The second-ever episode of NXT 2.0 was a total mess. They crammed a whole bunch of stuff into two hours, and only some of it made sense. It's the start of a new era, so there are obviously a few growing pains, but too many new faces, a bunch of awkwardly contrived backstage segments, and some overwritten promos made tonight's episode feel like a chore to get through.
Winner: Roderick Strong
The 162-day reign of Japanese dynamo Kushida came to an end at the hands of Roderick Strong ... with a HUGE assist from The Diamond Mine. Given the way The Diamond Mine has been built up over the last few weeks, the result was almost a foregone conclusion. The match itself was nowhere close to as good as it could have been if the two men had been given more time, but it fulfilled its purpose of cementing The Diamond Mine as a formidable force.
Loser: Too Many New Faces On The Same Show
In the black and yellow days, a match between two veterans like Kushisa and Roderick Strong probably would have been given at least 15 minutes. But this NXT 2.0, and there are new faces to be introduced. A lot of them. Like, too many. Way too many.
New blood is good, and there's no doubt that a good portion of the new NXT faces will go on to have successful careers, but the last two weeks have been jam-packed with people whose names we don't know. WWE is clearly trying to take NXT back to its developmental roots, but they aren't doing these up-and-comers any favors by debuting them all at once. It's hard to keep track of who's who, and some risk getting lost in the shuffle.
Winner: Elektra Lopez
The newest member of Legado Del Fantasma scored an emphatic victory over enhancement talent Anna Scheer and showed viewers what she's capable of in the process. The match was predictably brief, but we got enough of a glimpse of Lopez's work to know what to expect in the future.
After Lopez's victory, Santos Escobar cut a promo in which he praised Lopez and said that Legado is now complete with her in it. Lopez cut a promo of her own and called out Hit Row's B-Fab. Hit Row emerged on the ramp but B-Fab attacked Lopez from behind. The inevitable match between these two newcomers should be a good'n.
Loser: Awkward Promos
This week's edition of NXT 2.0 featured a couple of awkward promos that earned well-deserved "What?" chants from the audience. The first was from newcomer Joe Gacy, who debuted his new "anti-toxic masculinity" gimmick. In the promo, Gacy referred to the ring as a safe space. "I come from a place of conflict resolution where I don't need to use my male privilege to get what I want," he said. The whole thing went down like a lead balloon.
Later, newly-formed trio Toxic Attraction (Mandy Rose, Gigi Dolin, and Jacy Jayne) explained their alliance via a clunky, ham-fisted, and painfully over-scripted promo. Thankfully, all three women are talented in-ring performers, so they should have no problem recovering from tonight.
Winner: Bron Breakker (Again)
Whoever's booking NXT right now absolute loves Bron Breakker and it's easy to see why. At the top of the show, he exhibited some wonderful Scott Steiner-esque mic work. At the end of the show, he capped off an impressive in-ring performance by hitting his cool-looking finisher on Ridge Holland. It now seems like an inevitability that Breakker will challenge Ciampa for the NXT Championship before the year is over, which should be fun.
Full Results And Noteworthy Moments
- The show opened with several NXT upstarts in the ring awaiting the arrival of new NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa
- Ciampa cut a promo in which he commemorated his title win, hyped up the new era of NXT, and got the crowd pumped
- Cameron Grimes arrived to stake his claim as number one contender, LA Knight and Pete Dunne did the same and a brawl broke out
- Dunne and his crony Ridge Holland were eliminated from the ring by Bron Breakker and Tommaso Ciampa. Breakker then challenged Holland and Dunne to a match against himself and Ciampa
- Roderick Strong def. Kushida (c) via pinfall with an End Of Heartache following distractions and interferences from Strong's Diamond Mine stablemates
- Aussie upstart Grayson Waller interrupted Diamond Mine's celebrations to challenge Strong to a title match next week. The challenge was accepted by Malcolm Bivens on Strong's behalf
- Another vignette hyping the arrival of Tony D'Angelo aired
- A vignette aired in which Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen explained how they became friends after fighting each other in a bar
- Kay Lee Ray def. Amari Miller via pinfall with a KLR Bomb
- In a backstage interview, Bron Breakker spoke about his and Ciampa's upcoming bout with Pete Dunne and Ridge Holland. Ciampa arrived, and Breakker became distracted by Goldy, which was draped over Ciampa's shoulder
- Dante Chen def. Trey Baxter with an unnamed inside cradle counter finisher
- Daniel Vidot attacked Xyonn Quinn after the latter said chivalry was dead
- In a pretaped skit, Andre Chase taught a class at Chase University and ejected a student for bringing up Chase's defeat to Odyssey Jones
- The announcers provided an update on Kyle O'Reilly's health, saying that he is "week-to-week"
- Ahead of his match with Cameron Grimes, Joe Gacy addressed male privilege and called the ring a "safe space"
- Cameron Grimes def. Joe Gacy via pinfall with a double foot stomp
- A Von Wagner hype package aired
- Elektra Lopez def. Anna Scheer via pinfall with an unnamed finisher
- Santos Escobar cut a promo in honor of Elektra Lopez. Lopez called out B-Fab Hit Row emerged, B-Fab attacked Lopez from behind
- Trey Baxter reflected on his defeat in the locker room and was comforted by his real-life girlfriend Cora Jade. Baxter said something about becoming a superhero
- Odyssey Jones def. Two Jobbers via pinfall with a second rope frog splash
- Andre Chase arrived and hit Jones with a chair, Jones no-sold the shot and the chair broke upon contact
- Trick Williams and Carmello Hayes put Grayson Waller on notice in a brief backstage segment
- Raquel Gonzalez approached Frankie Monet backstage and confirmed that she would defend her NXT Women's Championship against Monet next week
- Lash Legend announced that her talk show would debut on next week's NXT
- Toxic Attraction (Mandy Rose, Gigi Dolin, and Jacy Jayne) explained their motivations in a heel promo. Jayne and Dolin set their sights on the NXT women's tag titles
- Bronn Breakker and Tommaso Ciampa def. Pete Dunne and Ridge Holland via pinfall after Breakker hit his finisher on Holland following interference from Kyle OReilly, who attacked Holland with his own led pipe
- Breakker once again eyed up Goldy as he and Ciampa celebrated