Date: 01/18	7:00 PM
Views: 415

Nickolye's WWE NXT recap for January 18, 2022 at 8 PM ET! Tonight is the start of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic! The teams of NXT 2.0 look to climb up the ladder of success and etch their name in history. Also tonight, Tony D'Angelo will hold a memorial service for Pete Dunne. Not only that, but Roderick Strong goes one-on-one with WALTER! NXT has a makeover in 2.0 fashion. Hit F5 or refresh as often as you like for the latest updates!

LA Knight pulls up in a red car and stops in the middle of the parking lot. He talks to Andre Chase and his student, they joke that no one likes Grayson Waller, and Knight tells them to watch what he's going to do to him as a teachable moment. Knight enters the building, asks Briggs & Jensen if they've seen Waller, tells them to kick ass in the Dusty Cup, and asks for his music to be played as he heads to the stage and to the ring.

LA Knight enters the arena and the barricades are closer to the ring meaning more fans are in attendance. "YEAH! YEAH! YEAH! Let me talk to ya! Matter of fact, let me get right to business. Grayson Waller... go ahead and bring your scrawny ass out here so I can finish what I started last week!" Knight waits and waits, no response from Waller, but the best response he gets is from the crowd. He goes on to acknowledge the "Grayson sucks" chant from the crowd, adds that he will drop him on his head, and takes us back to Halloween Havoc when he first had his problems with him. "Then we go on to WarGames, you do one halfway cool move, people think you're kinda cool, actually nobody except yourself, and you figure 'Maybe that took out LA Knight.' Nah-nah, you couldn't get the job done!" He mentions his date from the episode after turned Waller down for him (YEAH) because she knew he couldn't get the job done, and this finally brings Waller out.

Waller has an envelope with him telling him it's a RESTRAINING ORDER against Knight! He wants Knight to keep his distance from him, but he says for his safety this is what has to happen, leaves the envelope in the ring and says if he gets within 50 feet of him he gets arrested immediately. Waller gleefully mocks him, Knight looks over the document, and the crowd chants for LA to "Rip that shit!" Knight may have the restraining order against him, but not DEXTER LUMIS! Waller turns around ready to fight him, but Lumis slithers from under the ring behind him and grabs him for the Silence but Waller escapes. Knight: "Grayson Waller, it's real simple. You can lift this restraining order and get dropped on your head by LA Knight, OR you can get put to sleep by Dexter Lumis. Either way, you're getting your ass kicked. And that's not an insult; that is just a fact of life!" Who will Waller face after the first commercial break?

* Grayson Waller vs. Dexter Lumis

Lumis is throwing him all around the ring when we come back from break. Lumis hits a clothesline, Waller hits a jawlbreaker, armbreaker, and throws him into the ringpost shoulder-first to start working over the left arm. Lumis hits a pop-up uppercut, two neckbreakers, "one more time" chants the crowd, so we get a third neckbreaker for a 2-count. Waller goes back to work on the arm and hits a baseball sliding clothesline in front of the newly-reloacated announce table before a commercial break.

We get picture-in-picture during this match and Waller continues working on the left arm throughout the break. Lumis threw him off the turnbuckles, but that was his only offense here.

When we come back, Lumis starts fighting back with several punches, a back body drop, a dead-lift back suplex, kips up, and lands the jumping legdrop. Lumis hits the urinage slam, Waller escapes the Silence, Lumis tries again outside the ring, Waller fights him off against the announce table and gets back in the ring. SOME RANDOM GUY throws Lumis against the ringpost and tosses him back into the ring as Waller distracts the referee! Waller hits the rolling stunner for the win. WINNER: GRAYSON WALLER!

This guy looks like one-half of former tag team Indus Sher! The commentators Vic Joseph and Wade Barrett don't seem to know who he is. Waller stands next to him saying he's his insurance policy.

We cut back to a video from this past weekend where Malcolm Bivens was talking about The Creed Brothers running through the Dusty Cup all the way to face tag team champs Imperium, when suddenly WALTER showed up and hemmed him against the lockers until Roderick Strong demanded him to release Bivens. Strong told the leader of Imperium that he's not scared of him, and Walter told him that he should be. That leads to our main event match tonight.

Vic Joseph and Wade Barrett are excited that tonight begins the Dusty Rhodes Tag Classic. The teams included are Grizzled Young Veterans, The Creed Brothers, Briggs & Jensen, Jacket Time, Andre Chase & Bodhi Hayward, Legado Del Fantasma, Malik Blade & Edris Enofé, and MSK. We see the tournament bracket and get a shot at that trophy. The Creed Brothers enter first as we take a break.

When we come back, MSK are talking about their path to the trophy, then Legado Del Fantasma show up to talk trash. If both teams win their quarterfinal matches, they will meet in the semi-finals.

* Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic QuarterFinals: The Creed Brothers vs. Briggs & Jensen

Brutus Creed and Brooks Jensen start the match for their respective teams. Brutus goes for the takedowns until Jensen pops him in the mouth with his knee knocking out his mouthpiece! Jensen is aggressive outsmarting him at every turn and dropkicks him before tagging out. Briggs and Jensen deliver a double scoop slam, Josh Briiggs works the arm, Julius Creed tags in, but the bigger Briggs out-strikes him. Jensen tags in, they hit a double shoulder tackle, and double punches. Brutus tags in and gives Jensen a belly-to-belly suplex over the ropes to the floor and now The Creed Brothers have an opening. Julius tags back in, hits a spinebuster, tags in Brutus, then gutwrench suplexes his brother across Jensen's back. Julius tags in, shoulder thrusts, Jensen side-steps him, Julius hits the ropes, and both sides make the hot tags.

Briggs beats up Brutus and hits the big boot, sidewalk drop and jumping splash to Julius, attacks both brothers, choke slam to Brutus, covers, Julius saves the match, Jensen clotheslines him out the ring, and Julius rams him into the railing bending the rim. Briggs rolls up Brutus but he already tagged out, so Julius delivers a facelock suplex onto Brutus's shoulders to slam him down, and Julius hits the sliding clothesline for 3 to advance in the tournament! WINNERS and Advancing to the Semi-Finals: THE CREED BROTHERS!

We get a video profile for newcomer Dante Chen who debuted back on September 21, 2021. Dante is the first Singaporean to step into a WWE ring, but we haven't seen him for a while because he got injured while training. This means he watched his peers and other newcomers compete at Halloween Havoc, WarGames and New Year's Evil while he sat the sidelines. Two months ago, he lost his father. Now, he is on the road to recovery, and his return match is next.

When we come back, Walter is speaking with Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner thanking them for waving the Imperium banner while he was in the UK. The whole time these guys are speaking in their native Austrian, German and Italian languages and we're provided with subtitles. They say that after dominating the UK, it is now time to take over NXT 2.0 in the new era of Imperium. Walter plans to show this with a win over Roderick Strong.

* Dante Chen vs. Guru Raaj

Chen has a brace on his right knee from his injury. Raaj dropkicks him, covers for a 1-count, puts him in a chinlock, Chen sends him out the ring and lands a diving plancha. DUKE HUDSON shows up and boots Chen in the back, then throws Raaj into the steel steps! Hudson tosses Chen into the barricade, throws him in the ring, powerbombs him, and contines with mounted punches! Several referees come down to send Hudson out of here and on his way. "Duke Hudson's back! So stay out of my way!" NO CONTEST.

Backstage, Joe Gacy tells Harland that they could've been one of those teams in the tournament. He's not mad at Harland, but he is disappointed. Odyssey Jones is standing there on crutches after spraining his knee in training; he'll be back in a couple of weeks. Gacy opens the door for him, tells Harland not to allow negativity spread, and calls for progress.

After a commercial break, NXT Champion Bron Breakker gets interviewed, and he says he's set in as champ and he's been ready since he stepped in the doors. Now he's ready for any challenge to come his way, including Santos Escobar who could also be gunning for his championship. Elektra Lopez shows up to talk to him, Breakker cuts her off, and Escobar himself shows up to speak for himself. Escobar says Breakker is not ready to represent NXT on his hsoulders, and thinks the championship would look better on him. Breakker WANTS a reason to kick his ass in this moment, but Escobar scoffs at him. "You will learn things are done on my time."

* Tony D'Angelo Hold Memorial Service for Pete Dunne's Career

Tony D'Angelo is in the ring to hold a funeral for Pete Dunne's career. This will be a closed casket service, and there's a crowbar on top of the casket. D'Angelo brags about beating Dunne and says he's onto bigger and better things after beating Dunne, and now he wants to go for the gold. He's got his eyes on the NXT North American Championship, and out comes the champion Carmelo Hayes with Trick Williams and their on the balcony. Hayes wants to know what this is about, and Williams asks him "I thought we were boys?" D'Angelo says they're not boys, maybe teammates, and this is just business. Williams: "Tony, we know all about your boys The Hat, The Brick, Ben & Jerry's, Moe, Curly, Larry - it don't matter. Truth is they all are skinny that look just like Vic Joseph!" Hayes reverts the attention back to his championship, and if he gets in his business again the next memorial service will be for D'Angelo and promises that will be closed casket too.

Cameron Grimes makes his presence felt now and tells Tony DAngelo that he will have to wait in the back of the line. Grimes tells Hayes that last week he looked him in the eyes like a man to tell him that he was coming for the championship and never heard back from him. Hayes tell both of them to go one-on-one and maybe the winner can get a shot at the champion. Grimes has no problems with it, D'Angelo goes for a sneak attack, Grimes ducks him and clobbers him with the framed picture of Dunne. "TO THE MOON!"

In the locker room, Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen are trying to stay positive after their loss earlier. Kacy Catanzaro and Kayden Carter walk in to tell them not to worry and go out for drinks with them. They agree and Wendy Choo is laying on top of the lockers eavesdropping the whole thing, "Oooooh, he likes you." Jensen tries to defend his feelings and stumbles over his words, but Kayden tells him to shower up and meet later. Briggs advises him, "Less is more, brother. Dang!" Wendy Choo is just enjoying the show.

After the break, we get a video profile for the up-and-coming team of Valentina Feroz and Yulisa Leon. Valentina has a black belt in Judo and Jiu-Jitsu, and she won the gold medal at the 2017 Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship. Yulisa Leon is the first female Mexican-born superstar in WWE, she won three weightlifting gold medals at the 2019 World Cup, and instead of going to the Olympic Games she chose to follow her dreams. "We are two bad-ass women." "We fight hard and we play hard." "We are from different countries and we have different backgrounds." "But we have the same goal in NXT. We want to be Women's Tag Team Champions!" After the video they get interviewed by McKenzie Mitchell about possibly entering the Women's Dusty Tag Team Classic, and they are excited to be featured on NXT and for this future opportunity. Dakota Kai interrupts by snickering at them calling them adorable, then gives them the same advice that she gave MSK: "Nothing divides friendship more than success." They defend each other's honor against Dakota who just laughs at them, and a challenge has been laid down.

* Kay Lee Ray vs. Ivy Nile

They lock up and Nile overpowers her, but KLR has more technical escapes. KLR chops her on the chest, lands a dropkick, 2-count, Nile counters a suplex with a standing northern lights suplex, hits a running dropkick, step-up enzuigiri, 2-count, then applies a head scissors. KLR escapes the hold, clotheslines her twice, front suplex, and covers for 2. Nile hits a DDT using her leg, covers for a 2-count, KLR, superkicks her, sets up for the KLR Bomb but the NXT Women's Champion Mandy Rose shows up distracting her. KLR takes a swing at the champ and misses, Nile counters the KLR Bomb with the sunset flip, and gets the 1-2-3! WINNER: IVY NILE!

Mandy Rose jumps KLR after the match to beat her down, but KLR takes the mount and starts swinging, but the NXT Women's Tag Team Champions Toxic Attraction come down to jump KLR and they hit double superkicks. Mandy wants more, but she's pulled out the ring by Indi Hartwell and Persia Pirotta who start fighting with Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne! Indi drops Gigi with the spinebuster, clotheslines Jacy, Persia clotheslines Jacy as well and drops her with snake eyes on the ringpost, folowed by a superkick from KLR for good measure.

We cut back to the doctor's room with Odyssey Jones screaming in pain on the floor with several referees checking on him. Harland is standing over him with a broken crutch, and Joe Gacy is there all smiles. Breaktime.

We get a video from Sarray, who feels lost because nothing she tries is working and she hasn't won. She returned to Japan to recover physically and mentally, she was ready to give up, but she found a necklace that her grandma gave her that's a reminder to never give up under any circumstances. Sarray will return back to America with passion and energy.

* Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic QuarterFinals: Legado Del Fantasma vs. Malik Blade & Edris Enofé

Joaquin ilde starts the match with Blade, and Blade gets the upper hand after a couple of armdrags. Enofé tags in, Blade hits a low clothesline, Enofé lands the standing moonsault for 1, hits the reverse sling blade, and covers for 2. Raul Mendoza tags in, double spinebuster, they made a wish with his legs, double basement dropkick, and Mendoza covers for 2. Enofé side-steps him in a corner, Mendoza prevents him from making the tag, Enofé clubs him on the back, and makes the hot tag. Blade knocks Mendoza down with a hook kick, and Santos Escobar trips him from outside the ring in front of the referee, so he gets ejected! Enofé lowers the ropes on Mendoza, Escobar is still on the apron arguing with the ref, but Bron Breakker comes down, pulls Escobar off the apron, Escobar's head bounces off the apron, and Breakker walks off with him on his shoulder! Blade schoolboy-rolls up Wilde for 3!! WINNERS and Advancing to the Semi-Finals: MALIK BLADE & EDRIS ENOFE!

WHAT AN UPSET! Blade and Enofé are ecstatic celebrating in the ring. Escobar comes to and starts yelling at Bron Breakker. Backstage, Roderick Strong is wrming up as Malcolm Bivens mentions that Diamond Mine is 2-for-2 in matches so far tonight. He predicts a 3-for-3 victory and has words for Walter saying the mat belongs to Roderick Strong and Diamond Mine. Breaktime.

When we come back, we get a video package for Solo Sikoa revealing his burnt face after receiving a fireball from Boa's powers. "Next week, I don't care where it goes. The ring, the streets, the locker room - bring your battle paint, because I got mine. Next week, we go to war."

* Yulisa Leon vs. Dakota Kai

Valentina Feroz is at ringside for this match. They lock up, clean break in a corner, cover for 2, Dakota trips her into the turnbuckles, chokes her on the ropes, axe kick to the back, and covers for 2. Dakota chokes her with her boot in the corner and continues the beatdown, talking to herself in the process, and hits the running facewash for 2. Yulisa starts to fight back but Dakota hits a pump kick, tries to attack Valentina but misses, and Yulisa finds her opening. Yulisa gets fired up, clotheslines Dakota, gutwrench suplex, and delivers a fallaway slam with a bridge for 2. Dakota comes back with the scorpion kick, hits the arond-the-world kick, and covers for 3. WINNER: DAKOTA KAI!

Dakota attacks Valentina as she's checking on her partner, but she gets out the ring in time and the two head to the back. Backstage, Raquel González gets interviewed about what's next for her after not winning the title match at New Year's Evil. She still wants to go for that championship, but Cora Jade interrupts (been a running theme of that ALL NIGHT of interview interruptions) to offer teaming up in the Women's Dusty Tag Tam Classic. Raquel declines, but Cora says she'll convince her.

After the break, Malik Blade and Edris Enofé are happy for their win shocking the world in the process as they have the semi-finals next. NXT Champion Bron Breakker walks up to congratulate them and wishes them luck for the rest of the way. It doesn't matter if it's MSK or Jacket Time because they'll be ready for them. Next week, Solo Sikoa takes on Boa in a No Disqualification Falls Count Anywhere Match. Also next week, it will be Cameron Grimes vs. Tony D'Angelo and the winner faces Carmelo Hayes for the North American Championship. Also also, singer OllieJayy who provides the theme to NXT 2.0 will have a special musical performance live next week. Not only that, but it's set for a six-woman tag match pitting Kay Lee Ray, Indi Hartwell and Persia Pirotta against Toxic Attraction!

* Walter vs. Roderick Strong

Walter throws him down at the start, Strong tries to pick the leg but Walter grounds him, and they have a clean break in the ropes. Walter grounds him again with an armbar, Strong reverses but Walter backs him to the ropes, misses the chop, blocks a chop, and Strong backs up to the ropes for a break. Strong puts him in the side headlock, Walter catches him, Strong chops him loud, but Walter CHOPS him harder! Walter takes him down for a head twist as the crowd chants "This is awesome! This is awesome!" Walter boots him in the face, stretches him in the ropes in front of Malcolm Bivens, then he grabs Bivens by the suit and pulls him up onto the apron, but Strong gives Walter a chopblock to release him and hits a basement dropkick. Walter catches him off the baseball slide and drops him onto the apron before our final commercial break.

We get our last picture-in-picture here as Walter in is control. He gives him a body slam and pulls him in for a rear chinlock with the right arm trapped. Bivens looks worried outside the ring as Walter wears Strong down and switches to a surfboard stretch, adding a boot to his back for more pressure.

When we come back full-screen, Strong has made it to his feet to escape the hold, kicks him in the head, hits a missile dropkick to the back, hits a forearm smash in the corner, and LOUD chops to the big Austrian's chest. Walter blocks the lift and locks in the SLEEPER! Strong bends Walter's fingers, kicks him off, hits running forearms back and forth, and eventually Walter clotheslines him in stride from the apron. Walter climbs the ropes, Strong cuts him off, Walter blocks the superplex with a chop, Strong kicks him in the head, and DELIVERS THE TOP ROPE SUPERPLEX!!! "Holy shit! Holy shit!" Strong drapes an arm over Walter and gets 2.5! Strong chops him again, forearms, kicks, forearms, shoulder block, and hits the SICK KICK for 1-2-kickout! The crowd is so into it they chant "Fight forever! Fight forever!" Walter blocks the Stronghold, CHOPS him on the chest, Strong counters the powerbomb with the double underhook, Walter blocks it, drives his back into the turnbuckles, back drop, delivers a vicious powerbomb, and covers for the 3-count! WINNER: WALTER!

The crowd is giving this match a well-deserved standing ovation. Just as the ring announcer is going to announce him the winner he cuts her off and corrects her. "The winner of this match is GUNTHER!" Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner attack Strong, and Wal... err, Gunther chops him on the chest for good measure. The Creed Brothers run in to make the save and all six men are brawling in the ring! It's NXT chaos!