8 Best Options For Dethroning Samoa Joe As NXT Champion
1. Austin Aries
This is where I see NXT going, and probably sooner rather than later. Austin Aries came into the company at the beginning of the year with a certain amount of fanfare, which quickly became somewhat forgotten when Nakamura turned up. Like a quietly confident jilted lover Aries took this in his stride, but his battle with Nakamura at TakeOver: The End... has set him on a path that should lead to a fully-fledged heel turn.
Samoa Joe is being built as a monster champion, and his showdown with Nakamura is inevitable. What better heel move could be pulled than Aries worming his way into the match, and stealing a pin-fall on a recently Kinshasha'd Joe? Once Aries receives the green light to fully turn heel, we'll start to see the true ability of the man.
Throughout his career, Austin Aries has won a number of major world championships. Aries is unique however, in that he has done this without ever truly being the number one guy in a company, a top level credible champion for bigger stars to work off. This is exactly the role that Aries needs to play in NXT, and exactly the role he will play.