watching the nxt women’s title match at takeover i began to realize something. seeing the emotion exchanged between Bayley and Sasha during that match is what made it so gripping and enthralling. truly a match of the year contender. the nxt title picture doesn’t have that same kind of emotion, it hasnt had it in a long time. it shows as well.
it all points back to December 11th 2014, the night Kevin Owens debuted. Kevin had a good debut against cj Parker. this was also the night Sami zayn finally won the nxt title. and we saw the beginning of the Owens and zayn feud after Owens powerbombed him on the apron. i was elated that they had started this feud already, cause it was amazing in roh. fast forward to takeover – rival, where Owens captured the title after ref stoppage. this was the first bad sign. skip ahead again to the rematch at takeover – unstoppable where Owens won again by ref stoppage. this where they went wrong having a 2nd no contest match was a bad idea. i get it was making Owens look like a monster, but it made sami look way to weak. if you’ve seen the roh stuff you know he can take a hell of a lot of punishment. the match ended way to quickly too. it was a wasted opportunity.
not long after this Kevin started feuding with cena as well as still appearing on nxt as champ. also more impactful sami had injured himself during a united states title open challenge match. that put a damper on the whole feud. this leads into balor and owens feuding for the title. balor is great and is a great character. but i just dont really feel the emotion there between him and owens. even when he won the title in japan, sure it was a happy time but owens was pretty much gone from nxt at that point anyway. it made it less impactful of a win.
balor doesn’t have a sami to feud with, no real emotional connection to a heel or face. you could say hideo itami fits that roll, but he’s out injured until next year. you could have Samoa joe feud which is most likely next, or Tyler breeze eventually. but still my point there’s no emotion in that title picture. it’s all “hey im the champ, that’s a nice title you got there i want it now, na ah im the champ you can’t have, well im gonna take it”. where is the rivalry, the sportsmanship. 2 competitors who each want that title more than anything. who will fight to the bitter end for it. tell me where.
Roaring elbow 