18 Reasons Why Last Night's WWE Raw Was An Absolute Mess
2. This Should've Been A Squash
The worst of last night's NXT debuts came as Aleister Black faced off against Elias in the third hour, as WWE botched literally everything about what should've been an emphatic introduction to one of NXT's best-defined characters.
Black (a "dark destroyer," according to the increasingly insufferable Cory Graves) interrupted a textbook Elias segment, then lost all heat gained during the cutoff as WWE went to a commercial as soon as the bout was set to commence. A terrible start, and it got worse when we returned, as the debutant was made to work through a turgid resthold-heavy heat segment, showcasing little of his unique personality or flashy offence before nailing the Black Mass out of nowhere.
He won, but Aleister's arrival was totally ineffective. Trash like this doesn't get guys over. He should have blitzed his opponent in under two minutes, establishing himself the old-school way, and WWE should have paired him up with someone else if they didn't want to do that to Elias. Why wouldn't they, though? The guy's a midcard gatekeeper at best.