7 Ups And 4 Downs From Last Night's NXT (April 15)

2. Debut Difficulty

There are two key elements to Timothy Thatcher's debut and while one of them is good, the other is bad.

The problem here sort of in the very essence of what makes a wrestling debut and that, unfortunately for NXT, is the crowd. You can have a perfectly proficient technical wrestling match without it being a deal-breaker that the crowd is feeding into it, but big moments like this live or die by the electricity they generate in the stands.

In front of a capacity Full Sail you likely wouldn't remember much of the actual match, just that Thatcher was Riddle's mystery partner and he arrived, set the place on fire, and beat up their opponents. Here, it elicits an "oh, that's interesting" and then we immediately move onto the contest itself.

If WWE really has to keep putting on wrestling shows during all of this then they at the very least need to focus on what actually works. Cinematic matches, better produced promo segments, and a spotlight on the guys who in-ring prowess occasionally goes overlooked. Big debut pops only work if there's someone there to pop.