[SlickyTrickyDamon]

NXT: The Future Is Now.

Many people watch WWE without showing signs that they are fans. WWE can seem to not be cool for one reason or another. Many people now see sports entertainment as a kids show because it is now rated TV-PG. When WWE was most popular it was rated TV-14 and it was deemed to appeal to a broader audience. One of the biggest ways to show that you are a fan is to purchase and wear a WWE shirt in public. Some of the most popular professional wrestling t-shirts seen in public have been Hulk Hogan, The New World Order and Stone Cold Steve Austin. It was considered the height of cool to wear an “Austin 3:16” shirt in the height of the WWE’s attitude era. You were considered passé if you weren’t wearing the Black and white of the New World Order during the Monday Night War. In the 1980s the red and yellow of Hulkamania was running wild. Shirts are one of the biggest voices a fan has before the advent of social media outlets like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Those however are free outlets and nothing says WWE public loyalty than buying and wearing a WWE shirt. It had been a few years since I had bought a WWE shirt until months ago I bought a WWE shirt: a NXT t-shirt.

NXT is an essential part of the new developmental system of the WWE. It is located in Orlando, Florida. There is a state of the art complex called the WWE Performance Center. It is where rookies are trained in all avenues of what it takes to become a WWE superstar. In years past developmental was usually carried out by independent wrestling companies who the WWE paid service fees to train potential professional wrestlers. This is a similar outfit to the MLB minor league system. Most AAA teams are not owned by the Major league teams they represent. WWE ended this arrangement several years ago and have been floundering to find a good way to train the future of the WWE until now. The future WWE superstars are now fully trained by WWE trainers for the entirety of their wrestling careers. They get talent fresh and are able to fully develop them at the Performance Center. In order to get the most out of their rookies they have opened a full promotion in Orlando Florida on the Campus of Full Sail University. This new WWE brand was named NXT and is a continuation of an older show of the same name.

The new NXT show is currently exclusive to the WWE Network. The original NXT show was on Sy-Fy and debuted in 2010. This show started off well enough but it quickly became a black mark in the WWE. It was supposed to be a show where the next generation of the WWE would get their first big break but it quickly became show where the next generation was subjected to humiliating tasks like carrying kegs around the ring, singing, old game shows and other things that really don’t matter to being a WWE superstar. This humiliation ended up being part of major WWE storyline as the first group of NXT superstars banded together to take over the WWE. This group called the Nexus became one of the strongest in WWE history. It was thought that this group would bring more attention to NXT and give the next group a boost. This did not work out and the Nexus was pretty much crippled by winter. The humiliation continued for the next group but there was no uprising. Most of the people who appeared on NXT had their careers put in a state of arrested development. Syfy had pulled out of the show by the middle of Season 3 but the show continued on WWE.com.

There did not seem to be any major benefit of NXT in its current state. The talent on the show traveled with the rest of the WWE roster but they still weren’t deemed as WWE superstars. The proverbial carrot on the cart was in full effect and there was no sign that they would get the carrot. After the first season the only bright spot on NXT was the development of announcer Michael Cole as a heel announcer. It had been years since WWE had a full heel announcer and it was a good change of pace. The problems of the NXT show were fully realized in the futures of two superstars: Winham Rotundo and Joe Hennig. The two were part of NXT Season 2 and later joined a weakened version of the Nexus led by CM Punk. The way they were treated on NXT almost ruined their chances of becoming stars. They both had to be repackaged. Windham Rotundo’s name in NXT was Husky Harris and Henngi’s name was Michael McGuillacutty. The strange names of NXT superstars became a series of jokes on the internet. When both were repackaged there was a threat that they would be recognized for their failure on NXT instead of the new characters they would be playing Bray Wyatt and Curtis Axel. On Bray Wyatt’s debut there was a smattering crowd chant of “Husky Harris” which could have but ultimately did not derail his career.

It was obvious that if NXT was going to survive it was going to need a total and complete overhaul. Thankfully it got that when everything was moved to Florida with the creation of the WWE Performance Center and the development of NXT as a full-fledged WWE brand. The idea of a new venue was not limited to a geographical change. The NXT television program was made exclusive available to users of Hulu Plus, a premium service of the popular television and movie streaming service. This was a perfect set up. People would only be watching NXT if they really were interesting in seeing the future of the WWE develop their talent. There would be no influx of the random television audience who would pass judgment on talent before they were fully ready to be judged by the masses. The show being on Sy-Fy was a huge mistake that almost completely derailed NXT. With the new system NXT began to get a cult audience.

HuluPlus became the official home of NXT which was filmed on the Campus of Full Sail University, a school that teaches hands on experience in media. The show is co-run by NXT and the University. Not only is NXT the next generation of superstars it is also the next generation of WWE production teams. The state of the art developmental system was quickly changing the industry forever. After a year of becoming a cult hit the WWE decided to take a risk exposing NXT to a larger audience. The first-ever live show featured on the newly developed WWE Network (WWE’s Own Streaming Service) would be a two-hour special called NXT Arrival. In this event NXT showed the best and the brightest that they had to offer. In the opener the uber talented duo of Cesaro and Samy Zayn had a classic traditional sports entertainment contest. Before the match started the crowd started chanting “Match of the Year” and Zayn and Cesaro proved the audience right. In the main event the NXT Championship was defended in a Ladder Match pitting champion Bo Dallas against upstart challenger Adrian Neville. The concept of a championship was foreign to the old NXT. There was no championships no goals and no future. NXT Arrival proved that the old NXT was dead and that the future of WWE was bright.

Soon after the 2nd NXT live event called NXT Take Over. I purchased my first WWE shirt in years: a shirt representing the NXT brand. I am proud to represent the NXT as a fan. NXT has changed the very face of what developmental is in the WWE. For years superstars considered being sent to developmental as some sort of punishment. NXT has changed the game in what developmental means to the superstars. New WWE signees like KENTA, Kevin Steen, Prince Deviit were looking forward to prove themselves at Full Sail University and prove themselves to the NXT Universe. The future of the WWE is being developed in NXT and as my shirt says with NXT: The Future is Now!