The NXT 2.0 Rewind: November 30, 2021 – Joe Gacy vs… Fallon Henley?

Previously on the NXT 2.0 Rewind: NXT Black & Gold and NXT 2.0 square up as do the women as we prepare for WarGames.

Arrivals! Both women’s WarGames teams (NXT Women’s Champion Mandy Rose, NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions Jacy Jayne & Gigi Dolin and Dakota Kai for the heels, Io Shirai, Raquel Gonzalez, Kay Lee Ray and Cora Jade for the faces) meet up at the entrance and start brawling. This leads right into…

WarGames Advantage Ladder Match: Kay Lee Ray vs Dakota Kai

Do we need two ladder matches on an episode of NXT? Probably not! But this is 2.0, baby! These two last had a singles match two years earlier on the 2019 pre-WarGames edition of NXT. KLR knocks Dakota to the outside as the fans chant “holy shit” and finds a ladder under the ring. She smashes Dakota between the ladder and the ring and superkicks her. Dakota heads into the ring and runs around the ring, grabbing KLR and slamming her head-first into the steel steps. Dakota finds her own ladder and gets slung into the steps herself as the fans continue to chant for NXT. KLR slides Dakota’s ladder in the ring and Dakota pulls it right back out, so KLR dives onto her and drives her into the announce table. KLR slams Kai onto the ladder and makes the first climb for the NXT briefcase.

Kai cuts her off and tosses her into the turnbuckle before climbing herself, KLR pulling her down. Kai whips KLR into the ladder and smacks her with a big corner kick. KLR grabs Kai for a face-first slam and heads up top, Kai stopping her with a kick and stomping her to the outside. After a commercial break, Kai is working the leg and KLR kicks out. Outside, KLR swoops Kai up and drops her onto the announce table with the KLR Bomb as we see Fatal Attraction watching from the classic Bret Hart side-of-TV angle backstage. Ray climbs and Kai sprints up the other side. They trade punches until Kai slams KLR face-first into the ladder. KLR grabs at Kai’s feet and Kai leaps onto her with the double stomp as we see Ray’s team watching backstage as well. Kai climbs again and KLR pulls her down, locking her by her feet into the ladder. KLR kicks Kota in the face and climbs, unhooking the briefcase.

Kay Lee Ray defeats Dakota Kai to gain the WarGames advantage for her team. A very good ladder match, especially for 2.0 where the last ladder match was scary. I recommend this one. The best match of the 2.0 timeline thus far.

Vic Joseph, Wade Barrett (in Toxic Attraction tee) and WWE Hall of Famer Beth Phoenix greet us from ringside. We have the great Alicia Taylor on the ring mic. Here’s a look at the Cameron Grimes/Duke Hudson grudge which will be settled at WarGames. And here’s a look at Andre Chase challenging Grimes via Twitter.

Grizzled Young Veterans find Briggs & Jensen’s locker (which is right next to theirs). Ikemen Jiro loudly interrupts as does Kushida. They do some comedic shushing of each other and Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen come up to break it all up.

Cameron Grimes vs Andre Chase

Mr. Chase has his student section going wild in the crowd. Andre cheap shots Grimes by grabbing the hair (“Won’t be able to do that after Sunday,” notes Barrett) and stomps away. Grimes fights up with a series of clotheslines and kinda hits a running kick in the corner. Grimes goes up top and Grimes dodges, but Grimes follows up with a running stomp to get the pin.

Cameron Grimes pins Andre Chase. Very basis, but the whole thing here was to hype up Grimes for Sunday. Speaking of which…

Here’s Duke Hudson up in the NXT balcony. He congratulates Grimes on his final victory with hair and gives us the “hilarious” Photoshops of Grimes with various hairstyles as well as bald. Grimes takes out his frustrations on Andre Chase by grabbing a pair of clippers under the ring. One of Andre’s students pulls him out for the save.

The WWE Universe has been voting for ladder match participants and we learn that Johnny Gargano will represent Black & Gold.

Edris Enofe tells us about his military service and plans to defeat Solo Sikoa tonight to prove his doubters wrong.

Alicia Taylor is in-ring with Team 2.0 (NXT North American Champion Carmelo Hayes with Trick Williams, Bron Breakker, Tony D’Angelo and Grayson Waller). She informs them that Gargano won the fan vote for the rother team. Melo says it is time for Gargano to run him his plate because when he shoots, he doesn’t miss. Waller tells “Team Hot Dogs & Handshakes” that they should be jealous, particularly L.A. Knight. Bron makes fun of Ciampa’s seventeen years of experience and promises to come for Ciampa’s title after WarGames. Tony D knows about gold and says the other team paved the road but now the road has pot holes. Alicia reveals that Bron will be representing their team in the advantage ladder match tonight.

They’re interrupted by Johnny Gargano who tells them all they live in fantasy land. Gargano says they wouldn’t have a ring to stand in without him and tells the “Big Bad Booty Nephew himself” to leave his team in the back and make it a man-to-man ladder match. Bron: “I will gladly kick your ass.”

McKenzie Mitchell is with Legado del Fantasma. They promise to beat Kyle & Von tonight with no excuses.

MSK are continuing their journey for the shaman. Their GPS reroutes them and the GPS makes fun of them and how long this has taken. They arrive at the Shaman’s green door. As it opens, smoke pours out and lights flash.

#1 Contenders Match: Kyle O’Reilly & Von Wagner vs Legado del Fantasma (Joaquin Wilde & Raul Mendoza with Santos Escobar & Elektra Lopez)

The winners face Imperium for the NXT Tag Team Titles at WarGames. Wagner and Mendoza kick it off as Vic hypes up the return of Brock Lesnar on SmackDown this Friday night. Mendoza speeds around and goes down to a shoulder breaker before Kyle is tagged in. Legado double team O’Reilly for a while before Von leapfrogs Kyle and wrestles down Mendoza. As Von Wagner works over Mendoza, we see Xyon Quinn walk down the aisle and Elektra Lopez giving us what we’ll call a nervous look.

After a commercial break, Wilde has O’Reilly in a headlock and Quinn is walking up to Lopez. “Lust in his eyes,” says Barrett. Quinn and Escobar brawl into the crowd as O’Reilly walks into a dropkick. Mendoza and Wilde batter Kyle with numerous corner elbows and knees and Wilde springboard flips into O’Reilly for a two count. Wagner gets the hot tag and elbows down Mendoza and power slams him before catching WIlde in a slam as well. Wagner scoops Mendoza into an Angle Slam for a two count. Wagner tosses Mendoza in the air, O’Reilly catches him with a kick and they double team him for the pin.

Kyle O’Reilly & Von Wagner defeat Legado del Fantasma when Von Wagner pins Raul Mendoza to become #1 contenders to the NXT Tag Team Titles. A really fun match, really. Legado are great, O’Reilly is O’Reilly and Wagner was entertaining here. I liked this.

McKenzie talks with NXT Tag Team Champions Imperium (Marcel Barthel and Fabien Aichner). They say it doesn’t matter who they face and are interrupted by their upcoming challenger, Von calling them dumbasses.

Tiffany’s Epifanies. Tiffany Stratton shops at the nicest boutiques, drives the nicest cars, and wears the hottest clothes. “My dad says I can be anything I want and I want to be a NXT Superstar.” Coming soon.

Alicia welcomes us to Joe Gacy’s All-Inclusive Invitational as Joe Gacy talks and Harland stands nearby looking menacing. Joe calls things toxic and says the cruiserweight division will no longer be defined by height requirements, weight shaming or gender bias. He promises to defeat Roderick Strong at NXT Conflict Resolution and has three possible challengers in the ring – one representing each of the categories just mentioned – and will face them individually. First…

Joe Gacy’s All-Inclusive Invitational: Joe Gacy (with Harland) vs Adam Harding

Adam Harding! Known as Vinny Pacifico elsewhere, this is the one match under the WWE banner. He has a few AEW appearances under his belt including a Dynamite trios loss to The Opps and is still active on the indies today. Vic tells us that Sonya Deville is tweeting through the show tonight. Harding gets booted down. Gacy sideslams Harding down, power bombs him and covers.

Joe Gacy pins Adam Harding. Squash! Joe helps Adam up and gives him a hug. He grabs a mic and asks for his next challenger, a young lady.

Joe Gacy vs Unnamed Challenger

The unnamed woman? You may know her as Fallon Henley. This is technically her third NXT match, losing one in 2018 to Lacey Evans and one here two months ago on 2.0 to Elektra Lopez. She’ll be okay, I think.

The match is interrupted quickly by the entrance of Diamond Mine and Malcolm Bivens offering a legitimate opponent like Roderick Strong. Bivens says this is the first and last Gacy Invitational. Gacy calls out the aggression and wants to speak to Roderick person-to-person. Bivens: “You done messed up now, Joe!” Strong clotheslines Gacy and that ends our match with a no contest. Gacy and Strong stare off as we head to WarGames.

Joe Gacy and Fallon Henley wrestle to a no contest. They never made contact, but the bell did ring to start the match and end it after the brawl. Just an angle.

Just to be a completeist, the other Unnamed Challenger that didn’t get to step in was Quincy Elliot, who wouldn’t get a televised match on the main NXT 2.0 program until the show’s one-year anniversary episode in September 2022 (though he did compete on Level Up a few times, including against Gacy). He wouldn’t get a second actual match on NXT 2.0 because he caused the company numerous social media issues and now competes on the indies as Trinelle.

Solo Sikoa is backstage with McKenzie. He appreciates Edris Enofe’s story, but tonight he is stepping in the ring against the street champion. Boa comes up holding his chest and fighting whatever internal spooky conflict he might be facing.

Solo Sikoa vs Edris Enofe

This is only the third career match for Edris, winning a twenty minute (?) indie match in September and then a match a week ago on NXT Level Up against Malik Blade. I’m not going to write him off, but he sticks around the company through 2025, long enough to compete on Evolve. He also competes as ENA.

The fans chant for Solo as we see Robert Stone in the entrance area taking notes. Sikoa kicks down Enofe and splashes him for a one count. Enofe leaps into a big spinning slam by Sikoa for another one count. Enofe does boot down Solo and lands a blockbuster for a two count. Solo tosses him into the ropes and kicks him before battering him with punches and kicks, finishing him off with a running senton for a two. Enofe dodges a corner splash and flies from the second rope onto Solo. He hits a DDT on Solo and heads up top, flying right over Solo who springs him up for a Samoan Drop and then smushes him with the Samoan Splash.

Solo Sikoa pins Edris Enofe. Enofe was given a chance to look good here, but this is the Solo show.

Boa immediately attacks Solo and puts him in a nerve hold. Enofe tries to help and gets in his own nerve hold before Solo saves him and Boa heads off staring at his hands.

Indi Hartwell and Persia Pirotta are stretching as the phone rings, waking up a Sleepy Woman behind them. Indi gets a call from the hospital saying that Dexter Lumis is gone. Persia tells Indi they have to get to their match as the sleepy woman sleeps.

Xyon walks the dangerous NXT parking lot and says things have just begun with Santos. He comes across Elektra who admires that he marches to the beat of his own drum. She wishes him good luck next week and walks off.

And now, the Perfect WWE Companion brought to you by Progressive. Here’s a look at the love of Indi and Dexter.

Indi Hartwell & Persia Pirotta vs Yulisa Leon & Valentina Feroz

Indi is again out of it, worried about her husband. Indi gets worked over a while and makes the hot tag to Persia. Persia easily slams down an opponent and wins the match.

Indi Hartwell & Persia Pirotta defeat Yulisa Leon & Vanentina Feroz. This was all story advancement. Persia keeps looking good and makes you wonder why they didn’t strap the rocket to her.

Draco Anthony sits in a diner, all alone with his cup of coffee, and he’ll see us soon. I have zero recollection of this man.

WarGames Advantage Ladder Match: Bron Breakker vs Johnny Gargano

I’m curious about this because Bron’s still our rookie hero and being thrust into a ladder match. They battle outside where Bron grabs a ladder, taking it inside. Gargano climbs the ladder and Bron shoves him down. They trade blows and Bron catches Gargano for a nasty slam. Bron sets up the ladder and climbs before seeing Gargano enter the ring. Bron goes to stop him and Gargano springboard spears him before running quickly up the ladder, Bron stopping him. Gargano dives into Bron on the outside, sending Bron over the announce table and into Vic Joseph.

We come back from a break to both men climbing the ladder, trading blows before Bron punches Gargano down, Gargano bumps off the ropes and knocks Bron off the ladder and to the outside. Bron comes back in and suplexes Johnny across the ring and props the ladder on the ropes as the fans chant “this is awesome.” Breakker overhead suplexes Gargano onto the ladder to send us to a “holy shit” chant. Bron goes for a top rope elbow and Johnny moves, Bron crashing elbow-first through the ladder instead. Oops. Gargano sets the ladder up across the ring post and top rope, dropping Bron face-first right into it. Gargano climbs to the top over the ladder. Breakker presses both Johnny and the ladder over his head but Johnny slips out, superkicking Bron down twice, the second time as Bron shoots him the bird.

The battle to the corner and Bron hits a Frankensteiner. Bron presses Gargano into the air again and again, Gargano slips out and this time DDTs Bron. Bron climbs the ladder and Johnny climbs the other side, meeting at the top again. Gargano decks Bron in the head with the briefcase, Bron dropping and then bouncing back up to catch Gargano off the ladder and drop him with a slam. Bron climbs and easily unhooks the briefcase.

Bron Breakker defeats Johnny Gargano to gain the WarGames advantage for his team. Again, another good ladder match. I doubted having two of them on TV, but they were both good and had the right people in them. Bron fit right in here.

Team 2.0 and Team Black & Gold run out, of course, and we have our final brawl before Sunday’s WarGames event.

An enjoyable episode this week. Both ladder matches were very good, there was a good tag team match and even the filler stuff wasn’t bad.

Recommendations to watch: both ladder matches, O’Reilly & Wagner vs Legado