8 Ups And 2 Downs From NXT TakeOver: New Orleans

3. Roddy Shocks The System

roderick strong nxt
WWE.com

Being a white meat babyface is boring. It’s so much more fun to be a villain.

Roderick Strong figured that out Saturday, turning on tag partner Pete Dunne to help (and then join) the Undisputed Era retain the NXT Tag Team Championship and capture the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic.

There surely will be an opportunity for Strong to explain himself on a future episode of NXT, but the simple answer has got to be that he was tired of it being “Roddy versus the world.” Eventually, that wears on you, and if you want to be a champion, it helps to be with people who have your back.

Additionally, Strong fills the gap in the Undisputed Era created by Bobby Fish’s injury, so that helps as well. Plus, it could turn the heelish (but fan favorite) Pete Dunne into a bigger hero to fans.

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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.