1 Up & 4 Downs From WWE NXT (January 4, 2016)

Maybe just catch up on Wrestle Kingdom 11 instead.

by Michael Sidgwick
Nakamura Cage II
WWE.com

The main problem with modern wrestling is that there’s far too much of it.

In order to properly invest in WWE, on Pay Per View weeks, one is required to sit through at least eleven hours of television. That is roughly equivalent to burning through a season of Game Of Thrones per week. That barely leaves time for Game Of Thrones.

It also leaves little time to watch wrestling outside of Vince McMahon’s bubble. The British scene is on fire, Ring Of Honor remains worthy even after its 2000s heyday, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla reached the five star level in 2016, CHIKARA is as fun and original as it ever was…and, in the internet age, the very best of the very best wrestling ever promoted - the All Japan Pro Wrestling scene of the 1990s - is available for free thanks to some generous and enterprising YouTube pirates.

And, of course, there’s New Japan Pro Wrestling, the golden period of which is going platinum on the evidence of Wrestle Kingdom 11. That event - one of the best wrestling shows ever - was held on the same day as this week’s edition of NXT, a throwaway and practically non-canon filmed house show. Is it worth your time, when Kenny Omega and Kazuchika Okada wrestled what some are already proclaiming as the greatest match ever?

There’s a reason WWE doesn’t usually film these things…

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Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!