6 Ups & 4 Downs From Last Night's NXT (Jan 15)

4. Worlds Collide > TakeOver

When NXT announced they were replacing the usual pre-Rumble TakeOver with Worlds Collide two huge problems immediately jumped out about it. 1) The inclusion of NXT UK, a brand they've done precisely nothing to make people care about for over a year and 2), well, actually no that's it.

The previous iteration of the event saw a load of barely broadcast, essentially non-canon pairings, that became considerably more famous for the series of tweets Harper posted after his match with Dominik Dijakovic, rather than any of the actual matches themselves. There can not have been a single person who thought this was a good idea at the time and yet, here we are, two weeks out, and it looks like being the most stacked card they've put together in years.

The integration of the NXT UK element is arguably the most surprising of all, with a (mostly) stellar showing at TakeOver Blackpool doing wonders to put over the brand's stars ahead of their clash with their trans-Atlantic colleagues. Walter, Toni Storm, Kay Lee Ray and the rest of Imperium all feel like important parts of both brands at the moment, and the work done tonight by both teams involved in the Dusty Classic should hopefully tempt some of the audience over.

It's nice to be wrong, sometimes.