The NXT Champion doesn't show up every week ready to wrestle in a main event-level match, and that's wonderful. NXT is actually the best because it presents wrestling in a way that wrestling on television hasn't been presented in almost 30 years. Champions are protected, finishing maneuvers are developed, put over and also protected, plus wins and losses also absolutely matter. Even further, things like athleticism, physical conditioning, being a veteran wrestler and the crowd's opinion actually mattering are key to the presentation, too. in remembering all things great and small about what made wrestling great when "WRESTLING" (and not sports entertainment) was classic and excellent, NXT wins. Maybe it wasn't remembering the Attitude Era or getting old stars back to make new ones that was important. Maybe, just maybe, it was wrestling taking two steps back to take three steps ahead that is exactly what the doctor ordered.
Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.
