War Games has come and gone and what a night of wrestling it was. The men’s War Games match was very good and had some great spots throughout. Pat McAfee continues to impress in the ring, as someone who didn’t have very much in the way of formal training before stepping between the ropes, and the rest of the Kings of NXT and Undisputed Era were on top of their game.
The outcome of the match was interesting from this writers point of view. The Kings of NXT are a new group on the black and gold brand and logically it would make sense to have them pick up the win and give them a huge rub going forward. However, we got to see the Undisputed Era pick up the win. Not that Adam Cole and his group picking up the win is a terrible decision just a perplexing one from a long term story point of view.
Now that the War Games are over it will be interesting to see what is next for the Undisputed Era. The group has been together for years now and it appears that as a group they have done as much as they can on NXT. The four men have held all major NXT championships simultaneously and have headlined every pay per view that the black and gold brand has to offer. So what would the future hold for the gold standard? Let us take a look at a few of the options available to the WWE below.
- The first option is to keep the group together and keep them on NXT. While this may be something that some fans would be pushing for it would be a mistake. The WWE has done all they can with this group and by keeping the Undisputed Era together in their current version they run the risk of the group growing stale.
- The second option would be for the group as a whole to be brought up to the main roster. This isn’t the worst idea in the world but one that may not work as well as one would think. The main roster does have a history of ruining most NXT call ups and if all four men were to come up together you could run the risk of ruining all four men at once. Plus with all they have accomplished on NXT, it might be difficult to replicate this type of success on the main roster.
- A third option would be to keep all four men on NXT but break them up and have them feud with each other for a few months. This would be an interesting option to explore especially if you think of Fish and O Reilly turning heel against Strong and Cole. It would be a nice switch for the group and could lead to some fantastic matches involving the four. It would also be a fresh angle for NXT to explore for a few months but I question the long life of such an angle. One could only have so many matches between the four before you would run out of a new way to present them. Still, it would be a great way to finish off the Undisputed Eras tenure on NXT.
- A final option, and in this writers opinion the best one to go with, would be to split the group up and have Adam Cole And Roderick Strong moved up to the main roster (Cole on Smackdown and Strong on Raw) but keep O’Reilly and Fish on NXT.
Adam Cole is a star in the making for WWE and it was only a matter of time before he got the call up to the main roster and now is as good a time as any. Strong may not have the potential that is seen in Cole but he would be a fantastic addition to the mid-card on Raw. These two men are, out of the Undisputed Era, the main roster ready and should be called up.
After the past two months of watching O Reilly crush it in his battle with Finn Balor and clearly be the MVP of the War Games match it looks like the WWE is going to be giving the man a push on NXT and rightfully so. His style is realistic and he has come a long way with his character work and ability to connect with the WWE universe. His ground and pound style is also one that would be more suited to NXT so keeping him on that brand as a challenger for the NXT title would be the best way to use him at the moment.
Bobby Fish is great in the ring but still needs to work on his character a bit before he could be called up to the main roster. Put into a mid-card role on NXT going after the North American Championship would do a whole world of good for Fish and go a long way to possibly solidifying a main roster call up.
After their win at War Games this past Sunday it will be interesting to see what will happen with the gold standard of NXT. It would be great if one of my options came true, mostly so I can rub it in anyone’s face that I can. Only time will tell what is next for the Undisputed Era.