Jan 22 was a good night for Mauro Ranalllo calling the action, giving The Grizzled Young Veterans the name GYV (which sounds similar to JYD, the name for The Junkyard Dog back in the 80s). Ranallo also compared Keith Lee falling off the top rope to an elephant falling off the Empire State building, two hilarious touches.
Bask in His Glory. Keith Lee more than deserves at this point to be NXT North American Champion. He has gotten over with fans rather quickly and it’s impressive to see, not to mention his ridiculous athleticism in the ring. The Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic also couldn’t be going much better than it is right now. It’s always great to see new people being established: I’m referring to The Grizzled Young Veterans in advancing to the finals along with Matt Riddle and Pete Dunne –The Broserweights, whose performance styles mesh surprisingly well.
Vince McMahon could always decide to do something completely unprecedented by booking an NXT superstar to win either the men’s or women’s Royal Rumble match. It has become a trend over the last several years for WWE to place people from NXT in top positions in these matches. The top candidates from NXT to win the men’s Royal Rumble would be people like Tommaso Ciampa, Keith Lee, Matt Riddle, Finn Balor, or Johnny Gargano.
If Gargano wins, he could choose to go after the NXT Championship, since he has adamantly stated that he is an NXT guy through and through. The least surprising of these options would be Finn Balor given that he was on the main roster for a few years.
Honestly, it may almost be a better option for WWE to have a woman from NXT win the women’s Royal Rumble match and go on to challenge either Becky Lynch or Bayley at WrestleMania. The women’s division is currently the most gripping and interchanging aspect of NXT each week. Barring a return from Ronda Rousey, the top candidates would be Bianca Belair, Shayna Baszler, or even Candice Lerae.
Some NXT superstar will probably win one of the Royal Rumble matches. It was Vince McMahon’s idea to include NXT at Survivor Series in such a big way. Someone from NXT will most likely not get the nod in both Royal Rumble matches simply to foster more unpredictability in these matches, but Vince McMahon can clearly see the value NXT can provide the company.
Mr. McMahon also has to be aware that WWE as a whole will be run much like NXT when Triple H takes over, which may be sooner rather than later, especially with the reemergence of the XFL coming in just a few weeks. Mr. McMahon will obviously have less time to devote solely to WWE matters.