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Nobody will blame you if you depend on NXT to entertain you and yet get invested in storylines that are meaningful. This week wasn't all that special overall, as it repeated what we have already seen them do before, but that doesn't mean that it was devoid of fun. The best part of the show is probably what the female performers in NXT are involved in. This was also one of those shows which did not have Owens and Zayn in the arena and Balor had not much more than a pretty appearance during Prince Pretty’s match against Hideo Itami. Here are the five points to note from this week's show.
#1 The best contract signing of the year
Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch, quite convincingly, provided the segment of the night and the best contract signing of the year. Firstly the post production team and production team of the WWE are amazing. They gave the show a pretty awesome Becky Lynch promo. Lynch is now the newest underdog. And her babyface turn was executed perfectly. They detailed her journey till the WWE and Sasha Banks, on her part, succinctly showed the arrogance and nonchalance expected of her.
This quite easily set up the feud and the match. This was spectacular. And hopefully, this won’t be a short term feud.
#2 Dark Emma is promising
If there’s anything that Emma’s recent character change has done, it’s to show how promising this gimmick looks. It isn’t really perplexing to see her lose to Charlotte, after all. The Nature Girl is on her way to the main roster and having her lose to Emma will only hamper her momentum heading towards a main roster push.
But still, the backbone of this entire segment/match which involved Emma stealing Bayley’s merchandise, is Emma’s character development and she plays it so well that it’ll be great if she finally makes her return to the main roster and gets the treatment she deserves.
#3 Family Schtick
Kevin Owens refuses to get boring. Even after repeating that he’s a family man and quite blatantly putting forth his role as a provider to his family, his usual utterance still holds a purpose. And that’s why it refuses to get irrelevant.
The best part about his sit down interview with Michael Cole was the fact that even after constantly making it clear that whatever he does is in the best interests of his family, people just refuse to stop asking him about Sami Zayn. They’ve added a new fact that Zayn was the best man at Owens’ wedding.
People are obsessed with this friendship gone wrong and Owens is not impressed. He got away with all of that constant deja vu surrounding Sami Zayn by telling Cole how much he loves him on Raw. Even Cole wasn’t amused.
#4 Zayniac for life
Sami Zayn, invariably, has a knack for being that underdog you’ll always support, no matter what. He’s not a great promo worker, but he’s got one heck of a friendly presence.
Zayn seemed to be giving his interview from the WWE headquarters, or precisely the setting from where Michael Cole usually does sit down interviews from. Zayn had an eventful week with a memorable Raw match against John Cena.
The crux of this interview is that Zayn wants to know why Owens did what he did. He, like all of the people asking Owens about the backstabbing, wants to know what is the real story. He, like others, isn’t buying the family man shtick.
This is the most investing story the WWE has this year so far.
#5 The dependables, for now
It’s great to see that on a show like NXT when stars like Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn and Finn Balor are not around or don’t have much to do, the main event goes to Hideo Itami and Tyler Breeze. It’s perplexing, though, why both of them don’t have a storyline that is meaningful enough to get invested.
They’re both entertaining in their own ways, but they are still not the kind of characters that may get a Raw arena get berserk for their debut. If there is a proper storyline in which their characters fall into place then they definitely have the potential to be those characters that Zayn and Owens currently thrive in.
Though, there is something to look forward to with Balor and Breeze. And, by the way, Balor at ringside was a beauty.
