10 Wrestling Matches That Seriously Took The Piss
5. Johnny Gargano Vs Tommaso Ciampa (NXT, April 8th 2020)
A philosophical turning point in the Wednesday Night Wars for what a laughable waste of time this was, the 35 minute (it went - and felt - longer with commercials) 'One Final Beat' encounter between Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa was NXT's first dabble with the cinematic. And what a f*cking shambles it was.
It should go without saying (but won't because this entry just isn't very kind) just how wonderful Gargano and Ciampa are as pro wrestlers, but the former DIY partners were badly exposed by the process that brought them to this point.
What would have been a red hot TakeOver match in the old normal was an artless expositional mess in the new one. With Triple H cast as Dad to find them a venue, a ring and a referee to get the frustration out of their systems, the pair were then left to spout excruciating horsesh*t at each other in a match that genuinely would have been marginally better without the audio/visual tricks played to try and enhance it.
It was proof of concept for all the wrong reasons - proof NXT and WWE couldn't really do this sort of thing, proof that the Ciampa/Gargano feud wasn't immune to bullsh*t, and proof that the black-and-gold brand was capable of losing its way.