The post-WarGames 2021 edition of NXT 2.0 kicks off on the USA Network with a highlight package looking back at the special event from this past Sunday night. The men's and women's WarGames matches are profiled, as are the hair vs. hair match between Duke Hudson and Cameron Grimes, as well as the callout from Kyle O'Reilly to former tag-team partner Von Wagner for a Steel Cage Match on tonight's show.
We then shoot inside the Capitol Wrestling Center where we hear the commentators welcome us to the show and then immediately send us down to the ring where we get ready for our opening contest.
Kicking things off on this week's show is the Steel Cage Match with Kyle O'Reilly going one-on-one against partner-turned-rival Von Wagner.
On that note, we hear the familiar sounds of Von Wagner's entrance music and out he comes to a chorus of boos from the fans inside the CWC. Before he can get too far into his ring walk, he is attacked from behind by O'Reilly.
The brawl continues down the entrance-way and to the ringside area with O'Reilly beating Wagner from pillar-to-post. He then brings him inside the ring encloserd by a steel cage and the match is now officially off-and-running.
O'Reilly continues to take it to Wagner until we see Von connect with a suplex that slows down his momentum. O'Reilly then revs up again and takes over for a minute or so before Wagner again forces him to slam on the offensive breaks. He is eventually overtaken by Wagner, who now finds himself in a comfortable offensive lead.
Wagner beats O'Reilly down and stomps on him as the fans chant "You still suck!" at him in the process. After throwing one stomp-too many, Wagner finds himself caught in a leg submission from the grounded O'Reilly. Wagner frees himself but this gives O'Reilly the opening to get back to his feet and start to land some shots of his own.
Unfortunately for O'Reilly, Wagner isn't done yet either, and kills his momentum before it can get started. The fans try and rally behind O'Reilly as Wagner controls him on the ground, out-muscling and out-working him with "Let's go Kyle!" chants. Eventually the chants shift to a dueling one, with half chanting for O'Reilly and the other half for Wagner.
O'Reilly eventually fires up enough to free himself from the control of his stronger opposition. Wagner tries to stop O'Reilly from gaining momentum and using his speed once the match returns standing. He hoists him up in the air after finally getting a grasp on him, however O'Reilly kicks off the cage and Wagner tumbles back.
The two remain on the mat while the commentators talk us into a mid-match commercial break as the action continues. When we return from the break, we see O'Reilly in the middle of a fired up comeback. He takes it to Wagner with forceful kicks and punches, and starts putting together rapid-fire style combos before dropkicking the knees out from under Wagner.
We see O'Reilly get Wagner outside of the ring ropes and then he runs and charges into Wagner with a full head of steam, smashing the big man into the steel cage wall over-and-over again as the fans go nuts inside the CWC. He thumps up Wagner some more after putting the boots to him on the mat and then drops down out of nowhere and latches onto another tight submission attempt.
Things looked bad for Wagner for a moment while stuck in the submission from O'Reilly, however he eventually escapes and when he does, he is the fresher of the two and begins to take over again on offense. O'Reilly kills his momentum before it can get started, however, and gets Wagner back down on the mat. He then climbs up to the top, however Wagner pops up and hits him to slow him down and then climbs up after him.
Both guys are on the top-rope holding onto the top of the cage and they trade shots from there. O'Reilly ends up bouncing Wagner's head off the cage, which results in the big man crashing and burning way down below on the solid ring surface. O'Reilly then leaps into the air from way up there and lands a big knee-drop.
He follows up with some ground and pound until Wagner uses a cheap tactic by blatantly blasting O'Reilly with a low-blow to gain the advantage. He immediately capitalizes by finishing him off with his trademark finisher and scoring the pin fall victory. The crowd boos the finish like crazy and then the commentary duo runs down the highlights of the match as we see some replays of key spots.
Winner:: Von Wagner
Once the match wraps up, we see Wagner standing in the ring in victory over the fallen O'Reilly. This isn't the closing image Von wants to leave the NXT Universe with, however, as he turns his attention back to O'Reilly.
He lands some cheap shots on him and then brings him to the cage door. He proceeds to repeatedly slam the steel cage door into the head of O'Reilly over-and-over again as he is hung upside down on the ring ropes in the corner. The fans boo this like crazy.
We shoot to the announce position at ringside where the commentators wrap things up for the opening contest and then shift gears. They send things to a special digital exclusive of Johnny Gargano addressing the crowd in the ring after the men's WarGames match at Sunday night's NXT WarGames 2021 special event.
We see the footage of Gargano talking about addressing his future in NXT on Tuesday night's show. It's Tuesday night, so that's coming soon!
The commentators talk as we see a live shot of Bron Breakker in street clothes walking in the backstage area towards the entrance position. They inform us that the arguable MVP of the men's WarGames match at Sunday's special event will be in the ring when we return. On that note, we head to a commercial break.
As we settle back in from the break, we see a shot of Joe Gacy and Harland standing side-by-side as we see footage of his performance at the NXT WarGames special event on Sunday night.
He talks about working on changing things and then proceeds to put over Harland before teasing the official in-ring debut of the big man on next week's show. Harland puts his tattood hand on Gacy's shoulder as he closes by saying, "Together, we can change the world!"
Now we shoot back inside the CWC where Bron Breakker's theme hits and the big man makes his way out to the ring. He settles inside the squared circle and grabs a microphone.
Breakker goes on to talk about how he has nothing but respect for Team Black & Gold after the battle he and his fellow Team 2.0 members went through with him on Sunday night at WarGames.
He goes on to say as much as he respects him, he wants to make his intentions clear. He goes on to call out NXT World Champion Tommaso Ciampa.
Before he can say anything else, he is interrupted by the theme music of the Diamond Mine group. Out comes The Creed Brothers, Ivy Nile and Malcolm Bivens. Bivens rants for a while about Roderick Strong and puts him over as "THE" champion of NXT. He says he has his sights set on him.
Breakker asks where he is, as he is the only member of the group not out there with them. Bivens says he'll be here next week. Breakker says he doesn't care who he has to go through to get to Ciampa. He says he accepts the challenge and says he'll see Strong next week.
He pushes past The Diamond Mine and shoulder-bumps a few of them on the way out. He exits the ring and begins heading to the back and then we hear the theme music for the participants in our next match of the evening. On that note, the commentators talk us into another commercial break.
We return from the break to see the team of Brooks Jensen and Josh Briggs and The Creed Brothers on opposite sides of the ring, while The Grizzled Young Veterans are shown seated at ringside on guest commentary for this match.
The commentators welcome The Grizzled Young Vets on camera and then the bell sounds to get our next match of the evening underway. Before anything can happen, we hear the theme music of the NXT Tag-Team Champions playing.
Everyone in the ring looks around, as Imperium is nowhere to be found, and then we finally see the duo of Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel standing in suits with their titles over their shoulders deep in the crowd.
Finally things get underway in this tag-team match and we see some back-and-forth action early on. Jensen hits a big jumping splash that gets the near-immediate replay treatment. Immediately after that, however, The Creed Brothers take over.
The Diamond Mine duo of The Creed Brothers go on to utilize frequent tags to keep the fresh man in the ring at all times, working over Jensen for what seems like forever, including Julius hitting a big suplex on the floor.
We see The Grizzled Young Vets hope up from their spot on guest commentary and then they take the tag-rope off the corner of Briggs and Jensen. The action continues and we see the attention turned to what just happened and then out of nowhere, during a distraction spot, Briggs rolls up Creed and pulls off the pin fall victory.
Winners: Brooks Jensen & Josh Briggs
We shoot backstage to an interview with Von Wagner. He is asked about the Steel Cage Match he just had with Kyle O'Reilly and the post-match scene.
As noted, after the match Wagner violently attacked O'Reilly with repeated shots of the cage door to the dome. He asks what did we think was going to happen. He walks off.
Then we see Robert Stone in his suit walk up and wait to be interviewed, only to get the shaft. We then head to another commercial break.
We return from the break to see Xyon Quinn doing some shadow-boxing backstage in front of the camera. He turns to the camera and addresses his opponent for later tonight.
He mentions the threats from Santos Escobar and says he better be ready tonight. He gets back to doing some shadow-boxing as we head back inside the CWC.
Now we head back down to the ring as we hear the familiar sounds of Duke Hudson's theme song. Out comes Hudson with a goofy-looking bleach-blond wig on and a look of shame on his face as he makes his way to the ring.
Hudson gets on the mic as his music dies down and he begins addressing the crowd. He says he didn't get his head shaved at NXT WarGames, but rather Cameron Grimes only "took a little off the top" and he was able to fix it, "as we can see."
Before he can continue with his denial, he is interrupted by the familiar sounds of Cameron Grimes' theme music. He comes out looking happy as can be after his big victory over the weekend. He then confronts Hudson about being a sore loser and unable to accept defeat.
Grimes mocks Hudson and says everyone saw him get his head shaved bald at WarGames. He eventually goes on to issue a challenge to up the stakes and wants a no holds barred match against him next. Hudson accepts. Grimes tries to take his wig off as he retreats to the back.
We shoot backstage and see Jacket Time duo Ikemen Jiro and KUSHIDA running behind Brooks Jensen and Josh Briggs. They talk and then up comes the team of The Grizzled Young Vets who take credit for Jensen and Briggs' victory earlier tonight. They the ask Jacket Time what they are doing here. They don't like the response and a brawl breaks out. They fight off camera.
We shoot to the parking lot where we see Grayson Waller talking to a girl and trying to get her to go on a date with him. He gets shot down, and when he asks what she could be doing that is more important than going out with the man who won at WarGames.
She then points behind him and we see LA Knight standing next to a nice car. She joins him and enters the car and LA Knight says that he knows Grayson Waller is all about likes and views. He asks him how he likes this view. He then smirks and drives off as Waller mentions that he'll give Knight a view he doesn't like soon.
From there, we head back inside the CWC and head down to the ring for our next match of the evening. Out comes the NXT North American Champion Carmelo Hayes, accompanied by Trick Williams.
As Hayes makes his way down to the ring, we are shown footage from his performance at WarGames as the commentators talk us through the highlights.
Now Dexter Lumis heads out and makes his way to the squared circle as the opponent for Hayes. The commentators introduce video footage of Lumis' strange appearance during WarGames this past weekend.
The bell sounds and we're off-and-running with this one. The action gets going with some back-and-forth offense from both guys. Lumis ends up taking over and dominating things for a while as he frequently looks out and glares at Trick Williams at ringside.
Williams looks freaked out as Lumis glares at him yet again and then he heads out after him and stalks him. He and Hayes trade shots and Lumis floors him. He sends him back into the ring and the beatdown for Hayes continues from Lumis.
Hayes ends up shifting the momentum in his favor soon after returning to the ring. He grounds Lumis and then heads to the top rope. He comes soaring off and splashes onto Lumis. We see some replays of that spot. Hayes stomps on the injured hand of Lumis.
Now Hayes grouds Lumis again and then slaps an arm submission on him. He punches at his injured hand while isolating the limb. Lumis eventually escapes and he starts to fight back into competitive form. He ends up taking over control of the offense again and beats Hayes down a bit before throwing him out to the floor.
As soon as he does that, he returns his scary-stalker-like focus back on Trick Williams. He crawls towards the ropes while freaking out the big man at ringside. Out of nowhere Hayes runs over and blasts Lumis with a big shot. On that note, we head to a mid-match commercial break as the action continues.
We settle back in from the break and are immediately informed by the commentators that Hayes has been in complete control of the action throughout the duration of the break. We are shown highlights from the break of Hayes delivering more punishment to the injured hand of Lumis. Back live, Hayes has Lumis grounded in a hold and is again focusing his attack on the injury of his opponent.
He stands up from the submission himself and places Lumis hand flat on the mat before leaping into the air and stomping on it upon landing. Lumis tries to fight back after this, but Hayes cuts his attempt short and continues to work over the hand injury of Lumis. The fans boo him all-the-while, and Hayes just plays into it.
The commentators talk about how Trick Williams claiming vision problems resulted in him pulling out of this match tonight after being the originally scheduled opponent for Lumis. Then we see Williams standing over Lumis and taunting him with trash-talk from ringside as Hayes holds him down in the ring. Lumis ends up breaking free and glaring at Williams, who lets out a wimpy scream.
Lumis takes his attention of Hayes just long enough that the NXT North American Champion takes over. This doesn't last long, however, as Lumis ends up reversing a move attempted by Hayes and proceeding to shift the momentum in his favor. He goes on to beat Hayes down for a while before looking to silence Hayes with his finisher. Instead, Williams blasts him with a cheap shot from the floor which prompts the ref to call for the bell.
After the match ends, we see Lumis briefly get his hands on Williams, only for him to quickly escape with the help of Hayes. The two head to the back as the ring announcer declares Lumis the winner via disqualification.
Winner via DQ: Dexter Lumis
We shoot to Nash Carter and Wes Lee - the duo collectively known as MSK. They continue their search for The Shaman, who has been confirmed to be revealed tonight.
Finally, we see them knock on a door and when it opens, it's a familiar face to fans of the WWE Universe.
"The Original Bro" himself, Riddle, answers the door and greets the duo. He says he's been waiting for weeks for them to knock on his door. He says he loves watching NXT.
Riddle leads MSK over to an area where they remain seated in front of a bunch of lit candles as "The Shaman" Riddle gives him his wise advice. He says he's gonna lead MSK back to the top and says he won't leave their side until it happens.
Now they turn their attention to a sack filled with something. Whatever it was makes them all freak out and say "Whoa!" and "Bro!" We then head back inside the CWC.
We shoot back to the commentary position where Vic Joseph and Wade Barrett react to the reveal of Riddle as The Shaman that MSK has been seeking. Finally we hear someone off-camera yell at Vic and Wade to shut up.
The camera shoots backstage to show Toxic Attraction trio Mandy Rose, Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jane They say when Rose speaks you shut up and listen. They begin walking to the ring and gloating about not needing skateboards or other things. They tell Vic to stop drouling as we head to a commercial break.
When we return from the break, we see Indi Hartwell and Persia Pirotta backstage. Pirotta talks about how Hartwell's relationship with Dexter Lumis has caused them nothing but problems. Pirotta claims their engagement and wedding and honeymoon made things too complicated. She says she needs to leave the love at home and focus on the team. Hartwell says she's committed to Dexter but she's also committed to the team. Up walks Dexter and she jumps into his arms. She tells him he did great out there. In comes Johnny Gargano, who talks about it being great to see everyone back together and happy again.
From there, we head back inside the CWC where the duo of Valentina Feroz and Yulisa Leon are shown already standing in the ring. We then hear the familiar sounds of the entrance music of their opponents.
Out comes the trio of Toxic Attraction as the ring announcer introduces the NXT Women's Tag-Team Champions -- Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jane -- who make their way down to the ring accompanied by Mandy Rose.
The bell sounds and we're off-and-running with this one. After some early back-and-forth action, we see the tag champs start to take control of the offense. They enjoy the offensive lead for a while, utilizing frequent tags to keep a fresh person on their opposition at all times.
Finally we see Leon doing a good job of helping shift the momentum in her teams favor. Eventually a cheap shot from Dolin helps the champs return into the offensive lead. The fans boo as the tag is made and the beatdown on Leon continues.
After some more back-and-forth action, we see a big splash off the top-rope from Feroz that nearly ends this one, however Dolin manages to kick out. Jane gets a tag that Feroz didn't see and it allows Jane to nearly take her head off with a big clothesline and then a big kick right under the jaw for the pin fall victory.
Winners: Gigi Dolin & Jacy Jane
Once the match wraps up, we see Mandy Rose grab a mic and join Dolin and Jane in the ring. They gloat about having all of the gold and they say when you're as good as they are, it's hard not to brag. She says they don't run from anyone and proceeds to welcome any challengers, naming Cora Jade, Raquel Gonzalez and a few others by name.
Rose goes to wrap up, but is interrupted by the theme music of Cora Jade. Out comes Jade in a sling thanking Mandy for mentioning her. She then reminds her that she beat her a couple of weeks ago. She also reminds her that she won at WarGames, not them.
She enters the ring and says since she's out here throwing all this shade, maybe she wants to say it to her face and back it up. Rose says she's sorry but Jade is not the one and then offers her to come in and get beat down anyways. Before the presumed three-on-one attack can take place, we see Raquel Gonzalez run down to the ring with a bat. She runs off Toxic Attraction to end the post-match segment.
Now we shoot to a vignette that hypes the upcoming arrival of Tiffany Stratton. Footage is shown of her athletic past as she talks about her daddy telling her how great she would be. She says that's why she could never be a team player. The vignette ends teasing that Tiffany Stratton is coming soon.
We shoot backstage to see McKenzie Mitchell standing by with Tony D'Angelo. He talks in his Italian accent and style about what went down at WarGames until he is approached by Andre Chase. Chase says D'Angelo didn't perform as he wanted at WarGames and that's why Grayson Waller came off looking like the star. He ends up challenging him to a match on next week's show. D'Angelo accepts.
Raquel Gonzalez and Cora Jade are shown talking backstage when up walks Kay Lee Ray. She is holding a baseball bat and says they might need it more than she does. They ask her what she's gonna use and she says she'll be fine. She walks off.
From there, we head back inside the CWC where the familiar sounds of Santos Escobar's theme song is playing as he makes his way out accompanied by the rest of Legado Del Fantasma and Elektra Lopez.
The group makes their way to the squared circle as we head to a pre-match commercial break. When we return from the break we see them in the ring as their music dies down and the theme for Xyon Quinn begins playing.
Quinn makes his way to the ring as Legado Del Fantasma and Lopez take their spots at ringside. The commentators talk about the Lopez factor as Quinn settles into the ring and prepares for this advertised one-on-one showdown.
The bell sounds and we're off-and-running. Quinn jumps off to an early offensive lead. He stops in between beating down Escobar to glance at Lopez at ringside, who seems to be looking back in his direction as well. The commentators put this over on the broadcast a few times.
As the action continues, we see Quinn still very much in control of things. He works over Escobar in the corner and then blasts him down to the mat with the force of a big forearm shot to the back. He scoops him up and slams him after stopping again to look over at Lopez. The commentators talk about how impressive it has been to see Quinn dominate Escobar in this fashion thus far.
Just as they sing his praises, Escobar leaps off the ring apron onto him on the floor. Immediately afterwards, however, Quinn takes right back over and bounces Escobar's head off the commentary table at ringside. The commentators talk us into a mid-match commercial break as the action continues with Escobar re-grouping with Legado Del Fantasma as Quinn stares him down inside the ring.
When we return from the break, we see that Escobar has taken over control of things. The commentators fill us in on what we missed during the break as Escobar continues to work over the lower-back of Quinn that he established his attack on while we were away. He grounds Quinn after splashing onto him in the corner back-first.
Escobar latches onto an arm submission on Quinn as the commentators promote some matches already announced for next week's show. Quinn eventually escapes and fires up. He comes off the ropes with a full head of steam and nearly turns Escobar inside-out with a big clothesline. He hoists Escobar up and launches him half-way across the ring before going for a pin fall attempt. He only gets two.
Quinn stops to look over and lust at Lopez at ringside before turning his attention back where it should be, on his opponent. This results in Escobar returning back into the offensive lead. He hits a running shot to the back of Quinn in the corner and then dumps him down to the mat. He stalks him in the corner looking to finish him off, but Quinn manages to avoid the attempt and takes back over.
Again we see Quinn stop in mid-attack to acknowledge Lopez at ringside, and again it results in Escobar shifting the momentum back in his favor. Quinn ends up taking Escobar up to the top-rope and climbing up after him. He scoops him up but Escobar escapes and lands on the ring apron. He climbs back up. Quinn climbs to the top-rope. Escobar climbs up after him. Escobar hits a super-hurricanrana on Quinn off the top rope that elicits an enormous pop from the fans in the CWC.
Upon landing, the fans break out into a "Holy sh*t" chant while the momentum of the fall leads to Quinn rolling over in the direction of the ring where Lopez is standing at ringside. She ends up sneaking a pair of brass knuckles onto his hand while he's down and out. Escobar is also out in the corner of the ring. Both guys eventually get up and Quinn realizes he has the knucks.
Quinn prepares to finish this one off but one of the members of Legado Del Fantasma hops on the ring apron to provide a distraction. Quinn heads over and knocks them off the apron with the knucks but then turns to Escobar, who hits his finisher and scores the pin fall victory. The commentators question Lopez helping Quinn afterwards as we watch replays of the action.
Winner: Santos Escobar
We shoot to the parking lot after the match and we see The Diamond Mine walking when they are approached by Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams. He tells Malcom that if he wants to talk about "THE" champions, he needs to mention his name.
The NXT North American Champion goes on to say he doesn't care if Roderick Strong got the Cruiserweight limit lifted, he's the real champ. Malcom runs down the names of guys Roderick Strong has beaten and praises him for some of his other accomplishments.
Malcom then vows that Strong will beat Bron Breakker on next week's show. Hayes says regardless there is one thing he is not, and that's the A-champion. He and Trick walk off as Malcom throws a temper-tantrum about everyone being so uptight.
We head to another commercial break after we see Johnny Gargano kissing his woman backstage. The commentators hype Gargano addressing his future when we return.
As we settle back in from the break we hear the classic sounds of the "Rebel Heart" theme as Gargano makes his way out to the ring to a superstar reaction from the NXT Universe in attendance at the CWC.
He settles into the ring and the fans are already chanting "Johnny Wrestling!" at him. His music dies down and we can see that he is already emotional. He starts by pointing out that "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels told him he could go as long as he wants.
The fans chant "Please don't go! Please don't go!" at him. Gargano mentions what is on next and says they can wait. He says he was more of a Lefemme Nikita guy himself. He then goes on to talk about how he was told he would never make it in NXT. He credits William Regal for giving him the opportuniity.
From there, he says it was the fans and their enthusiasm over his matches and the "Johnny Takeover!" and "Johnny Wrestling!" chants that kept him coming back week-to-week when he didn't have what they thought it took to make it here. He then talks about all of his dreams coming true such as video games and action figures and big time matches in front of the best fans.
We see the camera pan around to show everyone standing on their feet, many of them looking emotional as well, as Gargano continues to address his future. The fans again break into a chant. He then goes on to mention several of the names of people who helped him along the way, many of whom he says we may not know or recognize.
He then calls NXT his family and says he knows sometimes change is scary, but sometimes it needs to happen. The fans chant "No! No! No!" at him. He says he wants to leave us with one message -- you'll never fail if you bet on yourself. He says he doesn't know what his immediate future holds, as it's still up in the air right now.
Gargano says he may do some things here or there, he doesn't know, but in February he's going to begin the most important job of his life -- he's going to be a dad. The fans then break out into a "Baby Wrestling!" chant. He says he'll grow up one day and re-watch this and thank everyone for that. He goes on to talk about wanting to show his son to be the best man he can be.
We hear the fans booing in the background and finally we see a big chair shot whack Gargano from behind. He stomps on Gargano and says this isn't his NXT anymore. He beats him down some more and sends him to the floor. He asks if Barrett is gonna do anything since it's his boy. He then keeps beating on him right in front of him, daring him to stop him. He puts Gargano's head through a steel chair and slams it down on his neck.
Waller takes Gargano over to the commentary table and again taunts Barrett, daring him to do something to stop him and help his friend. He then proceeds to hoist Gargano up and power bomb him down through a commentary table. The fans boo and chant "Piece of sh*t!" at him as he talks to the camera about making this his view that will get him likes. He says NXT isn't Gargano's anymore, it's his. The show goes off the air on that note. Thanks for joining us!
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