SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
This week’s episode of NXT 2.0 has wrapped. Let’s take a stroll down memory lane and relive some of the madness.
-Solo Sikoa grows on me every week. The guy should be on a fast track and carries himself like a star. Not sure I see him winning the NXT North American Championship ladder match at Stand and Deliver due to the success Carmelo Hayes has had with the belt, but will look for him to have his showcase moments throughout it.
-The Indi Hartwell, Duke Hudson, Persia Pirotta stuff is nauseating. The material is juvenile, but also comes across as forced and inauthentic for all involved from a character perspective. Time to pull the rip cord on this ol story …
-It’s still hard to take Tony D’Angelo seriously. He’s playing the character in a comedic, caricature way, but stuck in aggressive and serious stories. It’s very inconsistent and why he hasn’t found his footing in either arena thus far. Working with Ciampa will be good for him from an in-ring perspective, but will only further emphasize his usual inconsistencies.
-An excellent vignette promo from Grayson Waller this week. That guy is coming along and within WWE’s ecosystem and how they see stars, Vince McMahon has to salivating at the notion of him on the main roster each week.
-Elektra Lopez shows up, looks the part, dominates, and walks away. Who can’t love that? Added to the mix is a natural charisma that a lot of women in NXT right now don’t have. She’s a heel now, but a babyface turn and program with Mandy Rose for the title feels like a must do down the road.
-Why run with the “Glorious” Bobby Roode entrance? Like, do we know the mission at hand NXT? The goal is Bron Breakker over huge as a babyface right? Why hinder the progress of that goal, but giving the audience a reason to cheer his opponent? “Glorious” is an instant pop waiting to happen and made zero sense to accomplish what they needed to in the match.
-Smart to allow Dolph Ziggler the chance to get some heat on Breakker before his Stand and Deliver championship match. Breakker has to continue to develop his selling skills in order to grow as a babyface. Sympathy is such a big part of how WWE books babyfaces and Breakker needs that in his arsenal before he heads for big things on the main roster.
-Ok, I’m in the minority. I admit it, so put your pitchforks away. Chase University is fun. It’s funny. It also seems pretty directionless. Andre Chase and company aren’t going to get over in this environment alone.
-Oh c’mon! With a two-hour show, we get less than three minutes of Waller vs. A-Kid?
-No, no, no, no, no. I’m getting awful flashbacks from when Retribution debuted on Raw. The spray paints. The destruction! Who knows who was graffitiing the Diamond Mine gym, but it looks too much like Retribution not to be worried.
-Gunther’s chop to Duke Hudson is still ringing in my ear. Loudly too. Wow.
-I’ll take L.A. Knight vs. Gunther. Why the heck not? Knight cut a good promo and stood toe to toe with Gunther on the alpha scale. Like every Gunther match, this will be a fight at Stand and Deliver.
-Ok, I need to buy a vowel. Io Shirai and Kay Lee Ray win the Women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team tournament and parlay that win into a singles title match? Is the tag title match still coming? Look, tag divisions in WWE are already suffering. Having tag teams skip over tag title opportunities in favor of singles shots is throwing gasoline on a fire.
CATCH-UP: HEYDORN’S RAW RECEIPT 3/21: Seth Rollins delivers in starring role despite somewhat illogical story
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