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I actually think a guy like Elias Sampson has a better chance than a guy like Samoa Joe, because they have that blank slate with Sampson, they're going to make him a WWE Superstar; not a professional wrestler, and they can push him and you will accept it whether you like it or not.
I've taken to calling NXT a fish bowl, because what happens is that the marks down there develop relationships with the process of a guy getting over and claim him as their own, and they create this warped view that they are genuinely over. You take these guys and you put them on the main roster, and all of a sudden Kevin Owens is a fat guy, Tyler Breeze is a jobber, Neville has no personality again, Sami Zayn is just a nice guy, the women are still Divas, etc.
It's in Triple H's best interest to pluck independent guys out and pad out NXT to get it and himself over. But where the disconnect is now happening is that fans are starting to cotton on that NXT's a wrestling promotion with booking, while WWE is a sports entertainment company with writing. Samoa Joe will not be able to look at the camera there. Shinsuke Nakamura will have to team with R-Truth and rap "What's Up?" on the way to the ring. Bobby Roode will get his entrance, but then he will have to talk for 20 minutes and wrestle the same guy for 20 minutes every week.
There's a problem with NXT as developmental, and a lot of people saw it early. Who has Triple H made -- besides arguably some of the women -- that didn't come from somewhere else as a completed package? You can maybe claim Roman Reigns and Bray Wyatt, if you want to extend NXT back to FCW. He's conned people into thinking he's doing a wonderful job developing talent, but no true blue NXT project has become anything in the WWE yet. As a comparison, Jim Cornette started helping Danny Davis develop talent in 2000 in OVW. By 2004, John Cena, Randy Orton and Batista were on the WWE roster, and Brock Lesnar had already left the company. Triple H has no real answer to them.
But I don't really feel sorry for anyone. They know what the WWE is. They know that when they get there, everything will be eroded about what makes them them. It's good to have dreams, but if their dream is just to get there, I'm happy for them to dress up as police officers, or play fifth-fiddle as a secondary World Champion (how any of that makes sense is beyond me), or to keep chipping away trying to prove to Vince McMahon what a great little soldier you can be. Everyone seems to be a mark in that sense, so good on them.
Let me put it this way: I'd feel more sorry for people if they weren't so content doing it to themselves.
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