5 Reasons NXT is better than WWE

Developmental territories are an integral part of all sports. WWE has had many developmental territories, such as OVW and FCW, but their current developmental brand is NXT. Starting off as a TV show, NXT has evolved into more than just a developmental brand, it has evolved into WWE's third brand.

Many top stars on Raw and SmackDown are Indie darlings or home grown talents that got their start in NXT; Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, Samoa Joe, Shinsuke Nakamura, Finn Balor, and the Four Horsewomen just to name a few.

NXT TakeOvers have outshone main roster pay per views on a regular basis, and NXT has produced more five star matches in the past year than the main roster has in a decade. Many people believe that the developmental show is truly the "A" show, and here are five points that justify that belief.

#5 More freedom

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Fewer Restrictions

NXT talents are not held down like many main roster superstars.

Triple H is the COO of WWE, but the founder of NXT. He has gone on record saying he wants every show to be better than the last, and letting the performers give everything they have in the ring is a good way to do so. On the main roster talents are bound by many restrictions and sometimes it feels as if they are told "don't try too hard".

A perfect example of this is Shinsuke Nakamura, he was electrifying in NXT, but dull to watch on SmackDown. Nakamura is known as one of the most charismatic wrestlers in the world, but it is clear that management has pinpointed his most crowd-popping mannerisms and have stressed that he do these every time he is on TV. His "dream match" with AJ Styles at Wrestle Mania was a snooze fest. We all know what these two can do together, we've seen it in Japan, but it is as if they were told to hold back so they didn't outshine the real main event, or maybe because they had several more matches planned and didn't want to do too much in their first bout.

We have seen this on 205 Live, the cruiserweights were shackled with restrictions until Triple H got involved and turned them loose. Imagine if Ricochet was called-up to Raw and was not allowed to fly around the ring like he is used it, simply because it doesn't fit the WWE style.

#4 William Regal as GM

WWE Photo — William Regal is the ideal General Manager.

The evil boss, the loveable boss that is close to the talent, these are the stereotypical general managers in WWE. The role of GM is to run the show, but on Raw and SmackDown they are used as characters just as much as the wrestlers. Vickie Guerrero, Eric Bischoff, and The Authority are examples of the heel bosses running the shows, while Mick Foley, Kurt Angle, and Daniel Bryan are examples of faces running their show as fairly as possible.

Then there is NXT's William Regal. Regal does not open every show, he does not have time-filler promos, and he does not have any personal vendettas. Regal only appears when it is necessary, leaving the spotlight wide open for the wrestlers. Regal gets frustrated with wrestlers at time, but always remains professional, fair, and never feuds with the talent.

Regal is also the most logical GM. How many times have we seen wrestlers start a brawl at the beginning of Raw or SmackDown, only for the acting GM to come out and announce it as the main event of the evening? Was there no main event planned already? Regal doesn't do this, he announces the match for the following week because he has already filled out his match card for the night. Every thing Regal does makes perfect sense, and he never oversteps the quintessential boundaries of his managerial duties.

#3 The product is not over exposed

The three hour run time of Monday Night Raw is always a controversial topic. It is hard to stay invested in Raw for three hours straight, especially when the show remains so formulaic. Then SmackDown is on Tuesday nights, running for two hours, followed by an hour of 205 Live. Every show runs live every week, and then there are the pay per views, which get longer and longer.

It is a lot of content for even the diehard fans to consume. The marketing ploys of the WWE are suffocating as well. How many times have we had to endure Michael Cole promoting shows and storylines and products during a match instead of actually calling the action.

We lose interest sometimes because the main product is so overexposed, but NXT is a different story. NXT runs only one hour every week, with merely a handful of pay per views a year, leaving us wanting more.

#2 Johnny Gargano

Bare with me when I say this, but Johnny Gargano is what Vince McMahon wants Roman Reigns to be. "Johnny Wrestling" is the biggest baby face in the WWE, bigger than Seth Rollins on Raw, and bigger than AJ Styles on SmackDown. The fans connect with Gargano in a way that we haven't seen with anyone on the main roster, even when they boo they are merely voicing their objections towards his actions, and turn around and cheer him again.

Consider this, Roman Reigns has main evented the past four Wrestle Manias, he main evented Backlash with Samoa Joe in a match that meant nothing, while the WWE Championship got lost in the midcard. Now consider Johnny Gargano, who main evented every NXT TakeOver in 2018 thus far. Two of the four main events were for the NXT Championship, and the two that weren't surely felt worthy of main eventing over the championship.

Fans never got sick of seeing Gargano in the main event, the same can not be said for Reigns. Gargano has also had two five-star matches during his tenure in NXT. In the past year NXT has produced four five-star matches, and Gargano starred in two of them. The last five-star match on the main roster was CM Punk vs. John Cena for the WWE Championship at Money in the Bank on July 17, 2011.

#1 Gargano vs. Ciampa

Yes I am saying that this rivalry alone makes NXT better than Raw or SmackDown. Gargano main evented the past four NXT TakeOver events, two of them were against Tommaso Ciampa. One of Gargano's five-star matches was also against Ciampa. These two men steal the show every single time they are paired together. These two have a story that is more captivating than anything on Raw, SmackDown, or anywhere else.

Starting off as best friends and tag team partners in DIY, Gargano and Ciampa stole the show in the inaugural Cruiserweight Classic tournament when they put their friendship aside to do battle in the first round. The matches between DIY and the Revival were instant classics as Gargano and Ciampa claimed the NXT Tag Team Championships. After losing the belts and failing to reclaim them, Ciampa turned on Gargano, tossing him into the LED board (à la Michaels, Jannetty, and the barber shop window).

In the aftermath of his heel turn, Ciampa announced that he was injured and disappeared from television. When Gargano put his career on the line against Andrade 'Cien' Almas for one last shot at the NXT Championship at TakeOver: Philadelphia (hello five-star match number one), Ciampa returned to cost Gargano the match, and subsequently his career.

Gargano got his job back when he defeated Ciampa at TakeOver: New Orleans. An enraged Ciampa injured Gargano before an NXT Championship match against Aleister Black, leading to a street fight at TakeOver: Chicago II, a year after Ciampa turned on Gargano in the very same building. Ciampa would later defeat Black for the championship when Gargano tried to interfere on Black's behalf. Gargano and Ciampa had another instant classic at TakeOver: Brooklyn 4 in a Last Man Standing match for the NXT Championship.

While Gargano beat Ciampa in the Cruiserweight Classic, and at TakeOver: New Orleans, Ciampa has won the last two meetings, leaving the series tied and the three-year story still far from over.

Edited by Pratyay Ghosh