9 Ups & 2 Downs From WWE NXT (Jul 27)

Downs...

2. Cheap Finish Helps No One

After seemingly setting their sights on NXT Tag Team Champions MSK last week and simultaneously firing off shots to the rest of the division, Imperium found themselves coming up against the hottest act on the brand in Hit Row last night. And for the most part, the pair lived up to their own hype, isolating Ashante 'Thee' Adonis for long spells and looking every bit the team wanting to prove to their incoming leader WALTER that they still have what it takes to keep the mat sacred.

Yet, it's hard to look at the result of their battle with Top Dolla and Adonis as anything more than a nothing statistic in the wake of the closing stages of this tag team clash of styles. Before long, the inevitable intervention of Legado del Fantasma, fresh off of being bested by Isaiah 'Swerve' Scott and the gang a week ago, gave Fabian Aichner and a particularly chiselled Marcel Barthel the opening to nail Adonis with a Eurobomb for the win.

Let's be clear, the actual feud going down between Legado and Hit Row isn't the problem here. It's actually one of the most interesting programmes the black and gold show has to offer at this moment in time. However, the decision to give Imperium another cheap victory in an effort to keep Hit Row looking strong will no doubt make their eventual title challenge feel a tad weak if it ever does come around.

Is it really so hard to just have various members of Legado and Hit Row square off against each other in the lead-up to Scott vs. Escobar for the North American Championship? Judging from the announcement of a tag team match between the two teams next week, that penny may have just thankfully dropped.