11 Ups & 1 Down From Last Night's WWE NXT (Oct 30)

No wonder "Johnny Watches Wrestling" when it's as good as this.

Finn Balor
WWE.com

Last week on NXT, Finn Bálor forced even the most ardent AEW fan to stop what they were doing and watch - really, actually watch - what was going on on the black and gold brand.

His heel turn on Johnny Gargano made for a thrilling climax to a show that appeared to be teeing up a WarGames clash between The Undisputed Era and an alliance of sh*tkicking babyfaces also including a shellshocked Tommaso Ciampa. None of it was to be - the returning hero instead destroyed NXT's newest advocate, leaving his former #DIY partner prone to four-on-one beatdown by Adam Cole's gang of malcontents.

It was by no means a hotshot, either. The angle required all of the moving pieces to converge at the very moment Roderick Strong had managed to sneak through his North American Championship match against Keith Lee and Dominik Dijakovic. P*ssed off and feeling p*ssed on, those two appeared to set up November's TakeOver main event with less-than-subtle Twitter exchange over the week, but how would that - and more from a fiendish new Finn - feed into another loaded edition of the best wrestling show of the week?

With the greatest of ease, yet again...

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Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett