What’s the story?
Roderick Strong vs. Eric Young has officially been added to the NXT TakeOver: Chicago card. The match was made official on last night’s episode of NXT after Strong called out Young and the rest of his SAnitY faction and challenged the faction leader to a match at this Saturday’s live event. Young accepted, and WWE.com has confirmed the bout.
In case you didn’t know...
Roderick Strong has arguably been NXT’s most prominent babyface over the past few weeks. A brief series of video packages were shown exploring the man behind the matches, his upbringing, his relationships and his new family, and the excellently produced videos did more to get Strong over than anything else in his entire career. The Messiah of the Backbreaker was thus put into a number one contender’s match against Hideo Itami, but the Japanese superstar prevailed.
Strong was attacked after the match by Eric Young and SAnitY, leading many to speculate that a singles match between the two could be on the cards for NXT TakeOver: Chicago. With just a few short days to go until the event, Strong issued the challenge.
Also read: Predicting the next 5 NXT call-ups
The heart of the matter
The NXT TakeOver: Chicago card now seems to be complete, with Strong vs. Young the fifth match announced for the show. While this does mean that Kassius Ohno, Drew McIntyre, Andrade Almas and others will be absent from in-ring action, it makes a whole lot of sense for NXT to capitalise on the goodwill surrounding Roderick Strong right now. NXT is also short on credible heels, and thus Eric Young and his sinister stable are the only options to face Strong at the show.
Despite being long-time independent wrestling standouts, Roderick Strong and Eric Young did not meet inside the squared circle until they both arrived in NXT. Both men are veterans of the sport and as such a good match is the least people should expect, with Strong likely to come out on top to continue his rise to the summit of the NXT mountain.
What’s next?
NXT Takeover: Chicago takes place this coming Saturday, May 20, and will be headlined by the returning Hideo Itami challenging Bobby Roode for the NXT Championship. Elsewhere on the card Tyler Bate will defend the UK Championship against Pete Dunne, Asuka will face both Nikki Cross and Ruby Riot with the NXT Women’s Championship on the line, and #DIY will look to regain the NXT Tag Team Championships in a ladder match against current champs, The Authors of Pain.
Author’s take
Strong vs. Young will almost certainly be a good to great match, but it is somewhat frustrating to see the amount of talent missing from the card. NXT is getting dangerously over-bloated at the moment, and it is vital that they don’t want the momentum behind Kassius Ohno and Drew McIntyre in particular. Strong is hot as a babyface right now, however, and this could be the next step on his road to a championship match at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn.
Send us news tips at [email protected]
What makes Sting special? His first AEW opponent opens up RIGHT HERE.
