The NXT 2.0 Rewind: 10.05.21 – Trick’s First Match and Tony D’s Arrival

Previously on the NXT 2.0 Rewind: Roderick Strong captures the Cruiserweight Title, Toxic Attraction takes down all comers, the men’s tag division explodes and Johnny Gargano tries to prevent sex.

Vic Joseph, Wade Barrett and WWE Hall of Famer Beth Phoenix welcome us to the Capitol Performance Center, where we have another two hours of NXT on our plates. Alicia Taylor is on the microphone.

Mandy Rose (with Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne) vs Ember Moon

Hey, Ember Moon! Remember her? At this point, she had won the NXT Women’s Championship, moved to the main roster for two years, and came back to NXT to win the Women’s Tag Team Titles with Shotzi Blackheart. This sole appearance is it for her as a competitor on NXT 2.0. In November, she’s one of a class of releases that takes away several names I’ve covered these last few weeks including Franky Monet, Jessi Kamea, Katrina Cortez, Oney Lorcan, Trey Baxter, and B-Fab. Bigger names in that release cloud included Keith Lee, Mia Yim, Karrion Kross and Nia Jax. We’re all aware of what Ember has done since being released, going to All Elite Wrestling and becoming the longest-reigning Ring of Honor Women’s World Champion for what stands at 1,306 days and counting when this is published. She’s also occasionally been put on actual AEW programs. Not enough for the liking of many of us.

I don’t like her chances here, however, as Mandy is the one on the rise. Ember dives out onto Jacy and then power bombs Mandy onto the ring apron. In ring, Mandy hits a solid side slam and boots down Ember in the corner to the booing of the crowd. Mandy works a scissor lock, Moon leans back to turn it into a near fall. Ember goes up for the Eclipse, Mandy ducks under and nails a flying knee to knock Ember out. Mandy gets the pin.

Mandy Rose pins Ember Moon. The age of Ember definitely feels over here, at least under the WWE umbrella, and Mandy is the clear pick to be moving up the ladder. Ember didn’t look bad here, but you would’ve never thought of Ember losing to Mandy Rose in four minutes prior to going to the main roster.

Vic tells us about some things that happened with the WWE Draft. SmackDown drafted all of Hit Row (including NXT North American Champion Isaiah “Swerve” Scott) along with Aliyah, Xia Li, and Ridge Holland while Raw took on Austin Theory and Drake Maverick.

Legado de Fantasma have a vignette where they taunt Hit Row and Santos Escobar challenges Swerve to defend that title he has taken to SmackDown.

L.A. Knight vs Odyssey Jones

The fans chant for Odyssey. They’ll be chanting for the other guy very loudly in a few years. Knight ducks a charge in the corner but Odyssey grabs him and tosses him across the ring in several directions. Odyssey chases L.A. outside, L.A. rolls in and takes the advantage. Knight knees Odyssey and drops his running elbow, only getting a one count from it. Odyssey bearhugs L.A. and slams him as Andre Chase appears on the apron to taunt Jones. Jones smacks Chase down, giving L.A. a chance to hit the BFD from behind and get the pin.

L.A. Knight pins Odyssey Jones. There wasn’t a lot to this and it mostly gave the spotlight to Odyssey.

Mackenzie Mitchell is backstage with Cameron Grimes. He says love is in the air and he’s a little jealous. He’s on the search for a lucky lady. Pete Dunne and Ridge Holland come up to berate him as Cameron is distracted by something off screen, that something being a couple of blondes.

Kyle O’Reilly and Von Wagner meet up backstage. Von tells Kool Kyle that he doesn’t like Holland or Dunne but he respects Kyle. Kyle appreciates the help but tells Von to let him handle his own business.

NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa joins us in the arena for some words. He wants to know who has the balls to come take his title from him and sure enough, the siren blares and here comes Bron Breakker. Bron tells Ciampa that he doesn’t give a damn how long he has been here because he wants to be NXT Champion. Bron says he has the biggest balls in the locker room and he wants the title shot at Halloween Havoc. Ciampa says that while Bron wants the title, he NEEDS the title. He tells Bron he has three weeks to go from an intern to a PhD and the challenge is accepted.

Joe Gacy says that while social media platforms crashed, he sat with his voice and NXT 2.0 is a platform that will never crash. Apparently one of the social media platforms crashed that week. That’s a weekly thing nowadays.

Indi Hartwell and Persia Pirotta walk and talk about the honeymoon, Indi saying they went through two packets (of condoms, because this is the horny show now). They come across a smoky room that has Mei Ying and friends inside.

Joe Gacy vs Ikemen Jiro

We’ve come across Ikemen a few times since 2.0 started but we haven’t covered him, so let’s do it. Better known as Jiro Kuroshio, he spent years in Wrestle-1 prior to NXT and came out with four World Trios Titles and a Tag Team Championship. He joined NXT in 2020 as Ikemen Jiro, a gentleman who looks nice and loves jackets. Prior to 2.0, he was a regular on 205 Live and lost in the first round of NXT’s Breakout Tournament to Duke Hudson. He’ll stick around for a while, so we’ll cover his future later.

Vic tells us that Gacy has made national headlines over the last few weeks. Gacy tosses Jiro around with suplexes. Jiro is able to hit a back breaker and hits Jacy with his jacket-covered arm. Jiro ranas Gacy down and charges with a miss, Gacy springs off the ropes with a backspring, a lariat and the pin. After the match, Gacy helps Jiro up and hugs him.

Joe Gacy pins Ikemen Jiro. This was all character development.

As Gacy leaves, he sees a large, bald, tattooed man staring him down in the stands. He smiles at the large man.

Here’s a vignette on Cora Jade. She loves to skateboard!

And now we’re off to play poker with Duke Hudson. He says it doesn’t matter where it is, because he can play with your mind and beat you.

Cora Jade vs Virginia Ferry

Cora skateboards to the ring because she’s a cool kid. The youngsters love to skateboard and being 20, she’s our resident youngster. Virginia Ferry had one prior NXT appearance, a quick loss to Mei Ying shortly before the 2.0 change. She has competed for years all over the place as Dream Girl Ellie and is a regular in AEW and ROH as a preliminary opponent. This doesn’t matter much here though, because she drops to the mat as she is introduced and we see Franky Monet slinging her into the ring steps and face planting her. Robert Stone announces that Cora’s new opponent is Franky and Alicia and the referee just go with it as we’re told Stone has some pull. Hey, he’ll have some REAL pull in NXT in 2026!

Cora Jade vs Franky Monet (with Robert Stone)

As Franky beats down Jade, Trey Baxter appears to cheer on Cora. Franky is decimating Cora here. Franky nails a spear on Jade and lifts Cora up for the Exclamation Point, Jade rolls through and gets the pin.

Cora Jade pins Franky Monet. Well, this didn’t do anything to make Jade seem like anything special but it did make Franky look like a killer. Guess which one just wrestled their last NXT match? Franky doesn’t compete in NXT again after this match.

Mackenzie Mitchell catches up with MSK. They’re interrupted by Grizzled Young Vets. Wes Lee suggests they make tonight’s match an elimination-style match. Trick Williams, Carmelo Hayes, Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen all join in for a backstage brawl.

Mitchell is with Ciampa now who says Breakker is a blue-chipper. Joe Gacy interrupts and feels toxic energy by Ciampa only challenging those with balls. He would like to be included in an opportunity for the championship and Ciampa says he’ll see him next and if Gacy wins, he moves to the Halloween Havoc match.

NXT Women’s Champion Raquel Gonzalez arrives in the dangerous NXT parking lot and does not look happy.

Pete Dunne (with Ridge Holland) vs Cameron Grimes

Joseph reminds us that the post-Draft rosters go into effect in a few weeks, the night after Crown Jewel. The fans chant “to the moon” as the men battle. Dunne works the arm and fingers of Grimes for an extended amount of time as Barrett tries to explain why Dunne didn’t get the Draft call-up when Holland did. Grimes finally escapes and lands several running forearms and a corner boot before heading up top and hitting a high crossbody for a two count. Kyle O’Reilly appears out of the crowd to attack Holland. Pete dodges Cameron in the ring, hits the driver and gets the three. Even with help, Grimes couldn’t get it done.

Pete Dunne pins Cameron Grimes. It was fine. Not particularly helpful for Grimes, but it advances Dunne/Holland/O’Reilly.

Post-match, Holland and Dunne beat up O’Reilly and leave him in the ring.

We get one last vignette for Tony D’Angelo, combining clips from the previous vignettes.

Hit Row talk to us from backstage, saying the WWE Universe is buzzing about their move to SmackDown. Top Dolla says they’re running towards the money. Swerve accepts the challenge of Santos.

During the break, we see Von Wagner come out to help O’Reilly to the back.

Tony D’Angelo vs Malik Blade

Malik, also known as Josh Dawkins, came to NXT just a month or two earlier, doing a few 205 Live matches before jumping into this match on the big stage. He stuck around NXT until leaving in April 2026 after cycling through matches everywhere from 205 Live to LFG. He has only wrestled twice since including once in a card for his trainer D-Von Dudley. We know Tony D well largely due to NXT 2.0, though he signed with NXT in 2019. He’s one of the prime examples of the success of growing in 2.0 as he is currently the NXT Champion, though several others on the show leaped him on the path to the main roster.

Tony tries to give the referee the ol’ quick bribe handshake. The fans are already solidly chanting “Tony,” so the vignettes did their job. It expands into a “let’s go Tony, let’s go” clapping chant as Tony is easily handling Malik. Malik gets a dropkick to stall the momentum, but Tony spears him right back down. Malik splashes Tony and goes up with a beautiful crossbody, but Tony kicks out. Tony hits a front suplex and then another suplex for the easy pin.

Tony D’Angelo pins Malik Blade. Malik had some good hope spots here but this was the Tony D show. Tony already being over is all you need to know here.

Mackenzie is with Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams. Carmelo says they found a tag title match and he didn’t even have to cash in his Breakout contract to get it.

Here’s a commercial for the Netflix interactive special “Escape the Undertaker,” where you help New Day make choices to try to take Undertaker’s urn. I can’t imagine a partnership between WWE and Netflix would ever work out (especially something wild like ten years for five billion dollars), but nice try I guess.

Indi Hartwell (with Persia Pirotta) vs Mei Ying (with Boa)

Shout-out to Mei, the future Wendy Choo, for taking every gimmick they threw at her and working it. We haven’t talked about Persia yet, but she’s better known as Steph De Lander. She signed with NXT in April 2021 and she’ll be around for a bit of this 2.0 journey, so we’ll cover her successful post-NXT ventures later on. Indi gives her wedding ring to Pirotta to hold as she wrestles.

Hartwell can’t overcome the supernatural powers of Ying to start, unable to knock her down. Indi fights out of a nerve hold but Ying smacks her down again. Ying slams Hartwell into the ring post and goes to boot Indi, Indi moves and Persia takes the hit instead. Indi springboards an elbow onto Ying to cover and get the pin.

Indi Hartwell pins Mei Ying. I love them but this wasn’t very good.

Ying sits up, Taker-style, after the match as Indi returns her ring to her finger.

Lash Legend is talking to some randoms and promises hot tea on next week’s episode of Lashing Out. Tony D’Angelo says if she brings him in as a guest on her show, he can promise some eyeballs on the show.

Malcolm Bivens promotes Diamond Mine in a vignette, hyping up each member of the group. I really liked this. It made them all seem like killers and interjected the usual Stokely humor into it.

NXT Women’s Champion Raquel Gonzalez is joining Samantha Irvin in-ring with some thoughts. Raquel thinks Mandy’s hair dye has seeped into her brain. “I have been dominating this division for close to a year. This title isn’t just a fashion accessory.” If Mandy touches her title again, Mandy will be posing for a body cast. This brings out Toxic Attraction (Mandy Rose, Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne). They do some general taunting before surrounding her, only for NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions Io Shirai and Zoey Stark to run in and even the odds. The Toxics leave, avoiding the fight for now.

Kyle is icing himself when Von Wagner comes in for another chat. He tells Kyle they have a tag match next week against Pete and Ridge whether Kyle likes it or not.

Indi and Persia come up to taunt Io and Zoey. Io promises Indi will have ringing in her ears in addition to the ring on her finger.

Four-Way Elimination Match for the NXT Tag Team Championship: NXT Tag Team Champions MSK (Wes Lee & Nash Carter) vs Brooks Jensen & Josh Briggs vs Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson & James Drake) vs Carmelo Hayes & Trick Williams

It’s sad that women’s wrestling has killed tag team wrestling and we could only fit four tag teams onto this show in the main event. Ah well. I have a feeling I’m going to have trouble keeping up with this. For those of you that track this kind of thing, this is the very first match in the career of Trick Williams.

Lee and Gibson trade pin attempts to start us off. Lee flips his way to Carter who offers up a standing stomp to Gibson’s back. Hayes tags himself in to the chagrin of Gibson and springboards a clothesline before tagging in Trick for the first time ever. Jensen tags in and is slapped by Trick, responding with some punches before Trick takes him down with a flying clothesline. Trick tags Melo back in who runs into a big inverted atomic drop. Briggs tags in and he and Brooks pull in the GYV guys as Joseph reminds us this is no disqualification. Why even have tags? Wes Lee soars over the top onto Trick and flips to Carter. They fold up Williams for the first elimination as we’re down to three teams. Trick Williams and Carmelo Hayes are eliminated.

After commercials, we come back to Lee and Gibson again. After a long stretch of GYV dominating, Carter gets the hot tag and drops Drake with a running knee. Gibson pulls Drake to the outside, Carter moonsaults onto them both. GYV hit Carter with a big double team but Carter tags out to Jensen in the heat of it all. Jensen and Briggs drop Gibson with a powerbomb, eliminating him. Grizzled Young Veterans are eliminated.

We’re down to MSK and Briggs & Jensen. They double team Lee for a bit, getting a “this is awesome” chant as they spike Lee to the matt. Briggs and Jensen set up their combo clothesline/chokeslam and Carter runs in to clothesline Jensen out. This gives Lee a chance to roll Jensen into a pinfall for the elimination and the victory. Briggs & Jensen are eliminated.

MSK defeat Grizzled Young Veterans, Briggs & Jensen and Hayes & Williams to retain the NXT Tag Team Titles. A good tag team match. It slowed down a bit for the GYV/MSK heat segment but otherwise I enjoyed it.

After the match, Briggs and Jensen grab the belts and hand them to the victors, showing respect. As MSK celebrate, Imperium run out to attack, laying out the MSK boys. Briggs and Jensen run in to save, Imperium running off.

Another easy two hours that crammed a lot into the show. There are historic things, like Trick Williams and Tony D’Angelo’s first TV matches (and Trick’s first recorded match, period). There is a lot of stuff going on in the tag division. Toxic Attraction is continuing their quest for gold. A few of our new faces are still trying to stick out.

Next week: Ciampa vs Gacy, O’Reilly & Wagner vs Dunne & Holland and a NXT North American Title match between Swerve and Escobar.