The Royal Rumble is this weekend, and to be brutally honest — the WWE has never been colder heading into one of their biggest shows of the year. This is a tentpole, must-watch show, and quite frankly outside of the usual “who do you think the surprises this year will be?” chatter there’s very little to be excited about. WWE has slapped matches together at the last second (see Shorty G vs. Sheamus, Andrade vs. Humberto) with little to no effort or fan interest. Daniel Bryan vs. The Fiend, on paper, looks great but my oh my how The Fiend has cooled off as a character on the show. Lacey versus Bayley has emotion behind it, but we can see the Sasha Banks run-in coming a mile away. Asuka and Becky has been the one great match built up, but the majority of us see WWE has designs on a Becky/Charlotte Mania feud.
Check out Bill Bodkin as a guest panelist on the Bob Culture Podcast where he talks about the Royal Rumble 2020
Down in Florida, and across the pond in the U.K., NXT has a little show called Worlds Collide. It’s a concept they’ve done before (but usually taped at AXXESS) when stars from NXT, NXT UK, 205 Live and in the past independent promotions affiliated with WWE (e.g. Progress, Evolve) do battle. This year we’re seeing NXT vs. NXT UK in a rehash of the “brand supremacy” storyline that WWE pushed so hard back during Survivor Series. On paper, this all seems like “yeah, whatever show.” This isn’t a Takeover, where emotions and storylines culminate or explode. This is a brand that’s built as a dominant juggernaut (NXT) battling the black sheep of the company (NXT UK) which was (in my bitter opinion) built to quell the white hot popularity of the thriving British Wrestling scene, and be a feeder system to the Black and Gold brand.
However, if the NXT 1/22 episode proved anything to me — it’s that NXT knows how to take a seemingly throwaway show, and create a fever pitch of excitement for it. Hell, I’m more excited for this show than everything on the Rumble outside of the Rumble matches themselves. They did all this while also establishing a new star (Shotzi Blackheart), building potential angles (UE vs. GYV for the titles, a Riddle/Dunne clash) for their next Takeover event in Portland, and giving us red hot matches. Oh, and they’re giving NXT UK the rub it most definitely needs and deserves.
Grizzled Young Veterans defeating The Undisputed Era was beyond the right call. Zack Gibson and James Drake need to be pushed to the forefront of people’s minds. They’ve been an excellent tag team for years, and with NXT UK getting little love on the bigger WWE platforms, the majority of fans barely even know who these guys are. Putting them over the established team of Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly (who has improved dramatically since he was first signed) helps accomplish this. Having Imperium help them score the win, also is a terrific move. Imperium has been pushed as a force to be reckoned with, and again given NXT UK’s lack of exposure (and Walter’s less than awesome Survivor Series run), they needed to look tough. Also, I’m glad people finally got to hear the veracity of Walter’s chops tonight. I feel this has never been fully experienced by an NXT crowd.
Keith Lee winning the U.S. Title was another stroke of great booking. Roderick Strong is terrific, but Lee is red hot. Keith Lee is a star. Keith Lee is absolute money. To put the belt on the big man is the exact right move. I believe he should enter the Royal Rumble, and if it were up to me I’d have him win, challenge Brock Lesnar, and BEAT Brock Lesnar. You want to build a star – here’s how. Lee is an amazing talent, and this title win should be a huge step for him to become the face of NXT.
Shotzi Blackheart didn’t win tonight. She got brutalized by Shayna Baszler. But hot damn she got a killer character spotlight, and a big moment to shine. Sometimes losing does more for a person than winning. Tonight, Shotzi was positioned as a future player, someone who isn’t afraid to go for broke, and a bright unique character NXT fans can get behind. All this in a matter of minutes.
These are just three examples from the NXT 1/22 episode of how this brand did things right. How they maximized their time on television. And how I care more about their product than anything on RAW or Smackdown.
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