NXT is being praised by wrestling analysts and commentators as being the “movement for next generational wrestlers” in The WWE. I actually disagree with that because I have seen so many former NXT stars get called up to the main roster to only get buried by Vince and his ass-kissing stooge writers.
I am by no means a “hater” of NXT because they put on some of the best shows of the year like the recent NXT Takeover Brooklyn IV.
Here are my top 5 legitimate issues that I personally have with NXT that many WWE fans are very oblivious to that I’ve started to notice.
1. NXT Is Not A Real “Developmental Brand” - The NXT likes to pride itself on being a “developmental brand”, but Triple H recently referred to NXT as “the third brand”, but also their actual track record tells a much different story because many of the stars in NXT like The Revival, Authors Of Pain, Tyler Breeze, Apollo Crews, and Sasha Banks have all been buried on the main roster by either being booked to job out to other wrestlers or simply by being left off the card. The WWE isn’t really using NXT to “build and develop talent” as they claim they are, their using it as a means to take talent from other promotions and lock them up in their little prison to prevent other promotions from getting them and this tactic is borderline criminal if you ask me.
2. It Actually Does Harms The Veterans - Another issue that I have with NXT is the fact that it has greatly harmed veterans who have been in the wrestling industry for 10+ years like Samoa Joe, Bobby Roode, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, and Asuka who have been buried and reduced to obscurity on the main roster. It makes absolutely no sense for a so-called developmental brand like NXT to use veterans to “build and develop” when they already did that in other promotions.
Example: Asuka is a 10+ year wrestling veteran who was an unstoppable force in NXT, but once she was called up to the main roster, she started getting buried by being booked to look weak and lose to Charlotte at WM34 as well as to Carmella twice at Money In The Bank and Not-So Extreme Rules. Hell, she was buried again by not only being left off the Summerslam card, but has now been relegated to dark matches.
3. The WWE Is Using It To Try To Monopolize The Entire Wrestling Industry - I have started to realize more now that WWE is using NXT as a means to try to monopolize the entire wrestling industry so that they won’t have another mega competitor like WCW was in the mid-to-late 1990s by going around the world and buying the talent from those promotions and keeping them there so that other promotions won’t come in and sweep them up. The lack of a true competitor is what’s killing the current WWE product nowadays because it was WCW that forced the WWE to make changes to its product in the late 1990s which was the best period in wrestling history.
4. Their Track Record Of Producing Successful Stars On The Main Roster Is Horrendous - One of the main things that greatly bothers me about NXT is that most of the wrestlers who were big stars in NXT that were called up to the main roster like Sasha Banks and Ember Moon have been reduced to small caricatures of what they once were in NXT on the main roster and what’s even worse is that they were left off of the card of the over saturated 7 hour Summerslam PPV.
5. They’re Losing Money Every Year - One of the things that concerns me about NXT that NXT doesn’t really want the public to know is that they’re constantly losing money each year. In 2016, they sold $7 million in tickets and had $20 million in expenses. In 2017, they had $6 million in ticket sales and $25 million in expenses. In 2016, they lost $13 million and in 2017, they lost $19 million. These losses are definitely a major concern for the future of NXT indeed.
The Conclusion - If the NXT in my opinion wants to be a real developmental brand, instead of bringing in veterans and wrestlers from other promotions, they should only bring in the ones that are starting out in the wrestling business and build them and the developmental brand up from there.
By Kwame Shakir
