Two weeks ago, Nina Samuels was permitted to go move-for-move with Toni Storm before the newest Mae Young Classic winner beat her with relative ease. Her second appearance on the show was much the same - she gobbled up Isla Dawn before falling to Dawn's gutwrench suplex in just over three minutes.
What's going on here?
Samuels is currently one of two things to NXT UK, neither of them good. She's either being pushed as a plucky loser with the hope that her eventual win draws Bayley-like reactions, or she's been considered a good hand worth more staring at the lights than she is reaching for the stars.
Regardless, the strategy is thus far failing because she's not actually been out-worked in her matches, nor has she helped those she's laying down for.
The jury remains out for now, but a guilty verdict isn't too many weeks away if these tepid losses ultimately amount to nothing.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for 10 years. Alongside the production of daily written, audio and video content covering WWE and AEW, he also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years.
As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot on the UK's wrestling podcast charts with over 10,000 episodes and 70,000,000 total downloads. He also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House!, Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast, and has guested on long-running Sunderland AFC podcast Wise Men Say.
With WhatCulture, he has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. He has also been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana, 411Mania and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling.
Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in music and culture magazines The Crack, Pilot as well as Sunderland AFC's premiere fanzine A Love Supreme. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it every other Saturday at the Stadium Of Light, and at Cribs gigs nationwide.
