5 Ups And 2 Downs From Last Night's NXT (April 1)

Downs

2. Sam Roberts

Sam Roberts is many things in the world of professional wrestling. He is an excellent interviewer, a perfectly passable host, occasionally even an insightful analyst, but he is not a colour commentator. I've no doubt that his inclusion in the booth tonight was one of necessity under the circumstances but, all things being equal, it just didn't work.

With Mauro, Beth, and Nigel all out of the equation, NXT needs to do whatever it can to stop his feeling like some sort of NXT B-Show. The set looks different, there's no atmosphere to speak of, and right now the vibe is that of some sort of developmental Velocity taping. Adding an inexperienced voice to the show when it wasn't unrealistic to have expected Triple H dented it further.

In fairness, he did get two major poppers out of me. Calling out Tom Phillips for playing Animal Crossing in his spare time, and likening Velveteen Dream to Tiger King's Carole Baskin, were both genuinely funny and well-timed. But, sadly, he shot both of these two big loads in the first match, and had very little to offer afterwards.