WWE: Kyle O’Reilly really is NXT’s most underrated man

WWE NXT is home to some of the best professional wrestlers on this planet despite being the company’s third brand, and Undisputed Era member Kyle O’Reilly just might be the most underrated male superstar on the show.

Since becoming a faction when Adam Cole debuted at WWE NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn III to beat the living heck out of Drew McIntyre, the Undisputed Era have reigned supreme.

They won the first WarGames match, have torn the house down to start a number of Pay Per Views, and have been led by a former NXT and North American Champion in Cole.

But Cole wants to make sure that everyone in Undisputed Era is feeling the love from wrestling fans. On an appearance with Busted Open Radio, Cole asserted that faction-mate Kyle O’Reilly is the most underrated man in NXT.

Credit goes to Fightful.com’s Andrew Thompson for the transcription:

"“So, I think Kyle has done a great job of shining himself. Do I think, maybe he’s the most underrated guy in NXT? Yeah, I do. I think Kyle, in the ring, is one of, if not the best guy we have. He’s just incredible. He can do so many things. He can wrestle so many different types of guys and just have compelling, exciting, or like you hear, ‘Bring the best out of his opponent’ matchesHe’s incredibly funny and he’s incredibly entertaining and I think over time, people are noticing more and more the skill level and the variety that Kyle O’Reilly has, but I do. I really think this year and beyond, he’s gonna have a chance to showcase what he’s capable of, who he is, show the world how good he is. I am the biggest — and it’s not just because we’re in a group together, I’m the biggest Kyle O’Reilly fan there is. The guy is incredible.”"

Everything Cole said about O’Reilly is absolutely true. Whether it’s air guitaring or playing the role of sniveling jerk in backstage promos, “KOR” is hilarious. He just is. His facial expressions, callous treatment of backstage interviewers, and inflated sense of confidence are all endearingly awful, and make him an indispensable member of WWE’s most undisputedly good faction.

In the ring, O’Reilly is on another level. His tag team work with Roderick Strong is some of the best in recent memory that we’ve seen in WWE.

Their series of matches with Moustache Mountain are the stuff of legend, as are their TakeOver bouts against the War Raiders this year and Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch in 2018.

A smooth technical grappler with elite selling chops and plenty of athleticism, O’Reilly is one of the best submission wrestlers in the world today. He makes everything grippingly suspenseful, leaving our palms soaking our keyboards when he has a kneebar or guillotine locked in.

There are, of course, other candidates for the “most underrated” label among the members of WWE NXT’s Men’s Division. Fellow stablemate Bobby Fish is another excellent grappler who can get overlooked. The same can be said about Danny Burch.

But neither of them are quite on O’Reilly’s level. The dude just makes everything about pro wrestling fun as hell.

He makes chain wrestling look like sex and does the quirkiest things outside the ring. Like, you know, going as hard as Nita Strauss or Slash on the guitar when he makes his entrance.

Adam Cole isn’t wrong often, and he certainly isn’t wrong here: Kyle O’Reilly is the most underrated male wrestler in NXT.

(And if you want to know who the most underrated woman in NXT is, I’ll have to think about it. Because let’s just say there are a lot of great contenders.)