12 Things NXT Gets Right About Wrestling

12. Great matches

The greatest match in the history of weekly NXT TV

Although main roster WWE has long presented wrestling in a light where promos, characters, storylines, attire, physical physique and other superfluous characteristics are more important than the actual in-ring competition, NXT's approach reflects NWA and NJPW in how matches are the primary focus and storylines and characters are used to enhance, not supplant, the in-ring combat.

NXT's characters and stories, particularly in 2017-18 are some of the most entertaining in all of wrestling, but it's the match quality, particularly at Takeover events, that has earned the brand it's reputation and adulation among fans.

Since Adrian Neville and Sami Zayn battled for the NXT title and the 4 Horsewomen of Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch and Bayley tore the house down in various surprisingly-good women's matches, NXT's penchant for putting on wrestling clinics has remained firmly intact.

Fans praised Banks and Bayley after their Brooklyn and Takeover: Respect matches but had more in store for them when Asuka and Ember Moon took it higher at Takeover: Orlando and especially Takeover: Brooklyn III. The Revival and American Alpha caused tag team turmoil at Takeover: Dallas but the former team's feuds with Johnny Gargano/Tomasso Ciampa and the Authors of Pan would produce an even greater spectacle. And who can forget the amazing debut of Shinsuke Nakamura, who rode into NXT like royalty and almost immediately placed thousands of fans who'd never even seen the Japanese legend perform before straight into the palm of his hand during and after his epic encounter with Sami Zayn.

While Takeover shows have continued to impress as much as ever in 2018, NXT's weekly show as of late has been almost equally strong, as the hourly Wednesday night program has dramatically taken its match quality to PPV level.

Whereas once in the past, the show featured little more than quick squash matches and in-ring promos used to build the next Takeover special, NXT's roster is now so stacked with some of the best indie and international talent as well a number of extremely promising trainees, that NXT TV has taken the feel of a weekly Takeover: Full Sail. The aforementioned Velveteen Dream vs. Johnny Gargano, Pete Dunne vs. Ricochet vs. Adam Cole's triple threat match and the fatal 4 way from earlier this year between Gargano, Aleister Black, Lars Sullivan and Sanity's Killian Dain are just a few of 2018's amazing weekly main event showdowns.

The weekly show fully solidified itself from arguably rubbish to much watch last month the night Ricochet and Pete Dunne's double title match became the greatest match in the history of the weekly program.

There you have it. In a modern WWE that has somewhat alienated longterm fans, NXT has been a saving grace for hundreds of thousands of people and shown how great WWE and wrestling can be when politics and nepotism in the product are replaced with care and focus.