12 Live Observations From NXT Download Festival

12. Nia Jax Is A Strangely Weak Giant

Even for the most casual of fans, there should have been some expectation when Nia Jax joined NXT that she was going to be the next Big thing. She's an imposing figure, her early promotional teases suggested she was going to be a machine, and the logical assumption for the next step would have been to book her as an unstoppable force.

She should have cut through the roster in the way monster heels traditionally have to to pick up anything like the traction their more charismatic (or more technically gifted), smaller counterparts manage. That dominance could have made up for the lack of character and the developing ring skills she boasts (to put it kindly), and it would have spoken for itself.

Instead - as at Download - she's been beaten by underdogs - not least Bailey, who repeated the trick at Donington. Okay, so she's getting better (and she sold the Asuka match at Takeover well), but if you're going to introduce a giant, you've got to book dominance in events that don't matter, like exhibitions at music festivals. The crowd might not have taken to Bayley losing (since she was one of the darlings of the weekend), but then the pair didn't have to be put together (there's only so much of the underdog routine anyone can take anyway).