8 Ups And 0 Downs From WWE NXT (Sep 7)
Championships were on the line, parties hit the road, and factions fell on this week's WWE NXT.
Kiss goodbye to NXT as we know and love it (OK, that may be too strong a term currently) because next week seemingly marks the beginning of a bold and entirely more colourful era on Tuesday nights. Gone will be the black and gold, skulls and wings, and hopefully all things CWC. In their place will be bright lights, bigger stars, and... more weddings? The grass isn't always greener, so they say.
Before we get to NXT Dynamite in seven days time, though, we have the small matter of dissecting what appears to be the last hurrah of a once-beloved concept. A wrestling-heavy show bookended by two excellent clash of styles, with a vibrant array of squashes and intriguing narratives sprinkled in-between felt like an appropriate call-back to what once made this brand such a can't-miss affair.
Hell, even the goofiest of programmes found its footing this week, with laser tag, zombie refs, and romantic spying sessions making up for lost time. Sure, the game may be changing over in Tony Khan's titanic promotion, the war may have ended before it even began, and Triple H's vision of a brighter tomorrow appears to have been drowned in a stack of beef. But where there's time for young stars to cut their teeth in front of a live crowd, a place for veterans to prove they've still got it, and quite literally something for everyone over the course of two hours, there'll still be an audience devoted to developmental.
That is, until Vinnie Mac drafts in big Bill to squash Pete Dunne for claiming to be the baddest man in NXT one too many times...