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The Undisputed ERA has been known to Shock the System in WWE NXT for several years. That is exactly what the faction did at NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day, but in a completely different way. After Finn Balor retained his NXT Championship against Pete Dunne, Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch came out to attack him.
The Undisputed ERA arrived as backup and helped The Prince fend off the attack. Following the angle, Adam Cole turned heel and Superkicked Balor to leave him lying in the middle of the ring. After Kyle O’Reilly protested, Cole delivered a Superkick to him too, effectively ending Undisputed ERA on a bitter note.
While many fans never wanted to see Undisputed ERA break up, it may have been the right move considering where the faction stands today. The angle opens up several avenues for the Superstars of the faction who could head in different directions. On the other hand, NXT could continue to cash in on the success of the Undisputed ERA members, and build some major storylines going forward.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at the five reasons why the creatives of WWE NXT broke up Undisputed ERA at TakeOver: Vengeance Day.
#5 WWE NXT can build new storylines with the Undisputed ERA members
The Undisputed ERA was made up of four top men from the industry who’d ruled over WWE NXT for a long time. Adam Cole led Roderick Strong, Kyle O’Reilly, and Bobby Fish to some monumental victories in WWE. Even Pat McAfee and his faction could not touch The Undisputed ERA.
While Strong had some matches against Cole in the past, KOR and Fish had been working alongside The Panama City Playboy for some time. Now that the faction has broken into pieces, the creatives could look to book some brand new rivalries from scratch.
In the weeks to come, fans could watch Strong make the difficult choice of partnering with Cole again or going with KOR. However, Fish could return to pick sides and fans could then be treated to some top tag team matches involving the former members of Undisputed ERA.
The creatives could also end up booking top matches between Cole and KOR, and Strong and KOR in the weeks to come. These matches could dominate NXT for some time, while allowing Finn Balor to recover after his battle against Pete Dunne.
Following the rivalries between the members of Undisputed ERA, the creatives could also look to book some big matches between Cole and other NXT Superstars as a solo wrestler.
#4 WWE NXT can give Finn Balor some new challengers from Undisputed ERA
WWE NXT will be looking to build some new challengers for Finn Balor after he defeated Pete Dunne at TakeOver: Vengeance Day. Balor has had a good run with the title and taken down two opponents to date.
After defeating Kyle O’Reilly a couple of times, Balor had been seen working with Undisputed ERA. Now that Adam Cole has turned heel, NXT could look to have him go up against Balor next to keep the flow going.
Tommaso Ciampa, Timothy Thatcher, and Johnny Gargano are some of the other Superstars who can keep the NXT Champion busy for some time. However, this on-going storyline with Undisputed ERA, and now Cole, will help the creatives continue the storyline well. Cole and Balor have a history, while KOR recently exited a rivalry against The Prince.
Therefore, NXT could have turned Cole heel once again so that Balor can get some more top challengers, before Karrion Kross creeps up. Balor had defeated Cole one-on-one to win the NXT title, and it would be perfect if Cole’s jealousy forces him to go after The Prince for the title again.
#3 A chance for Finn Balor to form his own faction on WWE NXT after Undisputed ERA
Finn Balor is arguably the top Superstar in WWE NXT today. Not only is he the NXT Champion, but his following and work on the main roster have forced many of his fans to tune in to NXT every week.
Undisputed ERA has had a good run on NXT, where the members have won all the titles on the brand. While WWE could have moved the faction to the main roster, the move would have left a giant hole in the NXT roster.
Now that the members of Undisputed ERA have split up, WWE could look to build a Bullet Club type of faction around The Prince of NXT. It looks like Balor and Kyle O’Reilly are on the same page, and they could work on the brand together.
Balor could also pick up the new team of MSK for his faction, or employ Timothy Thatcher, Bronson Reed, or some other up-and-coming Superstar.
NXT could be deciding to build a faction around Balor to give some Superstars a big push, and that could be the reason why Undisputed ERA imploded at TakeOver: Vengeance Day.
#2 Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly can both shine as individual performers on WWE NXT outside Undisputed ERA
Adam Cole was seen as the top individual performer from The Undisputed ERA in WWE NXT. Cole was among the first men from the faction to win the NXT Tag Team Championships, and also the NXT North American Championship. He then went on to become the only man from the faction to win the NXT Championship.
Kyle O’Reilly came close to winning the NXT Championship from Finn Balor after delivering two great performances. Now that fans have seen what KOR can do on his own, the creatives can look to build him as a strong individual star, too.
With that in mind, NXT could book a major rivalry between Cole and KOR for the coming weeks. This would keep both Superstars on top and also have them away from the NXT Championship picture.
The outcome will allow WWE to build more prominent stars who were settled in Undisputed ERA as tag team wrestlers, before the faction imploded. Creatives could go as far as to book a match between Cole and KOR where the loser is forced to leave NXT.
#1 WWE NXT can move certain Superstars from the Undisputed ERA to the main roster
Many fans have been waiting for The Undisputed ERA members to move to the main roster from WWE NXT. In recent months, the members of Undisputed ERA have lost all their titles and have been looking for ways to stay afloat on the NXT roster.
Bobby Fish has been sidelined due to injuries several times over the past two years, and that could have been one of the major reasons to split the faction. Having Adam Cole split from the rest of the group, or just take Roderick Strong under his wing, will allow WWE to move some Superstars to the main roster soon.
After some rivalries on NXT, fans could see Cole and Strong move to the main roster, while Kyle O’Reilly could continue to remain in pursuit of the NXT Championship along with Bobby Fish. The two men can then move to the main roster later on.
On the other hand, having Cole move to the main roster alone could allow the company to build major rivalries between him and top men such as Daniel Bryan, Seth Rollins and Drew McIntyre.
Breaking the faction could free the creatives to move the four Superstars around as they like, and keep an eye on having them team up at a later stage on the main roster.
