8 Ups And 2 Downs From NXT TakeOver: New Orleans

Ups...

8. Rise Of The Heel Manager

zelina vega
WWE.com

There was a time when the heel manager was everything in wrestling. Having a person on the outside who would distract your opponent and get physically involved was a big part of a wrestler’s success.

Zelina Vega made a case for being dubbed a top-class heel manager Saturday, interfering at will during the NXT Championship match. She hit two hurricanranas on Aleister Black behind the referee’s back, saved Andrade “Cien” Almas by putting his foot on the ropes after a Black Mass spinkick, and distracted Black a couple times.

And in true heel manager fashion, she got her comeuppance when she dove off the top and hit Almas instead, allowing Black to finish him off and win the title.

If Vega and Almas are headed to the main roster after WrestleMania, you’ve got to hope that they keep them together and keep this act going the way it is, because they’re clicking really well.

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Contributor
Contributor

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.