{"id":54880,"date":"2018-02-02T09:20:19","date_gmt":"2018-02-02T15:20:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=54880"},"modified":"2018-02-01T23:26:07","modified_gmt":"2018-02-02T05:26:07","slug":"nxt-hits-misses-1-31-strong-vs-bate-analysis-wrestler-go-tm-61-returns-evans-vs-cross","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2018\/02\/02\/nxt-hits-misses-1-31-strong-vs-bate-analysis-wrestler-go-tm-61-returns-evans-vs-cross\/","title":{"rendered":"NXT HITS &#038; MISSES 1\/31: Strong vs. Bate and analysis of where each wrestler should go from here, TM-61 returns, Evans vs. Cross"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-19252864\" 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>This week\u2019s program is the first since this past weekend\u2019s phenomenal Takeover: Philadelphia.\u00a0 Most of this episode consisted of recaps of the event and interviews with some of the participants after their matches.\u00a0 This week there were only three matches, two that were mediocre, and one that was decent.<\/p>\n<h3><b>NXT HITS<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><b>Roderick Strong vs. Tyler Bate (Number One Contender Match for the UK Championship):<\/b><\/p>\n<p>This match was as exciting as it was confusing.\u00a0 It is not a surprise that this match would be an exhibition of some strong technical wrestling as each wrestler has a high wrestling I.Q. Neither Strong nor Bate totally controlled the match as each jockeyed back and forth for dominance.\u00a0 We did see a little bit more viciousness on the part of Strong which was a good contrast to the gentleman style of Bate.\u00a0 Bate was his usual self with lightning fast moves that left Strong perplexed at times.\u00a0 In the end, it was Strong picking up the win with the End of Heartache.\u00a0 Neither one looked weak as both put up a great performance.<\/p>\n<p>What is confusing is where does this really go from here?\u00a0 Not that we don\u2019t know whom the victor will face &#8211; it will be Pete Dunn &#8211; but what is the overall direction for each participant in this match?\u00a0 For Bate, we have seen him win the UK Championship, lose it, and fight to gain it back repeatedly. It makes you wonder if there are any other options as far as starts in the UK division besides Bate and Dunn.\u00a0 For Strong, it is a little more confusing.\u00a0 He has been in championship contention numerous times before only to come up short-handed.\u00a0 Now he is going for the UK Title, but he seems out of place as if the creative team does not know what to do with him.\u00a0 As mentioned before, it is time for him to move on, which seems like it might be 205 as he is a participant in the Cruiserweight Tournament.<\/p>\n<p>Depending on how the revamp of the roster and program are, this could be a good fit to where Strong can help to elevate it to another level with his in-ring presence and reputation as an excellent and well-traveled wrestler.\u00a0 Bate could also benefit from joining 205 as well since the UK Division seems to be in a stand still.\u00a0 Creative must figure out what they are going to do with each wrestler, particularly Strong, as they are running out of options to keep them both relevant.\u00a0 If it wasn\u2019t for their outstanding abilities in the ring, both men might be regulated to the upper mid card of NXT.<\/p>\n<h3><b>NXT MISSES<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>Overall, there weren\u2019t any misses this week.\u00a0 The other two matches were just mundane as we saw the return of TM-61.\u00a0 After watching weeks of profile spots, their re-debut came off a little deflating as the pace and action of their match was subpar, but not terrible.\u00a0 The other match, Nikki Cross vs. Lacey Evans, was \u201cmeh\u201d with Nikki picking up the win, but there was no drama that came with it and no real plot or storyline behind it.\u00a0 As mentioned, both matches were mediocre, and it only wets the palate as to what we can expect next week and the weeks to come.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>NOW CHECK OUT LAST WEEK&#8217;S COLUMN:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2018\/01\/27\/nxt-hits-misses-1-24-evaluating-final-hype-takeover-including-gargano-vs-velveteen-dream-match-moon-baszler-face-off\/\">NXT HITS &amp; MISSES 1\/24: Evaluating the final hype for Takeover including the Gargano vs. Velveteen Dream match, and Moon-Baszler face-off<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-3075846438\"><div id=\"pwtor-1365093171\"><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>This week\u2019s program is the first since this past weekend\u2019s phenomenal Takeover: Philadelphia.\u00a0 Most of this episode consisted of recaps of the event and interviews with some of the participants after their matches.\u00a0 This week <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2018\/02\/02\/nxt-hits-misses-1-31-strong-vs-bate-analysis-wrestler-go-tm-61-returns-evans-vs-cross\/\" title=\"NXT HITS &#038; MISSES 1\/31: Strong vs. Bate and analysis of where each wrestler should go from here, TM-61 returns, Evans vs. Cross\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33495,"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":[52,28,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opnionandanalysis","category-specialists_hitsandmisses","category-specialists"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2016\/10\/StrongRoderick_ValleyJim3x2_600.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54880","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=54880"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54880\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54882,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54880\/revisions\/54882"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}