampa, Knight hits the BFD on Dunne and then Wagner. Ciampa rolls through one and hits the Willow’s Bell on Knight for the cover, Dunne pulling Knight out to break the pin. Ciampa dives on all three men outside and takes a close up look at Goldie as the fans chant for NXT. Ciampa nails Dunne with a running knee and goes for Fairy Tale Ending, Dunne snaps some fingers to escape and hit the Bitter End. a bloodied Knight tosses Dunne out, Wagner appears and hits an Olympic Slam for a two count. Imagine him winning the belt on his first night with the Angle Slam. Dunne and Ciampa take down Wagner with running fists and we’re back to Ciampa and Dunne.

Dunne and Ciampa trade right hands before Dunne heads up top, where Knight pops up for a suplerplex. Wagner grabs Knight and Ciampa boots his pin attempt, hitting the Fairy Tale Ending on Knight and getting the pin. We have a new champion.

Tommaso Ciampa pins L.A. Knight to become the new NXT Champion. A good, typical fatal 4-way where they mostly take turns but it never slows down. I enjoyed it. Ciampa is as good of a pick as anyone to be the first to lead 2.0.

A video package looks at the love story of Indi Hartwell and Dexter Lumis including Johnny Gargano’s reluctance to let it all happen and Beth Phoenix convincing Indi to propose to Dexter.

And now, the wedding of the century. We’re mid-ring, the ropes have been removed and we have a sea of wrestlers on their way to the ring.

After a break, we’re in the ring and the groomsmen, bridesmaids and Dexter Lumis are in position. Indi Hartwell is walked down the aisle by Johnny Gargano. The officiant asks who is giving Indi away, which is Johnny. Austin Theory can’t find the rings which turn out to be in the fruit-covered jacket of Ikeman Jiro, who is also not wearing pants. The officiant asks is anyone objects and a sea of hands pop up before Dexter flashes his ax at them. Gargano is a lot of fun talking through this.

Indi is first with her vows. Dextah, “I see you as my cuddly teddy bear. Some people see you as a stalker but what I see is a caring man with a well-groomed mustache and tight clothes that never takes his eyes off me.” She’ll always remember the time that he snuck into her bed when Johnny and Candice were asleep and Dexter covers the mic. She says he could never lose a staring contest and he understands her. And now for Dexter.

Dexter flashes a thumbs up. The officiant: “That’s it? No vows?” Dexter grabs him and puts him to sleep, which is fair. Johnny calls for William Regal to finish the ceremony and he declines as we see a zombie referee behind him, a callback to… something I missed. Probably Halloween Havoc, right? Beth Phoenix joins the party, saying that she was afraid this would happen so she went online to become ordained. “What do you guys say we cut to the chase?”

Andre Chase stands up. “DID SOMEBODY SAY ANDRE CHASE?” Odyssey Jones grabs his shoulders and sits him back down. Beth asks for the rings and asks Indi if she takes Dexter as her husband, for richer and for poorer. She does. She asks Dexter if he takes Indi as his wedded wife for better, for worse, to love and to cherish. Dexter stares and Beth says she’ll take it as a yes before Dexter covers her mic. Lumis leans in. “I do.”

Beth declares them husband and wife. They share a big ol’ kiss and we all celebrate the greatest wedding in wrestling. InDex forever.

As Dexter carries Indi down the ramp, we see Ciampa and Goldie watching on a screen. Bron Breakker walks up, congratulates the champ, and Ciampa offers him a handshake. They shake and we end on stare down and heavy breathing.

Listen, NXT 2.0 wasn’t for some. Scott mostly hated it when he ranted on it. It was for ME though. I thoroughly enjoyed all of this madness. Lumis-Hartwell is probably my favorite wrestling wedding (I know, Savage-Elizabeth exists, I know). I enjoyed the introductions of what would turn out to be some pretty gigantic names. And damn it, I like the colors. NXT needed to get out of the dark lighting it was stuck in.

Next week, the story of Ciampa & Breakker continues. Plus, we learn all about Andre Chase of Chase University!