Curtis Axel & Ryback: WWE NXT Heavyweight Champion & United States Champion

The opinion may be unpopular, but I’ve really enjoyed Rybaxel. They’ve been good for the division. They’ve been good at putting other teams over and getting enough wins to make a win over them still meaningful. Ryback and Axel work well together and after they both more or less burnt out under Heyman’s name, this has been something to help rebuild them. Eventually, they are going to break up and I’d argue it is going to be sooner rather than later, but what happens to them next? Ryback was hot as hell at one point and I for one still see some raw potential. Axel really got the short end of a deal with Heyman and couldn’t grab the trust of the audience. I still see good things in Axel. I think there is a way to rebuild both of them in our eyes so when the wrestling gods decide their fate, they at least had a good run towards the end of 2014 and potentially into 2015.

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Rybaxel is a terrible name, but they’ve been a solid team. It’s a fact that the powers that be in WWE have absolutely fixed the tag division. It’s one of my favorite things to watch every week and the roster is full. The Usos and Wyatts had the best match on the Battleground card. The Usos are good champions despite my personal feelings, but right in the middle of the Star/Goldusts, Wyatts and the champs has been Rybaxel. I see them as the middle of the line of the division. I see them as the ones who make the division work in a lot of ways and the good booking for them has gone completely unnoticed by a majority of fans. They aren’t big threats, but they aren’t push overs. A win over them is meaningful because enough effort has been put into their momentum so their losses aren’t routine. They lose and they win. They are the middle of the road as a team in the division, but what is crazy is how you’ll hear every once in awhile that there are plans to break them up. I don’t understand because they are doing a great service to the other teams. They may not become Tag Champions, but they have been a solid and key part of the division.

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Now, eventually they will split up. That leads to the question of what happens to them afterward. A lot of people would argue that both men will be lost in the shuffle and fade into the deep underbelly of the midcard. I disagree because I believe there are always ways to utilize talent. Let’s take a really hard look at Ryback’s career thus far. He was built up as a monster who needed to feed on others. His Punk feud gets a lot of crap because of the way his winning streak ended with Maddox and Punk, but Punk made him look unbeatable and it wasn’t until The Shield took over WWE programming that Ryback started to fall. I understood the heel turn, but when you build a heel, he has to win. It’s just the way it works. A heel is absolutely useless unless he can beat the hero. It doesn’t always have to be clean, but it needs to be believable that he can win clean. Punk did this with Ryback, but Cena didn’t at all. He had no momentum after Cena’s feud because he never was given a big win until it was too late and it was against Jericho of all people. Ryback got pushed to the side and everyone knows it. I think it’s time to rebuild him as a decent midcard champion. That was part of the problem with his original build. He never won a title. I think giving him the US Title at some point towards the end of the year will give him something to do and rebuild him as a threat. There are probably going to be better options. My eye is on Rusev personally, but Ryback can at least be put into a position where he can perform in good physical matches with guys like Sheamus, Ceasro or even Reigns. There is still value in Ryback as long as he isn’t fed to other guys like he was before. He needs to be protected to sustain himself and just maybe, he’ll find the thing that will launch him back to the top.

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Axel is a different story. I think he caught a way worse pill to swallow than Ryback. His push had such good hope, but couldn’t live up to the talent that was around him. IS Axel a great talent. No, he is not, but he is good. He’s a solid guy in an ocean of better talent. That isn’t his fault, but he does have to deal with it. Last year, he becomes a Heyman guy and then gets a third seat to Punk and Lesnar. He was only the third string guy under Punk and Lesnar. In my opinion, the two best wrestlers of this current generation. Anyone would fall victim to not being able to keep up with them despite being gifted the Intercontinental Title. It was the right push at the wrong time. It doesn’t mean he still can’t be of use, but I don’t think it’s on the main roster. I think its with NXT.

Look at Tyson Kidd transformation over the last few months. Shame on you if you aren’t watching NXT right now, Kidd is killing it. They don’t need to throw a mask on him. He’ll be just fine as Tyson Kidd. I think as the talents come up from NXT to the main roster, Axel is a guy who could benefit not from a demotion, but a reevaluation. I think Axel is good enough to push young talent and have good competitive matches in front of an audience that thrives on just that. NXT is a different animal and Axel is a guy who does better out of the limelight. Look at some of these matchups:

Axel vs. Kidd
Axel vs. Neville
Axel vs. Breeze
Axel vs. Zayn
Axel vs. Rawley

He could also be a part of a tag team down there and build that up as The Ascension continue to be dominant. The thing with Axel is that he is a good hand in a deck with a lot of royal cards. I like Axel. I see him being a strong contender in NXT with young talent at minimum. Maybe he has something else. Maybe he will make a splash after he splits from Ryback. I just know talent when I see it and a lot of us do. Even if that talent can’t be pushed to the top, it can still have value on a roster that needs solid hands to be competitive. A roster is only even as good as it’s wildcard guys. That is what Ryback and Axel are to this roster. They have spots and can do a lot of good. 2014 can be a decent year for both men and then in 2015, who knows? We think we know, but we don’t really. The future is a fun place. We never know who is going to surprise us.

What do you think? Comment below with your thoughts, opinions, feedback and anything else that was raised.