The Inaugural NXT North American Champion was decided in a Six-Man Ladder Match many moons ago at NXT Takeover: New Orleans. Four years later, it would be defended in another multi-man ladder match at NXT Halloween Havoc in the match of the night. Although it never reached the heady heights of that six man ladder match, it still blew everything else away on the card.
The main event, a triple threat match for the NXT Championship, was also a very good match…but Bron Breakker is still a little green to carry his end of the match. The other two competitors, JD McDonagh and Ilja Dragunov, more than carried their load of the match. It was great to see the injured Dragunov back in action. But Breakker’s need to be carried through a match is still to evident for me to be sucked into match involving Steiner Jr.
The opening bout, however, sucked me in straight from the start. Of the five wrestlers, I’ve only seen Wes Lee and Carmelo Hayes in action. Hayes, one of the premier talents of NXT 2.0, is always one to watch. Once a tag team specialist, Wes Lee has shown he can hold his own on his own. As for the others…Nathan Frazer captured my attention. He may have rushed into his spots, rather than built up the anticipation for them (like his frog splash through a ladder), but he stood out as one for me to do watch in the future.
Oro Mensah and Von Wagner were…there, I guess. Mensah never shone in any particular light, but he participated in a few memorable spots. Von Wagner is the typical WWE big guy, green and lumbering, but when sticking to impressive looking power moves (lile hurling Wes Lee out of the ring and onto the annoucner’s table!!!), is a valuable addition to any match.
These five together put on a show-stealer, a match just shy of five stars. Frazer was perhaps most guilty of rushing big spots, but that became a problem for me, especially later on in the match. Rather than sell the punishment they’d gone through, the wrestlers seemed to speed up as the match went on. Not only that, but rather than build up to a spot, increasing anticipation for it, there was a tendency to rush into a spot, minimalizing the impact of said spot.
Those misgivings aside, however, this bout was bursting to the seams with exciting, innovative big spots. They, or the audience, barely had time to breathe as they jumped off ladders or slammed each other onto ladders. I think/say this all the time, but twenty years after the revolutionary TLC matches of 2000/2001, it’s difficult to innovate in ladder matches, difficult to make an impression and break the mould.
The six-man ladder match to decide the inaugural NXT North American championship still sticks out in my head, four years on, as one of the best multi-man ladder matches ever. This, although a notch or two away from the pure greatness of that match (just look at the talent involved, for one), came ever so close to five star quality. They set the bar so high that no match could follow it that night.
Hammy’s Rating: **** (out of 5)
(Click here for more of ‘A Wrestling Match A Day‘)
Hammy Reviews 