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AEW and NXT Wednesday Night Wars: 3 winners of night #1

By Christopher Jeter

Chris Jerrico puts the Smackdown on CW Punk during the WWE Raw event at Rose Garden arena in Portland, Ore., Monday February 27th, 2012. (Photo by Chris Ryan/Corbis via Getty Images)
Chris Jerrico puts the Smackdown on CW Punk during the WWE Raw event at Rose Garden arena in Portland, Ore., Monday February 27th, 2012. (Photo by Chris Ryan/Corbis via Getty Images) /
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NXT superstar Finn Balor
(Photo by Sylvain Lefevre/Getty Images) /

On Wednesday, NXT and All Elite Wrestling (AEW) gave us a combined four hours of action-packed programming. Here’s who stood out on each show.

After an ending to Monday Night RAW that perplexed the people who weren’t already disgusted by it, the first week of the “Wednesday Night War” between AEW and NXT served as the perfect palate cleanser for the nonsense Vince McMahon closed his flagship show with.

The night fans awaited with the anticipation of a child on Christmas morning who knows they have an Xbox One or a Playstation 4 with some dope games under the tree did not disappoint: both shows brought the goods in the ring with some good promo work and hot angles supplementing the exemplary workrate.

But even among the critically-acclaimed shows, there were some wrestlers who stood out more than the others. Given all the good stuff on NXT and All Elite Wrestling (AEW): Dynamite, parsing through standout performers won’t be an easy task, so hopefully, this list does these talented men and women justice.

Honorable Mentions:

Io Shirai: Shirai and Mia Yim put together an outstanding bout that kept the crowd engaged following an equally resplendent NXT Championship match between Adam Cole and Matt Riddle. It’s clear that Shirai is one of the two best workers in NXT and every day where she isn’t NXT Women’s Champion is a day wasted.

Tommaso Ciampa: He’s back! As a babyface! Between him and another man on this list, Adam Cole has interesting challengers for his NXT title lined up.

PAC: A very good match against “Hangman” Adam Page that continues to establish his Brutalizer finisher and puts him on track for a future title shot.

Riho: In a classic big wrestler/small wrestler match, Riho and Nyla Rose gave the fans a battle that was more than worthy of the gorgeous AEW Women’s Championship they were fighting for. The finish was a bit shocking, as it made more sense to have Rose as the dominant heel champion, but Riho taking on a swath of challengers should be really fun too.

Maxwell Jacob Freidman: The best heel in pro wrestling today. His promo and enhancement win over Brandon Cutler were the ideal introduction of his character to television audiences.

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