As of late, I have completely fallen in love with wrestling, to the point where I would change my professional career path from being an artist to becoming a commentator for the WWE.
There’s a lot for me to talk about, but right now I’d love to take a moment this week and talk about NXT.
NXT has truly become its own brand. It is something I can stop watching and be satisfied with the outcomes of literally every single match. The writing for NXT is, arguably, better than that of Raw and Smackdown – especially for the female wrestlers, but that’s for a whole other post.
There is no one on NXT I necessarily dislike. Not all characters have swept me off my feet, (Sorry Bull Dempsey!) but a lot of them have. Sami Zayn, Charlotte, Hideo Itami, and Sasha Banks are just a few people I always pay attention to and I always know they’ll do well – unlike some over at Raw and Smackdown. (Sorry Big Show.)
It’s very nice with a developmental brand like this, because even if you’re not amazing in the ring, it really shouldn’t matter at the beginning. NXT is a sort of safe space for wrestlers that are still green. If they mess up, we shouldn’t yell and get angry at them – they’re working to get better, this is why they’re here. It’s kind of an honor to see these kids become amazing and perfect their artform. What with Kevin Owens being pushed to the main roster so fast, we truly do have future WWE World Heavyweight Champions and Diva’s Champions in NXT.
It feels almost definite; Kevin Owens having the WWE World Heavyweight championship belt within the next ten years, considering he is officially on the main roster. I personally think that he will take the belt from whoever is holding the title at the time at a Wrestlemania, and the Raw afterwards Owens will be doing a promo, talking about how much he’s overcome. He gets to a point in his speech where he sort of reflects on his reign with the NXT Championship, mentioning Sami Zayn and how he practically killed him for the belt – and then we hear Sami’s music.
It’s fairly necessary to revive Zayn and Owens’ fued when the time comes. Unlike before with NXT, Sami will stand tall with the WWE World Heavyweight Championship belt in his hands. I feel like that would be perfect, especially if WWE gave their all on the feud.
I’d actually love to take a moment to talk about Sami Zayn, considering he’d absolutely have to be the one to take the WWE WHC belt from Owens – and he is my absolute favorite wrestler right now.
Sami Zayn is such a great wrestler, he’s constantly adding new moves to his list, from a Tornado DDT to various arm drags to his absolutely fantastic Diving Crossbody. His Koji Clutch truly looks impossible to get out of, it looks very complicated which is always great. I could never forget to mention his finisher though, Helluva Kick, which has been with him since his El Generico days in Ring of Honor – it’s got such power and force and a finality to it, it’s a great move to make a finisher. I think it’s great that he’s kept that move for so long too.
Sami Zayn is constantly adding new moves to his moveset, it’s absolutely fantastic. He’s nowhere near needing to, but he does a great job at staying interesting in the ring. They’re always so amazing, his moves, it’s hard to not just say the same thing about them. Overall, Sami Zayn is absolutely amazing – as the person or as the character. He’s a passionate, charming, engaging, and talented young wrestler. For a lot, including myself, it’s hard not to get excited when his entrance music hits and he comes barreling out – I absolutely cannot wait for him to come back.
It is truly saddening to me that Sami Zayn is going to be out until 2016. I definitely do think that they were going to move Kevin Owens and Sami at the same time, so they could maybe feud together after this John Cena and Owens feud. Zayn vs Owens for the US title is something I cannot wait for when he gets back. We all hope he has a full recovery and comes back at full health.
The same goes for Charlotte, Sasha Banks, and Hideo Itami. Banks and Charlotte are two of my absolute favorite female wrestlers, and Hideo is a very close second for favorite male wrestler from NXT.
Banks and Charlotte have a great chemistry in the ring, and their feud was absolutely amazing – and I just cannot wait for Hideo to come back. I certainly don’t want to bore you with going through all of Charlotte’s, Banks’, and Itami’s moves. I will say, that not only does Charlotte look powerful, she is powerful. Sasha Banks has a sort of elegant strength that’s absolutely wonderful, and I certainly hope they give Hideo his amazing GTS back to him one day.
So many of these kids in NXT come from the Independent wrestling scene, – probably picked up by ROH beforehand- so it does make sense for people like Sami Zayn (previously known as El Generico) or Adrian Neville (previously known as PAC) to already have almost-mastered their artform. It does still stun me a bit though. They’re so fresh, yet they’ve already experienced so much. What they do in the ring, experienced or green, they’re all so amazing. I am so beyond glad that so many of these great performers are getting these chances to blossom in NXT and the WWE. Kevin Owens and Adrian Neville are great examples of what could happen to almost everyone at NXT.
I am so proud of Neville too, but I’ll talk about him later.
I always love seeing NXT every week, I have never once been overly stressed about it, I have always trusted Triple H and the writers in NXT. I trust the path they’re going with storylines and what they’re going to do with the NXT Championship belt and the NXT Women’s Championship belt.
Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!
From what I hear it is not unusual for hardcore wrestling fans to favor NXT over RAW.