10 Best Wrestling Storylines Right Now
8. The Rise Of The Broserweights
In which Matt Riddle has rolled up the super-serious wall-to-wall intensity of NXT, smoked it, and exhaled a cloud of much-needed levity over the programme.
There's a lovely, casual quality to the story - in a short, funny and sweet promo, Riddle revealed that he asked Pete Dunne to be his Dusty Rhodes Classic partner because he was so amused at a pun and the similarity of their poses - and the work in the ring was so fabulous that never once did it fall into the same plot hole these thrust-together pairings so often do. Clearly relishing the bit, Riddle and Dunne devised some very effective and charming double team moves, and connected further with crowds with their buddy comedy dynamic. Dunne is the serious wrestler, Riddle the absent-minded doofus who interprets most every word as a marijuana reference and loses himself in it.
This easygoing chemistry has an irresistible improv quality to it, with Riddle committing himself so thoroughly to lame material that he becomes the coolest guy in the room, and this sense of character shapes storylines. No generic, operatic material is imposed on him; the writers now have something to play with, and thus crafted that silly but legit amusing road trip skit on NXT TV last week.