7 Ups And 2 Downs From Last Night’s WWE NXT (Mar 30)

With only two days to go until NXT TakeOver: Dallas, the brand pulled out all of the stops when it came to promoting what may be its most highly-anticipated show ever. And while the in-ring action was mostly confined to squash matches (there's probably not a fan who saw the show and couldn't predict the winner of every single bout), it's okay - TV is supposed to serve the paid product. That's a lesson WWE's main roster's creative team would do well to learn. There are six huge matches scheduled for TakeOver: Dallas - NXT Champion Finn Balor versus Samoa Joe, Shinsuke Nakamura versus Sami Zayn, NXT Women's Champion Bayley versus Asuka, NXT Tag Team Champions The Revival versus American Alpha, Apollo Crews versus Elias Samson, and Baron Corbin versus Austin Aries. In the course of a 55-minute show, NXT managed to hype each bout on the special. By the end of the broadcast, TakeOver: Dallas felt like it would be the show of the year. By contrast, by the end of the go-home Raw, fans were just glad it was over. NXT wasn't perfect this week - there were a couple of segments that fell short. Still, it was a triumph of slick advertising that never felt like a commercial. Here are two downs and seven ups from March 30's episode of NXT.