8 Best Options For Dethroning Samoa Joe As NXT Champion

4. Zack Ryder

NXT Title
WWE.com

Now now, stop sniggering in the back. You have read that title correctly, and yes I do believe Zack Ryder could be the man to defeat Samoa Joe for the NXT Championship. When Ryder was put into the multi-man Intercontinental Championship ladder match at WrestleMania 32, a number of people felt that the ladder had a better chance of winning than Long Island Iced Z.

Well, look how that ended up...

World Wrestling Entertainment loves itself a redemption story. Heck, fiction in general loves the trope. An individual, seemingly down and out, works his way slowly to the top of the mountain, overcoming insurmountable odds and challenges along the way. All of which leads to our hero overcoming his biggest challenge, and finding himself held aloft by his peers.

With the brand split coming, NXT is going to change completely. Someone like Zack Ryder could be perfect as a credible champion of the brand as Performance Center graduates come to work with more experienced heads. Give him that moment, a Rough Ryder to Samoa Joe and an unthinkable victory.

Then have him and Emma turn heel and rule NXT with an Iron Fist.

Woo. Woo. Woo.

Contributor
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.