The NXT we know and love today is a far cry from it’s humble beginnings.
Wait, “humble’ isn’t the right word. What am I looking for...exciting? No...ambitious? Nah...Oh, I know! Crappy.
NXT was crappy.
If you remember, NXT was like a weird talent search/game show that consisted of rules that didn’t make sense, crowds that didn’t care, and commentators actively burying fresh talent in an attempt to make everything awful, I guess.
That’s not to say nothing good came of this failed experiment; Heath Slater, Darren Young, Ryback (as Skip Sheffield), Wade Barrett and Daniel Bryan were all on that first season.
The Nexus, which was fun while it lasted, was born from NXT Season 1.
The following four seasons was more of the same, though. A handful of wrestlers stuck around and some went on to great careers, still thriving today.
Bray Wyatt was a season 2 contestant as Husky Harris, never making it further than 4th place. Naomi’s the only one left from the female’s season. And hey, Fandango won his season!
Honestly, I’m surprised NXT made it out of 2010 alive. But then something awesome happened...Lego.
Wait, I’m getting ahead of myself...
Around late 2012-early 2013, NXT became a developmental territory. It stopped being a goofy game show and was actually completely ignored by WWE altogether.
I don’t pretend to know exactly what went down in meetings and such, but it seems Triple H was given full power over The Brand With The Missing “E.”
From it’s inception NXT was designed to find talent. Talent that would then be featured on Raw and Smackdown and PPVs if they were lucky. It was already a development territory, only it was originally disguised as the fever dreams of an old man who loves talking about balls.
Under The Game’s looking eyes it grew. Fast. It’s like when the dad that’s desperately trying to cling to his childhood is busy putting together Harry Potter-themed Lego sets but his annoying son keeps asking to play.
To keep him busy he gives him a handful of the extra peices that Lego inexplicably puts in each box. Then the pesky son builds the coolest thing that makes no sense but you can’t take your eyes off it. The rest of the family won’t shut up about it. “Oh, jeepers, look at what little Paulie made! Susan, Susan, come quick, look at what he built! Isn’t it delightful?!?”
I told you. Lego.
Anyway, NXT took off like a rocket.
By the time their first Network special, NXT: Arrival, aired on The Network it was practically a phenomenon. The Wyatt Family was legit scaring everyone, Bo Dallas was sports entertaining me like crazy, Neville was flippty do-ing all over Full Sail, Sami Zayn and Cesaro were putting on modern day classics, and the ACTUAL seeds of the Divas Revolution were being firmly planted in Orlando.
But like I said, it was still a considered the WWE “minor league.” The place to get some heat behind a wrestler and send them to The Main Roster for all the success they can handle! Sometimes. Maybe. Ehh, probably not, actually?
Out of everyone that was on that historic Arrival card, only Mojo Rawley hasn’t been “called up” to Raw or Smackdown. Even that changed today morning.
And the rest have gone on to varying degrees of success. Despite coming out of the gate hot, Paige has drifted into a weird Total Limbo. Emma got saddled with the dreaded “girlfriend of a wrestler” role, before getting demoted BACK to NXT (not her fault).
Bo and Tyler Breeze are perpetual mid-card jobbers. Sami and Neville had injuries that curbed the forward momentum they had been building at inopportune times. The Ascension was doomed well before their entrance music hit.
But that didn’t stop the world from feeling the tremors of excitement rippling through the pro wrestling circuits. Talent was flocking toward the brand, begging for a shot at the hottest show in town. Some left secure jobs, family and friends. Some took paycuts just to be there.
Guys like Finn Balor, Samoa Joe, Asuka...hell, even Rhyno came back! Everybody wanted in. It was a new way to get to the top.
For every Sylvester Lefort and Blue Pants there’s a Kevin Owens, a Seth Rollins, and Xavier Woods. Guys that made it. NXT has a pretty good track record if you step back and look at it. But think about your favorite wrestler currently in NXT.
There is no way you aren’t, at least in the back of your skull brain, thinking about when they’ll debut on the main roster, how they’ll debut, and whether or not Vince and his cronies will ruin your beloved *place favorite wrestler’s name here* and have you cursing more than an episode of Veep directed by Quentin Tarantino.
People say NXT has grown into a legit third brand, right along side Raw and Smackdown, and that’s hard to argue. I know it is at LEAST the second reason I subscribe to The Network, possibly behind the money saved on PPVs.
I look forward to NXT over everything. It has tons of action and tells compelling stories each week in just a 1/5th of the time it takes the main roster to do the same. And in my opinion they do it better.
They’ve opened up the doors to the indy wrestlers and foreign talent for the WWE Universe to see. It’s like peeking behind the Wizard’s curtain. It makes you feel like you’re part of the gang, you know the inside scoop, you “got a guy.”
Sure, they can sell out The Barclays Center in Brooklyn, but they don’t get the same amount of the eyes on the show that the USA network can draw for the Red and Blue brands. And while you’ve got guys and gals like Finn and Bayley saying they never want to leave Full Sail University, they’re not gonna turn down a promotion.
In that sense, The Yellow Brand is, and probably always will be, a developmental brand. A “feeder” machine for the future of WWE. That doesn’t mean it won’t grow into a bigger entity, rivaling the rest of the company in ratings and recognition.
Anything can happen. I kind of think it already has.
