The NXT 2.0 Rewind: 10.12.21 – “Cashing In”

Previously on the NXT 2.0 Rewind: Imperium make their mark by attacking MSK, Io Shirai and Zoey Stark save Raquel Gonzalez from Toxic Attraction, Tony D’Angelo debuts, and Bron Breakker sets his sights on Tomasso Ciampa and Halloween Havoc.

Earlier today, Hit Row arrives, Isaiah “Swerve” Scott wearing headphones and missing Legado de Fantasma pulling up for the attack. Legado abduct Top Dolla and B-Fab with Santos Escobar attacking Swerve and then wishing him good luck tonight.

As always, we have Vic Joseph, Wade Barrett and WWE Hall of Famer Beth Phoenix on commentary and the great Alicia Taylor on the ring mic.

NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa vs Joe Gacy

If Gacy wins, he is added to the NXT Championship match at Halloween Havoc. Joe first tells us that in this safe space tonight, he’ll be victorious because he represents all of us, “all of my snowflakes,” and he promises to bring transparent inclusivity into the NXT Championship. They tried really hard to be edgy with this and it is, as the kids say, cringe. Vic tells us that social media wants fresh faces in the championship picture. Gacy gets the early advantage, tossing the champ around with a nice side suplex. Gacy takes a moment to look into the crowd and see the large, bald, tattooed man from last week again sitting in the crowd. Ciampa takes this shot to stomp down Gacy and nail him with a running knee to the face in the corner.

Gacy rolls outside and pulls Ciampa out with him, though Ciampa bounces Gacy off the announce table. Vic tells us the man is named Harlan and we see Harlan watching emotionless as Gacy splashes Ciampa for a two count. After an ad break, Ciampa batters Gacy with four consecutive clotheslines in the corner and a fifth mid-ring. Ciampa lifts Gacy up and Gacy rolls through. They trade blows before Gacy scoops Ciampa up for a power bomb, only getting him a two. Gacy misses a moonsault and Ciampa scoops him up for the Fairytale Ending, covering him for the pin.

Tommaso Ciampa pins Joe Gacy. Pretty good. Gacy didn’t look out of his league here, but the match didn’t leave much doubt that Ciampa was putting him down.

Harland appears behind Ciampa in the entrance and attacks. Gacy comes up from behind and Harland grabs him with a choke, Gacy strokes Harland’s face and Harland lets go as the fans chant “who are you” (they do not have commentary like we do). Gacy smiles as Ciampa leaves with Goldie.

As Ciampa exits, Toxic Attraction (Mandy Rose, Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne) enter the arena. Gacy offers them a friendly smile on their way in. Jacy says that Toxic Attraction don’t care about the rules and do what they want, when they want. What they want is the NXT Women’s Tag Team Titles and says they’re taking them at Halloween Havoc. Mandy tells us she’s challenging Raquel Gonzalez at Halloween Havoc as well. At Halloween Havoc, Mandy says, they will make history and all be wearing gold around their waists. “I’m still the baddest bitch in the game.”

We’re just running segment into segment as Xyon Quinn comes out as they wrap up their speech, giving the Toxics a respectful nod.

When we return from a break, we see a mysterious person with a shovel. “I will bury the past so I can start again.” The Halloween Havoc logo flashes on the screen.

Xyon Quinn vs Malik Blade

Vic tells us that Drew Gulak is live tweeting the show right now, which I guess is better than messing with women backstage. The fans offer dueling chants for both men almost the entire match. Malik hits a pretty top rope dropkick and covers Xyon for a two. Xyon scoops up Malik with a chokeslam and nails him with a running forearm, scoring the easy pin.

Xyon Quinn pins Malik Blade. A LOT of energy from the PC crowd here for a little two-minute match. Xyon kept looking like a killer while Malik bumped around well.

McKenzie Mitchell is with Ciampa backstage. He doesn’t know what to think of Gacy, but he’s dialed in for Halloween Havoc. Grizzled Young Veterans walk up and tell him they can’t wait to see him lose the title to a rookie. That rookie, Bron Breakker, comes up and yells for them to lace it up. Bron says he is staying by Ciampa’s side because at Halloween Havoc, he wants to beat Ciampa at his best.

Natalya and Titus O’Neil promote the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

A promo for Edge vs Seth Rollins in Hell in a Cell at Crown Jewel airs, with Beth blowing her husband a kiss afterwards.

Mitchell stands by with Swerve, saying they haven’t heard from Ashantee Thee Adonis today and his other friends have been kidnapped. Swerve thinks Santo is trying to bring out his evil spirits and says it has worked. “I’m taking this North American Championship with me to SmackDown and there’s not a damn thing Escobar can do about it.”

Ivy Nile (with Roderick Strong, Malcolm Bivens, Hachiman, and Brutus & Julius Creed) vs Valentina Feroz

Commentary tells us that this is Ivy’s first match ever, though that’s not quite the truth. She had three prior NXT live matches and a dark match at Takeover XXX, but also competed on this very program back in September 2020 as one of many names in a #1 contender’s battle royal for the NXT Women’s Title. She was under her real name of Emily Andzulis at the time and was in there with a mix of a few big names like Rhea Ripley and Dakota Kai and a few names that would make an impact later like Marina Shafir. Candice LeRae would win the match. Feroz made her NXT TV debut in that battle royal as well, then appearing on NXT for a few weeks in losses before building some momentum on 205 Live. She’ll stick around for the entirety of the 2.0 rebrand, so we’ll cover her more in the future.

This one is all Ivy. She plants Feroz with an extended vertical suplex and then slings her into the corner. Barrett tells us that he gets Phoenix vibes from Ivy. Ivy slams Valentina and rolls Valentina onto her shoulders, holding Feroz in a torture rack as she does squats. Feroz taps.

Ivy Nile defeats Valentina Feroz by submission. A solid “debut” for Ivy.

Bivens grabs a mic after the match. “The pitbull has been unleashed!” He says the Creeds didn’t come here to play either and are the most dominant tag team today. Speaking of dominant, he points out our NXT Cruiserweight Champion Roderick Strong. Strong is interrupted by the happy music of Ikemen Jiro, motioning for a belt and jumping in the ring. He slugs Julius Creed and we have a match set.

Julius Creed (with Roderick Strong, Malcolm Bivens, Ivy Nile, Hachiman and Brutus Creed) vs Ikemen Jiro

Julius showcases his strength, rag dolling Jiro around with suplex after suplex. Jiro provides a little bit of jacket-covered offense including a corner splash that Julius quickly kicks out of. Jiro moonsaults outside onto Julius and tosses the Creed back in, the fans chanting for NXT. Jiro springboards into the arms of Julius, who dumps him with a roll and a nasty forearm before easily pinning him.

Julius Creed pins Ikemen Jiro. Mostly a showcase for Creed, but the crowd loves some Jiro.

Diamond Mine all beats down Jiro after the match, Kushida runs out for the save and can’t overcome the numbers either.

NXT Women’s Champion Raquel Gonzalez talks to us backstage, telling us she has never ducked or dodged any challenge. At Halloween Havoc, she’s upping the stakes and wants a Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal match.

It’s time for another episode of Lashing Out with Lash Legend. She makes a Squid Games joke and reveals her Legends of the Week, Hit Row, as we see some familiar faces in her audience including the current Evolve Women’s Champion Nikkita Lyons and newfound Vision leader Maxxine Dupri. Lash declines Tony D’s request to come on her show and tells us we’ll see her next week.

Kyle O’Reilly & Von Wagner vs Pete Dunne & Ridge Holland

Good news, this is the last time I have to cover a Ridge Holland match in 2.0. What do you mean it is twelve minutes long?? Okay, fine. Lots of back and forth for a while before Holland and Wagner tag in and have a hoss battle. Wagner cleans house and is pulled outside, where Von whips Ridge into the steel stairs and we go to a commercial.

We return to Holland in control of Kyle mid-ring. Dunne tags in to a “Bruiserweight” chant and tries for some kicks which Kyle turn into an anklelock. Dunne crawls over to make the tag and Holland beats down Kyle, tossing him to the outside. Wagner saves his partner from being slammed on the stairs. Kyle comes in and gets the hot tag. Kyle torpedoes Dunne on the outside with a knee while Von hits Ridge with a slam and a pin in the ring.

Von Wagner pins Ridge Holland, Wagner & O’Reilly defeat Holland & Dunne. I tried hard to care but sorry, I couldn’t. Our story is that Von has proven that Kyle can trust him. See ya, Ridge.

To Chase University! Andre Chase says that today’s lesson is on ring awareness, noting that Odyssey Jones has none. A student named Brandon gets cussed at and thrown out.

Tony D’Angelo tells us that he is the man in NXT and that a producer told him there was a scheduling conflict with his spot on Lashing Out with Lash. He says he does things on his own account and walks away as we hear a man screaming from the trunk of his car.

Duke Hudson vs Grayson Waller

This is our first look at young Hudson in-ring on 2.0, really going in hard with the poker gimmick by holding a poker chip. Hudson, as Brandon Vink, had been floating around in NXT since early 2019 as well as competing on EVOLVE events. He’d actually make a TV debut on Raw before he did on NXT, teaming with Shane Thorne in a loss to the Street Profits at the beginning of the pandemic. He’d make his NXT TV debut two days later, again with Thorne but this time losing to Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan. Vink & Thorne would continue to be a thing for a few weeks on Raw, even getting a surprise win over the team of Ricochet and Cedric Alexander in April 2020 before disappearing. Vink reappeared as Hudson in the 2021 Breakout Tournament a few months before this 2.0 refresh, defeating Jiro in the first round before losing to Carmelo Hayes.

In an inset promo, Waller tells us that he is “all in” against the poker champ. All in? That sounds familiar. I wonder if there is another wrestling show airing at the same time on a competing network. Waller catches Hudson with an armbar but Waller easily regains control to the annoyance of the live crowd. Waller slugs out with a big right arm and then hits Hudson with his running Stunner, rolling him up for two. As Waller tries to springboard off the ropes, Hudson kicks in the rope and Waller falls to the mat. Hudson rolls Waller up, using the tights, and gets the three.

Duke Hudson pins Grayson Waller. Waller is the one that looked like the star here, but it’ll come around for Waller.

Santos Escobar is stretching backstage with the rest of Legado, saying how unfortunate it is that Swerve’s familia isn’t here tonight. He promises Legado will stay in the locker room tonight and it’ll be man vs man, one on one.

Imperium (Ludwig Kaiser and Fabian Aichner) tell us via video package that MSK are everything wrong with the current generation. They promise to save the NXT Universe from them and to them, the mat is sacred.

Indi Hartwell gives a big slobbery kiss to her husband Dexter Lumis on her way out for…

Indi Hartwell & Persia Pirotta vs Sarray & Amari Miller

I think Sarray is the only person I haven’t covered here, so let’s talk about her. She’s a popular joshi with numerous titles to her name as Sareee, but came to NXT as Sarray in 2021 following signing during the pandemic and being allowed to continue to work in Japan until travel restrictions loosening. She’ll be appearing here off and on, but her NXT 2.0 story won’t really go wild until January.

Persia and Indi both work down Sarray at first before Sarray is able to get the tag to Amari. Persia tags in to tear down Amari with clotheslines and a Snake Eyes in the corner. Indi drops the elbow from the corner onto Amari and it is an easy win for the Impressive one and her friend.

Indi Hartwell pins Amari Miller, Hartwell & Pirotta defeat Sarray & Miller. An easy win. Indi and Persia are good as a team.

Post-match, Persia grabs a mic and makes a challenge for the tag titles. NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions Io Shirai and Zoey Stark march out, Io yelling in Japanese and saying she doesn’t like either of her opponents or Zoey. Toxic Attraction’s Jacy Jane and Gigi Dolin join the entrance parade to say they also want the titles and we have a six-woman brawl. The champs stand tall at the end but I’m sure we’ll continue this story.

Waller passes by Cora Jade backstage before sitting down to talk with, uh, a woman I don’t recognize. Cameron Grimes pops up and is wondering how Waller is able to impress women. “It’s about likes and swipes,” notes Waller, who tells Grimes that if he used a razor, he’d do better.

Here’s a vignette for a blonde man with Samoan tattoos, telling us he was left to fight alone when he was fifteen. That’s when he became Solo Sikoa, street champion. We’ll see more of this gentleman in the weeks to come.

NXT North American Championship: NXT North American Champion Isaiah “Swerve” Scott vs Santos Escobar

Swerve is on his own as his cohorts are missing and/or abducted. The rest of Legado enter with Escobar but leave, giving Swerve a chance to attack. Swerve tosses Escobar into the steel steps and into the ring to start the match. Escobar quickly ducks out to the announce table, Swerve flips out onto him. Back in the ring, Escobar flips Swerve outside and pulls Scott to the mat, then drives into him and drives Swerve over the announce table to send us to a break.

We come back to “this is awesome” chants and Escobar hitting a beautiful spinebuster. Vic worries about the legacy of the North American Championship going to SmackDown, a title with a 3.5 year history at that point including 200+ days in the hands of a competitor they no longer acknowledge (Velveteen). Escobar drives knees into Swerve’s chest in the corner and hits a top rope rana, then hits the Guerrero tribute frog splash for a two count. Swerve tries for a 450 and lands on Escobar’s knees, getting Santos another near fall.

The fans are LOUD for all of this and for good reason as it is very good. Legado appear on the apron and are pulled down by Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams, taking them out. Escobar lands a jumping knee and tries for the Phantom Driver, Scott counters out and hits the JML Driver for the three count.

Isaiah “Swerve” Scott pins Santos Escobar to retain the NXT North American Championship. Fantastic match. Worth a watch! But wait, there’s more.

Carmelo and Trick congratulate the celebrating Swerve in the ring, Melo holding up Swerve’s arm before clotheslining him to the mat. Trick hands Hayes his NXT Breakout Tournament contract and Melo signs it, guaranteeing the title shot of his choosing at this very moment.

NXT North American Championship: NXT North American Champion Isaiah “Swerve” Scott vs Carmelo Hayes (with Trick Williams)

Hayes nails Swerve with a flying forearm from the second rope, Swerve still having enough fight to kick out at two. The fans chant “holy shit” as Swerve runs right into a giant boot. Hayes heads up top, drops an ax kick and gets the three. We have a new champion.

Carmelo Hayes pins Isaiah “Swerve” Scott to become the new NXT North American Champion. Not much of a match but cash-ins don’t usually need to be. This is no different, this is a big showing for Melo and he has a lot of good ahead of him after this in NXT. Vic: “Melo called his shot and when he does, he don’t miss.”

Next week: Chase vs Jones and Ciampa & Breakker vs GYV.