AEW and NXT Wednesday Night War: 3 winners of night #16

This week’s look at the best of the Wednesday Night War focuses on a pair of tremendously gruesome AEW segments and the treasure that is Bianca Belair.

It’s been a couple of weeks, but it’s time once again time to give some props to the three (or more) wrestlers who stood out the most on either NXT or All Elite Wrestling Dynamite. But before we get to them, here’s a look as some honorable mentions:

“Hangman” Adam Page: The Page heel turn is coming, but judging by the reaction he received in the eight-man tag team match with AEW World Tag Team Championship partner Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks against The Lucha Bros. and The Blade & The Butcher and in his backstage verbal altercation with the Bucks afterward, that won’t happen for a while. Page has developed a nice connection with the audience, so the promotion will likely milk that for a while before pulling the trigger on a turn.

Johnny Gargano and Finn Balor: In two minutes, Balor and Gargano accomplished what most non-wrestling main roster segments fail to do in 20: whip up excitement for their PPV — or in their case, TakeOver — match. The segment wasn’t flawless, but it succinctly laid out the stakes: both men want to cement their respective NXT legacies with a win.

The Undisputed Era: This week’s NXT  centered around the Undisputed Era getting their heat back after Tommaso Ciampa put Adam Cole through a table last week, a goal they fulfilled with attacks on Ciampa, Bronson Reed, and Kushida, that is until…

Velveteen Dream: …the megastar that is the Velveteen Dream returned from injury to exact some revenge against the men who were kayfabe responsible for his doctor-mandated vacation. Given how much has changed since we last saw Dream, it will be interesting to see where he fits in on the NXT roster going forward, but for one night, it was just great to see him back.