Top 3 performers of NXT (October 31st, 2018)

Nikki Cross started the episode, not a surprise considering how central she was to the Aleister Black attack storyline. However, she wasn't here to further storylines as she lined up against former Mae Young Classic participant, Mercedes Martinez. Martinez got a great reception from the Full Sail crowd.

However, the commentary team mainly focussed on the Aleister Black feud throughout the match, which took away from the bout between Cross and Martinez. The match wasn't Cross' smoothest fight, but she won after hitting Martinez with the Purge.

Candace LaRae came out to berate Nikki after the bell. LaRae ditched her usual colors to don a full black ensemble, to match Johnny Gargano's new heel persona. She was joined by Aleister Black, who was looking for Gargano after the events of last week.

This was followed up by the first tag team match of the night, a rematch between the Mighty and the Street Profits. As much as this was a match we have seen countless times, the chemistry between the two teams allows them to mix it up and be clean in the ring.

All four competitors are fantastic in the ring and the crowd really got behind the bout. The Street Profits are better connected with the audience, with silences usually coming when The Mighty were in control of the fight. The Street Profits won after a Springboard Frog Splash on Shane Thorne for the win.

William Regal was backstage and in a quick announcement, Regal booked Tommaso Ciampa against Velveteen Dream for the NXT title at Takeover: War Games as well as Black v Gargano. Somehow Lars Sullivan was able to find out about Regal's announcement and vowed to take back his spot in the title match. Sullivan was awarded a match against the Dream for next week's episode.

Finally, several months after appearing at Takeover: Chicago, Matt Riddle was ready to make his NXT TV debut. His opponent was Luke Menzies, who had the misfortune of previously facing Keith Lee. Riddle came down to the ring fist bumping the audience, dressed in a cap, jacket, and slides. Unsurprisingly, the crowd was completely behind the debuting Matt Riddle. Riddle was able to transition from a Monkey flip to an Arm Bar with incredible speed and won by submission, after locking in a modified abdominal stretch.

The second tag team match of the night saw Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan, they faced Raul Mendoza and Humberto Carrillo. Burch and Lorcan would pick up a victory after hitting a high angle implant DDT, despite being on the receiving end of most of the offense, with some confusion as both Lorcan and Burch went for the cover.

Before their scheduled encounter with War Raiders, the Undisputed Era was backstage cutting a promo before getting jumped by the aforementioned Raiders. The brawl spilled to the outside as the Era used garbage cans and lids, before Ricochet looked to come and even the numbers slightly. This took the fight into the arena itself as they battled through the crowd towards the ring.

The Undisputed Era was able to regain control with their slight numbers advantage as well as by using steel chairs. However, the numbers were finally evened out when Pete Dunne hit the ring, using a steel chair to clean house. Once again, William Regal intervened and booked the War Games match between the Undisputed Era and the mishmash team of the War Raiders, Ricochet and Pete Dunne.

#3 Humberto Carrillo and Raul Mendoza

Despite losing the match, Humberto Carrillo and Raul Mendoza not only got in more of the offense but also looked the more impressive of the two teams using their style of fast-paced Lucha Libre offense against the two strong strikers.

Carrillo and Mendoza have wrestled together before also in a losing effort to the Forgotten Sons. Considering the talents of the other teams in the division, it's hopeful that the two stay together as not only is their offence entertaining, but also different from any of the other tag teams in the division.

It's unlikely for them to receive a push in the division though, considering that it's already quite stacked with the already well known War Raiders and Undisputed Era at the top of the card, while the crowd favorites Heavy Machinery and Street Profits occupy the mid-card with Australian tag team The Mighty.

While they are probably not in line for a push anytime soon, hopefully they don't end up in the same position as the last team that lost to Burch and Lorcan.

#2 Matt Riddle

After much anticipation and excitement, the former UFC and Indy bro has finally made his NXT TV debut against Luke Menzies. Matt Riddle showed exactly why the hype surrounding his arrival to NXT has been well worth the wait. From the entrance wearing slides and a jacket, to the wrestling gear, to the movement in the ring and legitimacy due to his former career as an expert MMA fighter, Matt Riddle will probably find himself at the top of the WWE sooner rather than later.

Riddle also has a natural baby-face personality, genuinely engaging with the local crowd, something that he hopefully retains in his time with the WWE. Riddle's strikes were so crisp and clear that the sound of some of his kicks were still ringing in my ears hours after watching the match. There were probably houses around Full Sail University that heard Riddle's feet connecting with his opponent.

Riddle is sure to set up his first story-line with a more heel Kassius Ohno soon.

#1 Undisputed Era

The Undisputed Era is one of the best things in wrestling these days, and that isn't to be thrown around lightly considering the depth of talent the professional world is offering up at the moment. However, this week's segment between the Undisputed Era cutting their trademark backstage promo, to the backstage brawl between them and War Raiders, to the way they would overcome the odds using their numerical advantage, only to see another face wrestler come and try and even the odds.

Undisputed Era played this perfectly, and they set up War Games in the right way, somehow managing to insult War Raiders while getting them over at the same time. The Undisputed Era has the ability to make wrestling so easy to watch that their segments feel shorter because of it.

While their War Games opponents feels slightly thrown together at the last minute, the Undisputed Era is a team of dastardly heels that are good individually and as a team.