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NXT 1.0 is dead. Long live NXT 2.0
But how would Adam have done it? Let's find out!
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NXT 1.0 is dead. Long live NXT 2.0
But how would Adam have done it? Let's find out!
SUBSCRIBE TO partsFUNknown: https://bit.ly/2J2Hl6q
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/partsfunknown
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/partsfunknown/
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SportsTranscript
00:00Hello there, I'm Adam Hailing from PartsFunknown and this is how Adam would book this month.
00:10We are NXT.
00:15On February 23rd, 2010, the first episode of NXT launched on SyFy in the same slot that
00:22WWE ECW had occupied just a week before, and which Vince had cancelled with a near-sexual
00:27amount of relish.
00:28And you know what, I know what we all remember, but for like a month, that version of NXT
00:33was a pretty good show.
00:35Sure it paired Daniel Bryan as a rookie with his mentor The Miz, but that was a move specifically
00:41designed to A. Annoy the internet and fair enough, good prank, but also it was designed
00:47to get Daniel Bryan over, and it worked, like he's the focus of the show for ages.
00:53On episode one, he has a really good match against world champion Chris Jericho, and
00:58the show just continues like that.
01:02Matches, angles, the Bryan-Miz story is the sort of foundation of everything, it's good
01:07episodic storytelling, getting over new talent by having them interact with established names,
01:13well produced video packages that could have come straight out of the CWC, they keep an
01:17eye on everyone's win-loss records, it was good stuff.
01:20For the first six weeks.
01:22But then...
01:23Oh no.
01:24But look, this intro is going to be a bit longer than usual, because we've got a lot
01:28of history to cover, a lot of context to set up, and before we get into the really bad
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02:56For a while NXT actually seemed like it could be a slow burn bit of quality programming,
03:02and then came the keg carrying challenge.
03:05So piece by piece NXT was turned into, basically, QuizzleMania.
03:11Genuinely, by later seasons of the show, they were actually playing games that have actually
03:15featured on QuizzleMania.
03:17Like the match game, or just a straight up trivia round.
03:21There was the talk about random bullshit for a bit round, the rock em sock em rookies round,
03:26the selling merch to fans round, it became a show where the rookie's inexperience was
03:31a source of humour, not excitement.
03:33And look, says WWE, we're having fun with our pets, dressing them up in silly hats,
03:38and that's funny, because they're not people like us.
03:41Also look everyone, it's Johnny Gargano's first NXT appearance.
03:45Little different from 2018, huh?
03:47There were 5 seasons of NXT, season 2 slid worse into comedy, by season 3, Michael Cole
03:53was actively sabotaging the show with a huge f***ing gong.
03:57It became the Cole heel turn platform, he would dance like a f***ing moron, dump on
04:03the show and the contestants.
04:06In 2011, the game show elements were slowly, very slowly trimmed out, but the show was
04:12still underserved by an overtly goofy tone, and also being filmed in f***ing arenas, full
04:19of fans who did not care about these new upstarts.
04:24But then, on June 20th, 2012, NXT moved to a permanent residency in Full Sail University.
04:32was the vast, untameable apathy of a local crowd just waiting for Smackdown to start.
04:39Here was a venue and crowd specifically curated for the show, so it became OVW or FCW, but
04:47with production quality, and introduced by Jim Ross and Dusty Rhodes.
04:52The first episodes showcased characters like Bray Wyatt, Damian Sandow, The Ascension,
04:58Seth Rollins, Bo Dallas.
05:01Over the years, simple, consistent booking, with a strong initial focus on a championship
05:07rather than reality show artificial stakes in front of a regular audience, familiarity
05:13fostered genuine insider affection, and people got over.
05:18For the next few years, WWE responded to the burgeoning internet presence of promotions
05:22like Ring of Honor and New Japan, who were going through their golden years, by drip-feeding
05:27insanely talented wrestlers into NXT, and slowly but surely, the work rate quality
05:31increased, and the loyal fans responded in kind.
05:34The journey of Sami Zayn in 2014, the advent of TakeOvers in 2014, in 2015 NXT truly exploded
05:43under the championship reigns of Zayn, Kevin Owens, Finn Balor.
05:47They began packing out arenas purely on their own name for TakeOver Brooklyn, classics like
05:53Sasha Banks vs Bayley, NXT became reliable, and that's the key term here.
05:59It takes a long ass while for a wrestling promotion to become hot, it takes years of
06:05investment, but when you do have that reputation for reliability, and the fans can trust you
06:12and where you're going week on week, they lean in and will offer in return patience,
06:17investment for storytelling, they will allow themselves to get hyped over things you want
06:22them to be hyped about.
06:24The brand kept rolling as a beacon of quality, eras helmed and defined by their figureheads,
06:30hot stars who came in, worked their way up to NXT Championship status, they packed out
06:35arenas and left for the main roster.
06:37Finn Balor, Kevin Owens, The Horsewomen in 2015, Nakamura, Bayley and Roode in 2016,
06:43DIY, The Revival and The Undisputed Era in 2017, Aleister Black, Shayna Baszler, Gargano,
06:50Ciampa in 2018, Cole, Balor, Ripley, Lee, Shirai, Pete Dunne, Karrion Kross, before
07:01this f***ing thing.
07:02The weekly product moved to the USA Network in 2019, expanding to two hours to go live
07:08up against AEW Dynamite.
07:10The Wednesday Night Wars began lasted 75 weeks, during which in the key demo of 18-49 AEW
07:19NXT, 74 times out of 75, the product itself really started to stumble in the pandemic.
07:26Goofiness started to creep back in with the Robert Stone brand, Robert Stone throwing
07:31chunks in the ring, takeover in your house, but even with that kind of elevated sense
07:38of humour, the takeover still delivered like gangbusters.
07:41In April 2021, NXT moved to Tuesday, essentially admitting defeat in the Wednesday Night Wars
07:47and in August, in no small part because of that defeat.
07:53And just as a side note, who f***ing cares about the Wednesday Night Wars?
07:58Who watches TV like that anymore?
08:00NXT, the reports would say, would be revamped in a major way, going back to a more developmental
08:06feel.
08:07The day before the debut episode of NXT 2.0, Samoa Joe relinquished the NXT Championship
08:13in circumstances that I can only describe as suspicious, I don't want to speak uninformed,
08:17I'm going to assume the injury is real and wish Joe a speedy recovery.
08:21It just seems odd that someone with the body type that Vince is famously not a fan of,
08:26having an undisclosed injury accrued at an undisclosed time, drops the belt just in time
08:32to turbocharge the appeal of an episode of NXT designed to reboot the entire brand.
08:37Whatever happens, f***ing sucks for Samoa Joe.
08:40So September 14th, 2021 was a showcase of new NXT, and the most obvious change was the
08:48branding.
08:49Gone was the understated black and gold, and in was, wow, it is a really quite nauseating
08:58colour palette that can best be described as Unicorn Diarrhoea or NXT Collodion.
09:03Combined with the bright studio lighting, I'm very surprised that no one showed up
09:06to accept an award and get gunged.
09:08And look, just to be clear, colour in itself isn't a bad thing, although it's very
09:12clear that wrestling's favourite colour is black.
09:14NXT has been dark, moody, thoughtful for a long time.
09:17That's personally how I enjoy my wrestling, but exuberance isn't by itself terrible.
09:22I don't think it's necessarily cool, and along with general reliability, that's sort
09:27of been NXT's biggest asset, the fact that as far as wrestling goes, it's cool.
09:32I don't know, in old NXT, people seemed more dangerous.
09:34The matches were more awe-inspiring, and the comedy was slightly better.
09:39And NXT 2.0 wasn't a terrible episode.
09:44There was some good wrestling, a focus on newer talents, Jensen and Briggs, B-Fab, gosh
09:50Aunt Hit Row, Carmelo Hayes and his new, slightly less good at promos friend, The Creed Brothers,
09:59Von, Von, Von Wagner.
10:03This is not in itself a bad thing, but there's a bit too big f*** off red flags in two very
10:10revealing booking decisions.
10:12First, a character almost directly out of the New Generation era, remember, WWE's
10:17best era, replete with colourful Steiner singlet, he is Rick Steiner's actual human son after
10:23all, manic inhuman mojo Rawley Excitement, and the straight out of the comics alliterative
10:28name of Bron Breaker.
10:30He defeated established NXT talent LA Knight, despite Knight also being booked for an NXT
10:38title match later that night.
10:40It was a head-scratching bit of booking that reeked of main roster, oh it doesn't matter,
10:46no one really cares, we'll showcase who we want, inconsistency that has made the main
10:52roster unreliable.
10:55It made zero sense for LA Knight, as a shrewd heel character, to first of all book his own
11:01match live on the show, and jeopardise his chances for the championship by maybe getting
11:06hurt in that match.
11:07It undermined his character and the importance of the title match later in the show.
11:12And that was followed up by another weird bit of booking, Kyle O'Reilly being advertised
11:17for the NXT Championship match, only to be removed at the last minute and replaced with
11:22Von Wagner, someone I'm sure is very talented, but who no one knows or currently cares about.
11:29There's genuine December to Dismember vibes coming off that, Vince replacing Sabu with
11:35Hardcore Holly on a whim on the night, sorry about what we advertised, because again, ah,
11:41it doesn't matter, no one really cares, we'll showcase who we like.
11:45Also a two-on-two tag match became a six-person tag after interference, player.
11:50So the advertised match of Frankie Mane vs. Raquel Gonzalez just didn't happen.
11:55These are warning signs, and yes, look, these are potentially big assumptions to make, big
12:02overreactions, under any other circumstances they would be big overreactions, but with
12:06all eyes on NXT's new creative process and Vince properly being involved now, these are
12:12comparisons to main roster bad habits that NXT really don't need if they want to maintain
12:18their loyal fanbase's trust and willingness to engage in sillier concepts like, for example,
12:26wrestling weddings.
12:27And indeed, wrestling weddings, Mane eventing the show over the crowning of Tommaso Ciampara's
12:32new NXT Champion.
12:34Fun fact, in the bad goofy days of NXT, there was not one, but two wrestling weddings on
12:39the show.
12:40Now look, I like the index stuff, and I like the wedding, but it's a grim f***ing omen
12:45huh?
12:46But at this time, stars came into NXT with a sense of already having earned their top
12:51spot via their tenure on the indies, while the midcard saw more homegrown talent slowly
12:56flourish.
12:57Von Wagner being crowbarred into a title match because Vince sees him as a future Mania main
13:01eventer, that is a very different vibe from the NXT we're used to.
13:06I hope NXT 2.0 is great.
13:08There's still more than enough talent on their books in NXT for it to be great, although
13:14not nearly as much talent as there used to be since WWE started purging its roster in
13:19earnest earlier this year.
13:21NXT 2.0 was a thinner, lighter show with less remarkable matches that focused on new names,
13:27and that's fine.
13:28That's what it was in June 2012.
13:30But also, this is 9 years later, and I'm not entirely sure why we're going backwards.
13:38And also, this version of NXT looks like the M&M's store.
13:40I am worried.
13:42And with all eyes, currently on NXT's big, colourful reboot, and after a very long introduction,
13:51let me have a go.
13:56So the whole point of this booking, and it's something that 90% of people watching this
13:59video, and probably the guy hosting it, will fundamentally disagree with, is the concept
14:05that NXT needs to change.
14:08There needs to be an NXT 2.0.
14:11I can't just say don't.
14:12I can't say just do the old NXT things of having young, homegrown stars mixing up with
14:17indie darlings with satisfying, long main events every week and intense, well-produced
14:21character video packages and stakes-focused drama.
14:25Like, that's NXT 1.0.
14:27Apparently.
14:28Can't do that.
14:30Something needs to change.
14:31And I just… what's the point?
14:35Why are they doing it?
14:36I don't know why they're doing it.
14:37I really…
14:38I don't…
14:39It was fine.
14:40It was the best bit.
14:41And that's not to say there weren't problems with NXT 1.0, not so much in its glory years
14:46of 2014 to 2015 and all of 2018.
14:49Like, for me, those years, it was just a perfect wrestling television show.
14:54An hour a week, f***ing hour a week, silly characters but delivered earnestly with consistent
15:00internal logic, starting with dream match concepts, working backwards from there.
15:05When the Wednesday Night Wars happened, we had an NXT that felt scrappier, more loose
15:12in terms of booking, but then again, constant, unpredictable talent raids will do that to
15:17a brand.
15:18But in the pandemic, yeah, admittedly, it lost a lot of its shine, but NXT's incredibly
15:23crowd-dependent without a crowd to feed off, nuance especially in terms of its comedy.
15:28And don't forget, NXT's always been silly in some way.
15:31You know, Sandow, Ascension, Breeze, Bayley, Aleister Black was a bit silly.
15:37The nuance gave way to wackier hijinks because no one's here, our loyal fans are not here,
15:44how do we know we're being funny?
15:45Just everyone ramp it up, stare down the lens, cross your eyes, Robert Stone, get in here.
15:51You could argue that the roster got a bit too bloated for its own good in the later
15:55years, the matches got a bit too false finish-y, so that, you know, if any of the big names
16:00that were on the books ever lost, people would worry they were being misused, mid-card
16:05talent maybe felt like they had ceilings over them, I don't know how much of this I agree
16:10with.
16:11But look, NXT refocusing itself as a developmental brand is a good idea, and one that we would
16:15care less about if Raw and Smackdown, Smackdown to a lesser extent, were just f***ing better.
16:19Get them better.
16:20That is the main issue here.
16:21So we're starting with Stand and Deliver.
16:23Karrion Kross makes a huge statement defeating the current top guys in NXT in the Fatal Five
16:27way and, crucially, Karrion Kross does not then debut on Raw without Scarlett and lose
16:32to Jeff f***ing Hardy looking like a frog, before Kross then looks like the world's
16:36saddest skinhead at a cancelled Dropkick Murphys concert, before then going on to look like
16:40someone going to a Ninja Turtles LARP dressed as a sex dungeon cheese grater.
16:47This doesn't happen.
16:49Instead, Karrion Kross stays in NXT, irate at management's attempts to wrestle the
16:54title off him, to stem his wave of destruction, not the wisecracking in-a-suit Karrion Kross,
17:01the Karrion Kross that first debuted, cutting intense promos backstage, surrounded by the
17:08corpses of NXT trainers that he'd just torn limb from limb.
17:12Kross is in the ring with William Regal, Regals out there with security, threatening to have
17:16Kross indefinitely suspended and stripped of the title if he doesn't stop these shenanigans
17:22when Kross attacks.
17:24He lays out William Regal with his elbow to the back of the neck, to the neck that William
17:30Regal's had surgery on, and William Regal is trollied away by medical staff.
17:35William Regal is gone from NXT permanently.
17:41Kross has single-handedly killed the William Regal era, which is the longest-running GM
17:47ship, I think, in WWE history.
17:51He declares NXT his wasteland, and Scarlett signals the coming apocalypse.
17:58Everyone and everything will fall in prey.
18:01Kross is gone, fully out of his tree, he is absolutely Banjo Kazooie, he is one hundo
18:08pee out to lunch.
18:09NXT falls into chaos.
18:11With Regal gone, there's no one to keep order.
18:15Stars start making their own matches.
18:17Drake Maverick challenges Isaiah Swerve Scott to a match for the North American Championship,
18:21beats him with a roll-up, but because the match wasn't officially sanctioned by an
18:25NXT GM, Scott just decides he's going to keep the title, has Hit Row decimate Maverick.
18:32No one knows what is going on.
18:35It becomes a long-running joke that people keep coming to try and take control of NXT
18:39and are killed by Karrion Kross like a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.
18:44Everyone falls in prey.
18:46In the end, who can step in to save NXT in its darkest hour?
18:51Triple H walks down to the ring to confront Karrion Kross.
18:55This is his baby.
18:57He will not allow Karrion Kross to destroy everything he's spent almost 10 years of
19:03his life building.
19:05This leads to NXT TakeOver 36.
19:08Karrion Kross vs Triple H. Loser leaves NXT.
19:14Despite superkick interference from Shawn Michaels, who I assume would have dressed
19:17up for the occasion by wearing only his fanciest straw cowboy hat, Kross wins.
19:23He beats Triple H in Triple H's only TakeOver match, and essentially banishes the Godfather
19:30of NXT from his own brand.
19:33With Triple H gone, Shawn Michaels is the only one left.
19:37The next NXT, Kross stands in the ring.
19:39He's beaten Balor, Ciampa, Gargano, Triple H.
19:44He is ready to rule over NXT like the Shao Kahn that he is.
19:49He's going to initiate martial law.
19:52Shawn Michaels walks out.
19:53Kross goes in.
19:54What are you going to do about it?
19:55Are you going to step into the ring with me?
19:58Michaels says that no.
20:01He hung up his cowboy boots 10 years ago because Crown Jewel 2018 never existed.
20:06But Michaels does have one last bullet in the chamber.
20:10He's joined on stage by Samoa Joe, Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, Shinsuke Nakamura, and
20:20Drew McIntyre.
20:21He's Avengers assembled some of the greatest NXT champions from NXT's past in order to
20:26finally wrestle the belt and control of NXT back from Kross.
20:30This leads to a special episode of NXT, let's just call it NXT Endgame, come up with a legally
20:36distinct title yourself.
20:37The past NXT champions brought back in to stop Kross a six-pack, falls count anywhere,
20:43mega match.
20:44All these historic champions, a one night only crisis on infinite NXTs.
20:50NXT must be saved.
20:53Something must be done.
20:55NXT Endgame opens with the index wedding.
20:59Because yes, it is goofy, yes, it is improvisational comedy stylings which are occasionally cringeworthy,
21:06but it's also the culmination of a lot of long-term storytelling.
21:10And it's kind of an opportunity to draw to a close a lot of stories.
21:14Gather together all of the characters from the last few years of NXT, get them in one
21:19ring for one event, celebrate the life of NXT 1.0 before we move on to its death.
21:27Begin that episode with the wedding and end it with what turns out to be NXT's funeral.
21:35All out war in the six-pack challenge.
21:39Bodies flying everywhere and everything is destroyed.
21:43The announce table is taken out.
21:45The barricades are destroyed.
21:47The ring mats are ripped up.
21:48The ring canvas is ripped up.
21:51Bodies destroyed.
21:52Fans have to be moved back by officials.
21:54The announcers are evacuated from ringside, leaving the action happening without commentary,
22:00harking back to the original carnage of the Nexus invasion of Raw from 2010.
22:05The big video screen over the stage.
22:08A group of old NXT legends bring it down onto themselves and Karrion Kross.
22:13The entrance falls and erupts into explosions, sparks, mass casualties, unconscious bodies
22:21everywhere in the wreckage as NXT goes off the air.
22:25Karrion Kross is hospitalized.
22:28We don't know when we're going to see him again.
22:30And Shawn Michaels releases a statement.
22:33NXT as we knew it, NXT as it became, this unstoppable juggernaut bitch, was destroyed.
22:42NXT needs to rebuild.
22:46In two weeks time, we'll be launching a new NXT, an NXT not of the past, an NXT not
22:53even of the present, an NXT of the future.
22:56And the logo is predominantly white.
23:00There's a trim of gold, but there's no black anywhere.
23:03Like Shawn Michaels came out in all white at WrestleMania 25 to combat the darkness
23:08of The Undertaker, the primary colour of NXT 2.0 is bright, shining white.
23:15A cleansing of the darkness.
23:17A big bang out of the black.
23:20Bright, cheerful, but ultimately not like someone skittle bathed on a canvas.
23:25The next episode of NXT, the final one before NXT 2.0, is essentially a clips episode.
23:29A potted history of NXT up until this point, it's best moments, it's best matches,
23:35with talking heads from the current main event scene talking about their one primary focus
23:41with the relaunch.
23:42NXT is starting afresh, forcing the current stars to think, what one thing do they value
23:49the most?
23:50Johnny Gargano looks within himself, or more accurately, within his wife, and answers family.
23:56Kyle O'Reilly says honor, Timothy Thatcher says respect, Pete Dunne says pain, Cameron
24:03Grimes says good times forever, yee-haw to the moon, and Tommaso Ciampa simply says...
24:09Goldie.
24:10And gets up and throws his chair like he always does.
24:12Also announced for that show is a night of champions.
24:15Every single championship in NXT will be defended.
24:17Raquel Gonzalez defending her NXT Championship against Frankie Mane, MSK against Hit Rose,
24:23Ashante Adonis and Top Dollar, Shirai and Stark against Kay Lee Ray and Ember Moon,
24:28will they co-exist?
24:29KUSHIDA defending the Cruiserweight belt against Roddy Strong, Isaiah Swerve Scott and Drake
24:33Maverick having a ladder match to determine the one true North American Champion.
24:38All these things are advertised for NXT 2.0, it'll be a statement night for NXT.
24:45These are the champions, with one big question mark.
24:50What is the future of the NXT Championship?
24:54So begins the first episode of the new NXT.
24:57Like NXT began in 2012 with Jim Ross and Dusty Rhodes, NXT 2.0.
25:03Also quick thing, right, no, no, no, I have to say it, quick thing, this is like NXT 4.0
25:09at least.
25:10So they had the first NXT, then a series in 2011 called NXT Redemption, so no, it does
25:16matter, that's a reboot too, then the hard reboot again in 2012, the Capitol Wrestling
25:21Center, that's an NXT era almost, no, I won't move on, this matters, this matters,
25:27where, where, no, you let go of me, where are you throwing me?
25:30So the new NXT begins with Shawn Michaels standing in the ring, holding the NXT Championship.
25:36Behind him are 20 up-and-coming new faces, the kind of people you saw in the Breakout
25:43Tournament.
25:44Guys like Carmella Hayes, Odyssey Jones, Rick Steiner's son who is not called Bron Breaker,
25:51call him, oh I don't know, Bronson Steiner, Von Wagner, call him Cal Beverly, because
25:56his dad's legitimately one of the Beverly Brothers, like NXT is all about the new generation,
26:01so why not openly celebrate the fact you've got second generation talent on your f***ing
26:06books?
26:07It doesn't, this table's too heavy, oh it's not too heavy to flip, I actually can flip
26:11it, I won't though, I won't, ooh, I almost broke the studio.
26:13HBK explains this is a new beginning for NXT, a beginning where the focus, sure, is going
26:19to be bringing you the best wrestling each and every week, but also the NXT rebirth is
26:25coming from these guys, the people behind me, the next generation, because that's what
26:30NXT means, that's why we use those three letters, the new faces, the next big things,
26:37the next WrestleMania main eventers, and maybe even the next NXT champion.
26:43We need a new NXT champion, and I thought sure, we could hold a match between the established
26:48top guys, but no, that's not what tonight's all about, what's more NXT than creating
26:54a level playing field where everyone can compete for the top prize on this brand.
26:59Now look, you, watching at home, I know what you're thinking, and look, you'd be right,
27:07a tournament sure is the best way to crown a new champion, I know, okay, I know, tournaments
27:13are my favourite things to book, I've booked like, I don't know, 17 of them, because they
27:18are the best way of introducing a bunch of new stories, getting over a bunch of new names,
27:25giving fans a reason to invest in a bunch of matches with names they don't recognise,
27:30matches that all matter in ways that other matches don't always matter.
27:34Tournaments are the best, but, but, I'm also aware that I've booked them over and over again,
27:42so if in your mind a tournament makes more sense, they do a tournament, but instead,
27:48how's this for a new idea?
27:49Shawn Michaels announces that for this new era of NXT, wins and losses should matter.
27:57Over the next month or so, old faces and new will be competing against each other, and
28:02the first wrestlers to get five total victories will get a chance to wrestle for the vacant
28:08NXT Championship.
28:09All matches will count, battle royals, tag matches, they all go on your stats.
28:15The first two wrestlers or more, if it happens on the same episode of NXT, to get to five
28:19wins will compete in a match.
28:21The winner of that match will become NXT Champion, and this harkens back to the first series
28:28of NXT way back in 2010, going right back to the source of this brand, where they kept
28:34track of how many wins each rookie had in order to rank them.
28:38And that gives everyone on the roster a chance to have these long-running stories, new Brock
28:43Lesnar types like Bronson Steiner, I can't call him Brom Breaker, I just can't.
28:49Why has your name got too many K's in it?
28:51Guys like that can shock the fans with a bunch of wins, Tommaso Ciampa wins his first match
28:56against Pete Dunne for example, but Dunne injures Ciampa's neck, and Ciampa then has
29:01to reckon with the dilemma, do I push through?
29:04Do I keep fighting against the pain?
29:06Do I risk my career for this one shot, this one chance to win back Goldie, the title I
29:13never actually lost?
29:17All matches carry this tension, it's a race, everyone rushing to be the first to five,
29:22and it creates so much more legitimacy for new faces rather than just injuring Kyle O'Reilly
29:27and forcing Von Wagner into his spot in a move that's guaranteed to just annoy NXT
29:32fans.
29:33Also it's worth pointing out that unlike AEW ranking systems, this is just for the
29:37initial crowning of a new NXT Champion, you don't have to adhere to it forever because
29:41Jesus Christ you're going to back yourself into a corner like AEW constantly do.
29:45And Michaels also announces that the first match of the new NXT is going to be a battle
29:50royal featuring these 20 guys behind him.
29:53Only one person can win, only one person can get that head start that NXT should represent
29:59a first step in becoming a star of tomorrow, and that's the match that Bronson Steiner
30:04wins.
30:05That's the match that marks him out as a special talent to war, not a confusing bit
30:09of booking where he beats LA Knight, and LA Knight's beaten twice on the same show
30:14for I don't know.
30:15That is how the new NXT progresses until it's first major show, it's championship divisions
30:20laid out on the first show with the champions defending their belts, and then reasons to
30:24tune in each week to see who's racking up the most wins, who's on their way to being
30:29the first to five, culminating in a match at the next NXT Super Show which you can call
30:34a takeover if you want, but I'd maybe call it something else.
30:37Tommaso Ciampa vs. Bronson Steiner, and yes I would have Ciampa win.
30:41I think he's absolutely the smart play to have as champion, marking that bridge between
30:46old and new, guaranteed to have great matches, and also the him and Goldie love story could
30:52be so much more effective if it's given a slower build of a few months, make people
30:56really root for him, whilst also getting over this new brick s*** house in Steiner.
31:01After that, Karrion Kross can return, and then you've got that story in the bag as
31:05well, the man who not only destroyed the first NXT, but also destroyed Ciampa the
31:11first time they fought at In Your House, but now, with the power of God, anime, and Goldie
31:17on his side, Ciampa is finally able to slay the beast.
31:22And so, NXT is rebooted, with a general direction for its first month, maybe two months, less
31:29of a focus on indie names who made their bones outside the promotion, more of a focus on
31:34homegrown stars, a more developmental feel, but done in a way that feels a little less
31:39unnatural than how NXT 2.0 has already started.
31:43A big stipulation, an intention to use that stipulation to create about a dozen or so
31:49new characters, and we get to see how this Goldrush style setup affects these characters,
31:55how they react.
31:56Do they have an intense, emotional, near underdog story, like Ciampa?
32:02Do they have loads of white meat, babyface upsets?
32:05Do they buddy up in a you help me win, I help you win kind of fashion?
32:09Does it force new names to turn to the dark side?
32:13With the right booking, from this one moment, you can create a raft of recognisable new
32:19faces in just a few consistently booked months.
32:24It might not be as immediately showy as poaching an indie talent from another promotion, but
32:31hopefully this gives NXT its own identity as a developmental brand, whilst also, you
32:37know, not cutting the legs out from every other major indie fed in the industry.
32:43And that is how I would book NXT 2.0.
32:47Do you disagree?
32:48What would you like to see NXT become in the coming months?
32:52Let us know in the comments.
32:53What else would you like to see me book on this show?
32:56Let us know in the comments.
32:57And make sure you like and share this video around if you enjoyed it, and subscribe to
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33:05Jam that Jam.