The NXT 2.0 Rewind: 9.21.21 – Chase University is Born

Previously on the NXT 2.0 Rewind: We started this whole 2.0 journey with the wedding of Indi and Dexter. We also had the in-ring debut of Bron Breakker and first appearances from Trick Williams, Tony D’Angelo, Von Wagner, and Ivy Nile. Tomasso Ciampa won the vacated NXT Championship.

We start with many of the newcomers in the ring getting cheered by the crowd as Wade Barrett, Vic Joseph and WWE Hall of Famer Beth Phoenix greet us from ringside. Alicia Taylor is on the mic for introductions.

The newbie celebration is interrupted by NXT Champion Tomasso Ciampa. The names sharing the ring with him are Josh Briggs, Brooks Jensen, Carmelo Hayes, Trick Williams, Bron Breakker, Odyssey Jones and Joe Gacy. Melo is already eyeing the Breakout Tournament contract in his hands as he keeps eye contact with Ciampa’s gold. Ciampa tells us that the journey has been worth every second to get Goldie back. He missed his gold and he’s excited about the energy of 2.0. He is, was, and always will be Mr. NXT. He sees the fresh coat of paint but says the passion hasn’t changed in NXT. He looks at the names around ringside – Alicia, Bad News, Vic, and Beth – and knows they are NXT. He knows it with the superstars. And he knows it with the fans, who give themselves an NXT chant. He says NXT 2.0 has become the A-show and tells the fans to tell the world that We Are NXT.

Cameron Grimes interrupts and says he is fired up. He thinks Ciampa’s belt is the rocket fuel he needs to go to the moon. Joe Gacy introduces himself but we’re interrupted by L.A. Knight who would like to talk to you. He calls the fans incels and and knows the fans should be chanting for him. Odyssey says that Knight lost twice last week. Now we’re interrupted by Pete Dunne and Ridge Holland who stare down Briggs & Jensen. Dunne says all he sees are geezers scared to throw the first punch. Ciampa throws said punch and it all breaks down into a brawl as more guys run out. We brawl down to CIampa and Breakker who toss Dunne and Holland out as Vic tells us there is commotion in the locker room area.

The women are brawling backstage. Is there no control in this place? This is like an Adam Pearce production. We cut back to the ring and Breakker, Ciampa, Dunne, and Holland brawling again. Bron grabs a mic and makes a challenge for a tag team main event.

NXT Cruiserweight Championship: NXT Cruiserweight Champion Kushida vs Roderick Strong (with Malcolm Bivens, Ivy Nile, Hachiman and the Creed Brothers)

Strong is a veteran of the NXT scene as he and the rest of Undisputed Era toppled things for several years. We get our championship introductions from Alicia Taylor and get underway. The men grapple on the mat to start, trading holds before hitting a stalemate. Strong runs into a flying armbar by Kushida but rolls it into a pin attempt. Strong rolls outside and we take a commercial break.

We come back to Kushida countering out of an Angle Slam. Kushida gets on a hot streak and nails Strong with a big right. Strong ducks a book and chops the hell out of Kushida. They head to the second rope and Kushida hooks the Hoverboard Lock, dropping Strong back to the mat. Strong chops back into things and hits a charging forearm before Kushida rolls him into the Hoverboard Lock again. Strong fights and Kushida locks it on deeper as Bivens puts Strong’s foot on the rope to break it. Bivens distracts the ref as the Creeds and Nile beat up Kushida outside and roll him back in, right to a knee and the cover. We have a new champion.

Roderick Strong pins Kushida to become the new NXT Cruiserweight Champion. I haven’t seen many Kushida matches that I can remember, but I enjoyed this one. We only had about five minutes of action including a break, but it never slowed down.

His celebration is interrupted by Grayson Waller. He says he doesn’t know what happened to his boy Drake Maverick last week and that 2.0 is a jungle. He’s out to take an opportunity and suggests a title match next week. Bivens: “How DARE you interrupt the champ’s celebration. Next week? Hold on for a second, cuz.” Strong’s into it so we’ll have a battle next week.

Here’s our second vignette on Tony D’Angelo. He discusses a few of his family’s business arrangements. Tony D, coming soon.

And here’s a look at Brooks Jensen and Josh Briggs having a bar fight with some randoms. A regular night in Florida, really.

Kay Lee Ray vs Amari Miller

KLR had been bouncing around NXT and NXT UK for a few years at this point, including an appearance in the 2019 WarGames match and losing the NXT UK Women’s Title after a LONG reign a few months earlier to Meiko Satomura. She’ll stick around in the company until 2026 including a tag title run with Isla Dawn and some time in Chelsea Green’s Secret Hervice before joining the departures list. She debuted weeks ago for EVE. Amari spent a few years taking losses against others in NXT outside of Level Up, where she did pretty well, before her contract ended in 2024. She remains active mostly on the WOW Superheroes roster though she did also take a loss to Nyla Rose on an episode of Ring of Honor.

Amari seems to have adopted Emma’s bubble machine for her entrance. She gives us an inset promo telling us she’s here to show up and show out. She has some good energy, I’ll give her that. Amari ducks a quick charge and hits a neck breaker for a one count. KLR dropkicks her, Miller tries to fight out and gets hoisted into the Gory Bomb for the easy win.

Kay Lee Ray pins Amari Miller. It was only a minute and there wasn’t much to it, but it established KLR as a killer and Amari as a bubbly new face.

McKenzie Mitchell is with Bron Breakker backstage. He knows this is a huge match tonight. Ciampa joins him to tell Bron to sink or swim as they share some admiration.

Earlier today, Dante Chen walks with two women that aren’t named and I don’t think we’ve met yet, one of which is Tiffany Stratton. He’s interrupted by a dude and knocks him out.

Dante Chen vs Trey Baxter

This is our WWE/NXT in-ring debut for Chen, who was recruited after a tryout in Singapore. He would stick around NXT and WWE until being released in 2025. Baxter signed a developmental deal in 2021 and left in the same year and is better known as Blake Christian of AEW’s The Swirl.

Baxter grabs Chen with a nice suplex and heads up top, but Chen quickly follows. Chen scoops Baxter up and slams him right down from a cradle for the pin.

Dante Chen pins Trey Baxter. This was a quick bunch of nothing.

For the first time, we visit Chase University. Andre Chase introduces himself to his students and wants to teach about Odyssey Jones and his failure in the Breakout Tournament. Chase gets angry about a student’s question and kicks him out of class. Get out of here, Steve. Chase tosses a chair. Andre Chase is wonderful.

Our announce team let us know that Kyle O’Reilly’s ribs were re-injured last week and is week to week. We also talk about the health of Triple H, who tweets that he is in recovery.

Would you like a NXT 2.0 t-shirt? WWE Shop has you covered.

Alicia Taylor introduces Joe Gacy, sitting in the ring. Joe calls the ring a safe space. This is a place we settle our differences and he is here for conflict resolution “where I don’t need to use my male privilege to get what I want.” He believes we can achieve unity and tolerance and he can be the man to show us peace in this safe space starting tonight. Oh brother.

Cameron Grimes vs Joe Gacy

We’ve seen Gacy once before on this program, losing to Trey Baxter in the first round of the Breakout Tournament. Gacy will be doing some stuff we’ll cover in the weeks ahead in NXT before hitting the main roster as part of the Wyatt Sicks and being released in 2026. Gacy is competing in a dress shirt and pants. Grimes gets the early advantage with an armbar, Gacy scissors his way out. Gacy smacks Grimes with a splash in the corner and hooks on a basic chinlock. Grimes counters out of a powerbomb, boots Gacy and caves him in with a running stomp for the three.

Cameron Grimes pins Joe Gacy. This didn’t really give much for either man but especially didn’t do much for newcomer Gacy.

Post-match, Grimes celebrates and Gacy offers a handshake and hug, laughing as he leaves.

Here’s a look back at the wedding of the century from last week.

Von Wagner gets a vignette where he sledgehammers a giant tire and tells us that his journey has just begun. Bob Wagner smash!

Elektra Lopez (with Santos Escobar, Joaquin Wilde and Raul Mendoza) vs Anna Scheer

Elektra’s WWE story is a little sad as the rest of Legado moved up to the main roster and she was kind of left behind with Zelina Vega taking her spot when they moved to SmackDown. She stuck around NXT until being released in 2025. She’s done a few sparing indie matches since but mostly is doing her thing on Instagram nowadays. She had a good look, I wish they would’ve given her more of a shot. Anna Scheer would evolve into Fallon Henley after this match and has since graduated to SmackDown after a good stint in NXT. I’ll write plenty more about her in the weeks to come.

Elektra is the story here. She powers Anna down. Anna charges into Elektra’s arms and is planted down. Elektra suplexes her and transitions her into a sit-down powerbomb for the easy three.

Elektra Lopez pins Anna Scheer. This was the Elektra squash story here and she looked good doing it.

Post-match, Santos tells us that Elektra is class, elegacy, sophistication, and fuego. He touts the familia of Legaco. Elektra tells us that this is just a taste of what the first lady of Legado is going to unleash on B-Fab and NXT. She tells B-Fab to get her “skinny ass” out here and sure enough, Hit Row (NXT North American Champion Isaiah “Swerve” Scott, Ashante Thee Adonis and Top Dolla) come out while B-Fab attacks from behind. The women brawl and their respective factions pull them apart.

Cora Jade finds Trey Baxter backstage, tells him he looked like a superhero and lays a big kiss on him. Alright.

Franky Monet is walking backstage with Robert Stone and Jessie Kamea when she comes across NXT Women’s Champion Raquel Gonzalez. Gonzalez tells Monet they have a title match next week. As Gonzalez walks off, Lash Legend appears and says her show, Lashin’ Out, will be debuting next week.

To cover a few names, Frankie Monet we’ll cover next week. Jessie Kamea’s journey saw her in the Mae Young Classic before not doing anything of note in NXT. She would go to Stardom and spend two months as a member of Club Venus. She never competes again in NXT, so I figured we should cover her now.

Odyssey Jones vs Cary Millman & Darren Chiappetta

Let’s cover the jobbers first. Millman had this sole NXT appearance but was a regular on AEW Dark and Dark Elevation for a while but looks to have stopped wrestling in May 2025. Chiapetta regularly wrestles as DMC and has one other WWE appearance in a 2020 tag loss against EverRise on 205 Live. Now, Odyssey Jones. He seemed like a “can’t miss” prospect for WWE for a while, being drafted to Raw in 2023. He didn’t do a thing of note and was drafted to Raw again in 2024, starting a program with New Day. A month later, allegations of domestic abuse came out and he was fired. He’s spent time around the indies, in All Japan and now with MLW.

To the action. Odyssey was pretty over with the live crowd here. This is your usual “big man smashes multiple men in a handicap match.” Odyssey throws ‘em around and hits a second-rope frog splash on both for the pin.

Odyssey Jones pins Cary Millman and Darren Chiappetta. Just a showcase. Not a particularly interesting one.

Andre Chase appears with a chair after the match and Odyssey catches it, Chase leaving in a teachable moment.

Grayson Waller chats with some guys that we don’t know when Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams show up. Melo reminds Grayson that he could lose his title opportunity in the same night if he chooses to cash in his Breakout contract. Toxic Attraction walk by and Trick calls them fine. Trick has not lied yet on this program.

Ikemen Jiro gives us a tour of his closet and his many jackets. He promises to show us Style Strong and dances in his many jackets.

Toxic Attraction (Mandy Rose, Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne) join us in the arena for some words and the camera crew giving us some gratuitous camera angles of Rose. Rose tells the fans they treated her the same way they treated Gigi and Jacy but none of them give a damn about it. Gigi and Jacy showed her that a beast is ready to be unleashed and this is the future of the NXT women’s division. Gigi says they are unbeatable and and Jacy promises they are more than pretty faces. This was a generic intro to the group promo, but they are going to grow into this.

Mackenzie Mitchell catches the NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions Io Shirai and Zoey Stark backstage. Io accepts the Toxic challenge immediately and Zoey questions it all. Persia Pirotta comes in and says that when her partner Indi Hartwell is back from her honeymoon, they’d like a title shot as well. I have zero memories of these teams being a thing outside of the Toxic girls.

NXT Champion Tomasso Ciampa and Bron Breakker vs Pete Dunne and Ridge Holland

Main event time. Ciampa and Dunne counter each other for a fast start. Holland comes in and takes a few chops before Dunne tags himself in and knocks the bald man down with a flying knee. Ciampa fights both men off to the outside and tosses Dunne across the announce table, giving us the clap before Holland clotheslines him over the table to send us to a break.

Ciampa is still trying to find his way to his partner when we come back, Holland tagging in to continue the heat segment. Ciampa finally gets the hot tag to Bron who charges right into Holland and suplexes Dunne. Holland takes a suplex. Bron pulls down the straps and hooks the Steiner Recliner on Dunne who escapes via finger manipulation.

Holland tosses Ciampa. Bron tosses Dunne. We get to the young whippersnapper face to face with Bron and Holland, trading blows and taking each other down with clotheslines. Dunne tries to sneak in with his club and Ciampa stops him. Holland pokes Bron in the eyes and grabs his club, only for Kyle O’Reilly to appear and attack with it. Bron grabs Holland up and slams him down with a slam for the three.

Bron Breakker pins Ridge Holland, Ciampa & Breakker defeat Dunne & Holland. A serviceable tag match that never really hooked my interest.

Post-match, Breakker begrudgingly hands Ciampa his belt.

An interesting episode for sure. I’m not that into the main title picture thus far, but I am enjoying all of the characters bubbling up on the lower level and some of the established stars like Kay Lee Ray getting a new spotlight. You’re not missing a lot by skipping this episode, but I’d recommend the opening Cruiserweight Title match.

Next week: Stark & Shirai vs Dolin & Jayne, Gonzalez vs Monet, B-Fab vs Lopez and Strong vs Waller.