The NXT Discussion Thread

[simonworden]

I was having a good think about Mason Rock. Now if any of the sleazy podcast people have said this I apologize. Surely him looking like a fat school bully's angry mother is completely deliberate and thought out? The amount of attention he and NXT are getting for something that's not aesthetically normal for WWE has been pretty sizeable and now you have a wrestler who people are tuning in either to the show or through socials to see what they do with him.

 

If they'd glued a rug to his face or masked him up, it wouldn't have been so shareable as "look at this big bloke with a babyface" is. Back even 15 years ago this wouldn't have had a purpose but now every wally shares their opinions and reels online it makes total sense. So good for the lad. Even if he ends up dancing in a pink singlet behind Truth and Danhausen by year end he'll have made some cash and upped his value. 

[LaGoosh]

1 hour ago, simonworden said:

Surely him looking like a fat school bully's angry mother is completely deliberate and thought out? The amount of attention he and NXT are getting for something that's not aesthetically normal for WWE has been pretty sizeable and now you have a wrestler who people are tuning in either to the show or through socials to see what they do with him.

Is that what is happening though? I don't think people tuning in just to have a quick look in horror at the chubby incel teenager and see how shit he is is a good thing.

[DavidB6937]

I think it's too early to really know if it's an issue or not. A few people moaning online? Well you get that with most things anyway. The NXT crowd seem to respond to him well when it could be silence, so I see that as a more positive step. He's done well elsewhere. He's obviously got the backing of important people within the company. So I dont think the looks thing is make or break. The promo ability? That's probably more questionable for me. I'd just let him destroy people.

[mim731]

If they'd shoved him on RAW looking like that I'd say the criticism is fair, but NXT is still developmental and the guy is clearly talented.

Will he make it? Not sure, but there's plenty who got off to very rocky starts in NXT and they course corrected. Fuck sakes, Roman Reigns was called Leakee, Becky Lynch was an outdated Irish dancing stereotype, Rusev wrestled in what looked like a soiled rag and those are just the first two that spring to mind.

Plenty evolved their acts or improved with time to get them ready for TV proper. There's also plenty who didn't, but he probably deserves a fair shake of more than a few weeks. 

[Devon Malcolm]

Also, why is it that big fat wrestlers these days have to be able to do a moonsault? It was amazing when Vader was doing them 30-odd years ago because it was a novelty. Just let them be a Stan Hansen. That would be a novelty today.

[BomberPat]

1 hour ago, LaGoosh said:

Is that what is happening though? I don't think people tuning in just to have a quick look in horror at the chubby incel teenager and see how shit he is is a good thing.

I also don't think people would be tuning in to see him anyway. If the "appeal" is in making fun of how he looks, that begins and ends at the social media posts, surely?

I haven't seen him in NXT, likely never will, but he's fantastic. I think the worst thing WWE could do to him is force him to do the WALTER > Gunther transformation, going from a big fat lad with some heft behind everything he does to just being in reasonably good shape but no longer physically standing out among other wrestlers. He's a Terry Gordy, just a big fucker who can work, and I'd rather have ten of him than a hundred more identikit body guys who do springboard cutters and choreographed entrances.

[LaGoosh]

1 hour ago, BomberPat said:

He's a Terry Gordy, just a big fucker

I dunno. There's different types of big fuckers. There's people like Terry Gordy, Samoa Joe, Bam Bam Bigelow, Vader and Stan Hansen (and recently guys like Keith Lee) who are big fat dudes who look hard as nails. That's the good type of wrestling fatty. Mason Rook doesn't look like that. He looks like a fat 12 year old. It's puppy fat not muscle fat.

And agree with @Devon Malcolm on the moonsault thing. Rook isn't even big enough for a moonsault to be impressive anyways. Chris Farley used to do cartwheels - it's not mind blowing to see chubby lads doing a few flips.  I'm much more impressed by a big fat tough guy smashing people out the sky and mauling them than a moonsault.

Edited May 18 by LaGoosh

[simonworden]

2 hours ago, LaGoosh said:

Is that what is happening though? I don't think people tuning in just to have a quick look in horror at the chubby incel teenager and see how shit he is is a good thing.

If this is a deliberate, well thought out concept which I don't think it is, that would be giving people a bit too much credit then the idea would be to just get people talking and sharing to help boost the NXT brand. Essentially using the lad as the wrestling equivalent of the Go Compare man back in the day. 

It's either that or AI said they need to be more relatable to angry virgins. Actually this, this is exactly what happened. 

 

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

Speaking as a fat man myself I think part of the problem with Mason Rook is how the fat hangs. His fat really hangs down making a big fat gunt, which doesn't look intimidating at all. Someone like Samoa Joe is a fat lad, it just hangs differently on him, not that I'm comparing them in any way other than BMI. 

[SoloJones]

The most frustrating thing for me in all of this is that WWE programming in 2026 is mostly stale, formulaic rubbish, but they sign and push someone who has the potential to be a breath of fresh air given that he doesn't look or work like most in WWE, and he gets endlessly body shamed online. 

[tiger_rick]

2 hours ago, SoloJones said:

The most frustrating thing for me in all of this is that WWE programming in 2026 is mostly stale, formulaic rubbish, but they sign and push someone who has the potential to be a breath of fresh air given that he doesn't look or work like most in WWE, and he gets endlessly body shamed online. 

I'm not into body shaming the guy and I think the "fat lesbian" stuff belongs about 20 years ago but, I do think he looks rubbish. He's not really a big guy, he doesn't look menacing and he doesn't have great gear or a gimmick that makes him something that stands out. He just looks like a babyfaced Brian Knobbs or something and it's not very exciting.

I know he has some fans on here from before but his name before was crap and his NXT name is somehow worse. 

I always wanna see someone from the UK succeed so I'm pulling for him but the bits I've been recommended from NXT on my socials so far haven't impressed. If I didn't know he was a UK indy guy, I'd have lost all interest already.

[SoloJones]

8 minutes ago, tiger_rick said:

I'm not into body shaming the guy and I think the "fat lesbian" stuff belongs about 20 years ago but, I do think he looks rubbish. He's not really a big guy, he doesn't look menacing and he doesn't have great gear or a gimmick that makes him something that stands out. He just looks like a babyfaced Brian Knobbs or something and it's not very exciting.

I know he has some fans on here from before but his name before was crap and his NXT name is somehow worse. 

I always wanna see someone from the UK succeed so I'm pulling for him but the bits I've been recommended from NXT on my socials so far haven't impressed. If I didn't know he was a UK indy guy, I'd have lost all interest already.

I know NXT is as easy to watch as any of the other shows, but it is still developmental and he's been there for a couple of weeks, and I'm pretty sure he hasn't had a match yet. Fair enough if people don't like his look, but if he wasn't fat I don't think he'd be getting the majority of the negativity from the depths of Twitter, etc. I do think it's a bit weird that I see the "he's not menacing" line brought up everywhere, as if it was the 80s. Obviously its a visual business and a look is important, but I genuinely don't think he stands out negatively compared to any number of other NXT guys who I also wouldn't describe as menacing.

[tiger_rick]

11 minutes ago, SoloJones said:

I do think it's a bit weird that I see the "he's not menacing" line brought up everywhere, as if it was the 80s. Obviously its a visual business and a look is important, but I genuinely don't think he stands out negatively compared to any number of other NXT guys who I also wouldn't describe as menacing.

I'm only going off the highlights I've seen on NXT's output which clearly appear to be selling him as a big threat but his appearance and character don't really fit. 

It is a WIP so I wouldn't write him off either, just giving an honest response to what I've seen so far. From that POV, it doesn't really matter who he is or where he comes from, it's not very impressive. I susect I've only seen it though because of something in the algorithm related to him being a British guy. I certainly don't see much else of NXT. 

[gmoney]

6 hours ago, LaGoosh said:

I dunno. There's different types of big fuckers. There's people like Terry Gordy, Samoa Joe, Bam Bam Bigelow, Vader and Stan Hansen (and recently guys like Keith Lee) who are big fat dudes who look hard as nails. That's the good type of wrestling fatty. Mason Rook doesn't look like that. He looks like a fat 12 year old. It's puppy fat not muscle fat.

100%. He's on the Richard Griffiths end of the soft fat lad scale. 

[JLM]

Skimmed through a couple of episodes to see how Lizzy Rain and Naraku are doing. Lizzy Rain has clearly been told to do the most at all times when it comes to her character. It’s a bit much for me, but her in-ring babyface charisma is shining and the people are behind her. The American crowd will also love how aggressively British she is. She’s doing the classic “competitive losses against high ranking opponents” bit and both matches have been solid. She’s also been very pally backstage with very popular faces in Paxley and Hill and been featured across multiple segments. It’s really nice to see how high they are on her because I think she’s excellent. 

Still just one match for Naraku. Cool that he’s doing promos in English and is clearly putting the work in to improve this, wonder if that was part of the reason he requested NXT first. He’s mostly been looking good in suits and babysitting Tony D’s title reign. He looked strong fighting off Tateson Chexmix last week. Very interested to see him in the big featured match with the universally adored Mason Rook next week. 
 

He has also been reading Supremo’s posts and noted that WWE backstage is shot on a 2D plane. This has allowed him to master the art of WWE stealth, which definitely bodes well for his future:

 

I enjoyed the Where’s Wally aspect of this segment. 
 

Lastly, there is much to like about Lola Vice but she is a horribly wooden promo. Hope she can fix that. 

Edited June 3 by JLM