As we are witness to the fallout of the implosion of NXT’s Undisputed Era, between Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly, we shouldn’t forget that there were once four members in UE. Veteran Bobby Fish has been sidelined since the War Games match when he sustained a torn tricep. As for Roderick Strong, the “Messiah of the Backbreaker” has definitely become the odd man out.
The last time we saw Strong was after apparent attempts to make amends, he was lured in by Adam Cole before being low blowed by the former NXT Champion. Since then, he is nowhere to be seen. This UE implosion storyline is now firmly focused on Cole and O’Reilly.
If I had to pick the top three currently active wrestlers with a well rounded move set in their arsenal, Strong is currently right up there in my book alongside Pete Dunne and AJ Styles. He is a very accomplished technical wrestler who was very adaptable to various styles; Strong even competed briefly in the Cruiserweight division. The man has all the talent in the world to have a, no pun intended, strong booking on his own.
But there is one similarity that the former NXT North American Champion has, which reminds me of the late great Owen Hart. Hart was also an excellent ring technician but little identity beyond being Bret Hart’s younger brother. Before his tragic passing in 1999, Hart was doing a gimmick straight out of the 1980s, The Blue Blazer, because WWE couldn’t find anything better for him at the time.
Looking at Strong’s entire NXT run and it’s hard to figure out where he stands out now that he is no longer a part of the Undisputed Era. After a long career in Ring of Honor, PWG and several tours in Japan, Strong debuted in 2016 as the mystery partner for Austin Aries during the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic.
Coming in as a babyface, Strong was in the NXT Championship picture before being mixed into Tye Dillinger’s feud against Sanity, alongside No Way Jose, Ruby Riott and Kassius Ohno. Early on, there were attempts to build Roddy’s story and character so as to present him as a viable challenger for the title. He got a title shot against then champion Bobby Roode but was unsuccessful and the same result occurred when Strong challenged the subsequent champion, Drew McIntyre.
Strong had all the technical tools and skills in the ring, but despite WWE’s sincere attempts to put a story behind him, I don’t think it was really enough despite him getting the cheers. After all, in this business a good chunk of the time just getting the adoration of fans isn’t enough. He may have come in with much hype as Aries’ partner, but that partnership was rather short lived. Perhaps it would have been better if Aries and Strong remained a team so as to establish themselves a bit longer.
The feud with Sanity basically led nowhere, as it was mostly Dillinger’s fight and it felt like Strong and the others were included because they weren’t doing anything on NXT on their own at the time; Ruby Riott was there to basically counter Nikki Kross. So it was when he started crossing paths with the trio of Cole, O’Reilly and Fish that things began looking more interesting. With shared history in wrestling past, it was natural to assume that Strong would a good fit for UE, but he didn’t bite at the time.
Strong participated in every War Games match including the first one. But in the first one, Strong wasn’t on UE’s team, he was actually teaming with the Authors of Pain, a hilariously odd match-up as Akem and Razar were as far away from Strong’s character as possible. At least in the inaugural War Games under the NXT banner, Strong and AOP came out looking like they were a united front when he came out in AOP’s military outfit and matching mask (not pictured below)
(photo courtesy of Reddit)
While there was a coolness factor to Strong’s brief alliance with the AOP, it was not as cool as what happened a few months later during the next Dusty Classic, when Strong teamed with Dunne and made it to the finals before UE interfered, leading to a Winner Takes All match between Dunne/Strong, AOP and UE for the tag team titles and the Dusty Cup at Takeover: New Orleans.
That night, Strong turned on his partners Dunne in the closing moments of the match, allowing UE to get the pinfall, the Dusty Cup and the tag team titles. This led to one of the most iconic NXT moments in history in my humble opinion, narrated so brilliantly by Mauro Renallo and Nigel McGuiness.
From then on, Strong’s career would be inexplicably linked to the Undisputed Era. With Bobby Fish injured, he and Kyle O’Reilly went on to defend the NXT Tag Team titles in some of the most stellar confrontations in the division. After dropping the tag titles to the War Raiders, Strong began a singles run which led him to capturing the North American title from Velveteen Dream in September 2019, giving him his first singles championship. Strong becoming NA Championship would give UE all the gold in NXT at that time, as O’Reilly and Fish recaptured the tag titles after Cole won the NXT Championship in June.
Another one of Strong’s career highlights was during the NXT invasion angle of the 2019 Survivor Series, when as NA Champion he defeated Styles (then the US Champion) and Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura in a Triple Threat match of the three brands mid-card title holders.
However, Strong’s career with UE has fizzled out since then. In 2020, he got lumped into a bizarre feud with Dexter Lumis whereby Strong needed ‘therapy’ after Lumis stuffed him and Fish into a trunk during Cole’s NXT title defense against Dream at Takeover: In Your House. Other than UE’s win over Pat McAfee, Oney Lorcan, Danny Burch and Pete Dunne at the 2020 War Games, Strong was almost like an afterthought as NXT began showcasing O’Reilly as a singles wrestler.
Which brings me to today. As of this writing Strong is seemingly the odd man out after Takeover: Vengeance Day when Cole superkicked O’Reilly, starting a feud between the two founding members of UE. The last match Strong had on NXT was a losing effort against NXT Champion Finn Balor, but the deeper question is does Roderick Strong, one of the most well accomplished mat technicians in wrestling, have an identity outside of the Undisputed Era, a faction that he has essentially been a member of for three years?
My colleague Adam on SLTD, otherwise known as @FarrandonFilm, has high hopes for Strong transitioning over to the Cruiserweight Championship picture. Strong was competing on the Cruiserweight division briefly in a tournament, but it was not permanent. With the division having two champions that will finally face off at Takeover: Stand and Deliver during Wrestlemania week to crown the one sole champion, there will be the need for a post Takeover challenger…
Could Roddy become the “final boss” in the Cruiserweight division? Only time will tell.
An average professional doing the 9-5 grind who really loves wrestling across all platforms. Here's hoping wrestlers finally get some basic workers rights in 2021.
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