WWE’s Worlds Collide Tournament Looks Absolutely Brilliant
WWE has announced an exciting tournament for the Royal Rumble Axxess this year, and the winner of this showcase will obtain a title opportunity for NXT, NXT UK, or 205 Live.
A few weeks ago, Vince McMahon and the rest of WWE‘s upper management told viewers that the company would start giving fans more of what they want.
Whether or not that’s actually taking place is a matter of personal opinion, but fans have seen Mustafa Ali join SmackDown Live and Sasha Banks earn an opportunity at Ronda Rousey’s Raw Women’s Championship; both are signs that perhaps WWE is serious in their attempt to appease to its hardcore fanbase with All Elite Wrestling assembling its collection of talent.
The WWE Universe’s reactions to Ali on SmackDown Live have been overwhelmingly positive, which isn’t a surprise, given that he’s shined every time the promotion has placed him on one of their Pay Per Views, including on the main card of Survivor Series.
Ali became popular as a huge star on 205 Live, and it’s those Network-exclusive weekly shows that draw the more praise from hardcore fans. Wrestlers like Pete Dunne, who has held the UK Championship for a record-breaking 600 days, Toni Storm, Bianca Belair, and Cedric Alexander are among WWE’s best and brightest stars.
At the Royal Rumble Axxess, WWE announced a “Worlds Collide Tournament” that will pit superstars from NXT, NXT UK, and 205 Live against each other. The tournament will begin at 8 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 26 with a battle royal. Seeding will be determined by the order of eliminations, with the winner receiving a first-round bye in the 15-man tournament.
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Adam Cole, the Velveteen Dream, Otis Dozovic, Keith Lee, and Dominik Dijakovic will represent NXT; 205 Live will have Cedric Alexander, Tony Nese, TJP, Drew Gulak, and an unannounced superstar in the tournament; and NXT UK will be represented by Zack Gibson, Travis Banks, Jordan Devlin, Tyler Bate, and Mark Andrews.
That’s quite the collection of 15 names, and the dream rematch between Dijakovic and Lee may be the most highly-anticipated bout of the many possible combinations. All 15 of these wrestlers are capable of having a great match with one another, and this should be an excellent showcase of pure wrestling in a competitive environment.
The stakes are meaningful, too, because the winner will receive a title opportunity on any of those three brands. That means if Alexander wins, he could get another shot at the Cruiserweight Championship, or he could decide to challenge someone in NXT. Or maybe Mark Andrews pulls off an upset, winning the entire tournament before choosing to go after Buddy Murphy for some revenge.
There are so many possibilities, and this is an exciting announcement from WWE. Though the tournament will occur at the Royal Rumble Axxess during three different periods over the “Rumble Weekend”, the matches will all be taped for a Network Special. It will be interesting to see how the episodes are released because WWE usually airs them consecutively instead of uploading them all at once for an “all-at-once” watch.
WWE is under pressure to put together more creative matchups, storylines, and Network Specials in 2019 as every other promotion in the world looks to step their game up with AEW becoming a reality. Showcasing stars on NXT, NXT UK, and 205 in this type of format with something important on the line is one way of achieving this.
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Hopefully, the tournament is a success and becomes a regular occurrence, and I’d love to see a women’s “Worlds Collide” tournament where Raw, SmackDown, NXT, and NXT UK superstars compete together. If the Rumble Axxess tournament is a success, I think that’s a logical next step for WWE.