Opinion: Unanswered Wrestling Mysteries Chapter 3 - What Was In The Lockbox? - Part 2

Chapter One - Who Kidnapped Samoa Joe?
Chapter Two - Who Was the Higher Power of The Nexus?
Chapter Three (Part One) - What Was In The Lockbox?

Yay, you came back! Here's some more possibilities for what Shane O'Mac had tucked away in his box that locks.

4. A Large Amount of Timeshares in Puerto Rico

It would explain a lot.

5. All the copies of The Self Destruction of The Ultimate Warrior

It would explain significantly less but you know, I can't imagine Vince wants to remind people of the time he decided to be as petty as to market his own grudge with the Squared Circle's most incomprehensible bigot in one neat DVD package of a man's downfall from Warrior-sized portions of drugs. I don't think I can explain this one any better than to just give you a panel from a Warrior comic in which... this happens.

6. Vince's Prank Suggestions for Swerved Season 2

Vince loves to get hands-on with all his projects. So when he was pitched a wrestling prank show, he squealed with delight. Two of this favourite things: big, sweaty men and pranks. Sadly his notes for season two got a little... off-kilter. He wanted to put an electric buzzer on every chair of Madison Square Garden and have them go off just as Roman Reigns entered to force them to give him a standing ovation, he wanted to hide Zack Ryder somewhere in Chessington World of Adventures and not tell him they weren't filming just to see how long he'd stay there, he really wanted to make Mamps (Man Clamps) a thing but wouldn't tell anyone what they were, one note just said 'Kill Santino?', no one yet knows if he meant for real or not, he wanted Michael Cole to walk around Central Park whispering 'Mountain Dew: Do the Dew' in people's ears then running away giggling like the Laughing Gnome, he wanted to dress up Big Show like R-Truth and vice versa. White/Black-face and all. He wanted to release Cody Rhodes, send him to the Indies and have him win all the titles in three star matches and take them back to him so he could sit on them like a wrestling Smaug. 

Along the way, he started to forget what the line between 'prank' and 'weird act of megalomania' was.

7. An explanation for Dean Ambrose & Baron Corbin's hair lines

Where are all the full manes of Smackdown Live going? Were they in the Lockbox? Did Vince want Styles to be treated as the L'Oreal soaked lion he is so he stole loads of the main event talent's hair? How did Ziggler manage to get away with his Golden Fleece? Is that why Kalisto wears a mask to cover his embarrassing lack of hair? No one knows, this is pure speculation. The fact that this storyline existed months before the Brand Split was even publicised either hints at a plot hole or that Vince is that well prepared that he is always thinking six-to-eight months ahead which is DEFINITELY TRUE.


8. Some bullshit cop-out that would have satisfied no one.

I don't know, maybe they'd have just filled it with pictures of Scott Hall or Branston Baked Beans or another Lockbox. And in that Lockbox, another Lockbox. And just keeps those Russian Nesting Lockboxes going deeper and deeper until we're so befuddled by the prop department's ability to provide smaller lockboxes that we all forget what this was about in the first place. Wasn't it something to do with Shane? Was The Undertaker there? Did we all watch about 40 minutes of submission holds just to see one moment where a Hot Dad nearly dies for our entertainment? Was it worth it?* Was The Vincent Kennedy McMahon Award for Excellence just a collective dream incepted by a dying God? Was it you Murder Clown? Did you do this you sick fuck? But that would never happen because RAW is the home of logical, progressive storytelling. No loose ends up there, eh, Triple H? We all know exactly why you turned on Seth Rollins. Sometimes, I despair for the state of modern storytelling, I truly do.

*Yes.

9. Mitch

#JusticeForMitch.

Well, that's nine possible explanations which is...erm...nine more than WWE gave you. Praise be to Jozef.

Words & Images: Jozef Raczka - (@NotJozefRaczka)

Editing: James Marston - (@IAmNotAlanDale)

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Opinion: Unanswered Wrestling Mysteries Chapter 3 - What Was In The Lockbox? - Part 1

Chapter One - Who Kidnapped Samoa Joe?
Chapter Two - Who Was the Higher Power of The Nexus?

A lot happened in the WWE in 2016: AJ Styles turned up, the brands got split again, Brock Lesnar got murdered by your Dad's ripped friend, Bill, something called a Wild Card Finals. Despite a year full of big questions and many big answers, there is one question that many people still ask to this very day: What was in that lockbox? Let's take you back to the halcyon days of the 22nd of February 2016. Vince was in the ring to announce the very first Vincent Kennedy McMahon Legacy of Excellence Award which unsurprisingly he awarded to his daughter, the stylish and unlikely to ever get demoted, Stephanie McMahon. When much to everyone's surprise (that's a rare use of that phrase without sarcasm, kids) 'Here Comes The Money' hits and out came Hot Dad Shane himself, big money Shane McMahon to run down the poor business practices of the WWE, his sister and basically leave everything in what I believe the kids would call #rekt. He then announced to Vince he would be battling for control of the company and as collateral, he reminded Vince that he had a lockbox containing a secret Vince wouldn't want to come out. So Vince put him in a match at Wrestlemania against The Undertaker in Hell in a Cell. 

Some more things followed, Shane did the ghost punches, everyone called each other 'bitch' a lot and eventually after a solid ten-fifteen minute match trapped in a forty minute match's body, Taker won and per Vince's stipulation, the lockbox went away and Vince made Shane a Co-CEO because reasons. But here's the thing, you might have expected a Chekhov's lockbox like that to have been opened by now as we have to have hit Act Three of the story by now but no, it went away, never to be mentioned again. Till now. You see, we here at ATPW, don't like leaving a stone unturned so we've put our best minds together and come up with our explanations of what could have been in that lockbox and here they bloody well are...

1. A gritty, Nolan-esque reboot of The Gobbeldy Gooker.

What else could it be? Cast your mind back to 1990, a time when men were men and Fred Ottman was Tugboat. In the lead up to Survivor Series, the question on everybody's lips was 'what is inside that giant egg?' Not in fact the question they should have asked which was 'why is there an egg near this wrestling?' It turns out the obvious answer was Eddie Guererro's brother Hector, dressed as a turkey hatched out of the egg, calling himself The Gobbedly Gooker and proceeded to dance around the ring with 'Mean' Gene Okerlund who had to pretend Thanksgiving hadn't just died for him. The Gooker appeared intermittently over the next few months in the lead up to the Rumble but the fact that everyone seemingly hated it didn't lead to a devastating Gooker heel turn but just for him to disappear completely for about a decade. 

Now, for my theory to have worked, they would have needed to keep that lockbox out post-WrestleMania, by the commentary booth, until Survivor Series. They would have it turn up at Live events, on NXT, even turn up to and EVOLVE show, compete in a Triple Threat with Matt Riddle and Fred Yehi. Come Survivor Series, Hot Dad Shane would be getting a beat down from Braun Strowman when he'd manage to crawl over to this bizarrely human sized lockbox and unleash the gritty, Nolan-esque Gooker 2.0. As played by Shaul Guerrero. Just for legacies sake. It would be a brutal, nihilistic take on the dancing turkey with washed out colour palette and brooding, monotone voice modulation that could be put into just about any storyline and make sense. 

Now, why would Vince want this creation kept locked away? It had a Hans Zimmer-seque entrance theme that made CFO$ weep when they created it. Aiden English was finally able to get some main roster traction by playing on his real-life marriage to Guererro. Sadly, it would never be because they forgot to put air-holes in the box and the stand-ins for Shaul they had (because they couldn't risk injuring any more talent) all passed out and had to be sent to the farm with Randy Orton's multiple fake TV wives. Probably for the best as, like all Nolan creations, it had such a tragic backstory that the writing staff could never capture its depths of emotion. Sadly, all we are left with, is the thought of what could have been and the dreams of what may still.

2. The Scripts from that time Vince wanted to be the father of Stephanie's illegitimate child.

This actually nearly happened. Vincent Kennedy McMantuar actually wanted this to happen. Many people believe this was the moment that Stephanie McMahon realised that her father was more evil than the man he portrayed on television. Even when Mr. McMahon did this:

Luckily for Vince, even if he never got to have a TV Child with his REAL daughter, he did at least get to have that I Quit Match with Steph. That'll teach her to not want to have sex with Dad.

3. Vince's legitimate illegitimate son (aka not Hornswoggle)

Everyone here may remember shortly after dying in a limo crash, there were plans for a storyline about Vince's illegitimate son inheriting his company. Originally slated to be Mr. Kennedy, then revealed to be Hornswoggle (because of some real world shit that presumably we all know about and don't need to discuss again) then revealed to not be Hornswoggle (who was the son of Finlay because... haha Leprechauns) but it was never said who the real son was. Many people have hypothesised who it could be: Brad Maddox, Paul London - the Smiler upon exit, HHH (those people also wanted Vince to be Steph's child's father), Ross Kemp but there's only one person who makes sense: Husky Harris. Think about it, what if Irwin R. Schyster had two children: Bo Dallas and food presenter Mika Rotunda, Vince however had an affair with Stephanie Windham (he liked women called Stephanie) and the result was a third child named Windham who they pretended was not of Vince's lineage. 

As the years went by, he began performing under the name Husky Harris and made his way to Daddy's Own WWE and found himself thrown into the hot angle of the Nexus because Vince wanted all his children to be big names. Now, Harris wasn't quite as well-versed in Wrestling lore as Steph and Shane and quickly found he was floundering, especially within the weak sauce faction The Nexus became. He began hearing voices, a fair maiden named Abigail whispered to him. She told him to follow the buzzards. And he did. And more joined him along the way, they became a terrifying force, well for a while, till the losses started racking up. As the losses happened, so his promos became more tangential and less connected to reality but the question was asked, why would Mr.McMahon want to keep around an insane cult that wish death to his corporate machine? Because he keeps the spirit of his son, Husky Harris inside a lockbox, waiting for the day he can re-connect him to his body and vanquish the villainous spirit of Bray Wyatt once and for all. 

Obviously he didn't want to tell anyone because it's part of a grand plan, we all know that Vince plans everything years ahead right? No decisions made on the fly here.

*Check back at 6.30 GMT tomorrow for a shit load of other possibilities*

Words & Images: Jozef Raczka - (@NotJozefRaczka)

Editing: James Marston - (@IAmNotAlanDale)

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Opinion: NXT Class of 2016 - Part 3 - Finn Balor, Mojo Rawley, Nia Jax, Sami Zayn and The Vaudevillains.

Part 1 - Alexa Bliss, American Alpha, Apollo Crews, Baron Corbin & Bayley.

Part 2 - Carmella, Corey Graves, Dana Brooke & Enzo & Cass.

Finn Balor – Debuted 25th July

In his very short amount of time active on Raw so far Finn Balor has seen it all and done it all, experiencing a rocket push as won the Universal title in an insanely quick time – less than a month after first appearing on the Monday night show. His victory was like nothing we have ever seen before and truly showcased the power that NXT has now that the developmental brand is televised every week on the WWE Network.

Sure, he picked up a horrible shoulder injury during his crowning match against Seth Rollins at Summerslam but that just means he was never pinned and never lost, meaning it’ll be easy for him to be reinserted into the main event upon his return to action, could he even be in with a shout at winning the Rumble? I just hope they’ve been filming his recovery so we get another sweet, sweet WWE 24 episode too.

He’s undoubtedly had the best career on the main roster of all of 2016’s graduates as not only did he win the top belt on Raw, he also beat Seth freaking Rollins and Roman bloody Reigns clean on his rise to the very top of the company – an unprecedented rise in many companies across the globe, let alone the world largest wrestling organisation.

Rating: A+

Mojo Rawley – Debuted 24th July

I’ll say it now, and you can hate me for it, but I like Mojo Rawley. He’s not the best wrestler in the world, far from it in fact, nor is he the best talker, he just shouts a lot, but the man himself is so damn likable. Seriously, this guy seems to go out of his own way to make others happy and that’s exactly the sort of wrestler I want to support and see do well throughout his time in WWE.

Since his promotion Mojo has continued to in the same vein as he was in NXT; not really doing a great deal, but continuing to remain relevant. He has been paired with Ryder since debuting on Smackdown and sadly their first real break (winning a tag team battle royal) was hit with a lightning rod of bad luck as Zack suffered an injury and their pursuit of the tag team titles is on temporary hold, with little sign on resuming soon.


Hopefully Rawley doesn’t get lost in the wilderness without the experienced head of Ryder by his side but I think he will continue to do just fine, simmering in the lowercard with a few tastes of the midcard every now and then. Not everyone needs to be a main eventer in order to be a success in WWE and, in my opinion, Mojo Rawley is a great example of that mantra.

Rating: C+

Nia Jax – Debuted 25th July

What an odd time Nia Jax has had since appearing on Raw. At first they were having her crush jobbers each and every week, building her as the female Braun Strowman and the next big challenger for the title. She was shaping up to be another Awesome Kong style female, breaking the mould of what a female wrestler is perceived as, but since then things have changed and her fear factor aura has dissipated into thin air.

The reason for this was, after a less than impressive victory against Alicia Fox at Clash of Champions, she was tapped out by Becky Lynch at Survivor Series. Now, I’m no wrestling booker, but surely having your sizable monster heel submitting completely defeats the point of them being a monster in the first place. Surely she should have been built like a skyscraper until one plucky babyface managed to chop her down – instead she was built like a Lego house and crushed before the foundations were even complete.

Nia should be able to recover from her defeat and regain some credibility in 2017, starting with a feud against Sasha Banks. After all, her different stature and style means that she could be an interesting and usable entity in the Raw women’s division.

Rating: C-

Sami Zayn – Debuted 7th March

Okay, so 7th March was actually Zayn’s third debut at the top tier of WWE; first he had a crack at John Cena’s US Open Challenge (getting injured in the process), then he popped up at the Royal Rumble before finally graduating on Raw in order to save Neville from the attack of Kevin Owens. And whilst a vast majority of people wanted Sami at the top of the card fighting for championships right away, he’s been more of an upper midcard fighter, which, for now, is just right for him.

He’s has great matches with Kevin Owens and others since his full time Raw debut and has entered into some interesting stories throughout the year, delivering some of the finest promos of his WWE stay during his current collision with Brawn Strowman. Which as mentioned, is just fine for now. Zayn is so likeable because of the chase, every time you think he’s about to break a boundary, someone or something pulls him back, but we rally behind him, cheer his name and sign his theme song because we forever want him to succeed; so whilst he hasn’t fully achieved his potential yet, I have no qualm he will eventually, so enjoy the ride.

I’m excited to be a part of what is hopefully Sami’s slow ascent to glory and 2017 really could be his year. Smackdown will hopefully come knocking and trade the superstar over to the Tuesday night show where he will shine brighter than ever against the likes of Dean Ambrose, The Miz, Bray Wyatt and more.

Rating: B+

The Vaudevillains (Aiden English & Simon Gotch) – Debuted 7th April

Well if there is one thing wrestling fans love, its being proven right and The Vaudevillains tenure on the main roster has proved so many who were certain the gimmick wouldn’t work on the main roster right. Sadly, the transition for English and Gotch has been the roughest of the bunch and they have settled in as the resident, Ascencion-level, jobbers to the Smackdown tag division, losing to almost every team available.

When they first debuted they were fortunate to awarded a title shot as Enzo suffered and injury in their number one contenders match at Payback but since they all that has been on their diet in pinfalls. I feel bad for the pair as they clearly give everything to the character but it seems it just wasn’t meant to be.

As you may be able to tell I’ve been pretty positive about the future of a majority of the NXT class of 2016 but for these two I’m a little less hopeful. Things look pretty bleak and with another set of tag teams just waiting to be promoted (DIY, Revival, Authors of Pain etc.) I can see them being pushed even further into obscurity. A sad case for the former NXT tag champions.

Rating: F

That’s the lot, hopefully you enjoyed reading whether you agree or not! Here’s to the NXT promotions of 2016 and I look forward to seeing what the 2017 graduates produce and with the likes of Samoa Joe, Shinsuke Nakamura and Asuka waiting in the wings its set to be another great year in wrestling.

Words - Thomas Brady

Images - Thomas Brady

Editor - James Marston

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Opinion: NXT Class of 2016 - Part 2 - Carmella, Corey Graves, Dana Brooke and Enzo & Cass

Part 1 - Alexa Bliss, American Alpha, Apollo Crews, Baron Corbin and Bayley

Carmella – Debuted 26th July

Probably the most surprising of all the draft call ups this year was Carmella, especially since she was bought up as a solo act and didn’t reunite with Enzo and Cass. People were worried she was too green, too inexperienced, and too new to make an impact. But in reality, she’s been so much more than many could have ever anticipated and has shone a lot brighter on the main roster than she did in NXT.

Debuting as an attractive but ultimately bland babyface didn’t really suit her but after attacking Nikka Bella and battling with her she has become a much more interesting member of the Smackdown women’s division. She’s made herself so easy to hate and has made enemies of everyone around her, plus, her new storyline with James Ellsworth could be absolutely golden, I can’t wait to see how they run with those two.

So I’ve been pleasantly surprised by Carmella on the main roster, she’s not been a diamond but she’s been far more than I previously anticipated; if she keeps improving at her current rate she will likely have a place in WWE for some time. Oh, and her triangle head scissors finisher, that’s boss, I love it.

Rating: B-

Corey Graves – Debuted 25th July

Throwing in a curveball here! I couldn’t go through the NXT call-ups for the year without giving a nod to the always-excellent Corey Graves. Poor guy had to retire due to a series of concussion issues but overcame that to become one of the finest commentators in the sport today. 

Since moving to Raw he has been brilliant. Rather than spouting nonsense as many colour commentators are guilty of, he adds so much to the product, and perhaps most of all, his insults to Byron Saxton are continually brutal, following in the vein of JBL before him. Furthermore, anyone who can make Michael Cole less insufferable is a friend of mine.
Hopefully WWE go all in with their commentary team and make a super commentator stable of Corey and Mauro, they could be just like JR and Lawler way back when. Don’t deprive me of this heavenly mixture Vince!

Rating: A

Dana Brooke – Debuted 9th May

Ah Dana Brooke, you promised so much; in 2015 you were my most improved wrestler as you reduced you overacting, got smoother in the ring and showed a real understanding of exactly what makes your character great. So what happened? Why did the wheel fall off when your partnership with Emma came to a disappointing and abrupt end?

Pairing Dana with Charlotte felt like something that could have benefitted both parties but neither has gained much from the partnership as Dana has looked like a mug taking pinfalls for Charlotte and Charlotte has proven time and time again that she can do it on her own, so why does she need Dana by her side? It just doesn’t make sense to me and I wish they would reunite Brooke with Emma whenever the time comes for the Australian star’s much-teased return. 

Also, I have to mention the series of horrendous errors she makes in succession. There was the foot on the ropes incident against Bayley, her being sloppy when delivering moves and sometimes just screwing up spots completely, to the point where she looks a shadow of the wrestler she was looking to become in NXT. I would imagine she might have a second stint in NXT next year in order to get her back on the road to success.

Rating: D

Enzo Amore and Big Cass – Debuted 4th April 

The night after WrestleMania, Enzo and Cass made a huge statement on Raw and were quickly hailed as one of the must-see acts on the roster, as fans around the world screamed their schtick along with them in a crescendo of sound and joy. They’ve kept it up too, in Enzo’s time injury Cass stepped up to the plate and even though they’ve had some odd feuds to navigate they have made the best of everything and certainly produced some memorable moments.

Feuds with the Dudley Boyz, New Day, The Club, Rusev and even JeriKO have moulded a very strong first year for the pair, with their highlights certainly being Enzo’s creative promos rather than the actual matches themselves. Unfortunately, whilst they’re still a great pair, their popularity has wavered as they have begun to suffer from the old saying ‘too much of a good thing,’ it happened to New Day somewhat and will probably become more prominent for them, I’m still a huge fan though.

Prediction time: Enzo and Cass will amicably split in 2017, with Cass balancing on the fringes of the main event whilst Enzo enters largely comedy against lower midcarders, or perhaps even transitions to a managerial role given his 10/10 mic skills but 4/10 ring work. All in all, I can’t see them managing a much better year than this one as they transitioned smoothly to the red brand.

Rating: B+

The concluding part of our look at the NXT Class of 2016 will be released tomorrow at 6.30 GMT, and will highlight the exploits of Finn Balor, Mojo Rawley, Nia Jax, Sami Zayn and The Vaudevillains.

Words - Thomas Brady

Images - Thomas Brady

Editor - James Marston

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Opinion: NXT Class of 2016 - Part 1 - Alexa Bliss, American Alpha, Apollo Crews, Baron Corbin and Bayley

2016 will surely go down as one of the more memorable years in wrestling. So much happened that it’s easy to forget that certain awesome things actually occurred, and for every moment that sucked (here’s looking at you WrestleMania) there were moments like AJ Styles’ WWE debut and Wrestle Kingdom 10 and Goldberg crushing Lesnar and the Cruiserweight Classic and Will Ospreay winning Best of the Super Juniors and more and more and more.

So whilst I could talk forever about anything and everything that pro-wrestling had to offer last year, I am here today to focus on those called up from NXT to the main roster of WWE. Some have had success and some have had a much harsher reality check following their release from the nest of mother Regal and papa HHH. I’ll be giving each act a rating based on their performance since moving up and what they have achieved compared to what was expected of them before they transitioned away from the yellow brand. 

These are just my personal thoughts and feelings on each of them so take everything with a pinch of salt and feel free to roast me like a Christmas ham on Twitter should you disagree.

Alexa Bliss – Debuted 26th July

When Alexa debuted on the main roster I could not have possibly predicted that she would be the Smackdown women’s champion coming into 2017. With Becky Lynch, Natalya and Nikki Bella to compete with I feared she would get lost amongst the pack of wolves, biding her time until much later in her WWE career. 

But lo and behold the little minx has smashed it and is the proud holder of the Smackdown women’s title. Her matches have left a little to be desired as she is clearly still developing her in-ring skills but she can talk like the best of them and her promos against Becky Lynch have been a real highlight of Tuesday night programming. Plus, her expressions often breach the border into ridiculous, which I am a huge fan of, she goes from pleased to
furious in a matter of seconds just by shifting her face.

If she can refine her wrestling she could be the perfect package as it is so rare to find someone who can run their mouth so well, hopefully when the time comes to turn face she can be equally as damning on the mic and doesn’t lose her edge. Overall, an astronomically good main roster beginning for Bliss especially given the fact that she never held the NXT women’s championship, more power to her!

 Rating: A-

American Alpha (Chad Gable & Jason Jordan) – Debuted 2nd August

Ending the year atop the Smackdown tag team tree is exactly what these boys deserved, they are simply wonderful wrestlers who ooze charisma and WWE are cashing in on them at just the right time. After a blistering set of matches The Revival they graduated to Tuesday night’s show as part of the draft, much like Alexa Bliss.

It was a slower start for them than many would have liked; they got chopped down by the Usos and were forced to build themselves back up, but their story of redemption has been wonderfully fulfilled. After coming close multiple times Jordan and Gable finally achieved their newest goal and claimed the Smackdown tag championships from the Wyatt Family after a tremendous 4-way match.

The emotional outpour from them after the contest replicated that of when they won their NXT straps, completing the full-circle of the story, and no matter which way you look at it, they won the titles after pinning a 12-time WWE champion in the shape of Randy Orton! That in itself is a testament to how strong this tag team is, and now that their foot is firmly on the accelerator I can’t see them hitting any troublesome obstacles soon as the pair look destined for stardom as a team and hopefully beyond as their quality between the ropes
continues to shine.

Rating: B+

Apollo Crews – Debuted 4th April

For every winner, there unfortunately has to be a loser, and since stepping up to the main roster, Apollo Crews has sadly been a loser. He was only in NXT for a short amount of time and whilst he is an athlete of the highest level, he still appears to be missing a character so it’s hard to blame fans for not being behind him; why should we care about him or than the fact he does cool moves? Hopefully they give him something more interesting to do than
be just another guy on Smackdown, the dude has talent.

It hasn’t all been bad for Crews as he first dominated the Social Outcasts on Raw, beat Sheamus at Money in the Bank and even got an IC title shot against Miz at Summerslam – the issue instead came from the fact that none of his matches were particularly special and following an awfully botched showing against Jericho, Crews fell way down the card and is now mainly working Curt Hawkins in dark matches. What a fall.


Hopefully the next 12 months will be much better for him, maybe he can turn heel and move up the card, maybe he can perform to the high level we hoped to see, whatever goes on though, please WWE give him a bloody character, he’s bland as dry toast right now. If not, a return to NXT might be a better move, so long as it doesn’t knock his already dented confidence even more. 

Rating: D-

Baron Corbin – Debuted 3rd April

Making his debut at Wrestlemania and winning the Andre the Giant Battle Royal on the show was always going to give Baron Corbin a jumpstart to his main roster career and whilst things got a little wayward in the middle, he ended 2016 strongly as his continues to cement himself as Smackdown resident monster. 

After feuding with Dolph Ziggler for what felt like an eternity of subpar matches he broke away and really picked up a head of steam as he dominated Kalisto in a thoroughly enjoyable chairs match before getting his first world title opportunity on the final Smackdown of the year against Ziggler and AJ Styles. Going from developmental to a World title match in 12 months, that’s pretty damn impressive.

I’ll go out on a limb and say that Corbin will hold a singles belt in the coming year, maybe not a top belt, but a belt nonetheless. He could really benefit from a run with the IC or US championship in order to move up the card so that would be the best route of action for the metal-head. Keeps your eyes on him though, the big man is surely gearing up for another great annum, he’s earnt it after all, and who knows, maybe he will get on the SmackdownSurvivor Series team next year...

Rating: B

Bayley – Debuted 22nd August

Bayley first debuted as a surprise tag partner to Sasha Banks at Battleground as the twosome defeated Charlotte and Dana Brooke (we will get to her later); Bayley got a giant pop that night and got a similar one upon her official Raw debut after being introduced by Mick Foley. She was a readymade star in NXT and the audience treated her as such, hopefully it is a moment she, and her supporters, will cherish forever.

Unfortunately, that seems to have been the peak for her main roster so far as she was forced to take a firm backseat as Sasha and Charlotte competed in arguably the best WWE women’s feud of all time. Recently however she has advanced, and whilst her promos have been shoddy at best, her Survivor Series victory and wins over Charlotte in non-title matches has added fuel to her fire – almost like a reverse Alexa Bliss where her wrestling is far superior to her talking.

When Bayley eventually wins the belt I’m sure the roof will blow off whatever building they are fighting in; hopefully holding a championship belt around her waist can boost her confidence when on the mic too and allow her to kick her ‘rabbit in the headlights’ promos. She’s got a real strong future ahead of her for sure, I just hope WWE goes all the way with her as a top babyface.

Rating: C+

The second part of our look at the NXT Class of 2016, will be available from 6.30 GMT tomorrow and will feature Carmella, Corey Graves, Dana Brooke and Enzo & Cass. Part 3 will be uploaded at the same time on Friday, looking at Finn Balor, Mojo Rawley, Nia Jax, Sami Zayn and The Vaudevillains. 

Words - Thomas Brady
Images - Thomas Brady
Editor - James Marston 

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