8 Ups And 3 Downs From NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn II

2. Almas An Afterthought

bobby roode nxt takeover 2
WWE.com

It’s hard to believe, but Andrade “Cien” Almas debuted in NXT just two months ago at TakeOver: The End, defeating Tye Dillinger.

Saturday, the former La Sombra put in a solid effort against Bobby Roode, but he was all but an afterthought as part of Roode’s in-ring debut. Think about it like this: NXT took an undefeated guy who debuted to much fanfare two months earlier and served him up to Roode – who is being pegged as a big star – in his debut match. The vignette before the match focused solely on Roode, making it look like Almas was only there by circumstance. And it showed with the Brooklyn crowd, which jeered at Andrade several times.

Almas put on a decent match with Roode, but it’s odd that he was sent out there like that… unless there’s a thought about parlaying this into a new direction for him. Otherwise, NXT just did something very WWE in beating a new superstar early in their run like that.

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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 fortunately became a fan in time for WrestleMania III and came back as a fan after a long high school hiatus before WM XIV. Monday nights in the Carlson household are reserved for viewing Raw -- for better or worse.