The Ultimate NXT Draft Review: 11-20

In June of 2016, so now nearly two and a half years ago, Lukewarm Jonah and I got together to do an NXT Fantasy Draft. We are going to focus on the NXT roster as the transition from NXT to the main roster or just the progression within NXT provides some fascinating talking points. Although we did a fairly good job, there were definitely some big time misses and some amazing steals. We've already broken down the top 10, so let's look at picks 11-20 today.

11. Joe selects Tye Dillinger

Jonah: Tye Dillinger is awesome, but very underused, kind of like in NXT.  He’s very entertaining and good, not great in the ring. He’s a guy who can be in the midcard for a decade, and could move up if the WWE ever wanted to use him that way.  Solid pick, but there are some people below who are better, he probably moves down about 10, 10, 10 picks in the redraft.

Joe: Yeah, Jonah is correct in everything he said. He just never got a chance to get his character over, and now he’s in the abyss of underutilized WWE talent.

12-13. Jonah selects The Revival

Joe: Well, let me just start by saying Fuck The Revival. But these guys had injury issues at the worst possible time, and WWE has not shown any inclination that they are ready to trust them. They can have great tag matches, but despite the WWE having an overload of tag talent, they can’t seem to utilize more than two teams at a time. Hopefully 2019 turns things around as their matches with DIY, American Alpha, and Authors of Pain will go down as some of the best tag wrestling in WWE history.

But seriously, Fuck The Revival.

Jonah: Joe, FTR stands for Forever the Revival.  They’ve been retweeted by some young bucks quite often these days so if there was heat it’s all gone.  The Revival should be higher on this draft, they’re an incredible tag team, but they’re so horribly used.  I could see them making an impact this next year after a shoutout from Seth Rollins. If the WWE fails them miserably, I can see them being great in AEW.

14-15. Joe selects Nia Jax and Mojo Rawley

Jonah: Nia Jax is pretty over and featured on RAW most weeks.  She is also really good at injuring people, which isn’t a great skill to have.  In her time on the main roster Jax has injured Bayley, Zelina Vega, Alexa Bliss, Charlotte Flair and of course Becky Lynch.  This article isn’t about ragging on Jax, but there has to be a concern if you have a wrestler on your show that isn’t good at keeping her opponents healthy.  That being said, she’s a former champ and this is a good spot for her to get drafted. Mojo, oh Mojo,if you came around 10 to 15 years ago you’d be a huge star, but wrestlers have to be able to wrestle these days.  Mojo isn’t awful, but compared to the immense talent they have company wide, he stands out as not being great. He could be a great opener, using his hypeness and having fun with the kids. Or he could be a main event heel if they made him Triple M and paired him up with Jay Cutler.  In a redraft Mojo falls a decent amount, but he could still have a future.

Joe: Sorry that Jonah is a snowflake who can’t handle Nia Jax getting REAL and hurting people all of the time. But seriously, Nia Jax still has a great presence, seems like a really nice person and is not great at professional wrestling. But with her hanging out with Tamina, she’s basically Ricky Steamboat out there. Mojo won a battle royal once, but yeah, I wish I could have had this pick back.

16-17. Jonah selects Johnny Gargano and Tomasso Ciampa

Joe: When I’m wrong, I say I’m wrong, and boy was I wrong about Johnny Gargano. People freaking loved Johnny Wrestling, and I just saw an undersized guy who was fine. Like, definitely good at wrestling, but I just didn’t see anything special. I did like Ciampa, but with them being a packaged deal, I really had no interest in them, and I was wrong. Gargano’s great. Ciampa’s great. But they’ve been around for three years and still haven’t gotten the call-up, and that is my big concern. What is the WWE going to do with these guys on the main roster?

Jonah: Triple H is just waiting for Vince to give him full control before he calls up Gargano and Ciampa, he saw what he did to Asuka and he will never forget that pain.  Gargano puts on five star matches basically every Takeover, it’s pretty amazing. His character has become well flushed out, and even though I don’t like the white meat babyface turning evil, it seems to be working out for him.  Lost in the talk of how great Gargano is, is how great Ciampa is. He’s the NXT champ, putting on phenomenal matches, and being an amazing heel. No one will survive Ciampa, no one. As a package, these guys are way higher up in the redraft, they’re two main eventers in NXT.  At worst, they should be reunited as a dominant tag team who kills it on whatever show they go to. They should have a good showing on the main roster, but who knows with the booking.

Joe: The good news is that WWE has a far better track record with guys who stay in NXT for a long time as opposed to guys who get quick callups, so hopefully they have a plan for them. If they actually did a better job with 205 Live, these guys would be ideal for that show before bumping up to heavyweight, but if you’re pushing a tiny white guy, I feel like Finn Balor and Daniel Bryan are taking most of the opportunities. But yes, they have been awesome, and I really hope the WWE allows them to continue to be awesome.

18-19. Joe selects Carmella and No Way Jose

Jonah: I underestimated Carmella, and she’s a good pick here.  She’s super annoying as a heel, so annoying that I didn’t think it was possible for her to be a face, but she’s proved herself as a good face.  She’s not excellent in the ring, but she’s passable. She has a good character and she’s entertaining. It’s a solid pick. I thought they were making No Way Jose a guy who was fun outside the ring but could get it done in the ring at the end of his NXT run.  On the main roster they’ve decided to not have him wrestle or be on TV, which seems to be hurting his popularity. If you don’t have anything for the guy, leave him in developmental and let him get better, doesn’t seem like rocket science to me. No Way Jose has to drop in the redraft, but at least he’s got potential.

Joe: Yeah, I really have nothing to add to your analysis of either of them except that Carmella is undefeated in matches where a friend cosplays as her opponent.

20. Jonah selects Elias Samson

Joe: Man, I should have paid attention to what I saw in person instead of what I saw on TV with this guy. Elias was always great at house shows, because he would just tear apart the Largo crowd in his songs, but they never let him do it on NXT, and he was super bland. Then, he got a sudden call-up to the main roster and they gave him full reign, and it’s clear that the WWE thinks he has a bright future. This was an excellent pick, and it really wouldn’t be a shock if you told me he had one of the five best WWE careers of anyone on this list.

Jonah: Yeah, super happy with this pick.  He’s probably in the US/Intercontinental Championship picture, and I could see him winning it at Wrestlemania.  He’s super over, and has actually transitioned to a face, which seemed difficult for him. His heat in Seattle was legitimately the biggest heat any person has had since the Attitude Era.  He’s nothing special in the ring, but he’s good enough. He will have a successful career, unless the WWE screws it up royally, which they probably will. Still a good pick here, he moves up a few spots in the redraft.

Joe: I actually think you are underselling this pick. If you had the choice of Elias or Ciampa or Gargano, don’t you have to go with Elias? He’s done it on the big show and gotten over with what the WWE has given him. He’s shown the biggest trait in being a star and that is being so good at being a heel that the crowd can’t help but cheer for you. I almost feel like we need to come together for a rankings at the end of this thing to really find out where guys should go.

Jonah: I probably am underselling Elias a bit.  He’s entertaining as hell. He’s got a good shot at being a future world champion.

Previous Installments:
Picks 1-10

Date Night at NXT Largo

I've got a good thing going with my wife where I can count going to NXT shows as date nights. She still isn't a big wrestling fan, but her interest is growing. Also, I think she has street cred with the Internet Wrestling Community as she is a bigger fan of NXT than the main roster. We recently moved, and maybe the best thing about the new place is we are eight minutes from the Minnreg Hall which hosts NXT house shows about once a month.

First off, Minnreg Hall is pretty awesome. They have a full blown concession stand with a kitchen to cook you up something fresh. Amazingly, they not only sell beer, but they are whipping up mixed drinks as well. Since I am the oldest 30 year-old around, I was not prepared for drinking, so I got two waters and unlimited popcorn for the hefty price of $3. Yeah, it's cheap as shit. Also, tickets are $10, and it's so small that the furthest back you can be is row 8. It's really fantastic.

As for the actual wrestling show, these were a few of the highlights.

First off, Elias Samson came out and has a gimmick of "arrogant acoustic guitar guy." I'm super into that idea, because anyone who went to college is super familiar with this guy, and he is THE WORST. I think every single person has had their game thwarted by some asshole who just wants to jam out and play girl's favorite songs. Congratulations dude, you know Wonderwall, now get the fuck outta here; I'm trying to get laid. Anyway, Samson used his acoustic guitar to talk shit about Largo, and then call out his opponent. I was convinced that this match was to get Samson over, but unfortunately, that opponent he called out was Uhaa Nation who is stupidly talented and can do things like this:

Since it was the first match of the night, they wrestled a pretty safe match, but the athleticism was easy to see, and even my wife added Uhaa Nation to her list of favorite wrestlers.

In the next match, Cassie and Jessie took on Gionna and Lina. The first three girls seem to be fairly similar to what you would expect Divas to be. Lina, on the other hand, is huge. Like, she is almost as big as her cousin, Dwayne. Yes, I am referring to Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Anyway, she just kind of dropped people and was bigger than them, so I didn't see much in the way of wrestling, but I think worst case is that she's a way more legit looking version of Tamina.

Mike Rallis vs. Angelo Dawkins was the most nothing match possible.

Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder took on Jason Jordan and Chad Gable. Despite not having great size, I think Gable has the most potential in the group. He has a natural charisma, and even though nobody is really showcasing their skills, Gable was very smooth in the ring, and I will always root for the guys with amateur wrestling backgrounds.

The other thing that stood out to me during this match was some 8-year-old kid chanting chickenhead at someone in this match. I'm not even sure who it was directed at, but he called all of them chickenheads. I doubt the kid knows the most common meaning of that, but I laughed pretty hard that he yelled it.

Bull Dempsey beat Tyler Breeze. I just feel like that should be pointed out, but the most important thing is they are entertaining crowds. They're doing comedy wrestling, which is not an area WWE usually does well in, but they did a good job of balancing comedy with it still making sense as a wrestling match.

Solomon Crowe took on Baron Corbin in a matchup of guys that are spinning their wheels. Crowe has more crowd support, but Corbin definitely has the greater potential of success and has gotten the far bigger push thus far. Overall, the match was fine, but they did not make a believer out of my wife.

Preston Cunningham Jr. The First came out dressed like a rich idiot and said his Dad financed the show. I thought he was a bad guy, but then former NFL safety, Sabby Piscitelli came out, and it turned out that Sabby was the bad guy, because he insulted Largo, and that is the ultimate offense for a wrestler. It was honestly very revealing in how hard it is to portray an unknown character to an audience. It takes a lot of work, and these guys have a long ways to go, but just getting in reps, seeing what works and what doesn't is important in and out of the ring.

Sasha took on Carmella, and it is fairly clear that these two are on different levels right now. Sasha has her wrestling down, as she's just compelling to watch in everything that she does. Carmella is just trying to hang in there. Sasha Banks is amazing, and I would watch her wrestle anybody right now and be fully entertained.

They ended with a Triple Threat Tag match with Blake & Murphy, Enzo and Big Cass, and The Vaudevillains squaring off. It was a good match to end on as it was just a fun match. The bad guys won, but then the good guys hit them with all of their finishers after the match to send the crowd home happy.

Overall, NXT is about the best way to spend $10 for a night of entertainment. The card went about 2.5 hours, and had I gotten there earlier, I could have gotten pictures and autographs from Mojo Rawley, Dana Brooke, and Tyler Breeze. I'm still holding out for personal hero, Norman Smiley, but that'll have to wait for another day.

Oh, and NXT is so awesome that you can use it as a date night and have your significant other entertained even if they couldn't give two shits about pro wrestling. That's quality right there.