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.
