Posted in: Sports, TV, USA Network, WWE | Tagged: Bron Breakker, gunther, NXT, NXT 2.0, NXT Championship, NXT Recaps, recaps, Royal Rumble, Santos Escobar, tommaso ciampa, USA Network, wrestling, wwe

NXT 2.0 Recap 1/25: Getting Closer To Santos Escobar vs Bron Breakker

Last week on NXT 2.0, we saw two different title pictures start to come together.  Santos Escobar had a confrontation with NXT Champion Bron Breakker, where it appeared that the Legado del Fantasma leader has his sights set on Breakker's title.  Meanwhile, both Cameron Grimes and Tony D'Angelo announced they were gunning for Carmelo Hayes' NXT North American title.  As a result, the champ ordered them to face each other this week and the winner will become the number one contender.  So do we now have number one contenders for NXT's top two titles?  Let's find out.

We open with MSK staring at the Dusty Cup, dreaming of winning it for a second straight year.

MSK vs Jacket Time – Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic

A fun enough fast-paced match here.  MSK eventually takes it and advances to the semifinals.

Winners: MSK

We now head backstage to find Zoey Stark and Io Shirai discussing how Stark won't be recovered from her knee injury in time for the Women's Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic.  They're interrupted by Tiffany Stratton (oh yeah, she's still here) who insults them and says she's facing Shirai tonight.

Legado del Fantasma hits the ring and Santos Escobar mocks Bron Breakker and his family.  He takes umbrage with how everyone praises him and talks about his potential.  He says he despises Breakker and all of the opportunities he's been given, which brings out the champ to face him.

Breakker tells Escobar he thinks he's insecure and then begins to speak about Escobar's family, which sets him off and as he begins screaming, Breakker shuts him up with a big "cállete!"

Breakker tells Escobar to challenge him, but Escobar says he does things on his time and when he's ready, he'll know.  Wilde and Mendoza try to jump Breakker, but he turns it around on them and clears them from the ring.

Solo Sikoa vs Boa – No DQ Falls Count Anywhere Match

Boa attacks Sikoa with a kendo stick during his entrance and continues beating on him with the weapon for a little bit to start the match and then fills the ring with weapons.  Boa beats him with a chair and he looks really uncomfortable swinging that thing.  Very stiff.

Tables get set up at ringside, but they work their way backstage and fight around that area.  The trade shots with ladders and bashing each other into a garage door, before heading back towards the ringside area and back into the ring.  Sikoa throws Boa through chairs wedged in the turnbuckles, but Boa rebounds and they head out to ringside, where in the fighting, Sikoa's burn prosthetic on his face to sell the "injury" from Boa's fireball a couple of weeks ago comes off and I guess he's just miraculously healed now.  And in the middle of a violent match no less!  Always use bandages to sell the injury guys, not make-up.

Anyway, Sikoa lays Boa on the table outside and hits a Uso Splash from the top turnbuckle to put him through the table and get the pinfall on the outside.

Winner: Solo Sikoa

We now go to a video package from Imperium where they attempt to make some sense of the whole GUNTHER fiasco.  The artist formerly known as WALTER says he's known all around the world by that name and it's his family name, given to him by his grandfather who taught him everything.  And this is supposed to be an argument in favor of changing the name?

But he continues that he must now leave the past behind and forge a new identity to lead into the future (and for that, he'll use a name from a guy who died in 1944…)  They say that GUNTHER will spread pain and fear throughout the entire WWE, so I guess they have him earmarked for a main roster spot sometime soon, where we can only assume Vince will put him in lederhosen and have him sing So Long, Farewell from The Sound of Music as he leaves the ring after every match.

Duke Hudson vs Guru Raaj

"Stone Cold" Duke Hudson angrily beats the hell out of Raaj and squashes him in just about a minute.

Winner: Duke Hudson

After the match, Dante Chen comes out and starts a fight with Hudson, but as the refs separate them, Hudson chopblocks Chen's bad leg.

Next, we go to a backstage interview with Persia Pirotta and Indi Hartwell, where they spout off some horrible guy-hungry dialogue until Kay Lee Ray joins them and says how Toxic Attraction aren't worthy of being champions.

We then go to a backstage interview with Legado del Fantasma, where Wilde & Mendoza are anxious to make Bron Breakker pay for beating them up earlier, so Santos Escobar proposes that they have a tag team match next week against Breakker and a partner, if he can find one.  They then note how he's always the last one to leave, so they say they're going to stay a little longer tonight.  Good stuff as always from Escobar here.

Kay Lee Ray, Indi Hartwell & Persia Pirotta vs Toxic Attraction

This match is fine.  A little awkward at times, but nothing derailed it.  Eventually Ray chases Rose to the back with a bat in her hands and this allows Pirotta to plant Dolin with a modified Fireman's Carry Sitout Facebuster for the pinfall.

Winners: Kay Lee Ray, Indi Hartwell & Persia Pirotta

Next, we get a video package highlighting Malik Blade & Edris Enofé's pursuit of the Dusty Cup.

We now go to the gym where Raquel Gonzalez and Cora Jade have another argument over teaming up for the Women's Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic and boy, oh boy is this shit awful.

Andre Chase & Bodhi Hayward vs Grizzled Young Veterans – Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic

This match was way better than it had any right to be.  It looked silly from the outset, but it got much better as it went along with some genuinely exciting sequences and some creative, engaging moments.  GYV eventually hit the double Codebreaker on Hayward for the pinfall to advance.  Good work by everyone here, especially Chase.

Winners: Grizzled Young Veterans

After the match, Von Wagner appears in the ring and pummels Chase and Hayward, with Robert Stone by his side, announcing their partnership.

We next get a video from Grayson Waller, where he calls out LA Knight and formally announces his new bodyguard, Sanga, whom we met last week.  Waller implies that to face him, Knight will have to first face Sanga.

We are told that Odyssey Jones has had knee surgery and will be out until possibly the Fall.

Io Shirai vs Tiffany Stratton

In her second match on NXT 2.0, Stratton again shows she has a great talent for in-match character work, even if her physical work isn't quite there yet.  Shirai, possibly the best wrestler in all of NXT, has to dial her normal workrate down significantly to match the still very-green Stratton here, but they make it work well enough.  She eventually hits the top rope Moonsault on Stratton for the pinfall.

Winner: Io Shirai

We next go to Diamond Mine's training gym, where Malcolm Bivens cuts an animated promo on GUNTHER with Ivy Nile next to him.  She has a hard time keeping a serious look on her face and not laughing when Bivens yells out "What a horrible name!  Your parents should have named you "DUMBASS" in all caps!"

He challenges Imperium to a six-man tag match next week with Roderick Strong and The Creed Brothers taking them on.

Trick Williams and NXT North American Champion Carmelo Hayes are on the stage to announce OllieJayy, who will now grace us with some of her really shitty "music".  Do I even have to ask why we're wasting time with this garbage on a wrestling show that already has a problem every single week with time management and fitting everything on the air?

We now go backstage to find Tiffany Stratton bitching to her Daddy on the phone about her loss, only for her to cross paths with Wendy Choo, who tells her not to feel bad cause everyone loses to Io Shirai.  Stratton smacks Choo's cup out of her hands and storms off.  This and the last segment back to back at least isolated the stupid obnoxious crap, I guess.

Cameron Grimes vs Tony D'Angelo

A solid match here.  Nothing spectacular, but it's fun and is a good showing for both men.  As Tony D is on the outside leaning on the announce table, Pete Dunne appears and smashes his hand with a cricket bat.  Tony D rolls back into the ring to eat a Cave-In by Grimes for the pinfall.

Winner: Cameron Grimes

Next, we follow Bron Breakker as he exits the arena.  Legado del Fantasma's SUV pulls up to him and they hop out to jump him, but Tommaso Ciampa appears next to Breakker to get his back and Legado runs away as NXT 2.0 ends.

So that's that for this week's NXT 2.0 and it wasn't a bad one overall.  It was mostly wrestling matches tonight and that's always going to make for a better show.  Santos Escobar is doing great work, becoming the top heel threat to Bron Breakker's NXT title and looking like a viable one at that.

Till next time friends.

1/25 NXT 2.0

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Review by Ryan Fassett

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5/10

Not bad this week. A focus on wrestling matches and a minimum of backstage silliness is always a plus. Santos Escobar continues to rise as the brand's top heel and is doing a great job at it as his challenge to Bron Breakker's NXT title becomes clearer.

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