NXT is arguably having its best year ever. The Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa feud, now also involving Aleister Black, is arguably the best story the company has ever told. From its match quality to its subtle elements to the evolution of Gargano's character from lovable babyface into borderline psychopath, where he's becoming the very thing he hates, everything about it is masterful.
This kind of storytelling is unfortunately alien to the main roster. Nothing of this nature comes anymore. Raw and SmackDown have their formulas and simply plug wrestlers into them, creating an endless cycle of tropes and monotony.
This is why it puzzles me when fans dream about feuds involving certain superstars who have never met. Those collisions never live up to the hype - case in point, Shinsuke Nakamura vs. AJ Styles, which had promise after the former's heel turn, but descended into an endless repetition of low blows and false finishes.
There's every reason to expect these four feuds to not only disappoint, but become embarrassments, should they ever happen.
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#1 Aleister Black vs. Demon Finn Balor
NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn IV is likely to be Aleister Black's swan song on the yellow brand. He's almost certainly main roster-bound after SummerSlam, and for his own sake, as well as the sake of the programming, let's hope he goes to SmackDown.
Aside from the show being a general mess, going to Raw opens up the possibility of a feud with Finn Balor as the Demon, but we should have no faith in WWE to tell a story like that. The infamous Bray Wyatt vs. Finn Balor feud last year where Sister Abigail was finally revealed should serve as a stark warning.
Obviously, this match will happen at some point. Black himself has said he's thinking about it a lot. It would be better, however, as a one-off, cross-branded special attraction at Survivor Series or WrestleMania. If it goes beyond one match, trust me when I tell you that the feud would quickly descend into an embarrassment of horror gone bad, with tacky tropes and meandering promos.
#2 Aleister Black vs. Bray Wyatt
Speaking of horror gone bad and Bray Wyatt, the two are synonymous with each other. Many of WWE's most cringe-worthy feuds in recent years have featured Wyatt and he's often kryptonite to anyone that feuds with him. The importation of the Broken gimmick into WWE quickly just turned Matt Hardy into a giggling idiot during his feud with Wyatt. The Ultimate Deletion was a success, but then the two teamed up and became a pair of giggling idiots.
Aleister Black has also thought about feuding with Bray Wyatt, but for his own sake, let's hope it never happens. No one comes out of a feud with Bray Wyatt looking better, even in victory. Randy Orton knows a thing or two about that.
Again, it would only descend into cringe-worthy horror gone bad. WWE shouldn't be trusted to do a feud like this.
#3 Asuka vs. Kairi Sane
On NXT, this would have been amazing. On the main roster? Not so much.
Asuka as the natural arrogant heel would contrast excellently with a natural lovable babyface like Kairi Sane. Imagine Asuka bullying and terrorizing the lovable Sane for months and months before the mouse roars and wins the big one in what would certainly be an unforgettable match.
It wouldn't happen that way on the main roster. "Dumb Babyface Syndrome" (credit: Solomonster) would run wild with one or both of them. Instead of being lovable and sympathetic, someone would be guaranteed to just look like a dumb loser while a certain trope would be repeated over and over again. The main roster would also force them to do constant English promos because magnifying a performer's weakness is what it does.
I definitely want to see these two have matches, but I hope they never have an extended program.
#4 Daniel Bryan vs Brock Lesnar
This was what fans wanted at WrestleMania 31. The ultimate underdog story, it was a dream of David vs. Goliath come to life. Many fans would still want to see Daniel Bryan vs. Brock Lesnar.
However, would it actually turn out the way fans want?
The story is pretty simple - David would ultimately have to slay Goliath. Do we trust WWE to actually do that, though? The company is infamously bad at booking babyfaces, and Brock Lesnar's booking has been such a stranglehold on the company that one has to imagine that fans would only be let down.
Perhaps that could change in the future after Lesnar finally jobs clean, perhaps at SummerSlam, but I wouldn't bet on it.
When it comes to standard formulas and Brock Lesnar, only expect this to build up to a terrible anticlimax.