The NXT Discussion Thread

[Nick James]

Surely this can only be a good thing all round? Now everyone can actually enjoy both shows rather than hate one because they have to pick a side, rather than hate it because it's not a good product. Both shows are great, really entertaining and fly by. This whole shitty 'war' can stop now, which as mentioned above, is like fighting over the scraps of a dwindling audience. 

It'll certainly make my morning viewings easier, I just hope if they move to Tuesday nights, it doesn't change the way Impact run, especially with the 2 Tony's adverts. 

[Yakashi]

I don’t think there’s much crossover to be honest. I expect AEW to gain about 150k viewers maybe, mostly people that will be dead soon so don’t really mean anything. We’ve seen both shows run unopposed and barely gain anything.

I do wonder how long NXT will last on TV though. It’s singular purpose for both WWE and USA was to exist as a spite show. If the demo doesn’t improve, and USA are paying them 40m a year for a 0.15 or whatever, is it really worth it?

Now that Hunter can book the show as an actual show rather than a spite show, I do hope it gets better though. The wrestling was always fine but the hotshotting and bad booking that they never really suffered from before only happened because of the “war”. The one problem that won’t go away though is that everyone knows that pretty much everyone in NXT is going to be ruined once they get to the main roster which makes it hard to care about any of them as, ultimately, they’re going to break your heart in the end.

[Supremo]

They were obviously embarrassed enough on that first night to release this press release, which looks even worse in retrospect.

"Congratulations to AEW on a successful premiere. The real winners of last night's head-to-head telecasts of NXT on USA Network and AEW on TNT are the fans, who can expect Wednesday nights to be a competitive and wild ride as this is a marathon, not a one-night sprint."

Some marathon. Ultimately it’s for the best. They were never going to turn the tide. They’d played all their cards. Sending all the Raw and Smackdown stars. Putting NXT over everyone at Survivor Series, bringing back all the old WCW specials, Title Unification matches, Charlotte Flair and Edge coming in as Royal Rumble winners, seven thousand ladder matches. Months of reactive panic booking that didn’t work and hurt their overall product massively. I mean sure, they could’ve tried actually booking a compelling show with interesting characters, but that’s clearly beyond them in 2021.

I do wonder how this looks to TV execs though. Picked a fight with a much smaller company being paid pennies compared to WWE and lost so bad they had to switch dates. Between that and the shrinking Raw and Smackdown ratings there are definitely questions to be asked when these contracts come due.

Are there many other examples of WWE so blatantly admitting defeat like this? Feels really alien for them to be so humble.

Edited March 3, 2021 by Supremo

[d-d-d-dAz]

If there was any justice in the world they’d get trounced by Impact, too.

Impact’s great. 

If WWE had any respect at all for my working from home breakfast schedule, they’d put NXT on Thursday nights so there’d be a show each morning for me to fast forward through.

Selfish bastards.

[BomberPat]

I don't think the intention was ever that NXT was going to trounce AEW, but that it would make a significant enough dent to devalue AEW's timeslot and their brand by extension in the eyes of TV execs. That obviously didn't happen, and I'd question the efficacy of continuing to run head-to-head once that became clear.

[Supremo]

Hopefully no longer having the pressure of competing will allow them to calm down and focus on what once made NXT so great. I worry they’re too far gone though. I can also see them still trying to compete from afar. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if they continued doing endless ladder matches in the hope their Tuesday numbers beat AEW’s Wednesday numbers.

Ultimately, I think the biggest difference in this, “war,” was in both company’s ability to accept criticism and change course. AEW still having lingering problems but for the most part they were more than happy to almost immediately pull the plug or change direction on stuff that wasn’t working. Dark Order went from one of the worst acts on TV, a Netto Ministry of Darkness, to a bunch of lovable idiots. The Nightmare Collective were rightly placed in the bin. Jimmy Havoc was banished. Omega and The Bucks stopped being 50/50 jobbers and actually became stars. They started weaving long term storylines that genuinely paid off. 

By contrast, other than fucking Mauro off in favour of Wade Barrett, what changes have NXT really made? What acts did they recognise as not working and change course on? Dexter Lumis is still there every week, doing the same shitty staring gimmick.

Edited March 3, 2021 by Supremo

[WyattSheepMask]

I mean, there were other reasons that Jimmy Havoc got banished far beyond being a bit shit. They had to sack him, this isn’t Progress (pardon the expression).

But then again, Justin Roberts was allowed to stay on TV, so there is that

Not that NXT did any better pairing Gargano up with an alleged nonce

Edited March 3, 2021 by WyattSheepMask

[Supremo]

Yeah, mentioning Havoc probably diverted my point. Between Justin Roberts and Velveteen Dream they’re still as bad as each other in that sense. Removing Alex Marvez from commentary would have been a better example.

I think the overall point remains though. AEW calmly changed course in the long-term and adapted where needed, whereas NXT just threw shit at the wall without ever actually trying to address the real problems in their creative or attempt a genuinely different approach.

The irony is that between Undisputed Era splitting up, The Way starting to click as a bunch of daft idiots and Cameron Grimes becoming the Million Dollar Yokel this is actually the closest NXT have come to sorting their shit out and successfully trying new things. It’s mad that they decided now was the right time to throw the towel.

Edited March 3, 2021 by Supremo

[DavidB6937]

6 minutes ago, Supremo said:

I think the overall point remains though. AEW calmly changed course in the long-term and adapted where needed, whereas NXT just threw shit at the wall without ever actually trying to address the real problems in their creative or attempt a genuinely different approach.

I'm not sure that's entirely true. Granted, they still have spammy finisher nonsense every so often, but I do think they've had a pretty solid direction overall recently. I've certainly found it more enjoyable, although I get why others might not. It's not a perfect show, and it's not at its height right now, but I do think it was a lot worse at points earlier in 2020.

[Supremo]

It’s gotten better since around War Games, I’d say. They’ve calmed down on the panic booking and endless gimmick matches and you’re starting to see the positive outcome of that with the acts I’ve previously mentioned. I wonder if that was when they made the call, which is why everything has felt a bit calmer and focussed since then. Someone has finally put the ladders and cages back in the warehouse.

Overall though? It’s really highlighted how much they don’t have it in them to compete. All this talk about it being best for fans was bollocks. It brought out the worst in them. They were so busy trying to time everything so that it made a dent in Dynamite’s ratings that they never stopped to see what a wreck they’d made of their own show. Rhea Ripley leaving NXT should have been the biggest blow ever but she’d been so mismanaged in favour of trying to compete with AEW that it’ll be barely noticeable that she’s now gone.

Edited March 3, 2021 by Supremo

[Yakashi]

Credit where it’s due, Cameron Grimes is the best thing on both shows. 

[Supremo]

3 hours ago, Yakashi said:

Credit where it’s due, Cameron Grimes is the best thing on both shows. 

I’m absolutely terrified. The moment Bruce Prichard sees this act he’s immediately going to the main roster. It’ll probably be great for his bank balance but there’s no way he’ll be doing these brilliantly dumb skits on Raw or Smackdown. NXT is the best place for him. I’m hoping they bring Ted Dibiase in.

[d-d-d-dAz]

I’m not warming to LA Knight.

He looks like a yoga teacher having a mid-life crisis in Shane McMahon cosplay.

Weirdly, his promos somehow make him sound older than he looks. 

“I’m like Tom Brady” = OLD

”...last of a dying breed” = FUCKING OLD GIT

[Statto]

Knight just seems an odd fit in NXT. And it's not necessarily an age thing, NXT is hardly a land of the youngsters anymore (Tomasso Ciampa must be at least 60 judging by the way he looks right now) but more a style thing.

Raw or Smackdown seem like they'd be a better fit for him within WWE, but for some reason I can imagine him fitting better just about ANYWHERE in wrestling than NXT - AEW, RoH, Japan, and (obviously) NWA & Impact all seem like better environments for his character/style.

I'm guessing NXT are going to get their own set of Women's Tag Titles based on the "screwjob" finish there and Regal's tease of a "landscape changing" announcement?

I'm very pleased they've given Grimes that kind of annoying, kind of catchy rap number from the vignettes as his entrance music in this tweaked gimmick. Works perfectly.

[d-d-d-dAz]

10 minutes ago, Statto said:

Knight just seems an odd fit in NXT. And it's not necessarily an age thing, NXT is hardly a land of the youngsters anymore (Tomasso Ciampa must be at least 60 judging by the way he looks right now) but more a style thing.

I don't think it's an age thing as such, more a presentation thing.

Ciampa may have just celebrated his 86th birthday, but it's just sort of there. It's part of him. He's a grizzled, old looking bastard. That's fine.

Knight is all over the place. Like, on the one hand he looks pretty old. On the other, he dresses like he thinks he's young. His outfits are so bad, it was barely a hop, skip and a jump away from that Steve Buscemi meme. Then, on the other, he talks like he's a million years old. Pick a lane and run in it.

Unless the gimmick is going to be 'in-denial, middle aged man desperately clinging to his youth', in which case i'm all in.

LA Knight could well be the living embodiment of what's wrong with a lot of wrestling today. He might be able to work, he may cut a decent promo but there's no cohesive presentation that links look to in-ring style to promo style. It's all over the place. 

Why would a guy in shades, a blue leather jacket and Jordans talk about being the last of a dying breed? Just a bit crap.