5 Ups & 1 Downs From Last Night's WWE NXT (Mar 7)

Downs...

1. Dangerous Expectations

It's painful to list an NXT main event - it really is - but this week's Aleister Black vs. Killian Dain bout wasn't on-par with the brand's recent high standards.

The action was technically sound. Everything unfolded in perfectly natural way, and if this were a house show or a Raw/SmackDown midcard bout, we'd give it a pass. It's impossible to do that for NXT, though. This is WWE's most workrate-centric show, and mediocrity just doesn't cut it in a spot like this.

The lack of urgency was Black vs. Dain's biggest issue, as neither gave the impression they were desperate to win. Given their recent history, hard-hitting ring styles, and the stakes (an NXT Title shot was on the line), you'd expect violence, but sadly, there was none. They worked a vanilla WWE TV match for just under 10 minutes, and while it wasn't necessarily bad, it's hard to remember an NXT main event this flat.

Dain vs. Black was a victim of expectations, but with the black and yellow brand delivering outright bangers ever week, said expectations are well founded.