10 Pleasant Surprises For Wrestling Fans In 2017
Shock And Awe(some)
Escape.
From the literal entrapment of mesh cells, shark cages, and chamber pods, to the release from the oppressive clutches of authoritative heel's killer submission hold or the quashing of introspective doubt from a babyface chasing a dream, escape so often plays an underlying role in professional wrestling, mirroring why many watch something as inherently silly in the first place.
Like cigarettes and alcohol, wrestling is often imbibed young, forming a bond that never breaks. Paul Heyman and numerous others since have posited that for fans of the art-form, no explanation is necessary, whilst for critics none will do. As the concept of niche hobbies dissolves in the modern age though, it may now just be a case of it being the simplest method of escape.
Wrestling fills spare hours between life's grind, but now does so by literally filling hours. There's so much of it that talking about a particular match mirrors telling friends you'll add a boxset to your 'list' when you've finished the current one you're ploughing through. It wasn't always this way. Without a bloated television output or 24-hour streaming service, wrestling had to do more with less.
And it was easier to escape. Wrestling would dazzle, delight, and surprise. The surprise was the key to the escape hatch, opening up a world you then didn't need to leave. Nowadays, the hatch is splayed wide open. Surprises are rarer, because they're substantially harder to pull off. Fortunately, the best ones still replicate that glorious escapism.
10. The Authors Of Pain
A challenging duo to adjust to in the wake of American Alpha and The Revival's reinvention of tag team wrestling in NXT, The Authors Of Pain were one of the acts to visibly develop on the Developmental Brand.
WWE fans had reason to be cautious upon Akam and Rezar's arrival. Throughout much of the 2000s right up until the Full Sail/Performance Center operation commenced, audiences were effectively drilled into not getting too used to a good thing. Recent storylines involving The Nexus, CM Punk's 'Pipe Bomb' and even Daniel Bryan's darkest days before the dawn had left viewers with Stockholm Syndrome. NXT was the first product to consistently deliver exactly what a core section of the audience desperately craved, with the 2014-16 golden generation already confined to nostalgia thanks to mixed fortunes on the main roster.
But the new giants on the scene weren't content to leapfrog their rivals on size alone. The Authors got better, and better and better, to the point where their TakeOver: San Antonio Tag Team Title victory over #DIY didn't feel remotely out of place. Key components in arguably NXT's best matches of the year since, the duo have electrified in triple threats, ladder matches and the uniquely booked WarGames extravaganza.