Ryan Dilbert's 10-Count: NXT Outclassed WWE Throughout 2015

1. WWE Gets Beat Up by Its Little Brother

While WWE spent much of 2015 finding its voice, NXT sang a stirring song from start to finish.

The developmental brand leaned on superior storytelling, tried-and-true booking techniques, a deep women's division and a celebration of tag team wrestling to compose an impressive year. It was the more consistent wing of WWE, the more absorbing product.

It's hard to argue that WrestleMania 31, with all its grandeur and star power, wasn't the top WWE show all year, but stack up every 2015 TakeOver special against the likes of Fastlane, Payback and Survivor Series, and the competition isn't fair. 

The main roster pay-per-views too often saw great efforts from the wrestlers held back by underwhelming, bare-boned narratives.

When Randy Orton and Sheamus met at both Battleground and SummerSlam, there were too few personal issues between them. The pre-bout story was essentially that the two had become aggressive with each other in their recent clashes.

Neville fought King Barrett at several PPVs. Fans can't be blamed for not remembering much about those battles. The rivalry had little depth. Outside of the King of the Ring tournament, this was just two guys trading insignificant wins.

Battleground ended with a world title match going to a no-contest. SummerSlam saw a convoluted ending to the main event, Brock Lesnar losing to Undertaker when the timekeeper rang the bell early and began bickering with the referee.

NXT didn't have head-scratchers like that. There were no random matches; everything was well-constructed.

At TakeOver: Rival, Finn Balor bested Neville to claim the No. 1 contender's spot. At TakeOver: Unstoppable, Baron Corbin battled Rhyno in a match to prove who was the most dominant force at NXT. In London, on the final special of the year, Asuka blasted Emma to continue a story of a pair of heels trying their best to make the Japanese's star stay at NXT a torturous one.

Nothing demonstrates the creative chasm between NXT and WWE than SummerSlam's failures and TakeOver: Brooklyn's triumphs in the same arena on the same weekend.

Benjamin Tucker of Pro Wrestling Torch nailed it when he wrote:

"

While NXT's special event was met with near-universal praise, SummerSlam was met with ridicule and scorn by the night's end. The Saturday show had a loud, rowdy crowd at the end of the four-hour event. Then, Sunday's crowd was at half the volume or less for two-thirds of the show before they chanted 'bulls--t' as they left the arena. 

"

NXT's strength was steady, patient storytelling. WWE often threw wrestlers together not long before an event and forced the audience to fill in the gaps. The developmental brand instead built matches around animosity that had sufficient time to brew, lengthy quests for revenge and surging tales of warriors looking for redemption.

In 2015, NXT delivered the story of Bayley proving that she deserves the respect she has long demanded.

She spent half the year climbing uphill, setting up a showdown with Sasha Banks. After those two produced two instant classics, she fought off a flurry of new challengers, seemingly every women in the locker room hunting her down for the NXT Women's Championship.

Their two title bouts were the best two matches all year. That story was the best thing WWE or NXT put out.

NXT also had an engrossing tag team division. It featured the rise of Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson, fun work from Jason Jordan and Chad Gable and a tournament to honor Dusty Rhodes. That surpassed WWE's tag scene, which saw the company not give The New Day enough competition to fully show their skills off.

Compare how much of a rock star Finn Balor felt like to Roman Reigns talking about tater tots and sufferin' succotash. Compare the dreadful, hackneyed Dolph Ziggler-Rusev feud to Apollo Crews and Corbin's fight over position in the NXT title picture.

WWE too often failed to make the most of its roster. Damien Sandow and Natalya sat on the bench far too frequently. Rusev morphed into a lovesick fool; Seth Rollins became a bumbling chump once he held the WWE title.

At NXT, meanwhile, Emma revived her career, Corbin steadily improved, a rejuvenated Samoa Joe thrived and Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady had the kind of crowd connection several wrestlers would kill for. 

All year, NXT was the product one would show a potential new fan, trying to entice one about the power of the art form. Again and again, it generated more electricity and inspired more devotion that what is supposed to be the big leagues.

As WWE enters 2016, its best bet to revive an often-stagnant product is to borrow heavily from its little brother, to try and capture the magic that exists at Full Sail University each week.

2. The Bottom Rung

Not everyone can have a Roman Reigns-like record, but Heath Slater certainly had to think that he would have more than one victory in 2015. He led a group of wrestlers who WWE pushed as far down the card as possible.

These Superstars simply found televised wins hard to come by this year:

• Heath Slater (31 matches, 1 win)
• Curtis Axel (32 matches, 4 wins)
• Adam Rose (60 matches, 7 wins)
• Damien Sandow (27 matches, 9 wins)
• Bo Dallas (48 matches, 14 wins)
• Zack Ryder (48 matches, 19 wins)

Sandow, a man WWE once gave the Money in the Bank contract to, getting only 27 matches all year is one of the year's most baffling moves. Injuries wrecked the roster and still WWE sat a healthy Sandow, not even feeding him to beasts higher on the food chain.

WWE can't keep wasting him in 2016.  

3. Throwback Video of the Week: Owen Hart

This year's Slammys had a few fun moments, but nothing like The King of Harts pilfering statuettes, as he did in 1997.

Hart managed to make the most of so many of his opportunities. His infectious personality aided him in making this something memorable.

Note too that this edition of the Slammys wasn't on Raw, interrupting the flow of the show. It had its own space, with plenty of room to breathe.

4. Entering Stardust in the Chase

Stardust and Titus O'Neil have had a few strange interactions over the last few weeks that have yet to lead to much of anything. 

This is a prime chance to have Stardust gain some traction and further highlight the Intercontinental Championship. Have the two battle after both stated their intentions of chasing down Dean Ambrose for his title.

Credit: WWE.com

The IC title picture is crowded enough Dolph Ziggler and Kevin Owens both in pursuit of Ambrose. Wrestlers should always be striving to move up, though. And should The Lunatic Fringe fend both those foes off, he will eventually need a new one.

Having Stardust take down O'Neil, along with a few midcarders, earning his way to a championship opportunity is a smart way to keep him busy for now and set up a clash of lunatic against lunatic down the road.

5. Finn Balor in Line to Be the New King of Entrances

Undertaker's entrance has long been the WWE standard. Balor, though, continues to show that he's ready to slide into The Deadman's spot.

No one on the current roster is as creative, unique and strange as Balor when it comes to marching toward the ring. He played around with his usual entrance, donning London-inspired gear and body paint for the latest TakeOver special.

Seeing him continue to experiment, especially at future WrestleManias, is going to be tremendous. 

6. Female Champions Getting More Time to Reign

Lengthy title reigns give the champion time to build momentum. Playing hot potato with the belt deflates its prestige.

With both the Divas Championship and the NXT Women's Championship, WWE used that logic. Just a few hands held those titles all year.

Credit: WWE.com

Only once all year did a new champion seize the Divas title. The NXT Women's Championship only changed hands twice. That's far different than how WWE handled the Intercontinental Championship, which had five title changes in 2015. The WWE World Heavyweight Championship and U.S. title moved owners four times.

As a result, Sasha Banks, Bayley, Charlotte and Nikki Bella had memorable reigns. Each time, the gold elevated them rather than serve as a temporary prop, as the IC title did for Ryback, for example.

7. So This is What Randy Orton Has Been Up to

The RKO meme lives on. The folks at Vidgeo are making sure of that.

While Orton recovers from shoulder surgery, fans of The Viper will have to settle for seeing him superimposed into Captain America's world.

8. 2015's Hidden Gems

With so many eyes on the Match of the Year candidates and the well-hyped bouts that comprised the year, several strong contests went unnoticed. 

Cesaro had a hand in several of them. He didn't care how bright the spotlight was, he performed as if his match was the marquee one.

Some of these were on the little-watched Main Event or were SmackDown offerings that got overshadowed, but these matches are well worth checking out:  

• Cesaro, Tyson Kidd and Adam Rose vs. The New Day: Main Event, Jan. 13
• Cesaro vs. Sin Cara: Main Event, Feb. 14
• Cesaro and Tyson Kidd vs. The Lucha Dragons: Main Event, Feb. 28
• Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus: SmackDown, April 2
• Team B.A.D. vs. Team Bella: SmackDown, Oct. 1

9. A Seth Rollins-Sized Void

Leaning on a pair of crutches, Rollins bent toward the microphone on Monday's Raw and reminded us just how much he is missed.

A plodding, lifeless night perked up when he delivered his acceptance speech for the Superstar of the Year Slammy. It was the most fiery moment on that Raw. He managed to make fans hunger for what's to come with him as he talked about rebuilding himself.

This is the kind of electric promo that had become commonplace for Rollins during his title reign. His developmental as a talker, a heel and a performer overall were some of 2015's highlights.

And Raw simply hasn't been the same without him. 

10. Big E on His Journey

Today, Big E is one-third of one of the hottest acts in WWE, a tag team champ and a consistently entertaining force on TV. The powerhouse has grown immensely, making a junk angle a golden one, continuing to show off his charisma.

Big E reflected on that growth in a recent tweet:

Kudos to him for thriving. And here's to more growth from the big man in the future. 

Match statistics courtesy of CageMatch.net. Championship history courtesy of WWE.com.