You know, folks, I could be wrong about this, but… I’m starting to think Triple H and Shawn Michaels could be working together.
We keep seeing main roster names make appearances in NXT, some for short periods of time, and others for a bit longer. On the other hand, we’re also getting those post-WrestleMania call-ups, with talents making their main roster debuts.
Things are so crazy in NXT right now that Seth Rollins, the brand new World Heavyweight Champion, is set to make his return to the brand, defending his title against Bron Breakker. Well, he’ll defend it unless he loses it on Raw the night before, as he’s also set to defend it then during an Open Challenge. It will end up being Seth’s first match in NXT since July 2013, when he teamed up with Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose to defeat the team of Corey Graves, Adrian Neville, and Xavier Woods.
In recent weeks, we’ve seen a bunch of names make surprise appearances in NXT. Baron Corbin, Angel, Humberto, Dana Brooke, Mustafa Ali, and now, Seth Rollins have all made their presence known on Tuesday nights in one way or another. Honestly, I dig it. When it’s handled correctly, it’s something that can be a breath of fresh air, not just for the talent involved, but for NXT, as a whole. Some see it as a “demotion” to be sent to NXT, but we’re not talking about people who are being sent to Florida on a permanent basis. These are people who aren’t being pushed on Raw or Smackdown… in some cases, they aren’t even being used on Raw or Smackdown… and they’re made to look like big deals, involved in new matches and feuds.
I like the trend so much that I would like to see it continue. There will always be members of the Raw and Smackdown rosters who aren’t being used to their fullest potential, if they’re being used at all. Let’s take a look at some of those names, shall we? These are just some people I would enjoy seeing in NXT on a temporary basis, and could perhaps use that stint in NXT to rejuvenate their careers once they return to Monday or Friday nights. I’m going to try and keep things somewhat realistic, though, which probably only means one thing… no Roman Reigns appearances on Tuesday nights. Oh, darn.
If WWE doesn’t care about their own Draft results, why should I care? Let’s move some people around.
Starting things off, I think I’m going to go with someone who is familiar with being in NXT, wrestling there for almost two years. In that span, he found a lot of success in the tag division, winning the NXT Tag Team Titles at NXT Takeover Dallas during WrestleMania 32 weekend, and he’s been involved in matches that many feel are among the best tag matches in NXT history. If you haven’t figured it out by now, I’m referring to none other than Chad Gable. In the rare opportunity he has had to showcase himself on the main roster, he delivers in spades. He remains one of the best pure wrestlers on the entire roster, and I believe he could have a great time back in NXT. Gable against the likes of Carmelo Hayes, Wes Lee, Dragon Lee, Ilja Dragunov, Tyler Bate, and more? Sign me up. It would also be cool to see him have interactions with The Creed Brothers. They share similar backgrounds with their amateur wrestling success, where Gable made it to the 2012 Summer Olympics, and Julius Creed fell just short of making the 2016 Summer Olympics, placing fifth at the trials that year. Hell, if you’re going to have Gable and the Creeds involved in something, you might as well throw Otis in the mix, too. Like Gable, Otis is no stranger to the NXT brand, spending two-and-a-half years there as a member of Heavy Machinery with Tucker Knight. Otis also comes from a successful amateur background, winning championships in high school and college, and was nearly a member of the aforementioned 2012 Summer Olympics team for the United States. The Creed Brothers vs Alpha Academy? Give them 15+ minutes, and you’re going to have something special.
The next name I’m going with is someone who has had even less chances to shine on the main roster than Chad Gable has, which is really saying something. He was successful in Japan for a few years, tore it up on the independent scene in the United States for a while, returned to Japan for even greater success, and would eventually make his way to WWE in 2016 for the Cruiserweight Classic. This man has wrestled a handful of matches in NXT, but those were mostly of the house show variety. Akira Tozawa, come on down! He has been almost strictly a comedy wrestler on the main roster, being a big part of the 24/7 Title scene for its duration. Don’t get me wrong… he possesses pretty good comedic timing, and has done a good job in that regard, but keeping him in that lane means that most of the WWE Universe has no idea what he’s truly capable of in the ring. There aren’t many people on the WWE roster with a better combination of mat wrestling and high-flying skills, and if Tozawa got a chance to show that in NXT, he would impress a lot of fans.
Next, I want to go with a bit of a twist on the topic. It’s still a name from the main roster that I want to see make their way to NXT, but it’s for one specific match. This person spent three-and-a-half years in NXT, and although they didn’t reach the top of the mountain there, they have since gone on to become one of the biggest stars in wrestling, becoming a two-time champion and wrestling in the WrestleMania main event two years ago. If you do the math and figure it out from there, you realize I’m talking about Bianca Belair. In pro wrestling, you’ll often see or hear younger wrestlers referred to as the “next insert-name-here.” If you’ve been reading my columns, you would know that I have basically been calling Tiffany Stratton the “next Bianca Belair” from the beginning. Bianca doesn’t have an amateur wrestling background. In fact, she doesn’t even have a wrestling background at all. She came from the world of track and field, entering pro wrestling with zero experience and eventually picking things up at a rapid rate. Her combination of speed, strength, and athletic ability is unlike anything women’s wrestling has ever seen before. Tiffany also came from outside the world of wrestling… this time, gymnastics… and came to NXT with zero experience before picking things up at a rapid rate. Her combination of speed, strength, and athletic ability is something that is comparable to Bianca, but perhaps a tad lower on the scale. As far as their in-ring skills go, you could say that Tiffany is ahead of where Bianca was at this stage of her career. Tiffany’s debut match was 19 months ago. When Bianca’s pro wrestling career was 19 months old, she was still known for her character work, but had yet to really have a particular match that showed she would be destined for greatness. It would be another year or so before Bianca really started showing a lot in her matches, and that’s when she was rewarded with shots at the NXT Women’s Title on pay-per-view. Her first championship victory wouldn’t come until that aforementioned WrestleMania main event, when she defeated Sasha Banks to become the Smackdown Women’s Champion, a good four-and-a-half years after her in-ring debut. I’m not saying that Tiffany Stratton will be BETTER than Bianca Belair, or that she will accomplish MORE than Bianca Belair. What I am saying is that Tiffany has done a tremendous job of picking things up as a pro wrestler, especially for someone who didn’t come to WWE from the independent scene or from a wrestling hotbed like Japan or Mexico. I would love to see Bianca and Tiffany face each other, and it makes sense to do it in NXT. If… and right now, it’s a big if… Bianca is to remain on the face side of the fence, you could have Tiffany cutting promos, talking about being the best wrestler, best athlete, and so on, maybe even saying that she’s better than Bianca ever was. Bianca can respond on social media, or even make mention of it in a promo on Smackdown. Hell, you could just have her show up on NXT the following week. Either way, I just want to see this match. Give it to me.
Let’s go with another twist for the next entry. I’ll start things off by talking about someone that is currently in NXT. I’ve been a big fan of what Dijak can do in the ring for a long time. I don’t think he gets anywhere near the amount of credit he deserves. While I enjoy the matches he has with smaller workers, my favorite matches of his are when he has hoss battles with fellow “big man” workers. He’s had some absolute battles with the likes of Keith Lee, Damian Priest, WALTER, Jeff Cobb, and others. With that said, why not give him another large dance partner to work with? Here’s the next part of my twist, though… I don’t necessarily have a specific name in mind here. Someone like Braun Strowman would’ve been a lot of fun, but Braun is out of action after neck fusion surgery, and the history of wrestlers getting that type of surgery says he probably won’t be back in the ring until the start of 2024 at the very earliest. Bronson Reed would be good in this role. Damian Priest, as I mentioned, did good stuff with Dijak in the past, and they could definitely do good stuff again. The same goes for Gunther, as it has been six years since their one and only match, and both men are in very different places now than they were back then. Otis could definitely work in this role. Bobby Lashley would be a lot of fun here, but him in NXT, even temporarily, is also something that I just can’t picture happening. If you consider Drew McIntyre or Sheamus “big man” performers, they’d be incredible in matches with Dijak. Bray Wyatt would be fun, but come on… Bray hasn’t had a non-gimmicky match that featured a ton of cinematic bullshit or smoke and mirrors on television or pay-per-view in years. The idea of Brock Lesnar appearing in NXT is literally making me laugh as I type this sentence, but a match between him and Dijak would be so much fun. If we’re going to be honest with each other, Omos would be a good candidate here, too, because he continues to deliver in big match situations. BIG MEATY MEN SLAPPIN’ MEAT.
My final selection isn’t a young talent anymore, but he falls squarely into the “still has so much left to give” category, even though he isn’t being used anymore. He has wrestled on television six times in 2023, but two of those appearances were in Battle Royales. It has been a while since he has been in any sort of title contention… he had a three-month reign as one-half of the Raw Tag Team Champions from December 2020 to March 2021, but outside of the 24/7 Title, he hasn’t competed for a singles title on WWE television since December 2009. To be fair, he was away from the company for over seven years, but my point remains. He’s one of the best pure athletes to ever step foot inside of a wrestling ring, and is also one of the best technical wrestlers to ever do it, although he was never quite able to reach the main event scene in WWE. For my last selection, I’m going with Shelton Benjamin. At the beginning of Shelton’s main roster career, he was placed in a team with Charlie Haas, and they worked with Kurt Angle under the Team Angle name. Angle was a very important on-screen part of Shelton’s early career, and he helped launch Shelton to the next level. That’s the type of role I could see Shelton having in NXT with the likes of The Creed Brothers, Damon Kemp, Gable Steveson if the company puts him in NXT instead of the original main roster plan, Tavion Heights (a Performance Center trainee with tons of amateur wrestling success), or people along those lines. As a matter of fact, I wouldn’t mind seeing Shelton pull a “2022 Dolph Ziggler” and get a surprise run as the NXT Champion. There are so many workers in NXT he could have some great matches with, champion or not, though.
This is when I turn things over to you folks. Who are some Raw and Smackdown talents that you would like to see make a trip to NXT, even if it’s for one match with one particular wrestler? You don’t have to make anything realistic, so if you want to see Roman Reigns show up and have a 60-minute Ironman Match with Joe Gacy, knock yourself out. As always, you can hit me up in the comments section below, or on Twitter (@HustleTheSavage), and let me know what’s on your mind.
Weekly Power Rankings
MJF vs Adam Cole: MJF signed with AEW nearly four-and-a-half years ago. In that span, he has wrestled a grand total of 60 matches for the company. Of those 60, four have been non-televised and/or pay-per-view dark matches. If you go from his debut match (which was a pay-per-view pre-show match) until this particular match, you have the span of 49 months. To have 60 matches in 49 months is wild. If you have 56 matches on television or pay-per-view in 49 months, that’s even wilder. I know I’ve talked about all of this before, but it’s still amazing to me. For the sake of comparison, Roman Reigns has wrestled 56 matches on television or pay-per-view in the last 42 months, and that number goes to 77 matches if you add in the dark matches that Roman has participated in. To make it even crazier, that doesn’t even count the fact that Roman was home for six entire months at the start of the COVID pandemic. WWE and Roman Reigns catch a lot of shit online for the lack of matches he wrestles in, but he wrestles so much more frequently than MJF ever has over the last four-plus years. That’s not a knock on MJF or AEW, by the way. Like WWE has with Roman, AEW has made it a big deal when MJF actually gets in the ring, and there’s more buzz surrounding his matches because of it. If he keeps having performances like this, I have zero issues with his schedule continuing on the way it is. He has gotten so much better in the ring over the last year or two.
Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn vs Gunther & Ludwig Kaiser: KO and Sami are on absolute fire these days. Promos, backstage segments, in-ring segments, matches… whatever they’re doing, they’re excelling at it. They have taken the ball that The Usos had as tag champs, and are running with it. We haven’t even hit the three-month mark of their title reign, and it has already become one of my favorite tag reigns in a long, long time.
Jey Uso: Cinema. Pure, unadulterated cinema. That’s what we’re watching with this Bloodline story, which will go down as the greatest long-term story ever told in the history of the pro wrestling business. Just when you think you’ve seen everything the story has to offer, you get another segment… another moment… that gets the wrestling world talking all over again. This time, we waited to see what Jey would do. Would he choose to side with his twin brother, or would he fall back in line and side with his cousin? In the end, he chose his brother, and now, The Bloodline is down to Roman, Solo Sikoa and Paul Heyman, as The Usos have both broken free. Another fantastic segment, from the emotion that Jimmy and Jey put into their promos, to the drama, to Heyman literally crying at ringside after The Usos dropped Roman multiple times. This would be a good time for Roman to reach out to another member of the Anoa’i family tree and bring Jacob Fatu in as more backup, but that doesn’t exactly seem likely to happen with Fatu under MLW contract and WWE currently engaged in a lawsuit with MLW. Now, we wait and see what Roman’s response will be. For now, the rumors of Roman & Solo vs The Usos at Money In The Bank were true, and it looks like the rumors of Roman vs Jimmy at SummerSlam could be true, as well. Works for me.
“Hangman” Adam Page & The Young Bucks vs Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta: It’s a Trios match in AEW, so you know what you’re going to get… rapid paced action from bell-to-bell, with 20-30 minutes worth of moves packed into a 10-15 minute match. Again, that’s not a knock. It’s simply stating facts. While the match was a lot of fun, it was the post-match stuff that will end up being remembered. Speaking of that…
The Final Segment Of Dynamite: Brawling, surprises, returns, a super hot crowd, and building matches for the future. This whole segment went a mile per second, but it was precisely the kind of wild show ender that is often remembered for years. There are segments like this through the history of Raw, Smackdown, and Nitro that are still talked about fondly, decades later.
CM Punk: Well… he’s back. Again. Whether you like Punk or not… hell, whether you like Phil Brooks or not… one thing that can’t be denied is that AEW is more interesting and more newsworthy when he’s around. His promo to kick off Collision was a good one. It was the type of promo that will get him cheered extra hard in Chicago, but that will earn him more boos anywhere else AEW goes, but that’s fine.
Bandido vs Konosuke Takeshita: This could easily be a feud for the AEW World Title right now. That’s how good both men are. Perhaps things will change with Takeshita’s heel turn and alliance with Don Callis, but this is a battle of two of the most underutilized men in all of AEW. Lots of fun stuff to like here.
Andrade El Idolo vs Buddy Matthews: What a weird, entertaining match. It started off pretty well, and then it was scripted to nearly come to a screeching halt, as both men were “injured” as their previous ailments returned. The match looked like it could’ve been called off at one point, but then we got the miracle of all miracles, and both men were able to continue. That’s when things really picked up, and the final stretch was great. Overall, it was a good showcase for both men. Matthews, for the millionth time, was able to look like one of the most underrated performers in the business. Andrade was able to look strong in his return to the company, wrestling his first match in nine-and-a-half months. After the match, Andrade was taken out by the entire House Of Black, which means he needs some backup. I have it on good authority that we’re getting Andrade, Charlotte Flair, Ric Flair, and David Flair teaming up to take on Malakai Black, Brody King, Buddy Matthews, and Julia Hart at All In(nit).
Ilja Dragunov vs Baron Corbin: I’m beginning to think those vignettes with Ilja Dragunov and Dijak are based in a lot of truth, and that Dragunov is a masochist that gets off (figuratively, but perhaps literally) on the amount of pain that he can take. Whenever he steps in the ring now, it’s seemingly to be on the receiving end of as big an ass whooping as his opponent can dish out. I’m worried about him.
Chuck Taylor, Trent Beretta & Rocky Romero vs Will Ospreay, Kyle Fletcher & Jeff Cobb: Go back to what I said four entries ago… this is a Trios match in AEW, so you already know what you’re going to get, and this match delivered on every bit of that. I’m biased, yes, but I would really like to see more of Jeff Cobb in AEW. He’s so much fun to watch.
CM Punk & FTR vs Samoa Joe, “Switchblade” Jay White & Juice Robinson: I think the match would’ve had the chance to be higher on the list if it went a little shorter. There was no need for it to go over 25 minutes. Punk was wisely kept out of the majority of the action, as you have to give him time to get that stamina back. What I really liked about this match was that it was as good as Samoa Joe has looked since being released by WWE. He had a pep in his step, and was extra vicious during his exchanges with Punk. It certainly looks like Joe could be Punk’s first real feud during this run, and I’m all for that.
Matt Riddle vs Damian Priest: Over the last few months, Priest has really proven himself to be one of the best choices to win something like Money In The Bank and reach the next level in his career. He has been so good, and now, he is officially in the Money In The Bank match, so we’ll see what happens next.
Cody Rhodes vs The Miz: Cody continues to have his matches on this list, no matter who he’s facing. Meanwhile, Miz seems to be wrestling with more motivation recently, even though it hasn’t translated into any sort of on-screen push. Miz hasn’t won a match in four months, so a victory over him doesn’t mean as much as it could/should when you consider he is one of the most decorated champions in company history, winning a total of 20 championships in his career. It’s not like Cody needs the rub or anything. He’s just out to pick up wins while we wait to see how his “story” unfolds.
Wes Lee, Tyler Bate & Mustafa Ali vs The Schism: The face squad looked pretty good together. Now, we get the intrigue of having Lee defend his North American Title against Bate on this week’s episode of NXT, while Ali is the Special Guest Referee for the match. What’s going to happen?!? I have no idea, but I know that I need to watch. Lee vs Bate will be a banger all by itself, but Ali’s involvement makes things very interesting.
Forbidden Door 2: Two more matches were added to the card, even if they aren’t anywhere near as strong as the first two matches that were announced. Sanada will be defending the IWGP World Heavyweight Title against “Jungle Boy” Jack Perry, while MJF will defend the AEW World Title against Hiroshi Tanahashi. I have no doubts those matches will be good. They just aren’t on the same level as Kazuchika Okada vs Bryan Danielson, or Kenny Omega vs Will Ospreay.
Sting, Darby Allin, Orange Cassidy & Keith Lee vs Swerve Strickland, Brian Cage, Toa Liona & Bishop Kaun: If AEW Trios matches have a shit ton of action going on, you can increase that when Trios become Quads… or Quartets… or whatever the hell they might be called. Sting continues to make AEW crowds lose their minds, even at 64 years old. I continue to be amazed that he is having yet another career renaissance after all these years.
Smackdown Tag Team Gauntlet: The Brawling Brutes got to look really good in the match. Pretty Deadly got to look really good in the match, especially in winning the whole thing. As for the rest of the teams… well… thanks for showing up to collect a check, I suppose.
Scorpio Sky: During the Collision premiere, we saw a vignette for Scorpio Sky, indicating that he was returning to the company soon. He hasn’t wrestled in almost a full calendar year, going back to July 6th of last year, when he lost the TNT Championship to Wardlow in a Street Fight on an episode of Dynamite. It turns out that he suffered an injury last June, which was reportedly at least part of the reason why he dropped the title in his first defense, but according the the rumor and innuendo, he has been medically cleared to return since November. Maybe you haven’t been paying attention, but November 30th was nearly seven whole months ago. That’s a long time for AEW to have nothing creatively for his return, but this is AEW we’re talking about, after all. There’s only so much television time to go around, and there are approximately 1,450 wrestlers under contract at any given time that need to share said television time. I’m a fan of Sky’s, though, so I’m happy to see that he’s coming back, even though I wouldn’t be surprised if that return doesn’t exactly last long.
Luchasaurus: He’s the brand new TNT Champion. Hooray. I’ve posted these stats before, but it’s always worth pointing out the updated numbers… the TNT Title was first won 37 months ago. In those 37 months, we have now seen 20 total reigns (one of which was of the interim variety). We’ve seen 13 champions crowned since the start of 2022, which wasn’t even quite a year-and-a-half ago. Now, here we are with Luchasaurus. Anybody want to make a wager that he won’t be the champion for long? I would be stunned if he’s still in possession of the title when All In(nit) rolls around on August 27th. If he reaches that show as the champion, that would be the 71st day of his reign, which would already make it the sixth-longest TNT Title reign in the belt’s history. Not a chance. He’ll lose it in a couple weeks, and probably back to Wardlow, who will then lose it in three weeks to Christian Cage, and so on and so forth.
Nathan Frazer: He’s the brand new NXT Heritage Cup Champion. Hooray. The rules surrounding the Heritage Cup matches are pretty obviously a better fit for wrestling fans in the United Kingdom, where the title originated. Fans in America haven’t really been given a reason, nor the time, to care about the title, and it has already changed hands after just being introduced. On top of that, Frazer didn’t even defeat Noam Dar, who was the champion, instead beating Oro Mensah, who hasn’t won a match on television since the first NXT episode of 2023, over five months ago. Even then, Mensah did pick up a pin in the second round, which was one of three overall pins in a match that was less than 12 minutes long. It’s difficult to enjoy matches like that. I’ve said the same about Ironman Matches, when some of them feature way too many falls. The Rock and Triple H had an Ironman Match at Judgment Day 2000 that featured 11 overall falls in 60 minutes. Randy Orton and John Cena also had 11 falls in their 60-minute Ironman at Bragging Rights 2009. Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar had a 60-minute Ironman on an episode of Smackdown in 2003 that featured nine falls. Even worse, Dolph Ziggler and Seth Rollins had nine falls in a 30-minute Ironman at Extreme Rules 2018. That’s one of my wrestling pet peeves, especially when some of those falls happen after basic moves that would never, ever, ever end a regular match in any way, shape or form.
This Week’s Playlist: “DOWN BY LAW” by Killer Mike & CeeLo Green… “NRICH” by Killer Mike, 6LACK & Eryn Allen Kane… “TALK’N THAT SHIT!” by Killer Mike… “SLUMMER” by Killer Mike & Jagged Edge… “SCIENTISTS & ENGINEERS” by Killer Mike, Andre 3000, Future & Eryn Allen Kane… “SPACESHIP VIEWS” by Killer Mike, Curren$y, 2 Chainz & Kaash Paige… “DON’T LET THE DEVIL” by Killer Mike, El-P & thankugoodsir… “Psycho” by Asking Alexandria… “Get That Done” by Any Given Day… “I Still Love You (Remix)” by Next & Big Pun… “Hands To Heaven” by Breathe… “All This I Should Have Known” by Breathe… “Don’t Tell Me Lies” by Breathe… “How Can I Fall?” by Breathe… “Breathe” by The Prodigy… “Breathe” by Fabolous… “Fast Car” by Luke Combs… “All The Things (Your Man Won’t Do)” by Joe… “Where I Wanna Be” by Shade Sheist, Nate Dogg & Kurupt… “What You Won’t Do For Love” by Bobby Caldwell