EK Prosper and Grayson Waller put on a solid main event match for the NXT Championship, and props to them, especially if they didn’t know that Waller’s original challenger, Mason Rook, was going to be out of action until today. Either way, this bout, and the scramble of guys attempting to make it out to the ring, were both really fun, and the ending of “NXT” felt a little more lighthearted, and much needed, after all the sad (and in the case of “NXT,” bad) in recent days.
When Robert Stone revealed that Waller’s defense would be an open challenge after Rook was revealed to not be medically cleared, I figured someone would just stroll out. Nope, we got the whole rush of guys out from the locker room, trying to fight their way to the ring like a reverse battle royal. I loved that it was nearly Zilla Fatu and Cruz Montana to get there, and hopefully that means they’ll be competing to become number one contender ahead of Halloween Havoc, instead of Fatu feuding with BirthRight, and Montana with Dion Lennox.
As Fatu and Montana fought, it was Prosper to pop up behind Waller. Prosper is such a good wrestler, a guy who works like he has everything to prove, but I feel like I often forget about him. He’s been tied up in the tag scene, as well as in the now-defunct Speed Championship scene, this year. He was involved in the six-man tag team match to determine the triple threat number one contender’s match, however, so maybe I should have known, or hoped, this was coming for him. While I hate that Rook might be on the shelf for a while, I do love that Prosper was given the opportunity to show off.
Waller and Prosper got quite a bit of time, especially if this was a last-minute thing, and I liked the match a lot more than I thought I would. The crowd loved the opening sequence with Prosper’s near-fall on the champion, and they quieted down for a bit, but the young star worked to get them back and chanting his name.
The challenger hit a beautiful springboard moonsault to Waller, who was laid out on the commentary desk, toward the end of the match, which looked absolutely fantastic, and he got another solid near-fall in the ring before Waller got his foot on the rope. Prosper took two rolling stunners and Waller retained, which I assumed was happening anyway, but I thought Prosper looked really good in defeat. Tonight was a great showcase for him, and it got Waller’s first successful defense under his belt, and there was truly nothing bad about it.
Written by Daisy Ruth
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