6 Ups And 2 Downs From WWE NXT (Nov 18)

Ups...

6. Leon Me, When You're Not Strong

On the face of it, giving Gargano an immediate rematch against Leon Ruff should have been a no-win situation. So perfectly pitched was last week's shock upset, that seemingly no result this week could improve on the storyline. Have Gargano roll-through the champion and it entirely undoes everything good about the clean-ish nature of last week's win. Have another Priest-assisted win, and all of a sudden Ruff's become the third man in his own North American Championship reign.

Hopes were high that some magical third solution could be found, but after a genuinely exhilarating opening that showcased Ruff as a legit performer, NXT took the least interesting option available to them. Despite being ringside, last week wasn't the result of Damien Preist; it was the result of Gargano not taking his opponent seriously, and Ruff punishing him for the arrogance. This week was just a continuation of the Preist/Gargano North American Championship feud, with the actual champion reduced to a bystander.

This, is terrible. But NXT just about managed to pull it out of fire backstage with Ruff laying out precisely why this whole situation is bulls**t, and taking issue with Priest for treating him like a joke. If you just sort of close one eye and imagine he's saying all of that to the writing room, it's perfect. Physically besting them in a later segment was great, too.