By: Clint McCain (The Average Sports Guy)
For almost all wrestling fans, NXT is the brand that is exciting. It is where many current and more future Superstars male and female have or are plying their trade. Current NXT wrestlers are composed of homegrown young wrestlers as well as many INDY wrestling darlings. Current NXT wrestlers such as Finn Balor, Austin Aries, Eric Young, Samoa Joe, Hideo Itami, and Shinsuke Nakamura made a name for themselves in other wrestling organizations.
Just look at the amount of current male and female Superstars from NXT. Names such as Roman Reigns the current WWE Champion, Big E & Xavier Woods two thirds of the Tag Team Champions, Charlotte current women’s champion, Kevin Owens, Cesaro, Neville, Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch, Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, Eric Rowan, Braun Strowman, Bo Dallas, Kalisto former United States Champion, Sin Cara, Paige, Rusev, Lana, Fandango, Tyler Breeze, Konnor & Viktor, Adam Rose, Emma, Simon Gotch & Aiden English, Sami Zayn, Apollo Crews, Baron Corbin, Big Cass & Enzo Amore….and there were others who spent time developing like Zack Ryder, Eva Marie, Rosa Mendes, and Curtis Axel.
Some of these wrestlers like Apollo Crews, Baron Corbin, Big Cass & Enzo Amore, Simon Gotch & Aiden English & Sami Zayn are newer to the main roster and while making an impact now we will need to see how creative continually uses them before we know if they will be mainstays. One thing about the current WWE Creative team is that most NXT wrestlers get a sort of push as a new face but where do they go down the road? This is true for all wrestlers, but with NXT as its own brand and development system these men and women come to Raw and Smackdown with a built in fan base and a defined character. But some translate and some don’t.
A perfect example of what I am talking about is Neville. As Aaron Neville in NXT he was a high flyer with an amazing aerial moveset. He was an NXT Champion who put on excellent matches and was nicknamed “The Man That Gravity Forgot”. His first 2-3 months on the main Roster were great. He was in high profile matches and even had a shot at winning the King of the Ring Tournament and at the Intercontinental Championship.
After the initial push he was regulated to throw away matches and a feud with Stardust. After a promising beginning he is suffering from no creative direction and stuck in Mid-card purgatory. For a guy who is over with fans, and has a connection to the crowd ,who is even referred to as a Superhero to have his last meaningful program be with Stardust who lost to a non-wrestler is an indictment on creative. Instead of being able to display his unique aerial offense in a meaningful mid card feud we only see Neville in meaningless throwaway matches and he still receives a pop. WWE get this one right.
Another case of starting hot and having it backfire was Bo Dallas. The younger Brother of Bray Wyatt started off undefeated and being a delusional motivational speaker. He was winning matches and seemed to be on his way to being a genuinely disliked heel. He “thought” he was motivating the guys he wrestled and the crowd to Bo-lieve in themselves. Dallas had an unlikeable quality and an annoying voice. He is truly unlikeable and had the gimmick to get over. The problem with him was no creative direction. He had no purpose and ended up in the Social Outcasts. Dallas didn’t have a main event gimmick, but could have been a great Mid-card heel or a quality piece of a heel stable. As seen by his stint in NXT he can go in the ring and was able to draw heat on the microphone. Guys like this are needed and he could be a great value to WWE if used correctly.
Speaking of Bray Wyatt him and the Wyatt Family are the largest examples of guys being booked into nothingness when they should be over and in the main event picture. The original trio should have been able to run rampant through WWE and have either the United States or Intercontinental Championship on Bray and the Tag Team Titles on Rowan & Harper. With the addition of Braun Strowman the Wyatt Family should be unstoppable yet they have collectively held 1 championship and that was when they were not together.
All is not lost though due to the looming brand split more talent will need to be featured even leading up to the split to gain interest for Smackdown if the true intent is to make it the equal of Raw. All the NXT guys have not floundered on the main roster. Tyler Breeze and Fandango are starting to catch on as Breezdango and could save both of their failing gimmicks. The Wyatts can start fresh and dominate being the monster heel faction they are supposed to be, The Social Outcacsts can be a team to develop in the tag team division, The Ascension can bounce back with a slight gimmick tweak, Kevin Owens is an Upper Mid-Card talent who is over, and last but not least the division most affected by the NXT wrestlers the Women’s Division.
The women of WWE have become wrestlers recently not Divas and that was reflected at WrestleMania when the Divas Championship was thankfully retired in favor of the WWE Women’s Championship which is a great looking belt by the way. To show the impact that NXT has had on the Women’s Division and how it has changed I will just name the female wrestlers from NXT now on the Main Roster: Paige, Becky Lynch, Charlotte, Sasha Banks, Dana Brooke, Emma, Eva Marie, Lana, and Natayla spent time there as well. This is why NXT has been a great feeder organization for WWE.
Some NXT people have yet to achieve success but the main feud in WWE is between two thirds of the Shield and the MITB ladder match has many NXT Alumni in it as well. All in all with the NXT effect WWE would not have survived and this new brand split would have no chance of being successful. Talent is talent and NXt has brought talent to WWE and to the main roster. NXT will be a focal point moving forward and we have HHH to thank for that.
