NXT Power Rankings: Crows, Kendricks and the Promise of Gores

March 2, 2015 Patrick Hickey Jr. Professional Wrestling 0

If more Rhyno wasn’t enough, NXT was bolstered this week with the return of Brian Kendrick and more storyline development between Hideo Itami and Tyler Breeze. Add in a great Divas match and more Finn Balor and NXT was once again awesome.

Check out this week’s NXT Power Rankings to see who starred in another entertaining episode of NXT, one that thrived without NXT Champion Kevin Owens and NXT Tag Team Champions Murphy and Blake, as well as NXT Women’s Champion Sasha Banks, on the card.

Honorable Mention: Brian Kendrick: He’s still in great shape and had a decent match with Finn Balor this week on NXT. Regardless of what his role will be in NXT moving forward, much like Tyson Kidd, he’s a guy that can come in and have great matches with some of the promotion’s top young stars without any danger of killing off his credibility.

5: Hideo Itami: His win over Bull Dempsey further cements him towards the top half of the crowd as a guy that is dangerous in both singles and tag team competition. However, before he’ll be able to get tot that next level and stay there, he’s going to have to take out Tyler Breeze. Perhaps an opportunity to connect more with the NXT Universe via promo, this is an important next step for Itami.

4: Solomon Crow: How could you not like this kid? A rocker badass, he’s the perfect combination of CM Punk and Dean Ambrose. His proclamation that he’s focused to win the NXT title is something that needs to be taken very seriously. With a ton of charisma and a nasty submission finisher, Crow is indeed the real deal.

3: Baron Corbin: Much like former NXT stars Mason Ryan and Mojo Rawley, Corbin has decimated everyone in his path since his debut in the promotion. While it is a cause for some concern, Corbin has more charisma than both of the aforementioned performers and has a one-of-a-kind finisher and has already been in the ring with some of the brand’s top stars. Make no mistake, he’s going to get an even bigger push soon.

2: Finn Balor: His win over Brian Kendrick this week on NXT was a solid one that keeps him in the perfect spot as the dominant up and coming #1 contender. While it would be awesome to see him take on Rhyno sometime in the future or wrestle some larger opponents leading up to his match with NXT Champion Kevin Owens, Balor has done everything right up until this point in NXT.

1: Kevin Owens: Although he wasn’t in the ring in a match this week, his color commentary was solid and it did wonders for his persona. A family man that will do anything to support them, it was awesome to see he’s more than just a wrecking machine. Smart and savvy, Owens’ words at one point in the match, “It’s not about malice, it’s about winning,” were awesome, while his words and later attack on Alex Riley further drilled home Owens’ take no prisoners approach.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14316 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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