Let's start right and name the good then then Bad, and then the top stars in NXT, As well as guys who could be considered NXT Legends.
The Good:
1. Literally Every Aspect of Creativity. We don't see endless rematches. Hell, Balor and Kross are done already, And We're gonna be seeing Xia Li vs Mercedes Martinez, Ember Moon vs Raquel Gonzalez, Kushida issuing open challenges, New stars making their way into the spotlight, Old ones still staying relevant... God, Why can't Triple H oust Vince or Nick Khan or whoever's in charge and F**KING FIX RAW, DAMMIT!!
2. Exact Rematches Are more of a Rarity. Yes this can tie into last one. But, example, instead of seeing Gargano vs Reed One on One so many times, We only saw them go One on One Twice for their whole fued. (Takeover stand and deliver & Thr Episode of NXT where Reed won the N.A. title) the rest of the time, we saw a Mixed tag match, we saw gargano Wimp out of matches, and the like. It was a good build that didn't require 3 to 5 minute matches every Tuesday night! Unlike whatever the Hell raw's doing... and smackdown's roster is like 30 people so they have an excuse at least! (8 women, like 20 some guys. I'm not kidding)
3. Not letting go of every top star. Since they're not a developmental brand anymore, not Every star goes up to the main roster permanently to get their Asses ruined by Vince. Imagine how sad we'd be if Every NXT standout got called up! That would spell "Ruined" for The likes of Johnny Gargano, Tomasso Ciampa, Bronson Reed, And I bet Karrion Kross will only ever be undefeated on the Main roster if they make him Pull a Brock Lesnar or a Goldberg and only wrestle at PPV's. But no, We have Adam Cole. We have Ciampa, Gargano, Reed, Lumis, O'Reilly, Dunne, and the rest of the roster. And we love (or love to hate) them all!
4. NXT SAVED FINN BALOR!!! More Proof that NXT's creative team is better than Raw's. Literally, What the hell happened to Vince that made him think "Huh. Balor vs The Fiend? The Demon King should be kept out of this." Paging Vince McMahon, resident Dumbass and Professional Waster of Talent! THAT WAS YOUR CHANCE AT A BIG MONEY MOMENT, DAMN YOU, VINNY!
5. Tomasso Ciampa in general. Look, Face or Heel, He's always gonna be a favorite. So the fact that he's still doing stuff, especially with his unlikely pairing with Timmy Thatcher, NXT is still great because Of Vets like Tomasso.
6. Amazing Pure Wrestling! Some matches are No B.S., no Sloppy finishes, No Über one sided Matches for Established Powerhouses. Bobby Fish vs Pete Dunne? Sign me up, thats a technical Wrestling Dream match! Last time I saw one that good was Daniel Bryan vs Cesaro!
The Bad:
1. Pete Dunne's Obsession with Fingers. I cringe, Because Ew. Just... Why, Peter English, why?
2. Pushes sometimes include no matches on a show. Just this past week, June 1, Dexter Lumis didn't have a match despite a storyline going on. Frankie Monet, despite the big Hype, Didn't have a match either. Like if you push someone at least let us get behind them first so we don't forget about them!
3. Jobbing Ciampa (as of late). Eating the pinfall after a Chop by Walter, not the Powerbomb finisher. Eats the pinfall against Legado Del Fantasma. Really they haven't booked him the same way since the Loss to G.Y.V. In the Dusty Cup...
Champions:
NXT Champ - Karrion Kross Rating: 8/10 Reason- love em or hate em, I f*cking Love the Karrion Kross character. I mean he's essentially this super badass with fate on his side, and he looks like he Murders people to death for a HOBBY! He was like a maniac in the No Holds Barred match with Santos Escobar! He used a damn pickaxe and he looked like he was bouta say "Times Up, B*tches!" And murder Legado!........But, he has a bit of "2020 Jeff Hardy vs AJ Styles" syndrome, meaning ONE part of him always gets targeted and always seems to hurt. In 2020 in Jeff vs Uncle Alan, it was ALWAYS Jeff's Knee getting hurt as the reason he lost. For Kross, it's his Shoulder.
NXT N.A. Champion - Bronson Reed Rating - 9/10 Reasons - Frankly, I'm just happy someone Other than Gargano is North American Champion. That aside, Bronson's an absolute Monster who Should have a long ass reign or else imma bash NXT for it because he's just too hard to beat 1 on 1, and Santos Escobar shouldn't be able to come close to beating this man. 9 outta 10 because I also love the way Wade Barrett yells "TSSSUUUNAMI!!!" :-)
Women's champ - Raquel Gonzalez Rating - 9/10 Reasons - She's Booked better than Both Main Roster Champs, She's a Total Powerhouse, and she's just good at what she does. Nothing else to say.
Edit - Big Mamí Cool has grown on me considerably sinceI wrote this In June of 2021.
Tag champs: Men's - MSK Rating - 8.5/10 Reasons - I love MSK. They're funny, yet they can get it done. I liked them ever since their debut, but the only thing keeping them from a 10 is, Ciampa and Thatcher are in contention and may challenge for the titles, so I have to Play favorites. Also, this is the moment I decided they're in My top 2 favorite tag teams:
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Women's - The Way (Hartwell and LaRae) Rating - 7/10 Reasons - They haven't really found established opponents to prove themselves against, So it's only a 7... but still very entertaining, so yeah. 7 it is.
Cruiserweight Champ - Kushida Rating - 8/10 The dude Issues Open Challenges Left and right. I mean, He's also super talented and He clearly is The Present Day Face of the Cruiserweight Division. Long overdue, and Believe me he's deserving of a long reign.
OVERALL SCORE: 8/10
Yes, NXT isn't perfect. But Dammit, it's the most watchable show If you love Pure Professional Wrestling and not as many people who are caught between Serious competitor and over the top, stupid gimmicks. NXT has their Serious guys on the left, over the top Hilarious on the right. None hopelessly in between.
