WWE NXT: We can’t stop talking about Lio Rush’s brilliant return

WWE NXT’s premiere on the USA Network couldn’t have gone any better and Lio Rush arguably stole the show on a night that featured thrilling number one contender and title matches.

Xia Li is WWE NXT’s next big star. Candice LeRae is one step away from her crowning moment. The Undisputed Era holds all the gold. Matt Riddle vs. Killian Dain is a hidden gem of a rivalry.

And Lio Rush is back.

It’s no surprise that Oney Lorcan vs. Lio Rush ended up being a must-see match, but I don’t think anyone could have quite anticipated the individual brilliance we saw from Rush.

Wrestling fans familiar with his in-ring work on 205 Live widely acknowledge Rush as, at a minimum, one of the top 10 most talented wrestlers in all of WWE, but he looked like a literal superhero against Lorcan.

This was Rush’s first match since March. It wasn’t announced before NXT, though Dave Meltzer did report the return minutes before the premier aired.

So you could say, Rush’s return was yet another pleasant surprise for WWE fans in the last 30 days, as Sasha Banks and Luke Harper both made recent returns.

Rush’s win over Lorcan makes him the new number one contender to Drew Gulak’s Cruiserweight Championship. Gulak defeated Lince Dorado and rising star Humberto Carrillo at Clash of Champions to retain the title, and Rush looks like the absolute perfect person to take the title off of the dominant Gulak. These two wrestlers couldn’t be more different in their styles, but they are both equally brilliant in their ability to layer a story inside and outside the ring.

NXT will now merge NXT UK and 205 Live into its programming as a two-hour wrestling extravaganza every Wednesday on primetime, so they needed to create a big-ticket feud for the Cruiserweight Championship. After blowing all of our minds with moves like this stunningly innovative one, Rush has suddenly become the talk of the town again.

It’s been a tumultuous 2019 for Rush in terms of rumors outside the ring, but it seems like he’s found a perfect spot in NXT. Triple H spoke glowingly of Bobby Lashley’s former manager,  referring to Rush as a “money performer”.

The Man of the Hour is exactly that, whether in the ring or on the mic. On Wednesday, Rush made his return as a babyface against an uncompromising Lorcan, speeding and willing his way to a hard-fought victory over one of WWE’s most quietly consistent wrestlers.

After this impressive display, Rush has legions of fans behind him as a babyface, particularly those who fondly remember his work on Raw and 205. It truly feels like NXT is entering a new, even more prosperous era, and that can only mean great things for a talented, often misunderstood, wrestler like Lio Rush.

It will be exciting to see how WWE NXT puts him in positions to shine, particularly as the likely “face” of the show’s Cruiserweight Division. Rush stole the show in his return on a huge night for NXT, and I have a feeling fans won’t be able to keep his name out of their heads this Fall.