Nia Jax's Anticipated NXT Debut Exceeded Expectations

After weeks of promos hyping the eventual debut of a new NXT women’s wrestler named Nia Jax, she finally made her first appearance on the weekly show by defeating Evie in a glorified squash match.

While some wrestling fans were angry that an unproven talent like Nia Jax was built for weeks and a bona fide star like Asuka was brought to the active roster almost immediately, the promos did a great job of getting the NXT Universe excited about the debut.

The fans know Nia Jax is The Rock’s cousin, and many were ready to hold that against her. Instead, the new women’s star made her debut and had the NXT crowd at Full Sail University eating out of the palm of her hand.

Nia Jax is not the prototypical WWE Diva. As a plus-size model and a wrestler who uses her power and size advantage to dominate her opponents, she has the long-term upside and in-ring skill to be the second coming of TNA star Awesome Kong.

Whether it’s as a dominant face or a monster heel, Nia Jax knows her body and how to maximize its power in the ring. Against the smaller Evie on Wednesday, Nia Jax brutalized her challenger with bear hugs, hip checks and eventually a devastating spinebuster.

All she needs now is to hit the Vader Bomb from the corner, and NXT would have the female version of Big Van Vader. It may be early for a comparison of that magnitude, but there is no reason to believe Nia Jax can’t reach that level in the women’s division.

The biggest surprise of the night was not the in-ring work of Nia Jax—which was far better than expected—but instead the support she got when she made her way to the ring. The NXT crowd loved her, and at several points during the match, they were cheering her heavily.

While Nia Jax exceeded expectations in the ring, the biggest takeaway from Wednesday’s episode was that she has a very bright future. In a thin NXT women’s division, she will be catapulted to the top as an unstoppable force. If she is booked the way Awesome Kong has been for years in TNA, then there is plenty of upside for the dominant athlete.

After destroying Evie and hardly breaking a sweat in the process, NXT Creative should continue booking her in these ambiguous squash matches where the crowd is not sure if she is a face or a heel.

Eventually, it would be ideal to have Nia Jax slowly work her way through the roster as a monster heel before coming up against the underdog champion Bayley. The David vs. Goliath battles between Bayley and Nia Jax would be reminiscent of what TNA has done for years with Awesome Kong and Gail Kim.

This time, though, the storylines would be properly fleshed out, and each star would look strong heading into a match and coming out of it. The future looks extremely bright for Nia Jax, and she already exceeded expectations for her debut.

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