Posted in: Sports, TV, USA Network, WWE | Tagged: Bron Breakker, Grayson Waller, NXT, NXT 2.0, NXT Champion, NXT Recaps, recaps, tommaso ciampa, USA Network, wrestling, wwe

NXT 2.0 Recap 12/14: Tommaso Ciampa Tries To Break Bron Breakker

Hey gang!  With the apparent departure of longtime NXT stars Johnny Gargano and Kyle O'Reilly, it now appears more than ever that we're moving into an all-new era of NXT.  And with how both men were written off of TV last week, it would appear the new faces are indeed taking over.  There's just one problem with that: NXT veteran Tommaso Ciampa is still the top-dog on NXT 2.0 and is still NXT Champion.  But that might not last long if hard-charging rookie phenom Bron Breakker has his way.

We open the show reliving Grayson Waller's attack on Johnny Gargano during his speech last week.

We see Waller arrive at the arena to a loud "asshole" chant from fans waiting in the parking lot.  Waller takes out his phone and videos it all, loving all of the attention.

Cameron Grimes vs Duke Hudson – No Holds Barred Match

Duke Hudson enters wearing the silly blonde wig and wrestling headgear (just like Kurt Angle did 20 years ago).

This match is hard to judge.  The wrestling is good and both men are talented and giving it a good effort, but the headgear and the wig are distracting comedy that didn't need to be involved and it becomes the focus of both men, which only hurts the match overall.

As I said though, the wrestling itself is fun and there are some cool spots here.  The two most fun are Hudson countering a Cave-In by Grimes and turning it into a Powerbomb through a poker table and then the ending, where Hudson attempts to shave Grimes' head, but Grimes fights back and hits a Poisonrana and then a Cave-In on a steel chair for the pinfall.

Winner: Cameron Grimes

After the match, Grimes yanks Hudson's wig off and exposes that he's totally bald now.

We now go to a backstage interview with Cora Jade ahead of her match with Dakota Kai tonight, but she's interrupted by Kai, who warns her that Raquel Gonzalez is playing games with her and manipulating her.

Next, we see Grayson Waller looking very proud of himself, strutting around backstage as he makes his way to the entrance.

But first, we need an incredibly stupid video showing Briggs & Jensen with Kacy Catanzaro and Kayden Carter at some horrible country music concert.  Ok, wait a goddamn minute!  Vince McMahon ripped both Jim Ross and Jim Cornette off of commentary at different times in the past because he didn't like his product sounding "southern" and "country" only to actually feature a full-on dumbass country music concert on his show eventually?  Anyway, this sucks bad and is a total waste of time.

Now back to the ring, where Grayson Waller has made his way out to big heat from the crowd.

He loves everything the crowd is throwing at him and he mocks Johnny Gargano's speech last week before bragging about getting all the views online and trending last week for his attack on Gargano.  He says he is now THE star of NXT 2.0 and mocks the crowd for complaining about him.  He then shows people's Tweets to him, including one from Wade Barrett and he insults him at ringside, along with Vic Joseph.

I have to say, Waller absolutely nailed this promo and is a natural heel that you just hate.  His heat here is real and not "go away heat" like Happy Corbin gets every week.  No, this is a good old wrestling heel who is a proud bad guy who proudly does bad things and fans want someone to beat the hell out of him.  Well done!

We next go to Malcolm Bivens at the Diamond Mine training center, where he cuts a promo on Roderick Strong facing Bron Breakker tonight and Ivy Nile's match tonight.

And now it's time for the absolute worst thing in modern wrestling, Lashing Out With Lash Legend, which is made even more special this week by including the incredibly racist pairing of the incredibly talented and underrated Kushida and Ikemen Jiro.  The whole thing is awful and offensive.  What a disgrace.

Ivy Nile vs Amari Miller

So during this match, bubbles are floating all around the ring and I guess some fan is blowing them or something?  It's there and it's distracting.

Anyway, the match isn't a good one, but at least it's quick as Nile gets the submission in under five minutes.

Winner: Ivy Nile

We now go to a backstage interview with Xyon Quinn, who says he's now more prepared to face Legado del Fantasma going forward.  Robert Stone then hops in and throws a tantrum about being disrespected by everyone.  He's then interrupted by Von Wagner, who cuts another horrible promo trying to sound like a tough guy, but just ends up sounding like a lug head (badly) reading off of cards.  Here's an idea: put these two guys together!  Wagner desperately needs a mouthpiece and Stone can talk.  What's the issue here?

Next, we get a video of Joe Gacy prepping Harland for his NXT 2.0 debut tonight.

And the hits keep coming as now it's time for another video with the only Shaman not in prison for treasonous activity right now, Riddle, as he guides NXT's stoner idiot duo, MSK.

It is at this point that I realize we're not even halfway through this goddamn show and I start to have a panic attack, thinking this is like some Twilight Zone/Mystery Science Theatre 3000 thing where I'm forced to watch an awful "wrestling" show that never ends!

Harland vs Guru Raaj

Harland just goes all Jason Vorhees on poor Guru Raaj here and destroys him quickly.

Winner: Harland

After the match, Gacy asks Harland if he feels better and he says no and proceeds to smash poor Guru Raaj some more before they're chased off by officials.

After that, we see officials escorting Gacy and Harland from the building in a stairwell until Harland grabs one of them, who happens to be THE Brian Kendrick, and throws him down the stairs.  Refs and other officials swarm Kendrick and call for medics as Gacy laughs.

We now go outside to an arriving LA Knight, who is asked about Grayson Waller.  Knight cuts another great promo on Waller, challenging him to a fight.

Cora Jade vs Dakota Kai

NXT Women's Champion Mandy Rose is on commentary for this one.

This match is a sloppy mess.  There's a lot of fans online that are all-in on Jade, but I don't see it yet.  She's only 20 and is still pretty green.  Early on here, she tries a running Head Scissors and just totally misses it completely and makes Kai look like an idiot for selling to nothing.  She then does another one later on and almost misses again.  I know NXT 2.0 is all about trying to get new faces out there, but if they can't wrestle well yet, then what's the point in exposing them on national TV like this?

Also, what's with all the screaming in this match?  Both of them are constantly screaming and it's really annoying and makes no sense.  I'm guessing they were directed to do this for selling purposes, but why?  Do you hear the men screaming a lot in their matches?  That's really dumb and needs to stop.

So eventually, Kai grabs a shovel from under the ring, cause that's like her thing now and I'm pretty positive that in at least a couple of recent creative meetings, Vince has pushed hard for her to change her name to "The Shoveler".  The ref fights her for the shovel and that allows Jade to roll her up for the pinfall.

Winner: Cora Jade

After the match, Kai knocks Jade out with a kick and goes to hit her with the shovel until Raquel Gonzalez runs out to chase her off.  Then Toxic Attraction heads out and Mandy Rose hits Jade from behind.

We head backstage where Grayson Waller is again strutting around looking for validation, but he's given the cold shoulder by some backstage workers and then is given shit by Tiffany Stratton, who hasn't even debuted yet(?!?!) and they only show frim behind.

Then Io Shirai gets at Waller and screams at him in Japanese.  Waller again plays off of all of this well, despite how stupid a lot of it is.

We head outside, where Raquel Gonzalez and Dakota Kai are being held apart by refs, but they have the most ridiculous weapons all over the place that we're left to assume they were using, such as a fire extinguisher, garbage cans, and kendo sticks.

Ok, so if they were in a legit brawl here that carried outside, where did they get all of these items, and did they use them?  Why didn't we see that?  This whole thing came off as so desperate and dumb.  And yet so oddly familiar…

Tony D'Angelo vs Andre Chase

The character is pretty silly and outdated, but D'Angelo's talent and commitment to his performance are undeniable.  The match here is pretty simple, but ok.  It's pretty much all D'Angelo, who again shows off his impressive amateur wrestling skills with solid takedowns and suplexes.  He puts Chase away with a twisting Fisherman's Suplex for the pin.

Winner: Tony D'Angelo

After the match, D'Angelo grabs a mic and cuts a promo on his success in NXT and on Pete Dunne, which brings out "The Bruiserweight", who tells him he talks too much and gets in the ring to challenge him.  D'Angelo insults Dunne's looks and mocks him for his stealing Dunne's mouthguard.  He then challenges Dunne to a match on next week's show.  He then tries a cheap shot on Dunne, but Dunne grabs his arm and pulls his fingers apart, before retrieving his mouthguard.

We now go to the locker room where we see Bron Breakker getting ready.  Grayson Waller struts in and expects a welcome from Breakker, but instead, he's told to get his stuff and leave because he's not welcome in the locker room anymore.

We now look into the medical area, where Brian Kendrick is being worked on and we see his neck in a brace.

Edris Enofé vs Boa

We see Solo Sikoa is watching this one backstage.

A decent showing for both guys here, as they get quite a bit in, in a short amount of time.  Boa looks impressive here and nails Enofé with a big Roundhouse Kick for the pinfall.

We now head to the locker room, where Raquel Gonzalez is screaming to herself like a lunatic and cuts a ridiculous promo that makes her look like an idiot.  She challenges Dakota Kai to a Street Fight and they do a really unflattering extreme close-up on her face to end it.  Bad all around.

We now see Grayson Waller leaving in what appears to be LA Knight's car with a lady inside.  As he pulls away, we see LA Knight on the ground and hurting.

Jacket Time vs Grizzled Young Veterans

Please WWE, let the GYV go so they can try to get their careers back on track?  They're not meant to just be comedy jobbers.

The match is fine, but it doesn't really feel like it's worth your time, as both of these teams have only been played for laughs since the start of the NXT 2.0 era.

Eventually, The Creed Brothers come out to ringside to distract everyone and that allows Jacket Time to take over and get the win.

Winners: Jacket Time

We now head backstage, where Malcolm Bivens hypes up Roderick Strong until they're interrupted by Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams.  They have words with each other and Williams finds a picture drawn by Dexter Lumis of himself, which upsets him.

Bron Breakker vs Roderick Strong

It's main event time and these two work a very solid match here, which alternates between brawling and technical chain stuff and suplexes.  It's not a shock though, as Strong is of course one of the best workers in all of WWE right now and Breakker just continues to impress week after week and show new tools and give more and more credence to the belief that this guy is the future face of WWE.

Eventually, Breakker hits the big Gorilla Press Slam for the pinfall.

Winner: Bron Breakker

After the match, Tommaso Ciampa shows up out of nowhere and hits Breakker with Willow's Bell onto the NXT title.  Ciampa stands over Breakker as NXT 2.0 ends.

Alright, so we had good stuff from Grayson Waller throughout and a good ending match and segment tonight.  Almost everything else, woof.  Please WWE, cut this show down to just one hour?  It feels like it's on fumes within 20 minutes every week and I guarantee you're losing whatever viewers it attracts by the end.  Make it only an hour long and cut the stupid comedy crap and I think the overall opinion of the show will be much better.

Till next time friends.

12/14 NXT 2.0

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Review by Ryan Fassett

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2.5/10

Great heel work from Grayson Waller throughout, a fun main event match from Bron Breakker and Roderick Strong, and a good ending with Tommaso Ciampa couldn't quite salvage the rest of this dreadfully boring and dumb show.

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