How The Wednesday Night War Was Won On The Very First Night
The method by which NXT booked numbed people on the prospect of the most critically-acclaimed series of matches held in North America in 2018. Tommaso Ciampa, after failing in his pursuit of "Goldie" - in what was a very basic programme marked by lazy, gravitas-reaching stare-downs more than any real narrative development - found himself feuding yet again with Johnny Gargano.
The excess of it all was as uninspiring as it was, in the end, laughable.
The method by which AEW booked meanwhile put you on the hook for Goldust Vs. Jack Swagger. The match at Revolution epitomised the gentleman's three, in that it was so well-built and presented so early that the strictly quite good action was received very politely. And in truth, Hager was a bust as a singles guy, though his subtle character work and tag team displays are sorely underrated. But the point is that AEW's booking was so good that it made a WWE Main Event match from 2013 must-see.
Of course, NXT did run with their own overarching storyline premised on the dominance of a heel faction: the Undisputed Era's Golden Prophesy. But the issue is that they never built up a team of babyfaces, outside of a WarGames unit that relied on a one-off main roster for the sake of a one-night pop, to go at them.
CONT'D...(5 of 6)