Ranking Every MVP Of Every Major Wrestling Company
6. NXT: Matt Riddle
Adam Cole is a magnificent talisman in terms of the creative product.
He is a superb, counter-wizard of a modern pro wrestler, and his telegenic face sells the melodrama of his epic main events perfectly. He isn't, however, drawing the younger demographic. Velveteen Dream is a potential game-changer. He possesses that which cannot be learned nor denied, a real star power, and while his long absence from the USA Network yields an inconclusive answer over his ability to draw, there's a sense, from his uneven 2019, that he should be further along in his progress than he is presently.
Dave Meltzer infamously tweeted that 'Matt Riddle is huge for teenage boys', and it's not difficult to place why; the 'Original Bro' exudes an easygoing, charming and unique strain of charisma which, coupled with his legit badass aura, casts him as the best and most under-utilised babyface in NXT. There's an authenticity to Riddle that transcends the very produced 'feel' of the brand.
His improvised stoner promo from a couple of weeks back was a joy - as was the fact that he had the balls to rip up the inferior script handed to him - and his very presence is obviously engaging among that unreachable demo, since they are drawn to Riddle more than he has been promoted to them.