PWP Nation’s Eron Ramadanov reviews WWE NXT from this past week.
Another week, another really good showing from WWE’s developmental system, NXT. This past week’s episode of NXT was something to feast your eyes on, as we saw a fantastic non-title match between the NXT Champion Finn Balor going up against the hungry Apollo Crews. And as you would expect, the match was sick.
We also saw some interesting and well-done vignettes and promos hyping up American Alpha featuring Chad Gable and Jason Jordan, along with getting to know the “fabulous” Carmella, who is getting ready to take on Bayley for the NXT Women’s Championship.
So, without any further, let’s get into this week’s episode:
ASUKA IS A BADASS
I don’t think there is any female competitor on the main or developmental roster that I’m more personally afraid of than Asuka. She is the ultimate badass and has been booked as a dominate force in the NXT Women’s Division. Obviously, the plan for her is to go up against Bayley for the NXT Women’s Championship, possibly at NXT Takeover: Dallas. That’s my guess.
Asuka, in my opinion, is the equivalent to a female version of Brock Lesnar. From her entrance, to facial expressions, to her moveset, Asuka is everything a competitor, who happens to be a woman, should be in modern professional wrestling: legitimate.
Also, shout-out to Santana Garrett, who received a nice little pop from the fans in NXT. We might be seeing more of her in the coming year.
A STORM IS COMING
The partnership between Emma and Dana Brooke might be coming to an end. Of course, we’re going to have to wait until Dana is cleared by the medical staff, but when she is, this will make for an awesome feud.
As far as when they’ll pull the trigger on this, is unclear, but my guess would be after NXT Takeover: Dallas. As for who is going to play what role, I’m pretty sure NXT wants to keep Dana Brooke a heel because of the lack of villains in the women’s division. Also, turning Emma into a veteran babyface would be no issue at all. And maybe she’ll actually go somewhere now that he’s ditched that awful bubbles/dancing gimmick.
I’m looking forward to this one.
THE APOLLO CREWS DISCONNECT
Apollo Crews and NXT Champion Finn Balor had another really good TV match in the main event of this week’s show. But even with another great showing, Crews will have to wait his turn behind Samoa Joe, Sami Zayn and Baron Corbin to get a lengthy title feud with Balor.
He’s had really good matches, but there is still this disconnect with me. I just can’t get invested to care about Apollo Crews. Maybe it’s the promos, that seem to generic and dry, or maybe it’s the way he’s been booked. Who knows? All I know is that I’m trying to like the guy, but just can’t.
This doesn’t mean I’ll never like the guy. Same thing happened with me and Finn Balor and Baron Corbin. I’ve come around on both guys since then.
Either way, this week’s episode was a good show, with a solid TV main event. Thanks for reading, everyone! See you next week! In the meantime, follow me on Twitter @Eron_PWP and follow the site on Twitter @PWPNation.