NXT: Splitting up Undisputed Era could be a huge mistake

It’s been a rough few weeks for Undisputed Era. Tension within the previously harmonious stable looks to be reaching critical levels, and the rift between de-facto leader Adam Cole and newest member Roderick Strong shows no signs of healing anytime soon.

With Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish inadvertently dragged into the mix, the scene for a monumental breakup of Undisputed Era has clearly been set.

No doubt the ensuing drama will be great to watch – Cole shines as a weaselly antagonist, and though Strong has found his feet as a heel, he’s always done a great trade in ‘babyface pushing back against adversity’. But there are two other people in this equation whose futures seem uncertain should the dissolution of UE come to pass: what of Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish?

There’s a case to be made for Kyle O’Reilly as a strong singles competitor. He’s excellent in the ring; his unique MMA-flavoured offense and weirdly laconic stance makes him stand out, as does his unrelenting viciousness when provoked. He shows promise as a character worker, though he’s had little opportunity to be anything other than Adam Cole’s gurning henchman.

And herein lies the problem: for both O’Reilly and Fish, there simply hasn’t been any groundwork laid so that we might appreciate and understand them as individuals.

We don’t really know anything about either of them, except that they follow Adam Cole around like a bad smell.

This kind of thing works fine if the stable is going to stick around in the long term. And Undisputed Era have had two solid years in which to ply their trade as a group. It stands to reason, then, that O’Reilly and Fish have settled in as ‘the tag team’ of the group’.

But what we’re seeing on screen is the very real possibility that the conflict might come between them.

On Wednesday, O’Reilly was seen to stick by Cole’s side, while Fish walked away with Strong. Now, this might not mean a thing, but what it does mean is that there are realistically three ways this split could go down for O’Reilly and Fish.

More from NXT

• Trish Stratus on WWE NXT would help elevate that women’s division
• WWE NXT DeadLine 2023 Predictions: Trick Williams Will NOT Become Iron Survivor
• The End of Trick and Melo Gang Will Break NXT Fans’ Hearts
• Dominick Dijakovic is doing his best work in WWE NXT
• Quick predictions for NXT Halloween Havoc Night Two

The first is that they stick together and remain a tag team after all is said and done. This could potentially work well for them: they have excellent chemistry as a team, and can coast off the remnants of their UE hype while they establish themselves as a duo in their own right.

Fish is no slouch in the ring either, though for my money he lacks O’Reilly’s dynamism. There’s a gap in the NXT market right now for a solid tag team – the Viking War Raiders Experience are heading up sooner rather than later, the Forgotten Sons are as exciting as a bread sandwich, and Street Profits are basically the division’s only hope for the time being.

Building Fish and O’Reilly up as characters outside of UE might be a challenge, but with the right treatment it could be quite successful.

We’ve already seen they can hang as a standalone tag team – their time as ReDRagon on the ROH circuit is ample proof. But it’s on NXT to translate this to the show’s format, and to present them as credible to a crowd that might not necessarily be au fait with their pre-WWE work.

The second possibility is that Fish and O’Reilly will each side with either Cole or Strong. This would be a bit of a strange move: Cole would do well with a lackey to bounce off, but Strong lacks the depth of personality and motivation for a sidekick, and there’s been little to suggest a strong friendship between Strong and any one UE colleague.

There’s potential for some fresh and interesting storylines here, but I don’t see it benefitting O’Reilly and Fish in the long term – they’ll essentially still be playing second fiddle. This is, at best, a temporary measure.

The third possibility is that all four members of Undispited Era ultimately go it alone. We already know Adam Cole will do fine here – he’s always been the strongest singles competitor in the stable, and he’s got the personality and wrestling acumen to be successful with or without support.

Strong’s future is less certain, but he’s compelling enough in the ring that I suspect he’ll find his niche – put him in a program against Kushida and watch him shine.

But as I’ve mentioned previously, O’Reilly and Fish are effectively ciphers right now. They don’t really have any personality or motivation outside of ‘Adam Cole’s hangers-on’.

And this is why, for O’Reilly and Fish at least, breaking up Undisputed Era might be a huge mistake. Both had reasonably well-received singles runs in ROH, but past work doesn’t always compute with the WWE crowd, who (understandably) might not have an encyclopaedic knowledge of pre-NXT careers.

There needs to be more time devoted to telling us who they are, and what they want, outside of their connection to Cole. And this can be achieved by cutting the cord, but it would be easier and perhaps smarter to build them up as invidivuals in the wake of Strong’s departure; retaining the UE safety net to ensure a continued crowd connection, and work from there.

NXT have spent far too long building Undisputed Era up as credible to waste such a powerful fan connection. Taking the axe too hastily to one of the most popular stables in WWE seems ill-considered.

It’s fairly obvious that Adam Cole is at the center of their thought process, and while pushing him as a singles star makes abundant sense, there’s absolutely no reason why O’Reilly and Fish can’t develop as characters in parallel.

Undisputed Era stand a much better chance of being well-received on the main roster as a team. Putting that little extra time and effort in will almost certainly have a big payoff in the long run.