Tag: NXT Level Up

Former ROH talent Quinn McKay joins WWE at NXT: Level Up taping

Posted on by Ethan Renner

Former ROH talent Quinn McKay made her debut as a WWE on-air personality at tonight’s NXT: Level Up taping at the WWE Performance Center.

McKay will use the name Kelly Kincaid in WWE.

Real name Kelly Verbil, McKay made her wrestling debut in 2018 on the indie scene. She joined Ring of Honor in 2019, primarily serving as a backstage interviewer, though McKay also worked as a color commentator, and wrestled a handful of matches for the company.

While primarily used an enhancement talent, McKay took part in the ROH Women’s World Championship tournament in 2021, making it to the quarterfinals, where she lost to eventual tournament winner Rok-C. Rok-C was recently offered a WWE deal.

Based in Baltimore, McKay also wrestled three matches for the MCW promotion in November and December 2021, with her last match taking place at the Last Call event in Joppa, Maryland on December 30.

NXT: Level Up will debut this Friday on WWE Network and Peacock, replacing the 205 Live show. 

NXT Level Up to permanently replace WWE 205 Live starting Friday

Posted on by Josh Nason

After 267 episodes, the era of WWE 205 Live has come to an abrupt end.

First reported by PWInsider, the first episode of a new program called NXT Level Up will be taped Tuesday prior to NXT’s Vengeance Day that will air on Syfy.

The one-hour show will replace 205 Live starting this Friday, inheriting their 10 PM Eastern time slot on Peacock/WWE Network.

WWE recently filed a trademark for the Level Up name.

Introduced after the 2016 Cruiserweight Classic, 205 Live began airing WWE Network on November 29 of that year with a focus on cruiserweights. Paul Levesque took over creative in January 2018 and the show became the exclusive home for cruiserweights instead of them also appearing on Raw.

The show bounced between Tuesday and Wednesday nights during its run before eventually finding a home on Fridays in October 2019. It eventually became more integrated with NXT and the 205-pound weight limit was dropped as well.