The NXT Day: Championship Week Edition!

It was Championship Week on NXT, despite only 2 of their titles being up for grabs.  Still, a solid NXT from top to bottom, though as with WWE, I always seem to enjoy the undercard more than the main event.

On with the show!

Walk Away On Top: What has to happen with Charlotte

There is no question that Charlotte is the best women’s wrestler in NXT, and in my mind, very little question that she’s actually the best in the entire WWE.  Every week, I see something I’ve never seen before - this week it was the Figure 4 that she then bridged - I had a ‘mark out’ moments the likes of which I haven’t seen since I was 10 or 11.

In fact, every time I watch a match of hers, I can’t help thinking 2 things, the latter being much more scandalous than the former.

1. Charlotte could very well be the best women’s wrestler in history by the time she’s done.
2. Charlotte might be the best wrestler with the last name of Flair in history.

NXT Top Ten: Edition 4

Welcome to the NXT Top Ten, edition 4.  It’s been a little while since our last rankings, and a whole lot has happened.  We had arguably the event of the year, Takeover: Fatal 4 Way.  We’ve had some debuts, both of new NXT talents and of some top tier developmental guys on RAW.  Actually, that has required some tweaking, since at the onset of this rankings, I said I wouldn’t include any NXT guys with WWE experience.  Since that would mean getting rid of three rankings stalwarts, we’ll now adjust that to say I won’t include any NXT talent who has had a significant WWE run.

Which brings us to Tyson Kidd.  I haven’t been including him in my rankings as of yet, and I haven’t had a big problem with that up until now.  He wasn’t getting anything resembling a decent push, I thought, so why bother?  Well, now he had arguably the strongest showing of the men involved in the Fatal 4 Way, and this whole “fact” thing seems like it is taking off.  Should I start ranking him?  Help me, #WWEFamily, you’re my only hope!  If you want him ranked, then rank him I shall.  

(Note: If you’re curious, he’d likely be in the top 5 somewhere this week.)

OK, let’s do some rankings.

Number 10: Hid. . . Nope, I won’t do it.   His name is Kenta!

NXT Takeover: Fatal 4 Way - Event of the Year!

I’ve always hated how wrestling announcers always seem to say “We are witnessing history in the making!”  Tony Schiavone was famous for this kind of thing.  Every WCW Monday Nitro (Now available on the WWE Network!) was the biggest one of all, or we just witnessed the most amazing match of our entire lives, and even as a 15-16 year old kid, I knew that was horse manure.

Plus (and this is me just being a pain), EVERYTHING is history.  I went out this morning to pick up breakfast for my family, which was, technically, history in the making.  It’s just not a history anyone would want to read.

So I usually get my Teacher’s knickers in a twist about that kind of thing. . .

However. . .

On Thursday night, we saw history in the making.

NXT Takeover: Fatal 4 Way was, in my opinion, the best WWE event of 2014, and I dare say we could go back even further.  On Thursday night, we saw a group of relatively unknown talents show Randy Orton, Roman Reigns, and yes, even Mr. #KidsAndTroops himself, John Cena, exactly how a wrestling card should be done.

From top to bottom, there wasn’t a weak link.  I know this because even the part I liked the least held my interest.  As evidenced by the bruising on my remote’s “fast forward” button, the same can not be said for the last few months’ of Monday Night RAW.

What does this mean, exactly, for the future of NXT and WWE? I’m not really sure.  All I know is I’m as excited to be a wrestling fan as I’ve been since WCW and ECW were actually on television.

As I sat and watched the event in the wee hours of Friday morning, I jotted down some notes.  As I sit here and re-watch it today (a phrase I have not uttered in quite some time), I’ll jot down some more.  I submit to you, dear students, some idle musings and comments on “history in the making”, NXT Takeover: Fatal 4 Way.

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NXT Top Ten: August 9th Edition

I love NXT.   In fact, I think it’s my favorite wrestling show of the week.  RAW has become too long and drawn out, and while Main Event can be fun (haven’t brought myself to watch Superstars yet), NXT is fresh and new.  Each week, I can count on seeing at least one thing I haven’t seen before, which is a rarity when you’re a longtime wrestling fan.

So, we’ll make the NXT Top 10 a bi-weekly segment here at Number Two Contenders.  Remember, this does not take into account any stars with WWE experience; I’m only looking at the purely developmental talents.

I took the following factors into consideration when compiling my list:

-  In-Ring Talent

-  Current character / gimmick

-  Verbal skills / mic talent

-  “It” factor, the je ne sais quoi that draws attention to a superstar.

Honorable Mentions

-  Most people are going to think I’m crazy, but I actually have dropped NXT champion Adrian Neville out of my Top 10.  Part of that is simply because he did not compete on either of the shows between this rankings and the last one.  The other one is that I’m still not sold on where they go with him in the future.  I don’t like his mic work, I don’t see him having a specific character, and guys who are only talented in the ring never get very far in WWE.