NXT: The Bar has been set for what wrestling should be

We are still two weeks away from the Wednesday night wars between AEW and NXT. However, NXT begun their Wednesday night show two weeks early. However, it was only able to show an hour of it due to the USA’s show Suits. On October 2nd, NXT will be on USA Network for the two hours. With what we saw last night, not only does AEW need to try and top it. Both Raw and Smackdown need to try and top it as well.

Before we get into the matches, I noticed they gave Full Sail an uplift. There was no more ramp as now there’s a pathway to the ring. Also, there’s more room around the ring. Now, for the matches is where things got interesting. I wasn’t impressed with Aliyah and Vanessa Bourne. I think it’s just the fact that they are still too green. We opened the night with the fatal four way to determine Shayna’s next challenger. It was Candice LeRae, Bianca Belair, Mia Yim, and Io Shirai. Candice LeRae was the only one out of those four to not challenge Bazler for the belt and now she is. Now when she won, everyone figured they would hold that for Takeover. However, we then saw on the screen that they will have the NXT Women’s title match on October 2nd. It’s worth noting AEW is also going to be crowning their first women’s champion that night as Nyla Rose takes on Riho. We also saw Rodrick Strong take on Velveteen Dream for the NXT North American title. This match was great, but I had one problem with it. When Adam Cole, Kyle O’ Reily, and Bobby Fish won their belts they didn’t need help. Rodrick Strong did need help.

What I’m curious to see is does this now mean that Velveteen Dream get called up to either Raw or Smackdown. The program would then get switched over to the Network and problems started to come. There were fans within the WWE Universe who couldn’t sign on. When the 2nd hour begun, we got Pete Dunne taking on Arturo Ruas. Not a long match, but it showed Dunne’s dominance. For some odd reason, Imperium made their presence without any real reason. Kushida came out and challenged Walter. Lio Rush took on Oney Lorcan that the winner would become the #1 contender for the Cruiserweight champion.

Rush and Lorcan have chemistry and had a stellar match. Rush ended up winning and is now the #1 contender for the Cruiserweight champion that is currently held by Drew Gulak. To close out the show, Killian Dain took on Matt Riddle in a street fight. I don’t think they were even in the ring for ten minutes before they went outside of Full Sail. What should of been a simple street fight turned into a locker room brawl. We saw Forgotten Sons, Street Profits, Imperium, and others get involved. What I liked about the ending was that it went off of the Network in the midst of the chaos. It got fans really itching for how they follow up next week.

I will give it an 8 out of 10. It was a different atmosphere in Full Sail last night. If what we saw last night is any indication on how Wednesday nights will be, the fans are going to be the winners. NXT has set the bar and now it’s up to AEW, Raw, and Smackdown to try and top it.