8 Ups & 1 Down From WWE NXT (Jul 20)

Ups...

8. KUSHIDA And Fish Get Revenge On The Diamond Mine

It's fair to say that things have gone pretty swimmingly for The Diamond Mine upon making their dramatic debut a few weeks ago at the expense of current Cruiserweight Champion KUSHIDA. The unit of Roderick Strong, Tyler Rust, Hachiman, and Malcolm Bivens have used their numbers and specialised MMA-focused training to outwit and out-manoeuvre anyone standing in their way since then, but arguably their biggest challenge to date was incoming this week.

After having the dreaded numbers game go against him seven days ago, Bobby Fish was out for revenge alongside the aforementioned previously jumped KUSHIDA. What ensued was a highly competitive battle between four of the most technically sound performers you'll find working today. Fish used Strong as his own personal knee pad, and KUSHIDA and Rust put together a thrilling sequence, involving slick ankle lock reversals and one particularly gnarly looking neckbreaker.

However, once the more ruthless element of the Diamond Mine in Strong had been disposed of by a bitter Fish - fresh off of being fish-hooked - it was the faction's weak link, at the time of writing, that ultimately fell to the in-form Cruiserweight champ.

There's no shame in falling to KUSHIDA's Hoverboard Lock as many other talented black and gold folks can attest, but having The Diamond Mine lose their first real tag team encounter took a bit of the shine off a group that was genuinely quite hot a week or two ago. Perhaps this 'L' will open the door for Strong to take matters into his own hands and make an example out of the current 205 Champion in the coming weeks. Otherwise Malcolm Bivens may just have to reassess if his personal diamond in the Rust is truly part of his plans going forward.