NXT Power Rankings: Occupy Fail

April 16, 2014 Patrick Hickey Jr. Professional Wrestling 0

Bo Dallas wanted to take over the show, but he got a match with Justin Gabriel instead. Brodus Clay wanted an NXT Title shot, but ended up beating up a jobber.  Although their were some decent matches and build-up for next week, this was easily a show that needed a bit more drama and “moments.”

Check out this week’s NXT Power Rankings to see who made the best one of the weakest episodes of NXT since its arrival on the WWE Network.

Honorable Mention: Bayley: With another win over Sasha Banks, Bailey looks to be the next in line for the NXT Women’s Championship. The fans love her and she’s perhaps the most polished in-ring performer in the division with Paige’s exodus to the main roster. With a nice amount of chemistry with Banks and Charlotte Flair, Bayley can get over quickly as the feel-good face of the NXT Women’s Division.

5: Adam Rose: The crowd loves him and he’s uber charismatic, but he has yet to put it together enough in the ring to be viable enough to be more than a sideshow in the WWE. After using the Clothesline as a finisher his first few matches, Rose finished off Danny Berch this week on NXT with the Diving Elbow. For a guy trying to get to the WWE, he’s going to have to do better than that.

4: Corey Graves: Continuing to be the silver-tongued devil of NXT, Graves wants more of Sami Zayn in the worst way. With Zayn injured, Graves has plenty of time to continue the verbal bashing and build up drama for an eventual rematch.

3: Bo Dallas: His Occupy NXT attempt this week was pretty much a straight-ahead fail, but he redeemed himself in a solid match against Justin Gabriel. Still one of the best performers in NXT, Dallas is perhaps closer to WWE-ready than many of the other NXT performers, but may need some more work (cosmetic and another high impact move) before he can get there again and stay there.

2: Paige: Becoming WWE Divas Champion this week on RAW, Paige is a shining example of what success in NXT can bring you. One of the most intense female performers in years, Paige’s developing feud with former Divas Champion AJ Lee is going to be one of a kind.

1: Adrian Neville: Refusing to back down for the continued challenges of Brodus Clay, Neville is ready for the biggest challenge of his NXT career. Despite his lack of size in comparison to Clay, Neville has held his own thus far in promo and has done an admirable job building up the intrigue for the match. At the same time, Neville simply needs to be in the ring more. One of the most entertaining performers in the company, Neville gets over more jumping from the top rope than he ever will while on the microphone.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14263 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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