NXT 2.0 Review: 23/08

Bron Breakker and Tyler Bate kick off the show

The NXT Champion Bron Breakker started the show and wanted to know why Tyler Bate came out at the end of Heatwave. The NXT UK Champion then arrived and after a short back and forth promo, the two agreed to fight in a Championship Unification match at Worlds Collide. I like that Bate is the champ as he has been on NXT UK since its inception 6 years ago and the fact that he is the first and last UK Champ is really cool. It’s just a shame that Ilja Dragunov isn’t able to take part as he has been a dominant champion for nearly a year. Still looking forward to Breakker VS Bate though.

Grade: B

NXT UK Tag Team Championship match and “The Grayson Waller Effect”

Gallus had a cool promo showing us what they are about. This was simple and smart as if you didn’t know much about them, you do know. Gallus then came out to face Briggs and Jensen for the NXT UK Tag Team Championship titles, and this wasn’t very good. Briggs and Jensen aren’t a very good tag team and during the match, Pretty Deadly brawled with the champs and this is usually an instant DQ, but it wasn’t as instead, they carried on brawling and the match ended in a count out. The stupid ending summed up this whole match. Diamond Mine then attacked Gallus before security broke them up.

Grade: E

Grayson Waller hosted his brand-new talk show, “The Grayson Waller Effect” and I really enjoyed this. Waller had cool graphics and he started the show by stealing the microphone off commentator Vic Joseph before saying “that’s enough screen time for you”. For a while, the fans where shouting Johnny Wrestling and Waller had a good response by saying “he clearly doesn’t want to get in the ring with me”. His guest Apollo Crews then came out and Waller went straight in and even asked Crews where his accent has gone. Apollo then did the accent and said he is still a proud Nigerian Warrior, I’m glad they brought this up. After more back and forth talking, Crews asked Waller how it feels to be a low budget Miz. This was good, particularly as Waller said that that was a compliment. Waller then said he’d been sent a question by a guy called Grayson from Australia which made me laugh. Apollo dropped Waller with a shot to close the first episode of probably many.

Grade: B+

Videos, promos and Bernal VS Grimes

Gallus where being taken out of the arena by security and Pretty Deadly took the mick out of them. These two teams have a lot of history back in the UK. Tyler Bate then had a video which was really good as this made you feel like Bate is a franchise player, the number one draft pick for the UK Brand. Hopefully, Bate will stay in the States post Worlds collide as he would be a major benefit to any brand. Von Wagner then cut a promo and said he would make sure that Bate doesn’t even make it to World’s Collide and this sets up a match for later on in the night.

Javier Bernal made his NXT 2.0 Televised debut when he took on former North American Champion Cameron Grimes. The Schism where seen watching the match on the upper staging area and this was a match that was done to give Grimes a victory. Cameron is one of the best on this brand, but I really don’t know what else he has left to do on this brand.

Grade: C-

Focus on the Women’s Division.

Blair Davenport had her own video package showing us what she is all about. Like all of the NXT UK Superstars promos, this was really effective as it gives viewers who don’t watch NXT UK a bit of information about her. Alba Fyre then had a video, for me, she is the most credible person to beat Mandy Rose on this entire roster. Indi Hartwell then took on Davenport in a sloppy match. They clearly didn’t have any in-ring chemistry and Indi landed on her neck a few times which isn’t nice to see. This wasn’t a very good introduction into Davenport’s in-ring ability.

Grade: D

After the match, Davenport challenged NXT Women’s Champion Mandy Rose to a match at Worlds Collide but before Rose could accept the challenge, NXT UK Women’s Champion Meiko Satomura came out and challenged Rose to a winner takes all match. Rose, surprisingly, looked pretty happy about this but BD said you can’t forget about the number 1 contender so this will be a Triple Threat match at Worlds Collide. This was alright, Rose VS Satomura would have been better, but it means that one of them will be protected in defeat.

Grade: C+

Tiffany Stratton then cut a promo hyping up her Lights out match with Wendy Choo later before saying that she wants the winner of the triple threat match after Worlds Collide. NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions Katana Chance and Kayden Carter where getting advice from former tag team champion Wes Lee. The only notable part of this segment was the fact that the tag champs joked about now being invited to main Women’s tag team championship tournament. Indi Hartwell was then seen sitting on the ring apron doubting herself before Dexter Lumis showed up for an InDex reunion. The two embraced each other and walk off together before Lumis gave Hartwell a piece of paper before being arrested by the police. This was cool. Cora Jade then cut a promo where she rightly said that if the roles had been reversed last week, your opinions would be different.

Grade: A- for InDex

Farewell Legado?

The DYAD took on Cruz Del Toro and Joaquin Wilde of the D’Angelo Family in a decent tag team match. Legado are such a good tag team, and this was sort of a highlight reel from them. D’Angelo was angry at them for doing their highflying babyface moves and order them to stop and this ultimately cost them the match as The DYAD hit there finishing move to get the win and delight Joe Gacy. In roles reversal from earlier on in the night, Cameron Grimes was seen watching them on the upper staging area which is intriguing. After the match, Legado where seen walking out of the arena before Santos Escobar pulled up in front of them and told them to come with him. Even though this kind of makes a part of last week's stipulation pointless, Legado quitting NXT would end the stipulation from last week. I can’t wait to see these four on the main roster soon.

Grade: B+

Tyler Bate VS Von Wagner and the Tag Team Champions collide.

Tyler Bate fought Von Wagner in a decent match. Bate is so impressive and this match was here to showcase his talent. Beating Von Wagner makes Bate look like he can beat pretty much everyone which is a good thing when he comes to facing Breakker in 2 weeks. After this match, Diamond Mine where pumped about their six-man tag team match that happens next week against Gallus before UK Tag Team Champions Briggs and Jensen came in and said that the Diamond Mine aren’t even the best team in NXT, let alone the whole of WWE. This looks to be setting up a feud between the two teams in the future.

Grade: C+ for Bate VS Wagner

Lights Out Match: Wendy Choo VS Tiffany Stratton

The Main Event saw Wendy Choo take on Tiffany Stratton in a lights out match, this was really good. This was a rivalry match that played on their two characters. Stratton using tennis rackets, hairspray and a pink chair fits her character so well whilst Choo hit her opponent with a pillow filled with Lego. At one point, Wendy put a bin onto Tiffany’s head and started hitting the bin with the tennis racket which was a cool visual. There was then a nasty spot where Stratton dropped Choo onto the Lego bricks before stomping her onto them for a really close near fall. On the outside, after Choo through powder into Stratton’s face, Wendy Rock bottomed her opponent through a wooden bed for a really cool spot. Choo then hit her splash to get the win. This was a really fun match that has raised the stock of both women significantly, particularly Choo as she hasn’t really ever showed this much in-ring talent.

Grade: A

After the match, we went backstage where the contracts for both the NXT Women’s Championship and the NXT Championship unification matches where being signed.