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The thing about wrestling is that you have favorites.
I love WWE because I've been watching it most of my life. There's a comfort there, a familiarity. I know that I'm gonna watch RAW on live on Mondays, and SmackDown on Fridays or Saturday mornings. I don't necessarily enjoy everything they're doing, but the production is top notch and the matches are typically good, if not always great.
I love AEW because they're trying to do something different. Provide an alternative. Their matches are fast paced, and they have a formula that works for what they are doing. I watch Dynamite live every Wednesday night and Rampage Saturday mornings, usually.
NXT 2.0 is a very different thing. I don't think THEY know what they want to be when they grow up. I kept up with the black and gold before the rebrand, but I didn't watch religiously. I liked their characters, and always watched their pay per view offerings, knowing they would deliver at least one standout match per show.
But this newer, more colorful NXT is a different beast entirely. It's a developmental organization that's also a nationally televised program. It's got names we may recognize, but they're not really the characters we're familiar with - Natalya and the Viking Raiders tonight showed me something unfamiliar, in very different directions. And it has people capable of outstanding matches, as well as some fresh faces who are very obviously in over their heads.
I have tried to be very positive in this first week of recounting my wrestling watching habits. I think the review blogs for Dynamite, Rampage, and RAW reflect that, and generally I can keep that tone because I enjoy what I'm watching. I'm sure part of that is my familiarity with the brands and characters - I know what to expect and I'm rewarded.
I don't watch NXT regularly, so I'm in the strange position of taking notes and asking questions that I'll research later for answers. I'm giving characters placeholder names like "Tucker and Dale" or "the European club bros from Family Guy".
All that being said, I did some Google-Fu and considered myself prepared for Spring Breakin', NXT 2.0's first premium-live-but-on-regularly-scheduled-TV event since their Stand and Deliver event prior to Wrestlemania. Let's get into it with our Good Things to start!
Five Good Things from NXT 2.0 Spring Breakin’
Before we head into a full on summary, here’s a little TL;DR segment, in which I tell you five good things that happened on tonight’s show. They might be good matches, they might be returns or things that move our never ending story forward. For tonight’s show, they are:
-The opening triple threat match was fantastic. Hayes, Grimes, and especially Solo Sikoa went out there to steal the show and pulled it off.
-The back to back Diamond Mine and Indi-Duke videos moved their stories along after the departures of three people integral to their storylines. It wasn’t a lot, but it at least addressed the missing talent.
-The Godfather-adjacent segments were dumb, but they got some momentum and added a kidnapping angle to the Liga del Fantasma and Don of NXT storyline.
-Viking Raiders and Creed Brothers was a good, quick match with some storyline implications. Plus who doesn’t love some BIG MEATY MEN SLAPPIN’ MEAT?
-The main event was pretty good, and it looks like we’re going to continue with the Bronn and Gacy narrative.
Now that you know what’s worth your time, let’s review the show!
We open with the guys I labeled “The European Club Bros from Family Guy”, our NXT Tag Team Champions, Pretty Deadly.
They are poolside, telling us about tonight’s program and using the phrase YES BOI about forty times in two minutes. Outstanding stuff. They cannonball into the pool and we’re free to move on to the opening bout.
Opening Match: Carmelo Hayes (w/Trick Williams), Solo Sikoa, and Cameron Grimes © Triple Threat match for the NXT North American Championship
This was legitimately the best match of the night. Crowd was firmly behind Sokoa for the duration of the contest, but all three guys were amazing. They were given time (around twenty minutes) and made the most of it, resulting in a show stealer. The finish was suitably good. Carmelo Hayes went for the Codebreaker, but Solo Sikoa caught him and flipped Hayes into a fireman’s carry. Cameron Grimes was climbing the turnbuckle during that, and stomped both men in the head with the Cave In, getting him the win and retaining his title. Really, really good stuff!
We’re then moved into a tanning salon, where Mandy Rose is here to get tanned and puts a little playboy bunny sticker on her hip. Oh! So when she tans she has a lil’ bunny mark! I’m really learning so much tonight, thank you NXT. She gets into the tanning bed, and a stealthy Wendy Choo sneaks her way over to the controls. I assumed it was for a Final Destination 3 style murder, but I also don’t follow this show closely enough to know if their rivalry has reached justifiable homicide levels of heat just yet.
Gigi Dolan and Jacy Jayne head into the salon to pick Mandy up for their beach day, but they are repulsed by Mandy’s red tint. They offer to send her some aloe as they abandon her, and Mandy is left to scream at her own reflection in the tanning salon’s fun house mirrors.
McKenzie Mitchell is interviewing Grayson Waller, who comments on Mandy Rose’s tanning issues before telling us how excited he is to debut on NXT. He has been waiting his whole life for this. That can’t be right…*checks notes* NXT has existed since 2010, and he literally said he’s been wanting this since he was ten years old. Not only is that plausible, but I am a dinosaur. Let’s quickly move on before I die on this keyboard.
The next couple backstage segments served to move the story along from two recent releases. We first enter a training area, where the Creed brothers are sparring in the foreground and Ivy Nile is punching a dummy in the background. Roderick Strong steps into frame to give some tough love to the brothers, encouraging them to do better than they did in the recent tag team gauntlet. Strong reminds them that he’s in charge of this group - they do not mention what happened to recently departed manager Malcolm Bivens.
We then are in a locker room where Indi Hartwell is making the saddest face I’ve ever seen, while looking at her naked ring finger. I suppose we are to infer that when Dexter Lumis got canned, their marriage went along with it. Duke Hudson, steps into frame, and he’s in a similar situation since his on-screen partner Persia Pirotta was also released. Duke leaned in for a kiss, Indi said, “Oh Hell No”, Duke replied, “You wish”, and I think that’s the end of all that relationship nonsense.
Match #2: Nathan Frazier vs Grayson Waller
This is where I started to realize what I’m really watching in NXT 2.0. Frazier was touted as a great talent, trained by Seth Rollins and ready for the show. Grayson Waller just…dude doesn’t look like a pro wrestler to me, and I can’t put my finger on why. Frazier hit a sequence early in the match that was designed to show off his quickness, but looked like any offense in it was just the lightest touches possible. The ending sequence had Nathan Frazier and Grayson Waller preparing for Frazier to hit a top rope Spanish Fly when Frazier was knocked off. I can’t tell you for sure if that was intentional, but on his way down it sure looked like Frazier was nearly decapitated by the top rope. Waller was going to follow up with an attack, but Andre Chase startled him with an air horn, causing him to fall harmlessly into the ring. Frazier followed up with a Phoenix Splash for the win.
We’re introduced to Fallon Harley, a rider of horses and tender of bars, who will compete in the NXT Women’s Breakout Tournament.
A full on Godfather style meeting in a restaurant is next, as Legado del Fantasma waits for Tony D’Angelo and his goons to arrive. After a quick commercial, and a shot of Bronn Breakker punching the air, we return to learn that Tony has a new consiglieri in AJ Galante, and an uneasy truce is brokered after some negotiation. Tony D’Angelo reminds me of a young Richard Kind.
You see it too, right?
Quick interview with the Viking Raiders, who are apparently treated like they’re a legitimate threat in NXT and not as the jokes they became on RAW. Pretty Deadly returns from their poolside adventure to tell the Raiders they are battling damaged goods, as Pretty Deadly destroyed the Creeds during their gauntlet match.
Joe Gacy is the change, he will change the world. The theme of this video is change.
Match #3: Nikkita Lyons and Cora Jade vs Lash Legend and Natalya
Cora Jade wobbled her way down the ramp on her skateboard, then lost track of where it went when she tried to pick it up. This is what we call foreshadowing. Natalya’s heel work consisted of wearing a sideways ball cap to taunt Jade and shouting “Shut up!” to whoever was near her, in between shouting ring instructions so loudly I was ready to try doing the next move announced. Nattie accidentally booted Lash in the face, resulting in a Lyons split leg drop and a Cora Jade senton for the pinfall victory.
I have to assume Natalya is here to provide a base for these women to work around, but she was just not good tonight. Her crowd work is lacking, and it felt to me like she was overwhelmed trying to be a ring general.
Another intro video for the Breakout tournament follows, this one for powerlifter Tatum Paxley
We’re back at the beach for sunbathing and splashing with Toxic Attraction minus Mandy Rose. Wendy Choo and Roxanne Perez are also here, stealing shoes and keys before getting Gigi and Jacy to chase them barefoot on the hot parking lot asphalt. Choo taunts them before returning the keys and tossing the shoes.
Match #4: Creed Brothers vs the Viking Raiders
Just a fun match, some BIG MEATY MEN SLAPPIN’ MEAT. Good back and forth, everybody played their parts well. The Vikings hit their finisher about a minute in, for a two count - I do question that. The finish was interesting, as Erik of the Raiders was knocked onto the second rope and drive-by kneed by a ninja-like Roddy Strong. The Creeds didn’t see that, but took advantage of it and hit a low lariat for the victory. Roddy joined them in the ring to celebrate, and the Creed Brothers saw the replay of Roddy’s attack and were not pleased.
We’re then treated to the Liga del Fantasma kidnapping AJ Galante after the meeting.
Kay Lee Ray has been renamed, and will return next week as Alba Fyre. Fun fact: “Alba” loosely translates to “Scotland” in Scottish Gaelic. So the Scottish wrestler is literally going to be called Scotland.
In a video from earlier this week, Brooks Jensen was informed that his injury will heal faster because he masturbates a lot. I am not making this up.
Main Event: Joe Gacy vs Bronn Breakker © for the NXT Championship
I have questions about why the bad guy promotes things like acceptance, equality, and inclusivity, but I’m sure I will be educated by the commentary throughout the match. There are also druids featured in the crowd, and I fear I’m out of my depth for this one. Gacy clearly uses the Bray Wyatt moveset, going as far as to ape the hanging upside down on the turnbuckle smile, and the Uranage follow up. The match was solid, if not spectacular. Gacy missed a backflip lariat and paid for it with a nice looking spear by Breakker. That gets him the clean pinfall, and our champion retains. He celebrates, and a couple of the aforementioned druids appear on the apron as we fade to black.
I gotta tell you, that show was all over the place. I’m sure I’m to blame for not going in with a strong knowledge of the product. Then again, if you advertise a show as a special event, you should be using that show to impress new viewers! I think we’re going to stick with NXT 2.0 as an only-once-in-a-while thing, as I don’t think I want to watch this on a regular basis. If you’d rather me watch it and review it so you don’t have to, feel free to let me know and I’ll be happy to change my stance on it! Have a good one, friends.