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In the aftermath of Takeover: Orlando during WrestleMania 33 weekend, WWE's developmental brand NXT entered into its third generation as the early point from 2012-14 and growth period from 2015-16 came to a close and an almost entirely new field of talent entered the fray. The brand's weekly show had been underwhelming since the WWE Draft left a deep hole in the talent roster and lead writer Ryan Ward was sent up to pen Smackdown Live! However, this new era of NXT, beginning the very week after the festivities in Orlando, would not only soon bring the black and yellow brand back to the feel-good highs of the 4 Horsewomen and Sami Zayn-led period of 2015, but take the brand to even greater levels as the weekly TV program has gradually become better than ever, and every Takeover special appears to deliberately try to outdo the last.
In a modern WWE climate mired by an arguably stale television product, backstage grumblings, geopolitical strife, and unapologetically abhorrent booking decisions, NXT is a breath of fresh air; a true diamond in the rough that has rallied latent WWE fans behind an exciting, visionary product with an identity so distinct from its main roster counterparts that it's a common trope on social media to wonder aloud how the two exist in the same company.
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1) Titles with prestige
In NXT, the longstanding pro-wrestling tradition of treating championship titles with the same air of reverence and respect as their combat sports counterparts is perfectly preserved. Titles are rarely ever hot potato'd around (for example, there have only been seven women champions in the titles five-year history) and booking decisions on who will be champion are primarily based on merit, i.e. the best wrestlers win the championships, that simple.
Contrast this with the main rosters treatment of titles as relatively worthless props to be won and lost at whim based on backstage politics (Jinder Mahal's ascent to the WWE title when the company thought he could bring in Indian business, and equally rapid descent when they realized he couldn't) and nepotism and the difference is clear. It also helps that the standard gold plated, blackstrap NXT belts are far more aesthetically pleasing than the less serious-looking main roster straps.
2: Logical booking
NXT storylines and match outcomes are mostly simple, easy to follow narratives that follow a logical progression. Mid-card guys and girls who show promise ascend to the main event, outcomes are determined by experience, skillset and fan support, and generally, everyone on the roster is given the opportunity to shine and show the NXT Universe what they're capable of. There is also a clear-cut, fair and sensible hierarchy of who goes over on who.
Contrast this with the main roster's start-and-stop pushes, 50/50 booking, burials, and making most talents play second fiddle to one or two top stars, and it's easy to see how sensible NXT's booking organization is. In NXT, the current champion is heavily booed because his character is that of a despicable person who turned his back on his best friend and tag team partner, not because fans simply don't like the company shoving him down their throats.
3: Call backs
With some possible influence from NJPW's knack for in-ring storytelling, NXT as of late has taken the path of using matches to rehash and modify spots and sequences from previous encounters when competitors face off in new ones, in order to tell a larger narrative.
Johnny Gargano and Andrade "Cien" Almas' above-average opening exhibition at Takeover: Brooklyn III in 2017 laid the foundation for the sequel months later, as their 5-star main event at Takeover: Philadelphia featured several allusions to the Brooklyn match that added a layer of depth to the story and ultimately rewarded the viewer for paying attention. Their Full Sail match just weeks after Philadelphia would do the same, generating an even greater layer of meaning to their epic series of bouts.
More recently, Gargano and Velveteen Dream's weekly show match recalled previous moments from Dream's successful victory over EC3 at Takeover: Brooklyn IV, such as the rolling death valley driver and Purple Rainmaker elbow drop on the outside apron, contrasted with Gargano's hesitant attempt at a spiked DDT on the floor, that ultimately led to him failing and continuing the storyline of his mentally-conflicted losing streak. This is brilliant pro-wrestling storytelling.
4. Emotion
NXT, from its vociferous lead announcer to its highly vocal weekly TV and Takeover audiences, has an air of excitement and intensity that is usually missing from main roster WWE. With an edgy, energetic passion that can only be described as a sort of small-scale, PG version of the much-lauded Attitude Era, NXT presents wrestling as a much-watch blast of aggressive entertainment, as opposed to Monday Night Raw's penchant for presenting itself as a sort of casual background noise.
Backstage segments cut in and out immediately with a sense of urgency instead of being overly drawn out, talent comes off as having a passion for the brand instead of just acting as cogs in a machine, and even the soundtracks (often intense metal music that's an enjoyable part of video packages even if you don't normally listen to that genre) create a sense of driving emotionalism that the main roster's disposable pop tracks can't.
5. Surprises
Due to the revolving door of talent that cycle in and out of the brand, NXT Takeover specials are usually full of surprises, particularly the mid-show segments when new signees, often hot independent and international talent with pre-existing fanbases, are shown in the crowd giving fans a glimpse of what's to come. At every recent Takeover, fans have come to expect at least one new much-praised free agent to be shown off in the audience, giving rapid NXT enthusiasts an additional reason or two to keep tuning in.
Aside from that, it's not uncommon to expect surprising moments on weekly NXT either. Whether it's the Street Profits interrupting a rival tag teams match by throwing an impromptu party in the Full Sail Arena crowd, Nikki Cross helping her Sanity comrades secure a win by diving onto Adam Cole like a wild banshee or Aleister Black interrupting a women's main event by mysteriously appearing mid-ring Undertaker-style, NXT is absolutely full of the sort of out-of-nowhere crazy moments that make televised wrestling as great as it is.
6. Variety
Contrasted with Vince McMahon's affinity for Caucasian and Samoan males being placed at the top of the male booking hierarchy and blonde, model-centric females at the top for the women, NXT has a much broader and more diverse roster which appear to be given equal chance at success.
The NXT roster also boasts an incredibly rich international roster from at least 5 continents that are hardly ever stereotyped in a storyline or held back for not speaking the language or having a different accent.
In addition, NXT boasts a tremendous array of wrestling styles and personalities. Whilst some old-school fans abhor the "vanilla midgets" and high flying style common today, NXT's current roster has both cruiserweights (Johnny Gargano, Adam Cole, Ricochet) and super heavyweights (Lars Sullivan, Keith Lee, Otis Dosovic) in near equal proportion. Traditional brawlers (Pete Dunne, Oney Lorkin, Danny Burch) and martial artists (Aleister Black, Kyle O'Reilly, Shayna Baszler) are as commonplace as flippy guys (Raul Mendoza, Fabian Aichner, Mark Andrews), while women wrestlers range from big indy names (Candice LeRae, Deonna Purrazzo) to international stars (Io Shirai, Kairi Sane) to Performance Center-trained upstarts with massive potential (Bianca Belair, Lacey Evans). There's someone for everyone.
7: Strong commentary
NXT, from its earliest days with Jim Ross, has always had perfectly fine commentary. Tom Philips was a perfectly good lead voice as the brand grew out of its FCW shadows to its current state. Corey Graves, once an NXT trainee who turned to commentary once back to back injuries forced him into in-ring retirement, quickly became one of the best announcers in all of WWE by sharpening his quick-witted heelish skills on NXT TV and several Takeovers.
It is Mauro Ranallo, however, who holds the distinction of being the greatest NXT announcer of all time. Mr. Combat Sports himself, who does MMA and boxing commentary on the side has elevated NXT to a new level of sports entertainment ecstasy.
While other announcers come off as bored and disinterested, Ranallo's passionate, convicted voice compels viewers to keep their eyes on the screen and play close attention. While other announcers can seem silly and pedantic, Ranallo's intense calling of the action makes it easy to suspend disbelief in the "fakeness" of wrestling.
Whereas main roster WWE's commentary has an unfortunate habit of distracting viewers with social media trends and advertiser/sponsor pitches while merely repeating "ooh" and "ouch" at what's happening in the ring, Ranallo's play-by-play calling of specific moves is a refreshing change. Of course, former Ring of Honor legend Nigel McGuiness and the rapidly-improving Percy Watson help round out the match-calling duties by adding additional perspective.
8. Character development
NXT boasts a diverse roster where everyone is presented as having a meaningful role and purpose rather than just the top stars. No one is presented as a one-dimensional caricature. No one is simplified to a silly catchphrase. Fully-fleshed out personas with motivations, desires, strengths, weaknesses and vulnerabilities are presented in a balanced light, not unlike a primetime drama.
NXT characters have range and vary from the dark and brooding (Aleister Black) to the honest and heartfelt (Johnny Gargano) to the dramatic (Velveteen Dream) to the sadistic (Tomasso Ciampa, Lars Sullivan) to the arrogant (Bianca Belair, Lacey Evans, Kona Reeves) to the comedic (Heavy Machinery) to the downright crazy (Nikki Cross).
The in-ring and promo psychology is amazing, video packages and vignettes are top-notch and as of late, long-term storyline and character arcs (again, possibly influenced by NJPW) are becoming more commonplace, with Johnny Gargano and Tomasso Ciampa's friends turned enemies storyline and the recent Who Attacked Aleister Black? mystery adding to the level of possibilities on how far characters can be developed.
9. Stables
For the past year, stable wars have become a welcome addition to NXT as Adam Cole and his band of ex-Ring of Honor misfits have helped wreak havoc at Full Sail University and several Takeover specials like last Survivor Series weekends' Takeover: War Games, where three separate trios teams competed in a brutal, nearly hour-long demolition derby.
The Undisputed Era, British Strong Style, Sanity, and the Forgotten Sons are a few of the factions that have been tearing it up in NXT as of late, and with a second Takeover: War Games coming to this year's Survivor Series weekend of events, stables in NXT could start to get even more interesting.
Ricochet and the War Raiders (formerly War Machine in Ring of Honor and New Japan) are expected to become the next stable coming into fruition, on at least a temporary basis, and with women's tag teams becoming more commonplace throughout WWE, it's expected for women's stables to appear in the near future (at least one involving Lacey Evans, Aliyah and Mae Young Classic competitor Reina Gonzales has already formed with the former two appearing in a recent televised tag team match).
10. Pacing
NXT TV, the weekly program which airs on the WWE Network, is merely one hour long and while main roster fans may be used to 2-3 hour formatted shows (Raw has been at least two hours since 1997 and Smackdown since its inception in 1999) the hourly format has a hidden benefit - it causes fans to always want more of the show when it ends, not less.
Contrast this less-is-more philosophy with the main rosters relatively bloated NFL-length presentation and it's clear that the pacing for NXT works. A one hour show prevents talent from being overworked or overexposed because competing in one or two matches (taped in a single day and aired over a month, as opposed to wrestling live every single week) guards the NXT faithful against growing tired of a specific wrestler.
It also means overly long, drawn out promo segments and constant replays can't happen and storyline build-ups can be done at an incremental place, encouraging people to tune over the medium to long-term.
11. Keeping Kayfabe alive
NXT seems to embody an old-school mindset within a futuristic wrestling product, as announcers and talent appear to respect kayfabe and rarely ever break the fourth wall or expose the business with unrealistic-looking booking and fighting or clownish promo segments that make wrestling look juvenile.
Matches are harder-hitting and more likely to incorporate mixed-martial arts, with the more talented performers usually booked to win even if they don't fit the main roster's normative idea of a marketable Superstar. There is also very little dancing, thankfully.
In addition, NXT backstage segments and social media alike tend to protect the integrity of feuds and storylines, with exclusive videos frequently blending the "real life" Performance Center training of NXT development with the story-driven kayfabe world. This presentation is an intriguing and compelling approach as it makes it all the more easy to feel immersed in the narrative and suspend disbelief, something wrestling may need to help de-escalate the longstanding stigma of being 'fake'.
12. Great matches
Although main roster WWE has long presented wrestling in a light where promos, characters, storylines, attire, physical physique and other superfluous characteristics are more important than the actual in-ring competition, NXT's approach reflects NWA and NJPW in how matches are the primary focus and storylines and characters are used to enhance, not supplant, the in-ring combat.
NXT's characters and stories, particularly in 2017-18 are some of the most entertaining in all of wrestling, but it's the match quality, particularly at Takeover events, that has earned the brand it's reputation and adulation among fans.
Since Adrian Neville and Sami Zayn battled for the NXT title and the 4 Horsewomen of Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch and Bayley tore the house down in various surprisingly-good women's matches, NXT's penchant for putting on wrestling clinics has remained firmly intact.
Fans praised Banks and Bayley after their Brooklyn and Takeover: Respect matches but had more in store for them when Asuka and Ember Moon took it higher at Takeover: Orlando and especially Takeover: Brooklyn III. The Revival and American Alpha caused tag team turmoil at Takeover: Dallas but the former team's feuds with Johnny Gargano/Tomasso Ciampa and the Authors of Pan would produce an even greater spectacle. And who can forget the amazing debut of Shinsuke Nakamura, who rode into NXT like royalty and almost immediately placed thousands of fans who'd never even seen the Japanese legend perform before straight into the palm of his hand during and after his epic encounter with Sami Zayn.
While Takeover shows have continued to impress as much as ever in 2018, NXT's weekly show as of late has been almost equally strong, as the hourly Wednesday night program has dramatically taken its match quality to PPV level.
Whereas once in the past, the show featured little more than quick squash matches and in-ring promos used to build the next Takeover special, NXT's roster is now so stacked with some of the best indie and international talent as well a number of extremely promising trainees, that NXT TV has taken the feel of a weekly Takeover: Full Sail. The aforementioned Velveteen Dream vs. Johnny Gargano, Pete Dunne vs. Ricochet vs. Adam Cole's triple threat match and the fatal 4 way from earlier this year between Gargano, Aleister Black, Lars Sullivan and Sanity's Killian Dain are just a few of 2018's amazing weekly main event showdowns.
The weekly show fully solidified itself from arguably rubbish to much watch last month the night Ricochet and Pete Dunne's double title match became the greatest match in the history of the weekly program.
There you have it. In a modern WWE that has somewhat alienated longterm fans, NXT has been a saving grace for hundreds of thousands of people and shown how great WWE and wrestling can be when politics and nepotism in the product are replaced with care and focus.
