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

Downs...

3. We've Been Here Before... A Lot

I like Dominic Dijakovic, and I love Kieth Lee, but there is nowhere near as much interest in this rivalry as NXT thinks there is. We've seen brilliant matches between the two over the past few months, but that's precisely the point, we've seen them, loads of them. Since NXT moved to the USA Network we have seen these two sharing a ring seven times.

There's a lot of trust in the process on this show, and I've got no doubt that the pair will deliver a perfectly watchable TakeOver match, but when Lee stripped Strong of the North American title it felt like a world of new possibilities had just opened up. This definitely isn't one of them.

The way to go was a series of fresh challengers whom Lee could have new and inventive matches against, all the while Dijakovic toils away separately climbing his way to the top of the mountain. Yes, Priest and Dain have made him look like a worthy opponent, but neither has really informed some pulsating need to see Dijakovic on the TakeOver card.

Absence, as they say, makes the heart grow fonder, and we really needed some breathing room before putting these two back together again.