5 Ups And 1 Down From Last Night's NXT

2. Big Pat On The Back

All the Pat McAfee stuff has been, improbably, excellent.

From the "Is It A Work!?!?" origins, the spectacular escalation two-weeks ago, and now one of the best in-ring promos NXT has produced in years, this is comfortably the best thing the show has going on right now. McAfee's mic work this week should be absolutely humiliating to every single pro-wrestler watching it backstage, as it's light years ahead of the usual standard.

And the thing is, even while the lines are being blurred between who's the heel and who's the face here, everything he's said so far is true. He does have Cole's number, he did knock out the biggest star on the brand with one kick, and if he does it again at TakeOver it'll undo Cole's entire legacy in an instant. NXT hasn't had a match which felt this fascinating in a long time.

Even the subtle beats here are brilliant. McAfee keeps goading Cole over the fact he can't do anything without his boys, and yet when Cole got in his face it was the NFL boys who blinked first and appeared on the apron. Too much work has gone into the minutia of this for it to be a by-the-numbers wrester vs non-wrester novelty attraction this weekend. Something huge is coming.