Adam Cole's NXT Championship Defences Ranked From Worst To Best
1. Daniel Bryan (SmackDown, 1st November 2019)
An actual masterpiece of concept and execution, and all because an alleged row about money between tycoons robbed a billion dollar blue brand of its roster.
November's SmackDown had to be booked with about 12 hours notice for both those in charge and the wrestlers themselves, but never had Triple H looked so prepared to step into his Father-In-Law's shoes than when he actually did on that fateful night.
Capping off a wonderful broadcast that saw a resurgent NXT run roughshod over the remaining SmackDown wrestlers in a series of matches and segments, Champion Adam Cole put his money where his grinning mouth was against Daniel Bryan in something both indie wrestling and Sports Entertainment aficionados could drool over.
A gorgeous match saw Bryan flatly refuse to be sucked in by Cole's wiles, insisting instead that he level up. Waving NXT dust on the main roster product, the Champion did just that, being Bryan clean in-the-middle by being a marginally better wrestler than him on that night.
The match kicked your f*cking a*s, popped the sh*t out of Shawn Michaels at ringside and made an exhilarated crowd believe the most NXT-adjacent wrestler on SmackDown was about to join the Full Sail roster. Rather than 'HBK', it was the 'Panama City Playboy' that broke hearts by the end.
WWE Quiz: How Much Do You Know About Adam Cole?
