The NXT Discussion Thread

[Nick James]

36 minutes ago, Liam O'Rourke said:

It would make no difference. NXT is not a well booked show. We have three losers from TakeOver picking up an immediate rehab win and Dunne pinning Balor, which does nothing but provide fuel for an unnecessary rematch and take from Balor. Cole should clearly be the babyface in this UE split, Pat McAfee is now trying to get weird heel points for being right about a new heel he was against. The dynamics of the show with the faces and heels are so fucked up. 

But that's in your opinion, in mine, I enjoyed the show and how it unfolded. McAfee is a dick, who is showing he was right all along about Cole, who was a heel at the time of his and McAfee's fued. Cole turned face after the boot from McAfee over the announce desk.

The seeds of the UE split have been on going for months, with Cole being jealous of O'Reilly for taking the shine off him with his matches with Balor and now him siding with Balor. No idea how Cole should be face after being the jealous one. 

I find NXT a rather well booked show, the time flies by, it doesn't stay too long and I don't find the need to fast forward. It's had a good theme for the previous episodes with the Dusty Classic, the main event scene has multiple challengers and the North American title stuff with Gargano and Kushida is fun. Not to mention people like Bronson Reed in the background and the Bivens stuff. 

Edited February 18, 2021 by Nick James

[DavidB6937]

I really can't see how anyone would think that Cole should be the babyface in the split. He's always been the slimy, unlikeable guy who puts himself in front of everyone else and uses the UE to either get the title or keep the title. He was never going to let Finn be at the forefront of anything, nor Kyle. I get that they had him as a 'face' for a bit with McAfee but if he's not going to be around on a consistent basis then Cole's jealousy and insistence on being the one and only guy from UE to get the title is a perfect driver for him remaining heel.

[Liam O'Rourke]

Because he was the most popular member of the group by miles and the live crowds have been wanting to cheer him for over two years. Them having him in that role against Pat worked well, it was there for the taking. 

They've tried to make sense of O'Reilly, granted, same way they've tried to make sense of a lot of the turns and moves they've made, but none of it seems in rhythm with the audience, which was why I said to Nick about how I don't believe the reaction would be different if AEW wasn't around. Has nothing to do with anyone's opinion of the quality of the shows, that's within the individual, and there are talented people working hard. But NXT's booking decline started before AEW came around, and sped up when the two hour format began, with them trying to be competitive leading to them hotshotting like crazy, to the point now where I don't really know who feels like they have real momentum, especially on the male side. So for that reason, I don't think the reaction would be that different. 

Edited February 18, 2021 by Liam O'Rourke

[Lorne Malvo]

The face/heel waters in the NXT mens division have been muddied for a long time, probably since they did that weird Gargano heel turn that wasn't really a heel turn on Aleister Black. It's the main thing that keeps me from investing properly in it. When I do catch it, for the most part I have no idea who I'm supposed to root for. Outside of a few notable examples like Keith Lee and Drake Maverick, it seems filled with guys that are either heels or faces so unlikeable they may aswell be heels. Especially towards the top of the card. It doesn't help that the wrestlers personas either boil down to spooky goth or super serious tough guy either. Or in the case of Karrion Kross, both of those things.

[TomJones233]

Finn is the worst offender. Karrion is fucking awful. And yeah Cole is a better heel

[TheBurningRed]

8 hours ago, DavidB6937 said:

We got the Demon King instead, which just sounded like the Demon Kane, and didn't wrestle any different and ended up being super shit cosplay for no reason at all.

There was that match, at a Summerslam I think, where he squashed Baron Corbin. They tried to build him then as this major force when he becomes the demon and that he was unbeaten as such. Which made you wonder why he wasn’t putting on the face paint and dreads for every match. 

[DavidB6937]

6 hours ago, TheBurningRed said:

There was that match, at a Summerslam I think, where he squashed Baron Corbin. They tried to build him then as this major force when he becomes the demon and that he was unbeaten as such. Which made you wonder why he wasn’t putting on the face paint and dreads for every match. 

Yeah they either treated it as dude in facepaint or went completely the other way which was just really confusing. I understood it from a creep your opponent out slightly context, but then you don't want to overuse it either. Obviously as with all things WWE, such gimmicks do get driven into the ground or so confusing that they just don't make sense anymore. I can see why he wanted to get away from that and just concentrate on who Finn is. I get that he's been a bit all over the place in NXT but at least he's watchable now.

[HarmonicGenerator]

3 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

Yeah they either treated it as dude in facepaint or went completely the other way which was just really confusing. I understood it from a creep your opponent out slightly context, but then you don't want to overuse it either. Obviously as with all things WWE, such gimmicks do get driven into the ground or so confusing that they just don't make sense anymore. I can see why he wanted to get away from that and just concentrate on who Finn is. I get that he's been a bit all over the place in NXT but at least he's watchable now.

I think the Demon worked in his first NXT run because he tended to only bring out the facepaint for Takeovers, and there were only ever around 5 of those per year, so he could do it every time and it still felt special because it was so occasional. Once he moved up, when there's a PPV every few weeks, he'd have either ended up doing it so often it lost its specialness, or what ended up happening where he did it sometimes but not all the time with no reason why.

[The Cutting Edge]

I think balors face paint would've been better just part as a special entrance, used more as war paint that psyches him up rather than a demon he taps into.

Switching it up more would've been cool instead of black and red with the white teeth, different colours or styles would've kept it fresh, take out the dancing entrance and be more slow and intense (guess like Aleister Black...hasn't worked for him though)

Either way I'm not fussed if it doesn't come back and it doesn't really suit him anymore.

Edited February 19, 2021 by The Cutting Edge

[Supremo]

This week’s showing was the best Kross has looked in NXT by miles. He’s way better as the pseudo babyface smashing everyone to bits in wild brawls. I hope they keep this direction going and he doesn’t try to do anymore long, drawn out NXT-Main-Event-style matches. They should just give him the Goldberg push.

I couldn’t help but laugh at Roderick Strong and Adam Cole in that final segment though. Adam Cole doing the classic head in his hands crying, Strong literally shouting his internal monologue, “WHAT IS HAPPENING?!” NXT melodrama at its worst. I like that they’re doing something new and I suspect I’ll enjoy the matches, it’s just a shame they do these school plays to set them up.

*puts head in hands*

*shouts up to the heavens*

“DAMN YOU HBK!”

Edited March 1, 2021 by Supremo

[RIDDUM_N_STYLE]

Rumours doing the rounds that NXT is moving to Tuesdays starting from the Tuesday after Mania

[RancidPunx]

Here is the Tweet on that Tuesday night story.

 

 

[Yakashi]

It must be embarrassing for them getting crushed by AEW every week. I’m sure they didn’t see it coming (though I don’t see how anyone would think NXT would ever beat AEW with what’s left of the minuscule wrestling audience) and they will spin it in their favour somehow. But it’s been quite the arse kicking. Paul should have just offered the bucks and Kenny $10m each when he had the chance and this probably would never have happened.

[buba3d]

Yeah i'm sure WWE feels embarrassed that vinces C show is getting crushed by khans A show.

 

joke

Edited March 2, 2021 by buba3d

[WyattSheepMask]

9 hours ago, Yakashi said:

It must be embarrassing for them getting crushed by AEW every week.

I wouldn’t say they’ve being crushing NXT exactly as neither show is doing a particularly huge number, no matter how much Dave and his demo-talk wants to try and spin it. AEW outdrew NXT last week by 13%, which yeah sounds good on paper, but it’s 13% of a small number. Both shows combined drew a little under 1.6million, less than this weeks RAW, which is arguably the worst weekly show and featured its main champion running away and pretending to have the shits.

9 hours ago, Yakashi said:

 I’m sure they didn’t see it coming (though I don’t see how anyone would think NXT would ever beat AEW with what’s left of the minuscule wrestling audience) and they will spin it in their favour somehow.

This however, I do agree with. I bet they went in with sheer arrogance thinking they were going to mop the floor with AEW because “we’re the WWE”, brand recognition and all that jazz. 
It has been as you put it “quite the arse kicking”, but I do think that NXT threw in the towel a long time ago. I don’t doubt that they’ve still been trying (Ladder Match anyone?) but I think they quietly admitted defeat a while back.

What will be interesting though (assuming that it does move, it’s only rumours so far) is whether or not both shows viewership gets a boost when they’re running unopposed. That’ll give us an idea of what kind of audience both shows have, and how well AEW are doing converting TV viewers into PPV buys, which I think they’re still struggling to do

Edited March 3, 2021 by WyattSheepMask