6 Things That Must Happen At NXT TakeOver: San Antonio

3. The Reign Of Pain Begins

At NXT TakeOver: Toronto, #DIY and The Revival put on arguably the best match in all of WWE in 2016, a best two-out-of-three falls match that took fans on an emotional rollercoaster. It ended with Dash and Dawson hand in hand imploring each other not to tap out, before the pressure applied by Gargano and Ciampa proved too much. #DIY finally made it to the top of the mountain.

That was all good and well, but the new year is a time for reality to kick in, replacing misplaced enthusiasm. Gargano and Ciampa are great and all that, but The Authors of Pain are huge dudes who are impossible to beat and managed by a WWE Hall of Famer. One of these more than often defeats the other.

The injury to Shane Thorne of TM-61 may well lead to a change of plans here, but most will be in agreement that Ciampa and Gargano are much better suited to chasing than standing on top. The Authors, meanwhile, will provide all sorts of intrigue as champions. In many ways, it will give those in charge of writing NXT a second crack at booking a dominant heel duo as champs, after The Ascension's almost year-long run a couple of years back.

Don't expect The Authors of Pain to defend against Too Cool any time soon, mind.

John Bills

Contributor

Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.

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