The Post’s Joseph Staszewski brings you around the world of professional wrestling in his weekly column, the Post Match Angle. The Post Match Angle won’t run next week and will return May 21.
Tiffany Stratton’s performance at Backlash and the recent WWE Draft brought back some thoughts I had watching NXT over the past two years with Shawn Michaels fully in control.
This class of NXT stars joining the main roster might be the most prepared and best positioned for high-level success since the group that included Sami Zayn, Finn Balor, Kevin Owens, Sasha Banks, Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch in 2015-16, and we all know how that group turned out.
This time, it’s Stratton, Kiana James, Lyra Valkyria, Carmelo Hayes, Bron Breakker, Ilja Dragunov, along with the Creed Brothers, Santos Escobar and Grayson Waller a little while back. There are plenty of potential future world champions in this group.
The current class might be even more impressive because the previous group was more seasoned and — outside Flair — wrestled for years before WWE. This group has more wrestling novices that truly learned in the WWE system.
There are reasons for their success outside of the immense talent of each individual.
Each has a clear on-screen persona they nurtured, grew comfortable with and had success with in NXT, and it isn’t being changed — only enhanced in some cases — on the main roster. It shows the company trusts them and isn’t making them try something new while also adapting to main roster life as Vince McMahon once did.
Most have had significant time working with main-roster talent. For Stratton and Valkyria, it was Becky Lynch; for Carmelo Hayes, it was Owens, Balor, Austin Theory and Dominik Mysterio. Breakker has clashed with Seth Rollins, Dolph Ziggler and Jinder Mahal.
Stratton looked fully comfortable in her surroundings at Backlash, in step with veterans Bayley and Naomi, and she knows how and when to connect with the audience.
Dragunov and Valkyria won their King and Queen of the Ring tournament matches on Raw this week in very good matches.
Finally, unlike when NXT talent would often get lost in the shuffle under McMahon, Triple H for the most part has had a clear story for the NXT call-ups. Hayes is the cocky former big fish in a little pond already getting rubs from Cody Rhodes and appears to be entering into a story with Bobby Lashley. Breakker is being booked like the next Goldberg.
Stratton already looks to be the favorite to dethrone Bayley as WWE women’s champion. Escobar was placed in a storyline with Rey Mysterio and the LWO, and Waller is already a tag team champion. I expect Valkyria to be aligned with Lynch and Dragunov to be Gunther’s next big feud considering he previously ended Gunther’s NXT UK championship reign.
You can see WWE has high hopes for this group, and that’s not even counting the likes of Roxanne Perez, Cora Jade, Trick Williams, Oba Femi and Joe Gacy still down in NXT.
Shawn Michaels and his team at the Performance Center have done their job to put WWE in a position to enjoy the fruits of their labor at a level we haven’t seen in nearly a decade.
Battlelines drawn
As long as Kenny Omega can return to the ring, he will be a huge babyface on the opposite side of his buddies, The Young Bucks.
His health concerns due to diverticulosis are serious and real. Omega said he was 24 hours away from dying and doctors told him he may have to live with a colostomy bag that would prevent him from wrestling.
The physical nature of the angle to close the show provided some hope that AEW believed Omega had a chance of getting back in the ring at some point.
He told rival Kazuchika Okada to give him a few months to get back and gave Jack Perry a Snap Dragon suplex before taking an EVP Trigger from the Bucks. The new Elite then beat him and FTR up backstage, and Omega was taken off in an ambulance.
Omega’s health story and willingness to fight back from it will resonate with the audience in a big way, even if he is relegated to a manager role. “Hangman” Adam Page eventually returning to join the side of FTR and Omega seems like the next domino to fall in this story.
The 10 Count
CM Punk and Drew McIntyre may set the record for the longest on-screen build before a match now that the Scottish Warrior is also hurt enough to be pulled from the King of the Ring tournament. Monday’s segment was fine, but I actually would have loved to have seen McIntyre race back into the arena to try to find Punk after he called him out.
NXT has really done a fine job with these Underground matches. The atmosphere of having the talent making noise and cheering on at ringside adds a different level of intensity to what’s going on in the ring. Natalya and Lola Vice brought plenty of variety to keep the match from being strictly groundwork or strikes. No one does more to put over young talent than Natalya.
Christian makes so much sense as Swerve Strickland’s first challenger because of the champion’s beatdown of Nick Wayne and their loss at Wembley. More importantly, AEW just paired two of their best storytellers at the top of the card.
While it won’t be every year because Easter isn’t a set date, WWE booking WrestleMania 41’s second night in Las Vegas on Easter Sunday and 4/20 — an unofficial marijuana smokers holiday — is something you can’t make up. On a more serious note, it is going to force some tough family talks about skipping Easter celebrations to go to WrestleMania or what to put on the TV at some family member’s or friend’s home that day.
Chris Jericho’s match with Shibata was a blast, going from hard-hitting to almost slapstick comedy late. Whether you like the “Learning Tree” gimmick or not, Jericho is set up to potentially elevate Hook and Big Bill when this is all said and done.
Toni Storm throwing in the towel on Mariah May is interesting on two levels. It ensures Serena Deeb will challenge for her AEW women’s world championship while likely knocking May down the rankings and further from a match with her mentor.
One thing NXT does better than anyone else right now is making you ask these questions: Why and what comes next? We saw that with the mysterious envelope that Lash Legend presented to NXT champion Trick Williams and Fallon Henry, turning on Thea Hale seemingly for no reason at the end of her match.
I’ve always believed Danhausen could be an excellent sympathetic babyface, and the angle GCW recently ran with him feels like more proof. Danhausen defeated Blake Christian to a huge pop and celebration only to lose it back less than three minutes later after new general manager Matt Cardona restarted that match. Fans were not happy, in the best possible way.
Warning: Adult Language
Paul Heyman having not spoken to Roman Reigns since WrestleMania is so very important. It confirms Solo Sikoa is either making a power play in the void or someone — such as The Rock — is pulling the strings behind the scene. Both are interesting situations for Reigns to walk back into.
Glad WWE isn’t treating King and Queen of the Ring like a throwaway event. When you have big stars such as Gunther, L.A. Knight and now Jey Uso involved, it immediately feels more important and a potential gateway to a world championship program like it was in the past.
Extra: An appearance from UConn coach Dan Hurley was a fun surprise on Raw. Even the usually intense and focused national-championship-winning coach couldn’t keep a straight face around R-Truth.
Wrestler of the Week
Bianca Belair, WWE
It’s refreshing to see Belair outside of a world championship program, and it allowed her to become the ninth women’s triple-crown champion in WWE history when she and Jade Cargill defeated the Kabuki Warriors at Backlash. She has embraced the challenge of supporting Cargill — often being the babyface in peril so the former AEW star can get the hot tag. The two feel like they have a genuine bond as they work toward a very fruitful relationship with — and eventually against — each other.
Social Media Post of the Week
Match to Watch
Ilja Dragunov vs. Jey Uso, King of the Ring quarterfinals on Raw (Monday, 8 p.m., USA Network)
Something has to give. Uso was the replacement for the injured Drew McIntyre in the tournament, but is a protected babyface. Dragunov seems destined for a semifinal date with old rival Gunther. Does WWE have McIntyre’s interference cost Uso this time, have The Bloodline cross brands and interfere or does WWE keep Uso rolling along? This is a big stage for the recent NXT call-up Dragunov.
