The NXT Discussion Thread

[Hannibal Scorch]

That’s a cool answer @DavidB6937, and can see why it works for you so much. The problem is what is NXT then? It’s either a developmental brand or it’s a second brand (like how AEW has RoH). If it’s developmental surely the plan is for talents to eventually move over to WWE, but if they are saddled with gimmicks which won’t work, what’s the point?  
 

You have DIY who are now reunited again after their main roster gimmicks flopped, but what got them over in NXT doesn’t appear to work on Raw/Smackdown. Then you have Keith Lee and Karion Kross which was the reverse in that they took everything away from the NXT gimmicks and tried to reinvent them and it failed miserably. 

[DavidB6937]

8 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

That’s a cool answer @DavidB6937, and can see why it works for you so much. The problem is what is NXT then? It’s either a developmental brand or it’s a second brand (like how AEW has RoH). If it’s developmental surely the plan is for talents to eventually move over to WWE, but if they are saddled with gimmicks which won’t work, what’s the point?  
 

You have DIY who are now reunited again after their main roster gimmicks flopped, but what got them over in NXT doesn’t appear to work on Raw/Smackdown. Then you have Keith Lee and Karion Kross which was the reverse in that they took everything away from the NXT gimmicks and tried to reinvent them and it failed miserably. 

You've certainly highlighted some issues there and they've been ones that have been consistent problems for years with the NXT to main roster journey. I don't think they've ever quite figured it out to be honest. And sometimes you don't know exactly what will work or not work until they've given it a go. I honestly don't know the answers there and I don't think they do either.

In the case of the Garganos and Ciampas of the world, I feel like they really suffered from a case of "who and why should we care?" once they'd gone to the main roster. Everyone went on their journeys in NXT and grew to love them and want them to succeed. But if you didn't watch that, there wasn't a huge effort to get them over really.

Some will just move to the main roster and get over immediately because they don't need any deep connection, while others have been hugely successful based off that relationship they built with the NXT audience.

In short - there's no one size fits all answer for call ups. But they should be smart enough to realise which ones need a little more introduction to the main roster audience.

 

[RedTwoster]

44 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

That’s a cool answer @DavidB6937, and can see why it works for you so much. The problem is what is NXT then? It’s either a developmental brand or it’s a second brand (like how AEW has RoH). If it’s developmental surely the plan is for talents to eventually move over to WWE, but if they are saddled with gimmicks which won’t work, what’s the point?  
 

You have DIY who are now reunited again after their main roster gimmicks flopped, but what got them over in NXT doesn’t appear to work on Raw/Smackdown. Then you have Keith Lee and Karion Kross which was the reverse in that they took everything away from the NXT gimmicks and tried to reinvent them and it failed miserably. 

It's such a weird situation - it used to be that NXT was Triple H's vision of wrestling, and that meant some of its wrestlers struggled on the main roster as Vince McMahon's idea of what wrestling - and wrestlers - should be was dramatically different. 

You'd think his departure - and the introduction of Triple H's vision to the main roster - would fix things, but for whatever reason NXT has veered off into a direction that resembles what WWE's main roster programming used to be like. A bit of a role reversal for each show. 

 

[Hannibal Scorch]

6 minutes ago, RedTwoster said:

It's such a weird situation - it used to be that NXT was Triple H's vision of wrestling, and that meant some of its wrestlers struggled on the main roster as Vince McMahon's idea of what wrestling - and wrestlers - should be was dramatically different. 

You'd think his departure - and the introduction of Triple H's vision to the main roster - would fix things, but for whatever reason NXT has veered off into a direction that resembles what WWE's main roster programming used to be like. A bit of a role reversal for each show. 

 

Yeah like I said, I don’t care if you’re a developmental system, or a different wrestling brand, but pick a lane!

[sivy]

How I see NXT at the moment is they seem more fresh than the main roster. With the constant new characters from the PC or TNA or guys they signed from aew. 

Pèrez is so good, her facials are good she feels like she's legit. While in the other women's match Jordon was doing moves buy had no face expressions. 

I have to admit the start of Wes Lee vs Wentz match annoyed the hell out of me, it was meant to be almost a blood fued type match and they were doing flips and smiling. 

[Devon Malcolm]

This was really good. Roxanne Perez is excellent on the mic and went toe-to-toe with Punk superbly. The end bit made Giulia look a bit stupid but I can't wait for the match. Refuse to believe Iyo Sky was in a great match though, even if Bianca Belair was in it too.

[LaGoosh]

Nothing worse than botching a spot that would have looked dumb anyway if you had actually landed it and taking an even dumber bumb by accident. 

 

[Devon Malcolm]

 

[tiger_rick]

Funny stuff.

HBK should never be seen without a hat. Makes my childhood feel 100 years ago every time I see him. 

[DavidB6937]

I used to watch wrestling with my mum and dad a lot. She hasn't for years but watched the Vince doc. She said the biggest disappointment was seeing Shawn now but Bret is still lovely.

[wandshogun09]

Bret looks great these days. There was a time years ago when I thought he was looking proper rough and I used to say on here that he looked like Lisa Dingle off Emmerdale. But I think ripping into Goldberg every 5 nanoseconds has knocked years off him. On a serious note, looking back I was harsh given what he’s been through but he seems to be enjoying life more in general these days so that’s probably why he looks so at peace. He still talks about the old screwjob a fair bit because he’s asked about it in every single sodding interview but it seems like he’s not as obsessed with that these days and it doesn’t consume him like it used to. He seems to have just latched onto the positives from it, like blasting Vince into orbit with the Tiger Uppercut that shook Montreal. So yeah, I think letting go of a lot of that shit has done wonders for him. 

Edited October 2, 2024 by wandshogun09

[Supremo]

Yeah, watching the Vince documentary, I don’t think anyone has aged as badly as Shawn. Like a mouldy pear. The way he was looking here, I reckon Bret only needs to destroy one or two more of his Horcruxes.

[Hannibal Scorch]

5 hours ago, tiger_rick said:

Funny stuff.

HBK should never be seen without a hat. Makes my childhood feel 100 years ago every time I see him. 

His hat should be glued to his head like The Undertaker Hasbro figure.

[Snitsky's back acne]

So, beating Giulia in her first high profile match was.... a choice.

[DavidB6937]

16 minutes ago, Snitsky's back acne said:

So, beating Giulia in her first high profile match was.... a choice.

I mean it opens up a lot of options rather than just sending Roxanne straight off to the main roster like most assumed would happen.

Plus I like the unpredictable nature of it. I get so bored of undefeated streaks for new wrestlers. It's not the only way to build someone up.