5 Biggest Takeaways from NXT (August 10th)
I like to keep things as positive as possible.
I like WWE.
I like AEW.
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#1: Tag Division in Shambles.
One of the better things to come out of all the rumors and speculation about NXT’s future was the question I saw pop up on Twitter. “What happened to NXT?” I personally don’t believe anything “bad” happened with NXT. It is still the best weekly show on television in my opinion and has not gotten better since coming to USA, but simply evolved into a more fan-friendly live show. The wrestling is still top-notch and the stories have become more balanced across the roster. BUT, if those rumors are true and you were to ask me one thing that NXT lost sight of that could be responsible for this happening, I would say tag team wrestling.
Takeover ran with a formula for a lot of their shows and it worked wonderfully. One of the key ingredients to that formula? Opening the show with a tag team match that gets the crowd hype. The tag matches were full of energy that sucked you in and made you want to park your ass in a seat and watch the show until it was over, not wanting to miss a thing. We didn’t just get spot fest’s either, there was a real story being told during those matches. Even during the weekly shows, tag team matches never disappointed. And I mean NEVER. You could look at a lot of failed teams on the main roster that were so damn good in NXT and think, how did that happen?
I would have to think the freedom inside the ring has a lot to do with that. But for whatever reason, we haven’t seen much of that lately. It did appear as if they were trying to bring it back when they had another Dusty Invitational, but once MSK won that and the tag titles, the division went back to becoming a ghost town. Releases killed a few teams, but it shouldn’t have killed the whole division. We’re at a point now where we saw the team the champs beat more often over the past few weeks than the champs themselves. That is a huge problem and now that they do have a Title defense, we’re getting it on free tv instead of at Takeover. That is not NXT.
And then we have the Women’s tag division. A lot of hate was thrown at NXT when they introduced these belts. “What is the point?” I defended the idea, stating that with a division as stacked as theirs, there is no way this could possibly disappoint. And boy was I wrong. In hindsight, since night one these belts have not been utilized well at all. Shotzi and Ember had the best run with them but even when they had it, there was no importance shown for them. And now we have Io Shirai stuck carrying them around and instead of having her get the belts over with her in-ring work, she is doing segments in a Japanese restaurant that are among the most cringe-worthy things NXT has ever produced. At this point, they need to just throw the only Women’s Tag division in NXT away and just go back to what worked before. If they can’t keep the men’s tag division from falling into obscurity, no reason to think they will have any luck in building that women’s one up right now.
So besides the never-ending fall of the tag division, NXT gave us another exciting show and a lead into what should be a great go-home show for Takeover. A tag title match between MSK and Imperium. A cruiserweight title match between Roderick Strong and KUSHIDA as well as the final face-off between Kross and Joe before they go head to head.
Agree? Disagree? Feel free to hit me up as always. And don’t forget to keep up with everything else Wrestlebuddy has going on with a lot of new stuff debuting soon as well as the finals for the Wrestlebuddy Quiz gameshow, SummerSlam weekend.
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