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

1. The Normalisation Of Shinsuke Nakamura

That the steel cage NXT Title Match between Shinsuke Nakamura and Samoa Joe was a worthy and gripping contest isn’t in doubt. The story it told was perfectly sensible. Nakamura, a novice to the stipulation, was thrown around the cage violently by Joe, before he, as the babyface and de facto (by WWE logic) better wrestler, overcame the odds.

Still, it’s fairly dispiriting to see Nakamura positioned as yet another underdog babyface, fighting valiantly from underneath. This time last year, he dictated the pace in a totally unique classic opposite AJ Styles. A year prior to that, he fought Kota Ibushi in one of the best and most original matches ever, one in which Ibushi was literally driven to madness just to withstand Nakamura’s lunatic onslaught.

Weirdly, the Melbourne fans entertained themselves with duelling chants of “Let’s go Cena/ Cena sucks!” at the midway point. Were they bemoaning the rote simplification of the Nakamura character by comparing the two, or just detached from the action altogether? In either event, they weren’t particularly invested.

The edited version seen on NXT a few weeks back, in which Joe’s protracted offensive stretch was strictly edited, was miles better. It positioned Nakamura as a destroyer. The transitional phase hasn’t been difficult, per se - the match was still very good - but his oddball aura has been diluted through normalisation.