8 Ups And 3 Downs From Last Night's NXT (5 Feb)

2. "Go And Get Your Gear On"

While the brawl that set the match up was a tired old trope of the show, the match that it led to was worth any booking cliche. NXT might struggle for variety at times, but the talent on its roster means that the matches we do get almost never disappoint.

The TV time that was sunk into getting this match could also be considered excessive (we'd had an opening promo in the ring, and several backstage skits before the brawl broke out) but it's actually a new move for NXT to drag a narrative out from the top of the show all the way through to the evening's main event. It gave us a cohesive feel and, best of all, an absolutely classic Regal-is-the-best-GM-on-earth spot. Arrive, "Go and get your gear on, this is getting settled tonight", and leave.

After nearly 20 minutes of hard-hitting tag action that saw everybody afforded their chance to shine, Roddy Strong ran interference and the whole thing was thrown out. Under normal circumstances a pointless ending to a 2-hour long-running scrap that serviced absolutely nothing in the long run but, given what it was setting up, a thrilling main-event that can be examined in isolation.

The lights went out, and...