4 Ups And 6 Downs From Last Night's WWE NXT (May 27)

1. No Cheating Heels

This may not be indicative of a trend, or anything at all in fact, it was just a weird coincidence that ran throughout the night, but none of the heels cheated to win their matches, despite having ample opportunity. Dana accompanied Emma to the ring, as did Alexa Bliss for Blake and Murphy's match, but neither woman got involved with the match's finish. Likewise, Owens vs Crowe ended without shenanigans. While it's a laudable policy to have simpler booked finishes than on the convoluted main roster, each match felt a little under-served because of it. In today's wrestling, personality isn't really enough to create effective heel heat. Fans respect cool personas and good talkers, so all the most charismatic heels, like Owens or Breeze, are getting cheered. Cheating isn't necessarily overbooking, it's a necessary requirement for heels to do their job right, but it seems to be on the wane. Alexa Bliss has just turned heel. Helping her boys cheat to win would have been the perfect way to capitalise on that. Also, it protects the faces. Having Emma come out on top without help from Dana Brooke made Bayley look weak, when the way to keep her looking stronger was just one short Dana-distraction away. Likewise, if Owens had just raked Solomon Crowe's eyes before his pop-up power bomb, it wouldn't have made him seem like such a jobber. Let's hope that this doesn't becoming a running theme.