2016 NXT GENERAL DISCUSSION THREAD

[SirSmUgly]

When I become the Emperor of Cascadia, Ramsey, I'll be glad to cede Eastern Washington with a border just west of Spokane to the state of Idaho. You all just have to promise to herd the white supremacists into a large fenced-off area somewhere in the Idaho mountains (or hey, near Moses Lake if you prefer to keep them in your newly-acquired lands) so that they can't get back into Washington. 

[Ramsey]

Speaking as the (soon to be) King of Idaho, I promise to keep our bigots and idiots in compounds where they can inbreed themselves into no-existence. Our kingdoms will be as Minas Tirith and Rohan. We will be at peace...and catch wrestling shows together.

[RIPPA]

Based on what folks are saying in seeing marketing materials in Dallas - it appears that Shinsuke Nakamura is just going to go by Nakamura

[JCM]

I don't have a problem with that. It's not like he would've got to keep it when he gets to the MR anyway.

[RIPPA]

From Triple H's NXT conference call

NXT going back to UK in June - starts with Download Festival and then a tour after that

[OSJ]

On 3/28/2016 at 3:57 PM, Web Conn said:

U think they'd stop off in Boise before Portland.

No, the shock of going from hipster-infested Boise to a place that's actually cool like Portland  could cause heads to explode...

[Cristobal]

...yes. no hipsters in Portland >_>

[RIPPA]

Kotaku of all places with a long piece on Bayley

http://kotaku.com/the-future-of-wwe-is-a-womens-wrestler-named-bayley-1768003108

[Ramsey]

On 4/1/2016 at 8:11 PM, OSJ said:

No, the shock of going from hipster-infested Boise to a place that's actually cool like Portland  could cause heads to explode...

Boise is pretty hip. They wear Portland shirts ironically. They ate quinoa before it was cool.

[Big Fresh]

When is Itami due back?

[Jiji]

So, NXT is going to have Nakamura in all of his pomp and glory and La Sombra has yet to make his TV debut. Itami is coming back, Bobby Roode is in the house, and now it looks as if Kota Ibushi is joining. Might not be a half-bad year for the company.

[Trocar Slush Weasel]

56 minutes ago, Oyaji said:

So, NXT is going to have Nakamura in all of his pomp and glory and La Sombra has yet to make his TV debut. Itami is coming back, Bobby Roode is in the house, and now it looks as if Kota Ibushi is joining. Might not be a half-bad year for the company.

So, I mean seriously we have to talk about where "signing the hottest free agent in the industry" every week is putting guys that are actually developmental.  There's two different NXTs now, the money one and the developmental one.  Are they gonna have a new NXT show for all the rookies on the Network too?  Or will the big names have a show on TV and the little names take over the Network show?

[SirSmUgly]

I feel like they do a good job of mixing in the home-growns with the new signings on weekly NXT television, but that show really needs to go to ninety minutes a week with the expanding roster. I love how much they pack into sixty minutes, but, for example, one of the issues they have is that there is no one built up after Bayley for Asuka to wrestle because she's beaten Emma and Dana and Bayley already beat Nia Jax. With an extra thirty minutes a week, they could build up a Peyton Royce or whomever to fill as a stopgap before they get Athena on TV to give her a super-push (and who is my prediction for the person to first defeat Asuka). 

Since it's their network and they control the scheduling, maybe expand to seventy-five minutes per weekly NXT show first and, to avoid further crowd burnout, split the tapings in twain so that they do two shows at a time instead of four. 

[rzombie1988]

27 minutes ago, Trocar Slush Weasel said:

So, I mean seriously we have to talk about where "signing the hottest free agent in the industry" every week is putting guys that are actually developmental.  There's two different NXTs now, the money one and the developmental one.  Are they gonna have a new NXT show for all the rookies on the Network too?  Or will the big names have a show on TV and the little names take over the Network show?

Yep, they are going to have to do something. I don't believe NXT was supposed to originally be an indy supershow, but that's what it has become. Options are:

1) Add another NXT show per week or expand it.

2) Start bringing NXT people to Smackdown and split the brands

3) Create a new NXT just for development guys aka Vince guys only.

What will happen in its current state is that people like Aries and Crews will get shafted for the indy star of the week. They are also going to be running out of guys to steal as they've got just about everyone not named Young Bucks, Okada or Richochet.

[Charlie M.]

I think they went a bit overboard hotshotting and pandering to the "smart" fans with the matchmaking and signings. Ideally I'd have one "indy supershow" match on a Takeover and the rest should be Aries/Corbin type matches with veteran vs homegrown developmental guy. You'll still have good Takeover shows and you'll be moving more people along.

The last thing I want to see is an expanded NXT TV show.

[Kyuubi]

2 hours ago, rzombie1988 said:

Yep, they are going to have to do something. I don't believe NXT was supposed to originally be an indy supershow, but that's what it has become. Options are:

1) Add another NXT show per week or expand it.

2) Start bringing NXT people to Smackdown and split the brands

3) Create a new NXT just for development guys aka Vince guys only.

What will happen in its current state is that people like Aries and Crews will get shafted for the indy star of the week. They are also going to be running out of guys to steal as they've got just about everyone not named Young Bucks, Okada or Richochet.

1. Yes.

2. Yes.

3. Outside of Baron Corbin, no one would watch these people. The show will tank and pretty much be FCW before Daniel Bryan and Low Ki arrived.

[rzombie1988]

22 minutes ago, Kyuubi said:

1. Yes.

2. Yes.

3. Outside of Baron Corbin, no one would watch these people. The show will tank and pretty much be FCW before Daniel Bryan and Low Ki arrived.

To be fair, FCW was only aired in Florida and not on the WWE network. OVW did nicely despite only airing locally when WWE wasn't screwing them. I remember Punk and Cappotelli each doing good business. There's no doubt in my mind that NXT would be drawing the same as FCW did without being on the WWE Network.

[Kyuubi]

Just now, rzombie1988 said:

To be fair, FCW was only aired in Florida and not on the WWE network. OVW did nicely despite only airing locally when WWE wasn't screwing them. I remember Punk and Cappotelli each doing good business.

If you structured it like it is today, CM Punk would be going to the indy NXT show. And trust me, the talent pool for WWE-made developmental is a little shallow these days. It is not like the days where you got Randy Orton, Brock Lesnar, Shelton Benjamin, Batista, and etc in one extremely productive year.

Look I've been to those FCW shows and if y'all think Alex Riley is bad now... 

[rzombie1988]

16 minutes ago, Kyuubi said:

If you structured it like it is today, CM Punk would be going to the indy NXT show. And trust me, the talent pool for WWE-made developmental is a little shallow these days. It is not like the days where you got Randy Orton, Brock Lesnar, Shelton Benjamin, Batista, and etc in one extremely productive year.

Look I've been to those FCW shows and if y'all think Alex Riley is bad now... 

Their strongest periods were 2000-2002 and Heyman's run. It seemed they started screwing around with the talent in 2002-2004 by making the Basham's BDSM guys and making Eugene retarded. Looking at results from 2002-2005 ish they had the almost exact same roster and few guys of any amateur or indy backgrounds.

I went to an FCW show as well, likely around 2009ish. I thought Angela Fong was going to be something special and think they really blew it with her. Tyler Reks was in the main. Tyson Tarver fought Doink and Low-Ki/Michael McGillicutty were there and injured.

[Kyuubi]

1 minute ago, rzombie1988 said:

Their strongest periods were 2000-2002 and Heyman's run. It seemed they started screwing around with the talent in 2002-2004 by making the Basham's BDSM guys and making Eugene retarded. Looking at results from 2002-2005 ish they had the almost exact same roster and few guys of any amateur or indy backgrounds.

I went to an FCW show as well. I thought Angela Fong was going to be something special and think they really blew it with her.

To be fair, FCW women's was always really good. They presented women as wrestler's first. Angela Fong is doing big things in Lucha Underground now.

It's just for every Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins, there were ten Percy Watsons, Trent Barrettas, Tyler Reks, and Eli Cottonwoods. And yeah, we should accept these people as being green, but no one wants to watch that. They want a show and it would not be nowhere near as successful as this NXT even with WWE network. These guys should be in developmental where they belong.The ones that are good then should work with the indy people. I see what you are saying that indy established guys are pushing the developmental people out, but there is a reason for that. They are green as grass 99% of the time and need to stay in that nice ass center for as long as they can. Build them up like Baron Corbin or Tyler Breeze. Watch them develop and hold their own. But giving them there own show? No, I'd rather watch ROH.

[Trocar Slush Weasel]

1 hour ago, Kyuubi said:

To be fair, FCW women's was always really good. They presented women as wrestler's first. Angela Fong is doing big things in Lucha Underground now.

It's just for every Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins, there were ten Percy Watsons, Trent Barrettas, Tyler Reks, and Eli Cottonwoods. And yeah, we should accept these people as being green, but no one wants to watch that. They want a show and it would not be nowhere near as successful as this NXT even with WWE network. These guys should be in developmental where they belong.The ones that are good then should work with the indy people. I see what you are saying that indy established guys are pushing the developmental people out, but there is a reason for that. They are green as grass 99% of the time and need to stay in that nice ass center for as long as they can. Build them up like Baron Corbin or Tyler Breeze. Watch them develop and hold their own. But giving them there own show? No, I'd rather watch ROH.

But the point is, the opportunities are diminishing for those guys.  In 2014, you'd could cycle guys in and out of angles to see how they performed and what worked.  Now, these guys have no hope as anything other than jobbers when none of the fans will buy them against the armada of indy stars who will be taking up the bulk of tv time anyway.

[Jiji]

I don't know if I agree with your last statement. Nobody would've blinked twice if they had Corbin go over Aries last night. It wouldn't have been the right move, but the credibility is certainly there. He probably goes over strong in the rematch, should they go down that road (a road, thankfully, less worn out by NXT than the main roster). Dana Brooke will likely be just fine when she gets back in the ring too. As long as the wrestler has something special and perseverance, they should be okay. And while neither of Brooke or Corbin appeared all that special their first 6 or so months, they both have proven most of their critics wrong (myself included regarding Dana). I don't think it's a bad thing for wrestlers ultimately working for Vince McMahon to have experience in having to win over a harsh critic. 

[Kyuubi]

19 minutes ago, Trocar Slush Weasel said:

But the point is, the opportunities are diminishing for those guys.  In 2014, you'd could cycle guys in and out of angles to see how they performed and what worked.  Now, these guys have no hope as anything other than jobbers when none of the fans will buy them against the armada of indy stars who will be taking up the bulk of tv time anyway.

And that sucks, but the bulk of those indy guys paid their dues and the only reason they weren't on WWE TV sooner is because of Vince McMahon did not think much of them earlier due to looks, size, or a combination of both. And those people who don't have that indy background have a ton of more upside to them if Vince likes them(which he will because he is so narcissistic and insecure that he hates the idea that anyone but WWE made his biggest stars). Giving them their own show is akin of watching WCW Thunder. Most of them are as green as grass and I get it. If you like watching people develop with little to no training, then that would be fun for you. But judging by how much everyone shits on Mojo Rawley, Eva Marie, and Cameron, a lot of you would not want to watch that shit either even if we get a Baron Corbin or an Alexa Bliss. If anything, giving them their own show where they aren't allowed to make mistakes and their mistakes will be documented on the internet for as long as they continue their careers would make it worse. Until this day, people shit on John Cena in his early days messing up a Russian Legsweep in a training video. Now imagine if these people wrestle an absolutely terrible match, and WWE actually broadcasted this. It's throwing them to the wolves.

[The Z]

5 hours ago, Charlie M. said:

I think they went a bit overboard hotshotting and pandering to the "smart" fans with the matchmaking and signings. Ideally I'd have one "indy supershow" match on a Takeover and the rest should be Aries/Corbin type matches with veteran vs homegrown developmental guy. You'll still have good Takeover shows and you'll be moving more people along.

The last thing I want to see is an expanded NXT TV show.

That's crazy! Are you seriously advocating for less shows like the one that happened yesterday?

I honestly wouldn't mind a 2-hour weekly NXT show, but I also think the three-brand-solution would be the best solution for everyone. You can still call up guys from the third brand to NXT after they prove themselves.

[DJ Hero Morganti]

6 minutes ago, The Z said:

That's crazy! Are you seriously advocating for less shows like the one that happened yesterday?

I honestly wouldn't mind a 2-hour weekly NXT show, but I also think the three-brand-solution would be the best solution for everyone. You can still call up guys from the third brand to NXT after they prove themselves.

I'm pretty sure that is what they do now. Put the green guys and gals on the local show and the hot shots on the touring show. Then when they are ready to get some tv have them do some jobs as enhancement talent until they figure out a gimmick that might work and redebut them?