Tagged: NXT
The Ballad of AJ Lee
Mrs. Best In The World: Officially Longest Reign With That Title, There's Only One AJ...
And so the inevitable day has come:
AJ has retired from active competition in the squared circle.
If you’re looking for a detailed career highlight reel search elsewhere or check out her wiki. This is a simple lean back in your chair and pay homage kind of affair here.
AJ was always viewed as an underdog due to her size but as the fans have proven in this era of wrestling; it’s not the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog.
Undoubtedly the hall of fame class of 2025 (hopefully not before) will be blessed by her presence. Title accolades aside, she conquered a lot of challenges and provide some fantastic wow moments, one of which blossomed into real-life romance.
” I dig crazy chicks ” – CM Punk
That immortal line catapulted AJ into another universe and helped her character in the main event scene.
She will always be compared to Divas of the past but there can be no doubt that when it came to the in ring prowess she continuously improved, becoming more and more vicious per match and culminating in her finisher being the almost flawless black widow submission hold.
Out of the ring she will also hold the title of being a true non-conformist and never ever featuring in a single episode of total divas.
AJ has certainly set the winds of change blowing with her two cents added to the Twitter trend #givedivasachance albeit it remains to be seen whether or not it will amount to something fiscal for her peers that have been left behind.
A rebel from start to finish, AJ is a beautiful reminder that history is only truly made by the troublemakers. An upcoming book from AJ is going to be a great seller for sure, and for me personally a must read.
April, thanks for the memories and we’ll all love you no matter what you do.
Until your last breath.
The NXT bubble
The Future: Welcome to the WWE oven where they bake the bread winners of tomorrow...today!
As you know, The WWE are sports-entertainment’s juggernauts, providing hours and hours of live programming via your local cable sports channels (or in the case of smackdown, Syfy) as well as a insurmountable back catalogue of old promotions such as the infamous Dubya see dubya and of course, E See Dub.
Present day WWE has become to wrestling industry what Simon Cowell is to the music industry. Occasionally it will provide genuinely entertaining acts but by and large it is just a money making business above all else.
Come to think of it it’s odd that they haven’t sourced Mr. Cowell to be a guest host.
The genuine article when it comes to pure wrestling and minimal storytelling via promo comes in the form of NXT. There have been a few success stories from the camp, the biggest ones of course being the Wyatt family and the shield.
But then there are those who developed a big fish small pond complex and when entering the ocean that is the main roster, have become lost in the shuffle.
Big E is one such victim. He stormed in as the muscle behind the showoff Dolph Ziggler and later AJ Lee. Now he’s toting the American flag and slowly becoming Pastor E with each promo as he battles in (a losing effort) the ever present threat of the Russian empathizer, Bulgarian Brute Alexander Rusev.
Then there is the wonder from down under, Emma.
She unfortunately has suffered the same fate as many before her: she’s a diva that can actually wrestle.
This leaves an already small class even smaller as WWE tries to tap every vein of social media possible as well as any currently popular show format too. Is it too far fetched to envision a WWE sitcom? Smark answer would be yes given current lack of in depth storylines.
Then there is the (now ex) WWE Divas Champion Paige. She has fallen victim to not only a lack of any direction in her day to day defences of the title, but was subjected to the same treatment that won her the gold (or should it be glitter?) In the first place.
So with a bevy of talent waiting to come up, how will the E proceed from here?
Chances are they’ll stick to what has been getting them paid in recent years, with the ocassional splashing of cash to get a true legend back for one last match.
(The Rock has a rematch clause for the title…just saying.)
With that said: let’s have a moment of silence for Zack Ryder’s career…
The Usos Initiative
When we say Us, Y’all say O! The WWE Tag Champs are red-hot, let the streak live on!
They’re never in a position where they’re not entertaining and now they are the WWE Tag Team Champions at long last.
Fans and dirtsheets alike heralded the Rhodes brothers for reigniting the tag division after the golden duo of team hell no went their separate ways but the true firestarters has got to be the Usos.
A close second to their work rate and entertainment factor would go to the now split Prime Time Players, Darren Young and Titus o Neal.
But the Usos are always entertaining and I find myself glued to their in-ring style.
Ignoring the family ties for a moment, they involve the crowd in almost every aspect of their arsenal and keep the crowd excited throughout with classic moves like the Samoan drop, super kicks aplenty and the top rope splash finisher which nearly always has a different mid-move taunt.
The boys are an excellent glance of what tag team wrestling should be and their lineage may be part of the reason why they seem so naturally charismatic and instantly likeable.
They are a part of the Anoi family tree.
As the sons of former star Rikishi, who in turn is a cousin to The Rock, it seems as though this family produces nothing but pure naturally gifted and naturally charasmatic superstars.
There are a few teams heading for splitsville that would make for a great series of matches against the tag champs, one such team being the real Americans. Let’s hope they get that chance.
But with that said, WWE today is impatient and would more than likely rush any rivalries with this great team in an attempt to fill the looming main event void that is coming in less than 3 years.
Ultimately with this fresh team having a root to their heritage in their entrance (a Samoan hake) blended with an upbeat intro theme which they genuinely seem to enjoy entering with (how often do you see that these days?) It’d be a fantastic opportunity for them to defeat any remaining teams and have them be seemingly undefeatable.
The lights go out and they are decimated by another team fresh outta NXT.
Enter The Ascension.
You Still Got It! 