7 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE Raw (Feb 21)

2. Taking The Ooomph Out Of Ciampa

Tommaso Ciampa
WWE.com

As someone who watched NXT religiously up until 2020, this writer is pretty well-versed in what Tomasso Ciampa brings to the table, whether in a singles or a tag match.

That’s why seeing his surprise appearance on Raw tagging with Finn Balor against the Dirty Dawgs was such a letdown. Ciampa is an explosive wrestler who makes everything look like it hurts. He’s crisp and no-nonsense in the ring.

So naturally, he looked like he was going half-speed against Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode in a tag match that really only existed to promote NXT 2.0 on Tuesday, where Ciampa and Ziggler will square off. Even the finish saw Tomasso go for his Fairytale Ending, only for Roode to backdrop him, but Ciampa held on for a deep rollup pin.

Even in winning, NXT superstar Ciampa had to squeak by Raw jobber Roode with a rollup rather than putting him away definitively with his finisher.

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Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fortunately became a fan in time for WrestleMania III and came back as a fan after a long high school hiatus before WM XIV. Monday nights in the Carlson household are reserved for viewing Raw -- for better or worse.