9 Ups & 4 Downs From Last Night's WWE NXT (Nov 6)
Downs...
4. (Not) Setting The Standard
Santana Garrett and Taynara worked a less-than-passable mid-show match as NXT's first hour excitement screeched to an alarming halt, and though very little in the match could be criticised too harshly beyond some of the fresh air strikes, there was equally little worthy of praise.
This, regrettably, was everything the laboured and lazy criticisms of NXT's in-ring output point towards. Some kicking, some punching, some predictable narrative beats followed by a winner who was blindingly obvious from the entrances going over with a move presented as a finisher even if it doesn't always look like one. As token jobber in question, Santana Garrett made herself more than a warm body for Taynara, but not much more.
Mechanical to a fault and and at the expense of either performer truly getting over, the announcers tried to add sizzle to bone dry steak by noting how the contest could have WarGames implications. If based entirely on this routine squash win, team captains Shayna Baszler and Rhea Ripley would be discredited by picking either. But speaking of that...