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NXT - 2021


Dolfan in NYC

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There are not very many other NXT superstars that have been pushed or protected more than Cole since his arrival. Also, he has lost enough matches to show that he can still stay over and be a threat with proper booking. The odds are that the idea was for him to put over KOR whether he stays or decides to move on. Now they won't even have enough time to bury him. I'm sure WWE appreciated him telling them what the situation was and he's in really lucky spot at this point, as far as options go.

If I were him, though, I would not trust WWE not to punish me severely, if I would decide to stay and sign a new contract with them. They were exposed as completely inept and I'm afraid somehow Cole will be paying for it, even if he tried to do the cordial thing and let them know that his contract already expired.

He has been treated exceptionally well up to this point, maybe the best thing for him would be to cash out while he is ahead, and move on to wherever, with his reputation and image well intact. He could indeed show up somewhere else with a couple of tv main event victories from just a few weeks prior under his belt. Not very often people get to do that!

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There's no way I would re-sign with WWE if I was Cole. Vince isn't leaving any time soon and he's going to be jobbed out hard if he's ever moved to the main roster. Go be with your girlfriend in AEW and have the flexibility to work NJPW or Impact every now and then. 

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Honestly, I think Cole is in a great spot to leave and become a fairly big star.  We're all kind of tired of Cole's run in NXT, but I think the biggest problem with him is that NXT has been stagnant because Cole, Gargano, Ciampa, etc. shouldn't still be in NXT.  NXT is supposed to be where those guys get to the main event, create a name for themselves and move on.  When it became clear that those guys weren't going to be moving on to the main roster, there was a log jam where the main event guys were having  the same matches over and over again.  With that said, Cole has been really fucking good in NXT.   He's a natural heel, who can work, even if his style gets tiresome over time.  He's the exact type of person who can get out of the WWE system and become a huge star somewhere else.  

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Of everyone in NXT, I think Cameron Grimes is a sure thing to be called up and become an even bigger star. Fantastic in ring talent, great at comedy, and has some serious babyface fire. His feud with LA Knight is by far the best thing NXT has done in ages too. 

Edited by DeathyBoy
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3 hours ago, DeathyBoy said:

Of everyone in NXT, I think Cameron Grimes is a sure thing to be called up and become an even bigger star. Fantastic in ring talent, great at comedy, and has some serious babyface fire. His feud with LA Knight is by far the best thing NXT has done in ages too. 

All this is true. Too bad, that "sure thing" and "can't miss" seems like a challenge to them. NXT: "Here's a prospect that will become a huge star, no matter what!" Vince: "Hold my beer."

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18 hours ago, Shartnado said:

All this is true. Too bad, that "sure thing" and "can't miss" seems like a challenge to them. NXT: "Here's a prospect that will become a huge star, no matter what!" Vince: "Hold my beer."

Oh for sure. But Grimes ticks every box, so Vince would have to find some imaginary fault.

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On 8/3/2021 at 12:10 PM, Craig H said:

There's no way I would re-sign with WWE if I was Cole. Vince isn't leaving any time soon and he's going to be jobbed out hard if he's ever moved to the main roster. Go be with your girlfriend in AEW and have the flexibility to work NJPW or Impact every now and then. 

According to Meltzer, Cole is a huge fan of Triple H and Shawn Michaels.  Dave thinks working with them might be enough of a perk to get him to sign a new deal.

I like Cole more than most but it's getting hard to see where he might fit in other than NXT.  He has an in with the Elite but it no one seems confident that would translate into a real push, given how big AEW's roster is growing.  It seems increasingly likely that Vince will either not call him up to the main roster, or will just use him as a jtts if he does get there.  

I feel like there was a window of opportunity for Cole in both AEW (first year) and WWE (after the Saudi flight delay when they used NXT guys to fill out the SDL roster and turned that into an angle). bit that both windows have closed.  

Edited by Eoae
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1 minute ago, Eoae said:

According to Meltzer, Cole is a huge fan of Triple H and Shawn Michaels.  Dave thinks working with them might be enough of an enticement to get him to sign a new deal.

At the same time, he's worked with them for years now and Cole seems like the type of person who wants to continue growing. Hard to do that when you're locked down in NXT with a main roster move looming over your head like a guillotine.

My absolute favorite project manager announced this week he was leaving the company. Dude loved working with all of us and we all clicked really well. Like, we were all always on the same wavelength with him. It just came time for him to move on and explore new opportunities.

It's nice that the wrestling landscape affords individuals with multiple opportunities now.

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On 8/5/2021 at 12:41 PM, Eoae said:

I like Cole more than most but it's getting hard to see where he might fit in other than NXT.

Thing is, what is NXT in the next month? Before the whole Nick Khan visit, NXT was a super indie/wrasslin territory. It probably won’t be that in the near future. Will he fit in that NXT?

Edited by LoneWolf&Subs
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23 hours ago, LoneWolf&Subs said:

Thing is, what is NXT in the next month? Before the whole Nick Khan visit, NXT was a super indie/wrasslin territory. It probably won’t be that in the near future. Will he fit in that NXT?

I still think breaking up UE was the dumbest thing they could’ve done. If you package deal those guys up to Raw and Smackdown, then you get around Cole’s size by having him be part of a vicious, egotistical heel faction. And by doing so you can let Cole’s talents on the mic and in ring show, and his pops, to show Vince he is a star… then break them up on Raw or SD and you’ll have Vince supporting Cole from therein aka Benoit. (I know it took Benoit four years to win the world title, but dude was consistently booked as an upper mid card guy prior to that.)

But they broke up and now it’s just Cole. Most people would pick him up in a second and book him as, at the every least, an upper mid card guy… but it’s Vince. He looks for reasons not to push.

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Here's a Twitter thread about what Meltzer had to say about the new direction of NXT going forward, including some quotes straight from his WWE source. No more midgets!

Quote

Meltzer: Kind of the line has been 'When they get to NXT we have to teach them not to do indie style, and then when they come to the main roster we have to teach them not to work NXT style".

 

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Good, everyone can finally start ignoring WWE entirely and cancel their Peacock/WWE Network subscriptions.

Good wrestlers won't be wasting their best years in a shitty company anymore.

Hopefully companies like AEW, NJPW, ROH, Impact and others will profit and expand their business even further.

Vince will probably be surprised, when their ratings go even further down the drain instead of up.

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Curse of the NXT North American Title?

The title is just over 3 years old

Released in the last 3 months

  • Velveteen Dream
  • Leon Ruff
  • Bronson Reed

And we know how they feel about Keith Lee and Ricochet. (And since Diamond Mine seems cursed too - Roderick Strong seems doubly fucked)

Based on being a 3 time champ and based on the new direction of NXT, I wouldn't answer my phone if I was Johnny Gargano

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1 hour ago, RIPPA said:

Based on being a 3 time champ and based on the new direction of NXT, I wouldn't answer my phone if I was Johnny Gargano

Good point, but it might also be his wayward son Austin Theory calling and wanting to come back home!

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On 8/3/2021 at 12:10 PM, Craig H said:

There's no way I would re-sign with WWE if I was Cole. Vince isn't leaving any time soon and he's going to be jobbed out hard if he's ever moved to the main roster. Go be with your girlfriend in AEW and have the flexibility to work NJPW or Impact every now and then. 

According to Dave Meltzer, Cole has a lot of friends in NXT and the main roster and has a good relationship with management.  He's apparently a big fan of both Triple H and Shawn Michaels, so working with them is a perk he might not be willing to give up.  

We really don't know enough about Austin Jenkins or the situation behind the scenes to even begin to guess at what he will do or should do.  

Edited by Eoae
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The Breakout Tournament is pretty interesting given this new (apparent) reset. It's clear the company is more interested in producing more guys like Odyssey Jones and fewer guys like Blake Christian. Seems odd, given that dynamic, that Joe Gacy and Josh Briggs lost. 

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One other note regarding Cole - I know folks love to run the line of "OH THEY GET TO WORK WITH THEIR (insert romantic partner's name here)" (in this case it would be Cole going to AEW)

Remember - some couples might not wanna work together (and this holds true with all relationships were people are in the same field)

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35 minutes ago, RIPPA said:

One other note regarding Cole - I know folks love to run the line of "OH THEY GET TO WORK WITH THEIR (insert romantic partner's name here)" (in this case it would be Cole going to AEW)

Remember - some couples might not wanna work together (and this holds true with all relationships were people are in the same field)

My wife and I work at the same place, but different departments. Its not a perk lol. Also just thinking, if somehow our company went out of business, we'd both suddenly be out of work, rather than just one of us, which we could navigate better of course.

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I think people assume that's more true for wrestlers because of the crazy travel.

So, how far can NXT make it on inertia? Another year maybe? Or will the gutting be accelerated? If the breakout tournament is indicative of who NXT is going to be built around, I'm not enthused.

 

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