NXT Minus 6: The End of an Era, Part II

The last three years of NXT have been the most fun I’ve had watching wrestling since the Attitude Era. Let’s look back and remember when NXT was the Black & Gold Standard of professional wrestling. Here is the best of the best.

6. Best Rivalry: Tommaso Ciampa versus Johnny Gargano      Years from now when colleges offer courses on professional wrestling, they will use this rivalry to illustrate how to tell a long term story. From their first match in the Cruiserweight Tournament to their reunion match against Mustache Mountain, everything was perfect. It produced three MOTY candidates and turned Tommaso Ciampa into one of the best heels of the last 20 years. It was all so good, I won’t even let the debacle of One Final Beat tarnish what they created.   

5. Best Takeover: War Games II      The mantra of NXT was always “less is more.” It makes sense that the best Takeover only had four matches. I’m not counting Matt Riddle versus Kassius Ohno. Tommaso Ciampa versus Velveteen Dream and Aleister Black versus Johnny Gargano were both MOTY candidates. If not for the overbooked ending, Kairi Sane versus Shayna Baszler would have been a MOTY candidate. The War Games match itself was a glorious car crash with action from start to finish. Less is more, and War Games II is the most. 

4. Best Match: Aleister Black versus Johnny Garagno, War Games II      People talk about being moved to tears by a piece of music or a painting. When this match was over, I had tears in my eyes. I couldn’t believe two wrestlers could tell a story so good with such flawless execution. There were at least four spots I thought someone legit lost their teeth or their consciousness. Black Mass is one of my favorite finishers, and the one to end this match might be the best that Black ever hit. I give this match 6 stars, and I stand by that.  

3. Best Female Match: Sasha Banks versus Bayley, Takeover Brooklyn I      This is the match that introduced me to NXT and rekindled my love of wrestling. There are other matches just as good in terms of physical execution. However, nothing can touch these characters, the story, the moment, the historical impact of this masterpiece. Its importance to wrestling, not just women’s wrestling, cannot be overstated. If you aren’t a fan of this match, you aren’t a wrestling fan.  

2. Best Female Wrestler: Shayna Baszler      The easy answer is undefeated Asuka. In my opinion, Baszler is the pioneer. She brought a tough, gritty reality to the ring that previously wasn’t there. Her feud with Kairi Sane is one of the best in NXT history. Her feud with Io Shirai gave us arguably the best women’s cage match in WWE history. Even her lesser feuds with Ember Moon, Dakota Kai and Nikki Cross gave us great matches and moments. The Queen of Spades was pure evil. Long live the Queen.

1. Best Male Wrestler: Johnny Gargano      Garagno is NXT. He went from unsigned walk-on in a random tag team to the main event. He was such a whitebread babyface we thought he couldn’t be anything else. He became the Chris Jericho of NXT. Everything he did got over. Weasel heel. Overprotective father. Cocky bastard. Wearing headbands. Snapping pencils. No look high fives. It all worked for the Wednesday Knight, the Heart and Soul of NXT, Johnny Takeover, Johnny Freaking Wrestling. Maybe he is destined to be Crash Davis. I don’t care. He is without question the best wrestler ever to come through NXT.   

Bonus: My Favorite NXT Moment, Kevin Owens at War Games III      I was at this show. After War Games ended, Owens left the ring without his team. I thought that was odd, so I kept my eye on him. He walked up the ramp and kissed the NXT logo on the stage backdrop, then took a bow with his team. This simple, almost unnoticed gesture says a lot about a man who could main event any promotion in the world. It says just as much about what the Black and Gold standard means to the wrestlers who made it the best wrestling on the planet. 

No matter what happens moving forward, we are lucky we had this NXT for as long as we did.