3 Ups & 3 Downs From Last Night's WWE NXT (Apr 4)

Downs...

3. Bourne & Sane Get Bland

Back in action after falling out of the title hunt, Mae Young Classic winner Kairi Sane faced Vanessa Bourne last night, and while the match succeeded in putting her over relatively strongly, it was a mundane four-minute affair from a brand we should expect better of.

Sane is obviously a fantastic wrestler, but Bourne? Not so much. She's certainly progressing, and has visibly improved since the Mae Young Classic, but she's not quite there yet. Her flaws were most apparent during her control period, throughout which she struggled to maintain interest. The character is already in-place, and she'll be a fine performer when the wrestling catches up, though we have to be honest about her current state.

Wrestlers like Bourne are here to learn. Nobody expects her to be on Sane's level at this stage in her career, but NXT needs to be held to a higher in-ring standard than, say, SmackDown, and mediocre bouts like this must be considered Downs. Still, wrestlers like her form the foundations of the women's division's future. We've no doubt she'll put the pieces together before long.