2021 Ongoing MOTY List: Raquel vs. Ember

35. Raquel Gonzalez vs. Ember Moon NXT TakeOver In Your House 6/13 

ER: Raquel has been such a wonderful presence in the NXT women's division this year. It was a role that seemed like she could have been rushed into and yet if she was rushed all it did was make her immediately grow into the role. She is so good at selling for smaller opponents and is so good at pacing out matches. She knows how to be dominant while leaving openings, and her selling during those openings is so good that she seems actually beatable, before she slams the doors shut again. She uses her long limbs very effectively, lashing out with big clubbing shots and reaching out with kicks to the stomach to slow an opponent, but when she's in close she unleashes different attacks. Her elbows really rock Moon, and she does this awesome over shoulder backbreaker while bending at Moon's neck and chin (then flipping her hard to get her back to the mat), and when Moon makes her big press back I loved how she paid Raquel back for all of the specific things she did.

Moon hits a fantastic running clothesline, and Moon must love Raquel as an opponent as you can always tell she throws her offense even harder than usual and Raquel just leans right into it. Moon kicked things up a level when she locked in a deathlock variation and yanked Raquel by the ponytail, mouth, and throat to pull her deeper into the submission. Moon has complicated offense and I'm impressed she almost always manages to pull it off better than it should be pulled off, but Gonzalez is again someone who has an uncanny ability to take complicated offense. Ember Moon got to hang with Gonzalez and look like she belonged, Dakota Kai was a treat at ringside (I love the dynamic of the Raquel/Kai partnership), and I love how Raquel's wins are always big exclamation marks. Dominant champ who can sell, then wins definitively, is a simple formula that Raquel is doing better than any male WWE character has done recently. Raquel is progressing as a worker in a way that is rivaling (on a smaller scale) Brock Lesnar's initial rise. Brock turned into one of the 5 best wrestlers in the world within his first year on the main brand, and while I don't think Raquel is progressing as fast as Brock the potential is now clearly there. 

PAS: This was a very good version of the WWE big match formula, which is a formula I am pretty tired of. It was pretty stiff, and they set up the big move moments really well. The nearfall on the Eclipse was really well done, and I really dug the nastiness of Raquel's match ending powerbomb. Still it felt like this match was worked the same way all of the WWE matches are worked, with everything being a set up into a big move and then moving into another set up into a big move. I really liked the couple of submissions, but I need more stuff that feels like a struggle rather than just hitting each big mark, that was especially obvious in the final run. The big marks were cool, and I agree Gonzalez has a bunch of promise, but I am not sure she can achieve it in the WWE. 

2021 MOTY MASTER LIST