5 Ups And 5 Downs From NXT 400

Ups...

5. Hell Yeah Mauro Ranallo

NXT 400 Mauro Ranallo Percy Watson Nigel McGuinness
WWE.com

Mauro Ranallo is tailor-made to commentate on professional wrestling where his talent for sounding dramatic and emotional while still believable has its maximum utility. The possibility that Ranallo was gone from the WWE for good was a grim one, given the excellent bedrock he formed for a good commentary team.

Now he's back and everything in the world seems ok again.

This NXT episode gave Nigel McGuinness most of the heavy lifting until the main event when Ranallo got to do his thing. His knowledge of wrestling's history and vocabulary suggests a respect for the art form remarkable in someone with such a background in calling 'real' fighting sports.

His presence also gives a match a big-fight gravity that could explain why McGuinness did most of the work in the show's earlier match, to make the championship bout seem that more special.

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Ben Counter is a fantasy and science fiction writer, gaming enthusiast, wrestling fan and miniature painting guru. He was raised on Warhammer, Star Wars and 1980s cartoons that, in retrospect, were't that good. Whoever you are, he is nerdier than you.