{"id":38370,"date":"2017-02-02T13:56:07","date_gmt":"2017-02-02T19:56:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=38370"},"modified":"2017-02-02T13:56:07","modified_gmt":"2017-02-02T19:56:07","slug":"nxt-tracker-ember-moon-weekly-assessment-predictions-prospects-nxt-wrestlers-main-roster-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2017\/02\/02\/nxt-tracker-ember-moon-weekly-assessment-predictions-prospects-nxt-wrestlers-main-roster-future\/","title":{"rendered":"NXT TRACKER \u2013 EMBER MOON: A weekly assessment and predictions on the prospects of an NXT wrestler\u2019s main roster future"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-1123900651\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p>Welcome once again to the NXT TRACKER, where I pick an NXT talent, assess their progression to this point and make bold, sure-to-look-hilarious-in-retrospect predictions about their future prospects. Let\u2019s have a look at the still-undefeated Ember Moon.<\/p>\n<h3>The Talent<\/h3>\n<p>Ember is a ten-year veteran of the ring. She\u2019s been all over the indies, facing Kimber Lee, Candice LeRae, Cheerleader Melissa, Heidi Lovelace and Mickie James, among many others. She first wrestled under the name Trouble (that\u2019s a pretty cool name &#8211; maybe we should bring that back for a mascot character or a tag team) and then settled into the name Athena until her arrival in NXT. She\u2019s been near the top of the card everywhere she\u2019s gone.<\/p>\n<h3>Signature Wins in NXT<\/h3>\n<p>Ember debuted on NXT TV with much fanfare, after a slew of vignettes hyping her arrival, at Takeover: Brooklyn II against Billie Kay. Since then, she\u2019s spent the last six months beating the dregs of the thin women\u2019s division while being kept away from Asuka (other than at house shows, where the \u201cundefeated\u201d Moon has lost a number of times). She defeated Aliyah in a match taped at the fresh Takeover: San Antonio, which was featured in the first match on the first episode after the event, which typically suggests a bigger focus going forward.<\/p>\n<h3>Live Reactions<\/h3>\n<p>When fans are chanting \u201cEmber\u2019s gonna kill you\u201d at your opponents, that\u2019s a good sign. Ember and Asuka were treated to a \u201cThis is awesome\u201d chant from an otherwise average crowd when I attended a house show some months ago. Fans love a babyface who wins &#8211; the main roster could use a few more of those.<\/p>\n<h3>The Booking<\/h3>\n<p>The idea with Ember is that she\u2019s fearsome, which was established all the way at the beginning. This is a bit of a tough sell when you have Asuka right there, with the market cornered on domination, but NXT has done a decent job of building Ember alongside Asuka for a title match at Takeover down the line, and if her mic time at Takeover and her squash over Aliyah aired Wednesday are any indication, it might be the night before Wrestlemania. There\u2019s work to be done, though, as her appearance on the panel at San Antonio was one of the most awkward, cringe-worthy performances I\u2019ve seen this side of Steve Blackman. The four-way match was largely sold by Peyton Royce and Billie Kay on the mic given Asuka\u2019s language limitations, so the build for this imminent match will be interesting, to say the least.<\/p>\n<h3>The Future<\/h3>\n<p>Ember has very little to prove in the ring, as she has a strong moveset, transitions well and boasts one of the cooler finishers in the company with the Eclipse. With enough women on the main roster to satisfy months or more of storylines, Ember\u2019s going to have to shrug the San Antonio performance off and get a lot more comfortable listening to her earpiece and giving an interview at the same time.<\/p>\n<h3>Predictions<\/h3>\n<p>Like all in NXT, I\u2019m hoping the interview was a temporary setback and Ember can get back to doing what she does best. I know I predicted Asuka to lose the title in the four-way match last weekend, but Ember would benefit a lot from a win over Asuka too, and has some fresh matchups waiting for her in Peyton Royce, Billie Kay and Nikki Cross. I suspect when Ember wins this title &#8211; whether just before Wrestlemania or later &#8211; she\u2019ll be asked to anchor the NXT women\u2019s division for a while until workers like Heidi Lovelace and Kimber Lee come up to provide realistic title threats. It could be a long wait to get to the main roster for Ember, but once there, I expect her to blaze through women like Dana Brooke leading to a spot near the top of the division, where she\u2019s always been.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p class=\"entry-title\"><strong>NOW CHECK OUT LAST WEEK&#8217;S ARTICLE:<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2017\/01\/28\/nxt-tracker-assessing-state-nxt-booking-headed-takeover-tonight-including-three-titles-feuds\/\">NXT TRACKER: Assessing the State of NXT Booking Headed into Takeover Tonight including all three titles and other feuds<\/a><\/p><div id=\"pwtor-4132389743\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-925042597\"><div id=\"pwtor-1210958274\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Welcome once again to the NXT TRACKER, where I pick an NXT talent, assess their progression to this point and make bold, sure-to-look-hilarious-in-retrospect predictions about their future prospects. Let\u2019s have a look at the still-undefeated <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2017\/02\/02\/nxt-tracker-ember-moon-weekly-assessment-predictions-prospects-nxt-wrestlers-main-roster-future\/\" title=\"NXT TRACKER \u2013 EMBER MOON: A weekly assessment and predictions on the prospects of an NXT wrestler\u2019s main roster future\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25195,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,4381,27],"tags":[3841,124],"class_list":["post-38370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opnionandanalysis","category-nxt-tracker","category-specialists","tag-ember-moon","tag-nxt"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2016\/07\/EmberMoonAthena_3x2TG.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38370"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38370\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38371,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38370\/revisions\/38371"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}