Tape up your knuckles because next week WWE NXT is going “underground.”
In a promo for his upcoming fight against Dijak next week, Eddie Thorpe says that ropes can’t contain the two’s intensity and he wants to do it in a ring without one. He wants to settle the score in a concept that used to be briefly popular on WWE Raw: the two will go mono-a-mono in an Underground match.
LET'S GO!!!@EddyThorpe_WWE has challenged @DijakWWE to an #NXTUnderground Match!#WWENXT pic.twitter.com/XAwdlxKfXt
— WWE (@WWE) December 20, 2023
NXT Underground Returns
From a storyline standpoint, the “Underground” concept was brought in by Shane McMahon and was brought to WWE television during the global pandemic. “Underground” never took place in a WWE arena or the “ThunderDome,” but rather went down in an open warehouse, giving everything the intended “Fight Club” feel of it all. There were also no pins and had more of a MMA execution to it rather than your conventional wrestling match.
Shane originally introduced “Underground” on the August 3, 2020 episode of Raw and the concept only lasted eight weeks until Vince McMahon decided to scrap it. However, some battles did take place that involved names like Bobby Lashley, Braun Strowman, Titus O’Neil, Riddick Moss and even Dolph Ziggler.
Ziggler had a memorable run with Underground as he faced Lashley and several others where the impending free agent got to utilize his impressive collegiate wrestling background.
During the pandemic, NXT did happen to do a bout that could be considered somewhat similar to Underground as Matt Riddle took on Timothy Thatcher. Like Underground, the match didn’t have ropes, but instead of open space there was a cage around the ring. Kurt Angle happened to be the special guest referee for the contest.
