By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
NXT 2.0 Spring Breakin’ Hits
Cameron Grimes vs. Carmelo Hayes vs. Solo Sikoa for the NXT North American Championship: A very good show opening title defense. There were some terrific near falls and all three men really delivered. My only complaint is that the tower of doom spot looked contrived with Hayes standing on the rope and putting himself in position to take the superplex. Nevertheless, this was the highlight of the night.
Julius Creed and Brutus Creed vs. The Viking Raiders: A very good match with a creative finish that gave the Viking Raiders an out for losing. The finish also gave the Creeds a reason to show babyfaces tendencies by showing their displeasure with Roderick Strong for interfering. Will Diamond Mine get a new leader or will the various wrestlers involved simply go their separate ways?
Nathan Frazer vs. Grayson Waller: I have no idea why Frazer is aligned with the Chase U crew, but I guess that alliance gave Waller an out for losing if nothing else. Frazer would have fit right in on the NXT Black and Gold roster. That said, it might actually better for him to be on the NXT 2.0 roster where he can stand out as special because he’s not surrounded by similar sized wrestlers who work the same style.
Natalya and Lash Legend vs. Cora Jade and Nikkita Lyons: It was fine when Natalya or Jade were in the ring, which they were for the majority of the match. I’m not sure why NXT creative is hellbent on having the inexperienced Legend and Lyons continue to work with one another.
NXT 2.0 Spring Breakin’ Misses
Bron Breakker vs. Joe Gacy for the NXT Championship: The build to the match was terrible, and that played a big part in why the match felt flat and lacked drama. Both wrestlers deserved better than the campy drivel they were asked to make work. This is more of a big picture issue, but it came to mind due to Harland disappearing during the build to this match. Why is pro wresting the only form of scripted entertainment that has characters simply disappear from the storylines without any explanation whatsoever? The shows airing live isn’t even a valid excuse, as they could always write off a character in a pre-tape.
Wendy Choo and Toxic Attraction: First, an asinine video with the cameras inexplicably following Rose to a tanning booth followed by a shitty Loony Tunes skit (completely with a musical score) with Choo sneaking around in her pajamas and changing the timer on Rose’s tanning bed so that she toasted herself. And then they followed up with an eye-rolling beach skit that saw Choo and Roxanne Perez steal the shoes and car keys of Jacey Jayne and Gigi Dolin. Is NXT developing talent for the WWE 24/7 division?
Santos Escobar and Tony D’Angelo meeting: I enjoy the work of both wrestlers, but it’s asking a lot of viewers to believe that there’s a turf war being fought over who gets to do mob business in NXT. The acting of both men was solid. Unfortunately, NXT’s attempts at producing Lucha Underground style cinematic videos come off more like bad WOW skits. And don’t even get me started on yet another kidnapping taking place on the WWE Performance Center property. I enjoy watching the younger NXT talent improve, but all of this nonsense is starting to make NXT a tough show to enjoy.
The main event was good and so was the meeting of Escobar and D’Angelo. Meanwhile Frazer was a boring, flippy midget doing dangerous spots for no reason.
Clearly everyone else agrees since the poll is almost exclusively A and B votes and the rating was the highest they’ve gotten since January.
If you haven’t noticed, most polls for Raw, Dynamite, NXT, and Smackdown tend to fall in the B range. Readers love to vote B. Funny, I don’t see you pointing to the polls when you rip AEW shows that perform well in our polls.
The viewership count was nice. They don’t go overboard on the themes, so it actually draws attention when they use one. But the viewership count means nothing when it comes to show quality or whether people enjoyed what they saw beyond that it didn’t turn them off to the point that they turned the channel.
Finally, please show us on the doll where the little person touched you.
I’ve seen you have a problem many times when WWE or AEW poke fun at real issues in a storyline such as sexual assault for example which you will always refer to as bad taste that didn’t click with this viewer. The same goes for your closing joke which fell very flat and was also in bad taste. I understand that GreatestOne gets on your nerves but as a journalist maybe you could have held yourself to a higher standard and used a better choice of words for a joke than poking fun at sexual assault. Just a little food for thought.
I thought the show was OK. Not great but not horrible. I thought the Escobar/D’Angelo meeting was ridiculous. How can there be a “turf war” when they’re both confined to the performance center. What is their “turf”, dressing rooms? I liked Frazer’s work but noticed he had a thicker English accent being in the US than when he was in the UK. I think there would have been some great match-ups for Frazer in the good old Black and Gold days. How I pine for the Black and Gold days. I just don’t understand how Vince can take a legitimate 3rd brand and give it rainbow colors, get rid of the talent that made it the 3rd brand and bring in meat heads hoping they won’t kill or mame each other before they get a clue. They could have easily worked Bron Breakers into the B&G brand like they did Kross. Anyway, I digress. I kind of like Wendy Choo’s gimmick, it’s different, but Roc-C should not be involved. Finally, my favorite part of the show was the crowd doing the wave…priceless.