10 Wrestling Moments That Couldn't Live Up To The Hype
4. One Final Beat (NXT, 8th April 2020)
The less said about this match the better, quite honestly. The less said during it might have made it more palatable.
A moment that defined NXT's 2020 more so than anything good, the last (and that bit was believable at least) clash between Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa was an overthought mess from a brand that was actually trying to do right by the cinematic form. That's the toughest bit to stomach - everybody from agents to wrestlers and production staff had to feel like they'd created the masterpiece this legendary cornerstone feud deserved. Instead, they were tainting it forever.
Neither man excelled at the am-dram without the crowd there to drown out some of the bullsh*t. The physical storytelling was so on the f*cking nose it could have only been the work of a team headed up by somebody with such a prominent proboscis. And speaking of Triple H, his role as Dad of two warring brothers in finding the location for the scrap was some main roster reductiveness too.
Gargano's victory came when Candice LeRae sacrificed her fantastic and under-utilised babyface character to turn heel alongside her husband. That they are making the gimmicks work after the fact speaks to their own talents, rather than the people charged with getting the very best from them as babyfaces in the first place.