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Although 2018 has come and gone, it's interesting to look back at what a year it was in the WWE NXT Universe. From the beginning, the black and yellow brand experienced turns and twists (converting from a poorly-rated reality show to a well-respected developmental brand) as well as peaks and valleys (the high times when Sami Zayn and Bayley were the top stars and the low point after the WWE Draft depleted a good portion of the roster). Fortunately, 2017 marked the start of a new era where things would begin to improve and the product would more closely follow Triple H's vision of personifying a sort of underground punk rock aesthetic that stands in stark contrast to the main roster's Top 40 pop sensibilities.
By focusing on simple storytelling and fostering a 'less is more' strategy that allowed its top stars to put on incredible athletic performances in exchange for a less demanding schedule than the main roster, NXT quickly become the apple in modern wrestling fans' eyes in 2014. This was solidified the following year when 16,000 fans filled Brooklyn's Barclays Center for the first arena-sized Takeover special. However, something along the way got lost and by Takeover: San Antonio in early 2017, it became clear that the product wasn't quite living up to its potential. The weekly show was rubbish, the storytelling anemic, the booking creatively bankrupt and the Takeover specials, while still good, were gradually trailing off in quality. The aftermath of Takeover: Orlando marked the beginning of a return to form, and by Takeover: Brooklyn III on Summerslam weekend it was clear that a rocket had been strapped on and NXT was ready for liftoff into the stratosphere again.
In 2018, the stars finally aligned for a full calendar year, as not only did the brand make a full comeback but very much surpassed its previous peak in 2015 across the checklist of match quality, character/storyline development, and all-around consistency. Even TV announcer Mauro Ranallo has recently stated that 2018 was NXT's best year, and given the sheer depth of awesomeness the brand has come to represent, it's hard to disagree.
These are the top 10 reasons why 2018 was the best year in NXT history.
10. Homegrown talent got the spotlight again
The original purpose behind NXT was to follow in the footsteps of previous WWE developmental territories OVW (Ohio Valley Wrestling) and FCW (Florida Championship Wrestling) - that is, to train rookies from scratch. Early episodes of the weekly show going back to 2012-13 feature this very idea as new trainees performed in a small Tampa, Florida venue with decent wrestling and character work before the creation of the Performance Center and subsequent move to Orlando. However, with the signing of ready-to-go wrestlers like Kassius Ohno, Finn Balor, Adrian Neville and Sami Zayn, this idea got lost somehow and NXT gradually became a magnet for various top names from the indies, Japan, TNA and ROH. Guys that only needed to learn TV camera angles and have their style tweaked a bit before they could achieve success.
In 2018, homegrown talent with little or no outside experience made a roaring comeback. Velveteen Dream, Bianca Belair, Lacey Evans, Heavy Machinery, Lars Sullivan and the Street Profits all did well in terms of athleticism, character work and/or creating memorable moments. Lacey Evans' Southern Belle persona and trilogy of matches with Kairi Sane and the Street Profits' crowd-engaging charismatic antics and high-energy entrances both made their mark. Heavy Machinery's Chris Farley-like comedic segments (i.e. Otis Dozovic hilariously referring to Tomasso Ciampa as "Tomato Champs") and recent quality tag matches with Forgotten Sons and Undisputed Era also helped them stand out, but it would Velveteen Dream who'd shine brighter than the rest. The Prince-influenced, ex-Tough Enough contestant's amazing ascent into main event status after holding his own in promos and matches with older, much more experienced guys proved unequivocally that homegrown Performance Center stars could absolutely compete with their indie counterparts.
9. The commentary was Class-A all year
Though Tom Philips was a fine, solid commentator during his tenure in NXT and Corey Graves went on to become one of the best new announcers WWE has had in years, the debut of Mr. Combat Sports Mauro Ranallo in mid-2017 took NXT announcing duties to a higher plateau. Hand-picked by Triple H following a brief leave from WWE due to a rumored personal issue with JBL and displeasure over the cutthroat work environment fostered by Vince McMahon on the main roster, Ranallo signed on to be exclusive to NXT, answering only to Hunter and NXT producer Michael Cole, in the weeks before Takeover: Brooklyn III. This proved to be an excellent move as Ranallo's intense, passionate play-by-play, which emphasizes calling matches move-for-move whilst intermixing pop culture references, made NXT all the more compelling to watch.
Ranallo's fierce, vociferous commentary is polarizing to some, but for hardcore, passionate fans of wrestling, he is the perfect representative to call the action, in contrast to the main roster's relatively subdued announcing style. The addition of retired British wrestling legend Nigel McGuiness to NXT commentary was another well-received change, and while Percy Watson's initial 2017 start was rough, he dramatically improved in 2018 and has more than proven he belongs at the table by contributing a sense of genuine enthusiasm for the product.
8. Call-ups didn't hinder the product at all
When the time of Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Neville and 3 of the Four Horsewomen - NXT's first class of major stars, came to an end, many speculated that the brand wouldn't be able to recover from the losses of such high-level talent. Likewise, the aforementioned WWE Draft in 2016 has been credited with damaging the NXT product at a time when WWE's priorities lied with bringing back the brand split and the subsequent need to fill the individual Raw and Smackdown rosters. Seven different active members of the NXT rollcall were consequently called up, with Bayley and television writer Ryan Ward departing not long after, creating a void that seemed to take almost a year to fill. This recurring issue seemed to be inherent to NXT's revolving door policy of bringing talent in only to ship them off to the main stage after they get hot, leaving the brand itself in a self-perpetuating state of disarray.
This was not the case in 2018. With WWE in full sign-on mode, picking up every critically-acclaimed indie and international wrestler they could get their hands on, and homegrown talent stepping their game up dramatically by focusing on their training at the Performance Center, the losses of Ember Moon, the Iconic Duo (re-christened the IIconics on Smackdown), Andrade Cien Almas, No Way Jose and the Authors of Pain were only subtlety noticeable. Kairi Sane, Dakota Kai, Ricochet, Velveteen Dream and War Raiders were waiting in the wings, immediately ready to take their spots. With Lars Sullivan, Heavy Machinery, Lacey Evans, Nikki Cross and EC3 (all pictured above) going up more recently, Keith Lee, Dominik Dijakovic, Io Shirai, Mia Yim, Punishment Martinez and Matt Riddle are already set to replace them as well.
Main roster callups in 2018 came off more like seamless transitions than undesirable interruptions, and with the main roster practically bloated with underutilized talent these days, NXT runs for stars like Nikki Cross and Velveteen Dream have been naturally extended, allowing them to achieve a more complete tenure in Orlando.
7. ALL divisions shined at the same time
2015 was a wonderful time in NXT as the Four Horsewomen proved that women belonged in WWE and could put on high-level matches and feuds that were as good as the men's. Yet, the tag team division suffered at the time as below-average teams like Blake & Murphy and the Vaudevillians subsided as the top duos. Fast forward a year and the division were putting on some of the best tag team matches in all of WWE, whilst the women's division (aside from Asuka) was rapidly regressing and the main event scene was serviceable but underwhelming, as Shinsuke Nakamura and Samoa Joe's feud didn't quite ignite the passion in NXT fans.
In 2018, the main event, mid-card, tag team, and women's divisions all delivered at once for the first time. Main events at Takeover were at last not being outdone by special mid-card attraction matches, yet the mid-card was still on fire as the North American Championship title scene took shape and stars like Adam Cole, Pete Dunne and Ricochet tore the house down on weekly TV and Takeover alike. Undisputed Era dominated the tag team title picture for most of the year with top tier defenses against Moustache Mountain and Oney Lorkin & Danny Burch (with War Raiders floating in the midst), while a respectable mid-card tag team division featuring the Street Profits, Heavy Machinery, The Mighty and Forgotten Sons formed independently of the title picture. Additionally, while Shayna Baszler had the women's locker room in a stranglehold all year, Dakota Kai, Kairi Sane, Lacey Evans, Candice LeRae, Zelina Vega, Bianca Belair and especially Nikki Cross all had their moments too. All of these ladies managed to work around Baszler's dominant booking to put on good matches and entertaining character work, while main eventers like Johnny Gargano, Tomasso Ciampa and Aleister Black floored fans with consistently great end-of-the-night performances.
6. There was a new title introduced
For upwards of two years, NXT fans rallied on social media about the need for a secondary singles championship. With a fiercely competitive main title scene and a plethora of unbelievable talent being brought in from all corners of the globe, it was only right for NXT to establish an equivalent to the Intercontinental Championship or United States Championship. This meant a prize for deserving workhorse wrestlers sandwiched between the undercard and main event scenes who deserved to achieve an accolade even if they weren't yet on a level where they could become the single face of the brand. Finally, in the weeks before Takeover: New Orleans during 'Mania weekend, general manager William Regal made the announcement that a new title was coming, and the rest was history - 5 star ladder match and all.
The North American Championship strap itself is a rather impressive-looking, old-school style belt that has an aura of prestige, and the matches it's been featured in have been more than worthy of representing such a classy title. Adam Cole vs. Ricochet at Takeover: Brooklyn IV and Ricochet and Pete Dunne's Champion vs. Champion match on NXT TV were among 2018's best bouts. Overall, it's clear that from its origin, this championship represents more than just a mid-card division, it represents NXT's expansion and growth as an athletic entertainment league with a dynamic and supremely talented roster.
5. There was longterm storyline continuity
For what seemed like the first time ever, NXT in 2018 got into the habit of purposely building medium to longterm narratives that played out like a suspenseful television drama. Going beyond simply booking spotfest matches with minimal attention given to the underlying story, the past year of NXT gave us the remarkable angle of Tomasso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano in a bitter tag team-turned-enemies rivalry filled with twists and turns. Gargano, playing the role of the white meat babyface attacked by Ciampa after coming within an inch of winning the NXT title from Andrade Cien Almas (only to make the rash decision of putting his career on the line in the last ditch effort of capturing the gold) was near-perfect in his character execution. Gargano, having lost the career stipulation when Ciampa interfered in the Title vs. Career Match with Almas, went to war with his ex-friend in a classic Unsanctioned Match in order to get reinstated, only to watch the same monster, Ciampa, turn around and become NXT Champion, to his chagrin. The storytelling in and out of the ring, slowly paced and laid out over the course of nearly a year, was genius.
Likewise, the who attacked Aleister Black? angle, formed after Black suffered a legit groin injury at a house show and couldn't make it to Takeover: Brooklyn IV, engulfed the entire NXT roster into a mystery that spanned much of the Summer. Mr. Regal, the middle-aged British general manager of NXT, lurked around the TV studio at Full Sail University like Sherlock Holmes looking for clues. Subplots and mini-feuds that had nothing to do with Black or whoever attacked him were spawned during the course of Regal's "investigation", and the whole of NXT just seemed to have more purpose overall. Perhaps influenced by the rise in popularity of New Japan Pro Wrestling, which is known for its use of long-term storytelling, NXT's iteration of this booking style has been just as interesting.
4. The roster was at its strongest
Never has NXT's roster been quite as stacked as it was in 2018. From high-flying luchadors and mat technicians to martial artists and 'hoss' big men, NXT's penchant for recruiting a diverse and dynamic talent pool from all over the pro-wrestling spectrum is currently unmatched by any other wrestling development entity. In 2018, Japanese women from the Stardom promotion worked the same cards as 300-pound indie guys, catch wrestlers and British strong style practitioners. High-flyers with years of experience elsewhere were intermingled with athletes from other sports who showed remarkable potential and progress.
Andrade Cien Almas and Raul Mendoza represented Lucha libre well with their skills adapted to a WWE ring, Shayna Baszler and Matt Riddle proved MMA fighters are perfectly capable of transitioning to sports entertainment, and Lars Sullivan (playing the role of a ferocious but intelligent monster) became NXT's answer to Braun Strowman. Heavy Machinery, War Raiders and Keith Lee proved big men can be as athletic as their smaller counterparts. Kairi Sane and Dakota Kai worked well as underdogs, while Bianca Belair and Street Profits shined like stars, and Io Shirai - maybe the greatest female wrestler active today, made her presence felt following a picture-perfect moonsault at Takeover: War Games. The Undisputed Era were dominant as a stable and tag team as well, however, Johnny Gargano, Tomasso Ciampa, Aleister Black, Ricochet, Pete Dunne and Velveteen Dream were the indisputable MVPs and helped move the needle as NXT's main attractions.
3. There were more great matches than any other year
Aside from obvious barn burners like Gargano and Ciampa's trilogy at Takeovers in New Orleans, Chicago and Brooklyn, the six-man ladder match, the second War Games or Aleister Black and Adam Cole's Extreme Rules match, 2018 was still nonetheless jam packed with stellar in-ring encounters from all parts of the NXT roster. Johnny Gargano pinned Velveteen Dream early in the year in a high quality weekly show match to cement the end of his losing streak before heading into Takeover: Philadelphia, only for The Dream to return the favor later in the year in an even better match where he beat Gargano and went on to nearly take the NXT Championship from Tomasso Ciampa at the second Takeover: War Games. Ricochet performed in above average affairs against Dream and Adam Cole, then went on to compete in perhaps the greatest NXT TV match of all time against Pete Dunne, followed by an excellent triangle match with both Cole and Dunne. The Fatal 4 Way with Gargano, Aleister Black, Killian Dain and Lars Sullivan at the top of the year was highly entertaining, as were Undisputed Era's excellent tag team wars with Moustache Mountain and Oney Lorkin & Danny Burch.
Not to leave the ladies out, Kairi Sane's triangle match with Candice LeRae and Nikki Cross was top quality; ditto for Shayna Baszler's Royal Albert Hall title match with Toni Storm, and Bianca Belair's three-match series with Cross and pre-Takeover dark matches with Dakota Kai and Deonna Purrazzo. Other honorable mentions include Undisputed Era vs. Pete Dunne, Oney Lorkin and Danny Burch, Andrade Cien Almas vs. Johnny Gargano (Title vs. Career), Lars Sullivan's showdowns with fellow big men Killian Dain and Keith Lee, and Matt Riddle vs. Punishment Martinez.
2. The weekly show was better than ever
The general consensus among NXT fans is that Takeover specials are highly consistent in quality and, arguably, there's never actually been a bad one. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for NXT's weekly programming as it's had a very topsy turvy history . Even during NXT's first golden age in 2014-15, the hourly Wednesday night programming was largely a forum for promos and short squash matches that helped introduce indie signees and gave rookies in-ring experience, all in an effort to build up to the next Takeover. By 2016, longer matches took hold but the overall feel of the show was uninspiring, with forgettable undercard matches and boring main events interspersed with sporadic moments of brilliance.
Following Takeover: Orlando things changed. The weekly show improved with better matches and more backstage segments (which were short and entertaining, rather than drawn out and cringy as they often are on the main roster) but it wasn't consistent. After Takeover: Chicago things looked up even more, with the enthusiasm behind that event spilling over into the Summer of 2017. Finally, in the aftermath of Takeover: Brooklyn III, the change over in NXT felt complete. Since then, you could count the number of bad weekly NXT episodes with one hand. Interview segments in '18 were almost always interesting, promos and matches usually had a flair of excitement and intrigue, and production values were of the highest quality with slick camerawork, modern graphics and cool stage entrances. Surprising moments (like Aleister Black's Undertaker-like return in the middle of a Nikki Cross vs. Bianca Belair match), overlapping storylines (like Cross' involvement in male-dominated segments with Black, Kassius Ohno, Velveteen Dream and others) and Takeover-quality matches (like Gargano vs. Black in a cage) happening on a regular basis made NXT's weekly program must-watch all year.
1. The greatest Takeover ever happened
Although Mauro Ranollo is always high-energy in how he calls professional wrestling, boxing and MMA, the extra noticeable intensity in his voice from the first match of Takeover: New Orleans was a harbinger for how special this show would be. The night before WrestleMania on April 7 in which NXT was at its creative apex would feature a main event that fans salivated in anticipation over for nearly a year (Ciampa vs. Gargano's Unsanctioned Match). But that wasn't all, as below that on the card lied a re-match from exactly one year earlier with higher stakes and stronger character build (Andrade Cien Almas vs. Aleister Black for the NXT title) as well as the finals of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Tournament, the debut of the North American Championship in an insane six-man Ladder Match, and the end of a women's title trilogy involving Shayna Baszler and Ember Moon
Needless to say, the night did not disappoint as the car crash scene of the North American Championship ladder war brought fans to their feet in sheer enjoyment. Moon and Baszler put on a fine fight-like performance as well, and the triple threat tag team match between Pete Dunne and Roderick Strong, the Authors of Pain and the Undisputed Era ended with a shocking betrayal as Strong turned his back on Dunne, attacking him to help Undisputed Era win and joining up with his old Ring of Honor buddies in the process. Add to that the main event-caliber NXT title match between Black and Almas (an excellent 18-minute showdown that pit two evenly-matched stars from opposite corners of the globe against each other) and the absolutely epic, fight-to-the-finish war saga of Johnny Gargano and Tomasso Ciampa's Unsanctioned Match, and it's not hard to see why this night could be judged as NXT's finest. It also doesn't hurt that two out of the show's five matches scored a rare 5-star rating from the Wrestling Observer newsletter (the only other show from any wrestling promotion to ever score two 5-star ratings in one night was AJW's Dream Slam pay-per-view in 1993). The sky over New Orleans must have been black and yellow that night.
