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JTG recently sat down with SK Wrestling's Dr. Chris Featherstone on Off the SKript to discuss his career in WWE.
The conversation soon moved to the time JTG spent on the NXT brand of WWE, having been featured on the main roster for several years alongside his Cryme Tyme tag team partner Shad Gaspard.
While the NXT of today is very much a legitimate brand in itself, back when the show was first getting started JTG felt there was a huge difference in standards between the main roster and NXT. Specifically, he felt NXT was becoming more of an "entertainment" spectacle, as opposed to a wrestling show.
"I do recall as rookies started to get eliminated, it was more veterans than rookies, they kind of just went off the rail. At that point it wasn’t more ‘Who’s the winner?’ It was just more being entertainment, being entertaining… It just drifted off in a totally different direction… The first two seasons were good… "
When JTG was a member of the NXT roster, it was during a time when 'Rookies' were paired with 'Veterans' and the show operated more in the formula of an ongoing contest, to crown an overall winner of the season.
Nowadays, NXT is home to some of the very best wrestling you can find on television. Arguably, the brand is home to the best wrestling in the entire WWE.
JTG on Triple H during the early years of NXT
Triple H has been very hands-on in the growth of the NXT brand and is arguably responsible for the quality of the product we see today.
But the show was a very different place early on, according to JTG. While Triple H may be heavily involved in the NXT brand at the moment, this was not the case during JTG's tenure there.
“It was still, pretty much… Triple H had nothing… I’m not gonna say he had nothing to do with NXT when I was there, but it wasn’t what it is today. It was more of a… to me it felt like a show that was something to do before the main show started, to get the people ready for Raw or SmackDown. I can’t remember exactly which show it was. But it was just like a warm up for the main show." Said JTG.
You can see more of Dr Chris Featherstone's conversation with JTG here:
If any quotes from this interview are used please give a H/T to SK Wrestling.
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