On Thursday night, NXT will hold its fourth special event, (R)Evolution, on the WWE Network. The previous three two-hour events have been well received by fans and critics alike and have been a bright spot of original programming on the Network. In many cases, NXTs events have outshined the WWE PPVs that have taken place right after them. A variety of factors have made these NXT Takeover events successful: There typically are two to three months to set up the feuds, so they are well-developed; The angles are usually pretty direct, simple and easy to follow; and the events themselves are two hours long, which means that there is far less filler and brisker pacing. Contrast this with WWEs monthly PPVs with feuds being set up in four weeks and then dragged out for two or three months at three-hour PPVs that include backstage hijinks and in-ring promos. Thats a large reason why many wrestling fans who subscribe to the Network enjoy catching NXT, and Thursdays special event provides an opportunity for some really good in-ring action to close out 2014, including one match that could end up being a Match of the Year contender. With that in mind, here are eight things to keep an eye out for going into NXT (R)Evolution.
Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.
