In his first night on NXT 2.0, one former NXT UK star earned his way to Halloween Havoc!
Though he had his fair share of success as Oliver Carter in NXT UK and even became an NXT UK Tag Team Champion, it was announced last week that Oro Mensah would be making his first appearance under his new identity on the September 20th episode of NXT 2.0.
Sure enough, the high-flying star spoke to Kelly Kincaid backstage ahead of his Halloween Havoc qualifier match with Grayson Waller. The star also explained the meaning behind his new name, saying that “Oro” means “gold,” and as he’s from Ghana, the country of gold, the name makes sense to him.
After a back-and-forth battle, Grayson Waller started to gloat when he gained the upper hand – but a surprise appearance from Apollo Crews caught him off guard. The former Intercontinental Champion came from seemingly out of nowhere, and his right eye (which had been injured at the hands of Waller) poured blood.
😲#WWENXT@WWEApollo@GraysonWWEpic.twitter.com/JTPmNflWGN
— WWE (@WWE) September 21, 2022
Taking advantage of Grayson Waller being distracted, Oro Mensah landed a dive on the Australian star and used that momentum to pick up the victory. With the win, he earned his way into a ladder match at Halloween Havoc that will determine the next NXT North American Champion after Shawn Michaels forced Solo Sikoa to vacate the title earlier in the night.
Elsewhere on NXT 2.0, Damon Kemp explained his motivation for turning on Diamond Mine and Cora Jade earned a victory over Wendy Choo. In the main event, JD McDonagh defeated Tyler Bate before coming face to face with Bron Breakker – but the two were shocked by the appearance of a returning Ilja Dragunov.