NXT Match of the Year 2017

Hello everyone and welcome back to Talk Wrestling World! I hope you are all well and good and have had a great weekend and start to the week! So, we are almost halfway through my of the year Season and honestly, I cannot believe how far it and December have gone by! Although, I do have to say I'm crazy excited for Christmas as always! Today, however, we're not going to be talking about Christmas but instead NXT as we take a look at the best matches we've seen from the developmental territory. I've personally had a very up and down relationship with NXT this year. There have been moments were I haven't really enjoyed the product as much and there was a time where the roster and the show overall felt very different and it took some time getting used to and liking the new feel, however, it wasn't long before I was back in love with all things NXT and of course there is no denying that it has been yet another strong year for the brand. Every Takeover show has continued to be as strong as ever and it's from those shows we have been able to witness some epic matches that may just be featured in today's blog post. I do have plenty more of the year season posts coming up so keep an eye out for those still, however, for now, any recent blog posts will be linked bellow and you can get involved in the conversation letting me know what has been your NXT match of the year by leaving a comment bellow or by tweeting me over at @TezangiVictoria.

Drew McIntyre vs Andrade Cien Almas

One of the biggest success stories of twenty seventeen has been Andrade Cien Almas. Finally, we saw him pushed to the stars and given the opportunity to work as the top star he has always shown himself to be. For the past few months, Almas has been competing in a number of fantastic matches many of which I wish I could include in this post but all the momentum he built finally paid off when he faced off against Drew McIntyre for the NXT Championship at the most recent takeover event. Here is exactly what I had to say about that match and why it is in this list!

If we’re talking about impressive performances than we have to next discuss the NXT Women’s championship fatal four-way match which saw Peyton Royce, Ember Moon, Kairi Sane and Nikki Cross compete to become the sixth NXT Women’s champion in history. We all had our personal favorites and while it was Ember Moon who walked out of Takeover as champion it’s safe to say every single one of these women stood out and impressed. With each competitor bringing something different to the table they were all about to work together in what was a highlight match from the women’s division proving just how far women’s wrestling in the WWE has come. I personally would have liked to have seen the match go on longer just a little bit and the end result was rather predictable the match as a whole was most certainly entertaining. Royce in particular really was the standout here. She took some harsh spots and bumps and had the fans behind her massively throughout. After this performance and considering how long she has been apart of the division, discussions regarding moving her up to the main roster along with Billie Kay must be occurring right now! The spots, the story, the passion and the energy made this women’s title match a big success and I’m confident Moon will have an impressive run as champion.

War Games

When it was announced that War Games would be making a return I was a little surprised and confused. I've admitted that I didn't know all too much about this match and wasn't sure what to fully expect, However, when last night rolled around I sure was excited about this epic collision and the teams of Sanity, the Undisputed Era, The Authors of Pain and Roderick Strong all provided fans with one of the best, most barbaric, spot fest matches of twenty-seventeen. A highlight of not only the year but of NXT history, the War Games main event last night was huge! While it didn’t have the same feel as the likes of Black vs Velveteen Dream what it did do was cater to the NXT universe and provide us all with something new and exciting. I couldn’t keep my eyes off the screen and the action really was nonstop. Every single superstar stood out, no one fell into the background and everything we saw I felt was pretty much the right move to make. I liked how it was Sanity who introduced weapons to this match and if I would change anything it would be swapping the Eric Young taking the pin to Roderick Strong but I understand why the move was made and it can only suggest that the Undisputed era will now be focusing on taking gold from Sanity. I did also feel as though the match went on just a tad too long but hey, it was an excellent match and a huge standout of the year.

Pete Dunne VS Johnny Gargano 

Filmed before NXT Takeover: War Games, Dunne, and Gargano went one on one for the United Kingdom championship in about that was highlighted as another standout of not only the month but an NXT standout match of the year. The first time I personally have seen these two go one on one they delivered to the high standard I was expecting. Both hugely talented and massively over it was amazing seeing a wrestling masterpiece and every fan in attendance completely invested and hooked on every piece of the action. The two may not have had the best chemistry or told a fantastic story but this was a brilliant bout between of the best wrestlers in the world today and the match itself was rated very highly in my books! It didn't need a big story behind it or a massive build up this was simply two of the best in the world going at it in an awesome match that can be considered a masterclass between two fantastically skilled in-ring performers. They complimented each other in the ring and raised the bar to new heights.

Authors of Pain vs The Revival vs DIY

This year has once again seen the NXT tag team division lead the way. From start to finish NXT has been delivering completely with all things tag team wrestling and it was near the start of the year that we saw one of the best matches not only from NXT but of the entire year in WWE and pro wrestling. With the Authors of Pain, the Revival and DIY proving over the past year that they were the best tag teams in the world today the three teams did battle one last time at an NXT Takeover event and raised the bar to brand new heights. The match was full of amazing spots, fantastic storytelling and the chemistry between all three teams was something so special. It was one of those matches that just warmed my heart. So much happened and every single person in the arena and at home were completely captivated from start to finish. The history of the Revival and DIY is one of the best tag team rivalries in recent history. While we didn't have a big story their matches were brilliant and some of the best I have seen in ages. Their knowledge of each other really did shine through in this match. We saw the two teams work tougher in an attempt to take out the Authors of Pain several different times throughout the match and they really did make such amazing moments. The unpredictability was another amazing factor in this match. While it was likely the Authors of pain we're going to win (and so they did) it wouldn't have surprised me to have seen DIY get the win. Altogether it was a fun, exciting, thrilling match that had everyone on the edge of their seats and highlighted all three of these teams as some of the best in the world.

Velveteen Dream VS Aleister Black 

And finally, at number one and my two thousand and seventeen NXT match of the year is... Aleister Black vs The Velveteen Dream. I've mentioned throughout the past few months that this has been one of my personal favorite feuds/storylines of the year and their first ever one on one contest lived up to the build and exceeded expectations. I was really looking forward to this one. The feud between these two superstars is unlike anything else we are currently witnessing. It’s refreshing, unique, interesting and massively entertaining and their collision last night proved to be a huge success! Reminding me of the work previously seen between Goldust and the Undertaker, the two strikingly different characters collided inside the ring to present fans with an epic matchup. I mentioned it on twitter last night and I will say it here again also, this match had everything I could ask for; intensity, character, personality, in ring physiology, mind games, and all-around fantastic wrestling. While Black remained a strong performer and was able to pick up the victory this night was for me all about the Velveteen Dream who I believe was the single standout of the night. He went out there and proved he was far more than just a character. His performance highlighted him as one of the best all-around stars in NXT today and a brilliant pro wrestler. Bringing character and intensity to this match, this was the night the Velveteen Dream arrived and it reminded me of that night we saw Tyler Breeze prove the exact same point. I felt as though we as fans were left with every reason to be satisfied come the end of this match with Black getting the win but also acknowledging The Velveteen dream. A win-win and it was pretty cool hearing the respect from the crowd to Dream.


And that is my list! I know there will be plenty more matches that I wish I included in this post and who you guys I'm sure would have included. For anyone wondering where Dunne vs Bate is in this list don't worry! That match wasn't included here but it will be featuring in an up and coming blog post! For now, you can have your say and let me know what has been your NXT match of the year by leaving a comment bellow or by tweeting me over at @TezangiVictoria.

Recent blog posts:
WWE OMG Moments of the Year
WWE Female Superstar of the year 2017
Top 10 WWE Superstars of the year 2017 Part 1
WWE Women's Match of the Year
NXT Superstar of the Year 2017
Most Improved WWE Superstar of the Year 2017