NXT Minus 6: Pre-Quarantine Matches of the Year

Wrestling is made for a live audience. Crowd reaction can make a moment, take a match from good to great, from great to MOTY. For that reason, I don’t think it’s fair to compare pre- and quarantine matches. Here are the six best NXT matches from 2020 that had the benefit of a live audience.

6. Broserweights versus Flash Morgan Webster & Mark Andrews, NXT TV, 4.6 stars

The Dusty Rhodes Classic is designed to showcase the NXT tag team division. What do we get? “Random thrown together oddball team” and two Brits not widely known by the American audience. And what do you do with that? Give them 20 minutes to tear down the house and leave the audience no choice but to fall in love with both teams. Only in NXT. The DRTTC had plenty of excellent matches, but this was the cream of the crop.  

5. Imperium versus Undisputed Era, Worlds Collide 4.7 stars

I don’t think I noticed this at first. After rewatching this match, if I was new to NXT I’d assume WALTER, Roderick Strong & Kyle O’Reilly are the top guys. Everybody looked great, but those three shined the brightest. Strong in particular crushed it. He deserves a solo run and a shot at the NXT title. In general, Worlds Collide was a phenomenal showcase for NXT UK. It probably won’t happen in 2021, but I hope they keep the event going. 

4. DIY versus Mustache Mountain, Worlds Collide 4.8 stars

This was everything that’s great about wrestling. It started with flash & showmanship, everyone clearly enjoying the playful moments. Business eventually did pick up and we got exactly what we expected from two of the best tag teams of this generation. It ended with a genuine show of respect between the four. The crowd ate up every crumb. Had this been for a title or something to give it that extra bit of story, it easily would have been 5 stars.  

3. Tyler Bate versus Jordan Devlin, Takeover Blackpool II, 4.8 stars

Chemistry. These guys fit together like hydrogen and oxygen. They slugged it out for almost 23 minutes and it never felt that long. Great build. Great intensity. Great exchanges. Bate hit the world’s longest airplane spin. Devlin has a vicious right jab. These two were born to fight forever. Bate seems to have Devlin’s number…for now. I want to see this rivalry run as long as possible, because I know they have a MOTY in them. 

2. Keith Lee versus Dominik Dijakovic, Takeover Portland 4.8

The match itself was the high flying, hard hitting spectacle we expect from Lee & Dijakovic. The post match took it from great to MOTY territory. Lee didn’t have to help Dijakovic up or help him climb the ropes so the crowd could show their appreciation for his effort. He did it because wrestling is real, and the Moment Maker gave us one of the great moments of the year. It was a great moment that could not have happened during the quarantine.   

And the pre-quarantine Match of the Year for 2020 is…

1. Broserweights versus Undisputed Era, Takeover Portland, 4.8

This feels like a match from an entirely different era. A sold-out live audience is molten hot. Mauro Ranallo is still at the announcer’s table. The match within a match between Matt Riddle and Kyle O’Reilly was so good it breaks my heart we didn’t get more between those two. They even made me believe Riddle and Dunne would self destruct and lose. Part of me is sad that we didn’t get the inevitable Riddle/Dunne feud. The other part of me says the best you can do is leave when you are on top. It is better to burn out than to fade away.

Up next: The 6 best NXT matches of quarantine 2020