For longtime fans of NXT, WWE’s third brand has been going through some definite growing pains ever since the WWE Draft last summer. After building up a couple years of white-hot, deeply beloved homegrown talent, the top acts and at least a third of NXT’s roster was called up to Raw and Smackdown over the course of 2016.
During that time, NXT has instead become a home to huge independent stars, and talent like Bobby Roode and Eric Young, who are nearly synonymous with … another company. The homegrown stars that are still around are still trying to find the missing components for the “star” part of “homegrown star.”
It’s not entirely bad, of course … in fact, it’s not even mostly bad. NXT is still very watchable, and fun a lot of the time. And they’ve got the Revival, which is one of the very best things about pro wrestling right now. But if you’re frustrated with the state of NXT, you’re not alone. NXT’s commander-in-chief, Triple H, is right there with you. From a conference call on Thursday that he presided over to hype up NXT TakeOver: San Antonio:
“When you have a network, and you’re trying to create value for that network, and give people reasons to have it, you have to weigh that heavily. I think NXT has the potential to be a lot of things. Where it sits is not 100 percent my decision. I know those conversations have happened.
“There are some things and some changes that I’m hopeful will happen sooner than later that will expand it and make the show better.
“I’m not happy with where [NXT] is right now by far. I want it to be much better than it is, but it’s a rebuilding process. All these things going on, they all make changes in the ecosystem. Where everything lands at the end of the day is a moving target.”
I don’t know what he’s talking about; this week’s episode of NXT featured both Kona Reeves AND Chris Atkins. I kid! But like I said, it’s far from all bad over in NXT. I’d put it at 80-20 “good,” if not more. It just doesn’t feel like the same NXT where we watched Tyler Breeze, the Four Horsewomen, Adrian Neville, and Tyson Kidd. But Triple H wants it to get better, and you can rest assured he won’t quit until it’s close to his vision of it.
This is what we call a “happy problem.” Hunter made a roster so undeniable that WWE had to have it. Now he gets to try to do it all over again. Hopefully the next “true” generation of NXT will be as fun to watch and give us as many great memories as the last generation.
