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NXT had all the attention from the NXT Universe and the WWE Universe this week as the show was coming off two extremely successful events over the weekend. With a huge victory over RAW and SmackDown at Survivor Series, there was no stopping the Black & Gold brand as it built towards an even brighter future.
Adam Cole defeated Pete Dunne in an extremely physical encountered on Sunday night to defend his NXT Championship, but this week he was faced by two men who posed an even bigger threat to his title.
The NXT Tag Team Championships were also on the line this Wednesday Night as the team of Keith Lee and Dominic Dijakovic had their eyes firmly set on the belts.
Dakota Kai was expected to provide some answers to her actions from Saturday Night, but instead, she delivered another beatdown this week.
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In this article, we will look at the four things that the company got right on this week’s episode of NXT.
#4 Built Mansoor
Mansoor has been one of NXT’s most hyped stars as he hails from Saudi Arabia. Since the company has been trying hard to increase its presence in the Kingdom, they’ve turned to the new Superstar to help them get more viewership.
Mansoor won a big Battle Royal in Saudi Arabia earlier and defeated Cesaro in a one-on-one match in Riyadh about a month ago.
This week, the company decided to give further screentime to the young Superstar as they booked him in a match with Australia’s Shane Thorne. Even though Thorne got most of the offense in the match, a slingshot neck-breaker awarded the victory to Mansoor.
Even though the match wasn’t too great, the company needed to build on Mansoor in NXT and not just throw him into Saudi Arabian pay-per-views whenever the need arises and award him victories over much bigger stars.
The brand should build the youngster a bit more in order to make his victories much more believable the next time he battles at a major event.
Mansoor is a talented Cruiserweight, and he could get in contention for the Cruiserweight Championship in about six months or so. A short reign could help him get much more spotlight which could benefit him and the company.
#3 Kai’s new character
At TakeOver: WarGames, Dakota Kai expectedly turned heel in a manner no one expected her to. Her turn left her team without two members, but they still went on to win the match. However, Kai did not care about the match or the result as she seems to be much more focused on her own career at the moment.
This week, Kai appeared to take on one of her teammates from WarGames, Candice LeRae. Kai entered to a new entrance and a new attitude that signaled that the company wasn’t holding back on her heel turn and wanted her to go full in with it.
She was much more physical on Wednesday night’s match and escaped a submission from LeRae after blasting her with Tegan Nox’s knee brace which she had carried to the ring.
She lost the match by disqualification and continued to beatdown LeRae outside the ring until Rhea Ripley appeared to save her from the brutal attack.
Kai’s heel turn and new attitude are being handled very well by NXT, and we could finally see her emerge as a top star in the coming months.
A match against Tegan Nox down the road will be a treat to watch for the fans!
#2 Shocked the audience
This week, the NXT Tag Team Championships were on the line as the new team of Keith Lee and Dominic Dijakovic took on The Undisputed Era. As Bobby Fish was forced to go back to the locker room due to medical concerns, Roderick Strong stepped up in his place to compete with Kyle O'Reilly.
The match was as good as you would expect from these four Superstars. Even though O’Reilly was missing his regular partner, Strong showed great chemistry with the former.
As expected, Cole got involved in the match and the distractions allowed Strong and O'Reilly to hit the High-Low for the win on Dijakovic.
There were a few things that the company got perfectly right during this match. First of all, they did not end it in a disqualification or a no-contest like many of the recent Championship matches we’ve seen on the main roster.
Secondly, they allowed Dijakovic to take the pin while protecting Lee, who has gotten extremely over with the WWE Universe and needs to be protected from here on.
Not handing the NXT Tag Team Championship to Lee and Dijakovic straight away was also a smart decision as the audience need to see more of these two men partnering together before they can be crowned Champions.
And by far out, the top moment was watching The Limitless One blast Adam Cole with a shoulder tackle clear into the second row of the audience.
That was a great way to Shock the audience!
#1 The Prince, The Entertainer, and the fight for Goldie
At the beginning of the night, Tommaso Ciampa reminded The Undisputed Era that now that the war was over, he’d be setting his eyes of the NXT Championship once again.
This called for Finn Balor to come out and remind Ciampa that he wasn’t the only one who had eyes on Goldie, and Balor was back in business.
If WarGames and Survivor Series hadn’t taken place, this would have been an awful bit of news for Ciampa who has the right to challenge for the NXT Championship but has to lock horns with the former NXT Champion who’s already had a successful run on the main roster. However, now that Ciampa and NXT had such a great show on Saturday and Sunday, throwing Balor in Ciampa’s way is no less than A-grade booking.
The two agreed to a match later in the night, and Tommy Entertainer was ready to unleash on The Prince of NXT.
With a little bit of help from Adam Cole, and with the use of some heelish tactics, Balor was able to come out on top in the clash and stood tall at the end of the night. As Cole stood with Balor, The Prince reminded everyone that he works alone now and planted Cole with a Pele kick, similar to what he did to Johnny Gargano.
The love-triangle NXT has now created will help the brand get some great booking and more viewership in the weeks to come!
