The real highlight of the week goes to NXT.
There has been a lot of buzz not only for their great show this past week, but for the realization which should have hit at least a year ago, is NXT is the future of WWE. We are looking at the future of wrestling.
Many seem to feel this is Triple H’s grand vision for the company, and it is only hindered by Vince McMahon and his obsession over keeping the “bigger guys” on television.
But is this true? Is Vince the reason why WWE is not incorporating more of NXT-style wrestling into the weekly programming? To be honest, I have read and heard the arguments, and perhaps there is sound reason as to why we don’t see people catapulting themselves and performing 450-twisting splashes in every match.
Case in point – Let’s take a trip back to WCW’s good years. Yes, they had a few. Back when Cruiserweight wrestling was a big deal. Rey Mysterio was a fresh face, Chris Jericho and Dean Malenko were putting on 15-minute-clinics, and seeing masked luchadores was a welcome novelty. As opposed to today, where Sin Cara shows up and we all groan, Rey Mysterio pops out of the stage only to be booed out of the building.
WWE later revitalized Cruiserweight wrestling with Paul London, Billy Kidman, Brian Kendrick (who appeared at the NXT tapings this week), and other lightweights who would put on show-stealing matches.
That is just it. Every match cannot be a show-stealer, because it would take away from storylines and the prime focus of the shows. We would then get bored, like we got bored of Rey Mysterio. We got bored of the mysterious masked wrestlers and suddenly, Cruiserweights were not a novelty anymore.
NXT shows are reminders of indy wrestling, which has to remain special and not quite become mainstream, otherwise the novelty is lost, and this type of exciting wrestling will become so routine, it’ll be expected and taken for granted. Should two guys not put on a spectacular match, they’ll get booed out of the building. Now of course, there is a way to balance it, much like WCW did before they went to hell. WWE did it for a while too, but there just wasn’t enough room for the Cruiserweight Championship anymore.
Guys from NXT will inevitably cross over to the main roster, might get saddled with a ridiculous gimmick, or might be allowed to retain their personas from the NXT arena. Could you imagine Adrian Neville hitting the Red Arrow on John Cena, or Sami Zayn turning Randy Orton’s face inside out with the Helluva Kick?
I’d love to see the Vaudevillians against Miz and Mizdow. Holy hell that would be hilarity.
We have seen what Dolph Ziggler, Daniel Bryan, and former NXT Champion Seth Rollins can do. Slowly but surely their style of wrestling is taking over television, but for the time being we still have to endure seeing slow-style from Cena, Orton, and now, Roman Reigns.
Time will tell what the future holds, but if I had a crystal ball, it would say NXT all over it.
Comments are closed.