HEYDORN’S NXT 2.0 RECEIPT 3/8: Surprising Dolph Ziggler title win lines up Stand and Deliver main event

This week’s episode of NXT 2.0 has wrapped. Let’s take a stroll down memory lane and relive some of the madness.

-Fun women’s Dusty Cup match to open the show, but a pretty shocking ending if you ask me. It felt like Cora Jade and Raquel Gonzalez were being protected for a run, but their upset loss says otherwise. Gonzalez was illegally taken out by Toxic Attraction, so they still have cover, but a loss is a loss.

-Baking the injury into the fact that NXT has a big show on the horizon with Stand and Deliver while sprinkling in the attack angle with Jade and Mandy Rose and you land at Rose vs. Jade over WrestleMania weekend. I like the dichotomy of both those characters colliding.

-Tiffany Stratton loses to Fallon Henley. Who? Henley gets the win, but Stratton gets the bigger angle thanks to the Sarray attack during the match. It’s early for Stratton, Henley, and Sarray, but it’s tough to see long-term staying power on the main roster from either woman at this point.

-I laughed way too hard at Andre Chase dropping F-bombs in his classroom. Anyone else?

-Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams have a wonderful, natural chemistry and it leads to really great segments that highlight both characters successfully. Williams questioning Hayes and his reasoning for wanting a ladder match was smart in terms of calling out the danger of the match. Hayes responding with arrogance, perfectly answered the question. Good angle.

-Lashing Out leans too far toward a Vanderpump Rules reunion show, when it should have more roots in the NXT ecosystem. Not sure how long this gets TV time for.

-LA Knight and Grayson Waller delivered a really good Last Man Standing match to blowoff their feud. The action was crisp and hard-hitting and didn’t feature overly scripted “will he get up, or won’t he” spots. The last man standing story felt natural with the chosen spots executed. The spots also gave shine to Waller, which of course was the obvious goal of the program to begin with.

-Io Shirai and Kay Lee Ray advancing to the finals of the Dusty Classic was expected, but their opponents on the other side was not. Shirai and Ray against Dakota Kai and Wendy Choo feels one-sided in strength. This is Shirai and Ray’s to lose.

-The Creed Brothers are getting over and the Imperium backstage attack angle was smart to feed their momentum. It not only put sympathy on them, but it also gave a buffer on timing, so they can have the match against Imperium at Stand and Deliver.

-A really strong triple threat match between Dolph Ziggler, Tommaso Ciampa, and Bron Breakker. Each played an important role individually and then meshed together with the others. Breakker sold better in this match and his spots when he needed to. He’s the clear priority and took steps here.

-The Dolph Ziggler title win was shocking. Not so much because it was Ziggler winning, but because of Breakker losing. Look, there is nothing bigger at play here. It’s Breakker vs. Ziggler at Stand and Deliver and Breakker goes over strong.

CATCH-UP: HEYDORN’S RAW RECEIPT 3/7: Opening tag title match steals show with action and creativity