The NXT 2.0 Rewind: 10.09.21 – “Solo vs Knight vs Waller”

Previously on the NXT 2.0 Rewind: We have a dance party, Dakota Kai glitches, and Solo Sikoa makes his in-ring debut.

Our queens of Toxic are out to kick us off with six-women tag action. At the broadcast table, we have Vic Joseph, Wade Barrett and WWE Hall of Famer Beth Phoenix while the great Alicia Taylor is on the ring mic.

Toxic Attraction (NXT Women’s Champion Mandy Rose and NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions Gigi Dolin & Jacy Jayne) vs Io Shirai, Kacy Catcanzaro and Kayden Carter

Really, it’s amazing that we are five years later and Iyo has the same theme music. DO NOT get any ideas, Def Rebel. I will fight you over “Tokyo Shock.” Kacy and Kayden make their entrance through the crowd, handing out bracelets as we see a tweet from Zoey Stark telling us she tore her ACL and is recovering from surgery.

Kayden and Mandy start things off. The PC crowd is loud as always, which certainly helps the presentation. Mandy shoves Io off the apron before pulling Kayden into the Toxic corner. Gigi comes in with somewhat of a rana as Jacy takes over for a pin attempt. Kayden tags in Io who drops the knees on Jacy. Iyo tags in Kayden who tags in Kacy, the two taking down Jacy with a double-teamed amount of flipping. Mighty Kacy ranas Mandy to the outside and then flips right on her, then Carter follows. Io attempts to make it three, but runs right into Mandy with a nice spinebuster to send us to break.

Back from it, Mandy has Kacy scissored in a chinlock. Io gets the hot tag and hits Mandy with the Bullet Train for a two. Io lands the Over the Moonsault and the Toxics break it up. Mandy drags Io to her corner and tags in Gigi who is immediately ineffective, Io tagging in Carter who pounds away at Gigi and Jacy in the corner. “This is awesome” chant as Carter hits Dolin with a Sister Abigail. She heads up top, Jacy runs interference and Gigi pulls her down and rolls her up, Toxic Attraction stealing the win.

Toxic Attraction defeats Io Shirai, Kacy Catcanzaro and Kayden Carter when Gigi Dolin pins Kayden Carter. A hot opener that never slowed down and kept the crowd going. I liked it.

McKenzie Mitchell is with Pete Dunne. Trick Williams and Carmelo Hayes head up with some words about some words Pete said on Twitter, Pete issuing a challenge. Sure. That damn Twitter.

Back in the arena, Toxic Attraction are still posing in the entrance when Kay Lee Ray struts out for her match, giving them all a look.

MSK are still walking, something they’ve been doing since last week apparently. They arrive to find the address they were told is wrong, so the hunt for their shaman continues. May they get lost on the way to the next vignette please.

Kay Lee Ray vs Sarray

KLR last competed on this show two months ago and then started doing rage room vignettes while Sarray has, thus far, been enhancement talent in 2.0. KLR attacks with rage, Sarray being completely run over. Sarray does spin through with a rollup for a two that she transitions into a nice submission, bending KLR backwards but Kay Lee reaching the rope. Sarray lands a Perfect Plex for two. She tries to set KLR up for a move but they trade big kicks instead. Sarray tries for her flying dropkick but KLR ducks, grabbing up Sarray on the outside dropping her on the announce desk with the KLR Bomb. She hits a second in the ring for the easy pin.

Kay Lee Ray pins Sarray. A little sprint but it was fun to watch. They gave Sarray a few hope spots but this was all KLR.

Joe Gacy is with McKenzie. He saw the changes Boa was going through last week. No one should have to hide who they are and he hopes to help Boa accept that tonight. He also sends a message to Harland through the camera, telling him to reach out, touch hands, and know tonight this is for “us.”

Tickets are on sale for WrestleMania in Dallas. No better time than now to buy tickets for that show from a few years ago.

Here’s a look at the WWE UK Tour this past weekend, mainly Bron Breakker making his first UK tour and facing Sami Zayn and Tommaso Ciampa.

Joe Gacy vs Boa

If you missed last week, Boa had a match, came back to learn that Mei Ying disappeared, touched her chair and turned around enchanted with her face paint and smoke having inherited the spirit of Tian Sha. As one does. Gacy is able to suplex Boa around a bit and tries to hook a chinlock, but Boa fights out. Boa kicks Gacy down and the lights start to flicker. Boa chokes Gacy in the corner and won’t release, drawing a disqualification. The music stops and Boa stares at his hand, leaving.

Joe Gacy defeats Boa by disqualification. Okay.

Diamond Mine watches a video of Jacket Time. Malcolm Bivens tells the Creeds to use the same energy Roderick Strong used last week to win tonight.

McKenzie talks with Solo Sikoa and Grayson Waller. L.A. Knight pops in to make fun of both of them and Solo thinks the three of them should settle it in the ring.

Diamond Mine (Brutus and Julis Creed with Malcolm Bivens, Hatchiman, Ivy Nile and NXT Cruiserweight Champion Roderick Strong) vs Jacket Time (Kushida and Ikemen Jiro)

Jacket Time is certainly a thing that happened. Wade complains that Jacket Time is the dumbest tag team name ever, Beth counters with Tekno Team 2000 and Vic pulls out The Corre. After a break, Kushida leaps onto Julius and kicks Brutus in the head. Jiro tags in and they hit Julius with a double dropkick, Jiro heading up and nailing a Senton for a two count. Julius rips off Jiro’s jacket and Roderick Strong pulls down the bottom rope, causing Jiro to tumble out .Jiro heads back in, right into a suplex by Julius for a pin.

Diamond Mine defeat Jacket Time when Julius Creed pins Ikemen Jiro. This was fine, too short to amount to much especially with half the match lost to a commercial.

Post-match, Odyssey Jones runs out to clear out Diamond Mine. Perhaps they can find him a jacket.

The Toxics are walking in the parking lot – a dangerous idea – when Raquel Gonzalez speeds up on her motorcycle and says she’ll deal with them later.

Raquel drives that bike right to ringside, here to say a few words. She calls out Dakota Kai who comes out laughing because she’s crazy now. She says it felt good to hit Raquel with the shovel and is immediately attacked by Cora Jade, so angry she didn’t bring her skateboard. The ref squad breaks that up and Raquel comes down to yell at Cora, telling her that Dakota is hers first.

Chase University! Today’s lesson from Andre Chase is on mental toughness. One you lose your mental focus, you’re doomed for failure. A student asks about Chase’s issue with the microphone last week affected his mental toughness. He tosses that student out and continues the lesson.

Twitter! Undertaker was tweeting about WrestleMania and hanging out with George W. Bush. That tracks.

Grizzled Young Veterans wander the streets of Orlando where they steal a man’s CashApp info to order food. What heels!

Cameron Grimes vs Ru Feng

Cameron seems to have waxed most of his chest hair which makes him 38 pounds lighter. This is it for Feng as far as 2.0 appearances, though he’ll have another three televised 205 Live and three televised Level Up matches before going into retirement. This is all Grimes, landing his flying boot for the pin after about a minute and a half.

Cameron Grimes pins Ru Feng. Squash!

Duke Hudson appears to confront Grimes. They take a lot of time to say nothing but we eventually get to Duke challenging Grimes to an in-ring poker showdown next week.

Triple Threat: Solo Sikoa vs LA Knight vs Grayson Waller

Vic reminds us to catch Tribute to the Troops this Sunday. Knight and Waller can’t stop arguing, so Solo comes up and smacks them both. Knight and Waller decide to work together, something that also doesn’t work out as Solo clotheslines them both down. Knight pulls Waller outside and tosses him to the announce table before Solo grabs and tosses Knight back into the ring. Waller pops up and pulls Knight outside, then comes in to get tossed by Solo. Knight and Waller finally get on the same page and double suplex Solo, taking turns hitting him. It doesn’t last, as they argue over who gets to suplex Solo Dolo. They finally decide to try to do it together, Solo slips under and powerbombs them both off the second rope. Solo leaps off the top with a splash onto Knight for the pin.

Solo Sikoa defeats L.A. Knight and Grayson Waller by pinning Knight. They only had about five minutes, but again it never slowed down. They’re painting Solo to be a killer and so far, it works.

McKenzie is with Indi Hartwell and Persia Pirotta, asking what is next for them after losing at Halloween Havoc. They’re interrupted by one Tony D’Angelo says he’ll be pummeling Dexter next week and then Indi will be back on the market. He hands Indi a fish.

Fantasma de Legado head towards the ring, Elektra Lopez telling Xyon Quinn via camera that she hopes he is watching.

Here’s another look at the WWE UK Tour, this time focused on Ciampa.

Elektra Lopez (with Raul Mendoza and Joaquin Wilde) vs Erica Yan

This is our first and last 2.0 look at Erica Yan, so let’s do our little dive into her history. She retired with only thirteen matches to her name and this was the second, the first also televised in a loss to Valentina Feroz days earlier on 205 Live. Her background was Crossfit and championship rowing. She stuck around NXT through September of 2022, competing on 205 Live and Level Up, before retiring from the business with a 0-13 record upon her departure. Her last two matches were the only two outside of the Performance Center at NXT Florida loop shows. She came in with Ru Feng and Dante Chen, she and Feng both disappear around the same time while Dante will be around for a few years.

That probably tells you all you need to know about this match. Lopez beats Yan inside and outside of the ring, landing a sitting powerbomb for the pin.

Elektra Lopez pins Erica Yan. Just a squash.

Post-match, Elektra grabs a mic and says that what she wants, she gets. What she wants right now is Xyon Quinn who answers the call. She tells him he was very impressive last week and offers him a spot in Legado. Xyon grabs the mic and her hand, telling her she is amazing, but he can’t get down with Legado. The Legado boys take offense and Xyon takes their heads off with clotheslines. Elektra goes for a slap, he catches it and spins her into an embrace, and they circle each other before he leaves. Beth tells us to look at the sexual tension. There isn’t much because they don’t seem to really have any chemistry, but I’ll play along with the story.

WarGames is coming on Sunday, December 5th to Peacock and pay-per-view. We’ll get there in the Rewind eventually.

McKenzie has found Kyle O’Reilly. He doesn’t know if he should go singles or keep growing with his buddy Von Wagner. NXT Tag Team Champions Imperium head in to confront him and Von Wagner is here for backup, the champs backing off for now..

Pete Dunne vs NXT North American Champion Carmelo Hayes (with Trick Williams)

Non-title. Barrett hypes up that, as Hayes calls himself the “A” Champion, he is indeed the one main eventing the show two weeks straight. Dunne gets the early start with some finger manipulation. As Melo battles outside, Dexter Lumis pops up and puts on a headset to join the commentary team.

We return from a break to Dunne working the leg and Lumis having nothing to say on commentary. Melo ducks a clothesline and pulls Pete into a BIG First 48, flipping Pete’s entire body in the process. Melo runs into a boot but scoops Dunne into a stunner and a clothesline as the fans chant about awesomeness. Dunne picks up momentum with a sit down powerbomb for a 2.5 count. Dunne spin kicks Melo, Melo bounces off the ropes with his own forearm. The fans chant for AEW video game “Fight Forever” as the men trade blows before Melo hits the Gargano Escape on Dunne, Dunne escaping it by bending Melo’s fingers backwards. Trick grabs his shoe to hit Dunne and Lumis stops that. A gloved hand grabs Melo from underneath the ring, distracting Melo long enough to turn around into the Bitter End for the pin.

Pete Dunne pins Carmelo Hayes. Another “NXT banger” that was fine but didn’t draw me in that much. They are doing a good job building up Melo and the importance of his title.

Johnny Gargano pops up with a thumbs up to end our show.

This show didn’t really capture my excitement once we passed the opener six-woman tag, but it did move at the usual frantic pace. We have WarGames announced so there is something to build to in the next month.

Next week: A poker showdown plus Odyssey Jones & Jacket Time vs Diamond Mine and Dexter Lumis vs Tony D!