3 Ups And 7 Downs From WWE NXT 2.0 (Dec 28)

2. Riddle Zooms A Dream Match Into Existence

Your writer has been quite critical of MSK's never-ending quest to find their Shaman Bro and the eventual flat segments of wisdom-giving and scooter-riding that followed. But last night's mouth-watering announcement may just have salvaged something mighty from those otherwise miserable few weeks.

With the former NXT Tag Team Champions finally returning to live TV to challenge Imperium for the straps - also, still LOL at NXT just laughing off the rest of their dreadfully booked tag contenders after weeks of odd "competitive chaos" booking - it came as a bit of a surprise to see that the energetic pair hadn't actually squandered all of the live crowd good will they'd once received upon their exciting arrival to the developmental show.

Carrying that momentum throughout the segment, Riddle was then on hand to give them one last pep talk via Zoom (with plans perhaps changing due to COVID and Day 1 being around the corner?). But as Imperium finally strutted down the ramp to laugh off the disrespectful youngsters' challenge, a returning - again via Zoom - WALTER added another dimension to proceedings by landing a few more verbal blows on the high-flyers.

Not having any of that, though, the Raw Tag Team Champion soon popped back into the chatroom to throw down a challenge which produced one of the biggest reactions of the night - a rather hilarious feat when you think about it. A WALTER-led Imperium will collide with Riddle and his stoned stallions at New Year's Evil, giving us yet another reason to believe NXT want every possible eye available to tune into their 2022 kick-off. Not a bad way to go about it, mind.