The WWE is no stranger to turbulent waters and after a slew of releases, including Samoa Joe, this year that were mostly from the NXT roster, they find themselves in those same waters with fans.
Over the last ten years, NXT has grown and developed into what was arguably the company’s top brand in the eyes of many fans and critics.
Despite that, they only bested AEW Dynamite a handful of times in the ratings once they were put on at the same time, and that included an extra seven minutes to add in the ratings of the following quarter hour.
This is a trick WCW used during the Monday Night Wars.
And now with NXT being reimagined into strictly a developmental brand and Nick Kahn saying they’re going to focus on fresh talent and not the Indies, many feel the brand’s heyday is behind it.
Honestly, I agree but I also think with Triple H in charge it’ll grow into another force in a few years, though he may have to deal with talent being called up to the main roster more than previously.
Samoa Joe has stepped up and added his thoughts to the mix, as well as what he believes Vince McMahon thinks about NXT.
The future of the company
In a recent interview, Samoa Joe explained how he’s excited to be with NXT during its new phase. Special thanks to essentiallysports.com for the transcript.
“I think [Vince McMahon] perceives [NXT] as the future of his company. I think he’s heavily invested in it. It’s funny, I read all this stuff that I hear from people and then, at the same time, he’s probably the biggest proponent of its existence and much of what has happened thus far.
“NXT is the future of WWE and it’s a big reason why I’m excited to be associated with it because I get to delve into the future and I get to work on new things and new projects and introducing new stars to the world and that’s something that, at this point in my career, I’m very excited to do.”
There’s little doubt that NXT’s new direction and his role in it was a large factor in Joe coming back. He wants to give back to the business, and that’s a great mindset.
He has tons of experience and knowledge to impart to young minds, and he’s also part of the scouting team with Triple H, William Regal, and others as we saw at the Las Vegas tryouts.
Fresh talent
With their own homegrown talent the WWE will own the trademarks to any personas or gimmicks that are developed and that’ll help when it comes time for contract negotiations.
It’ll help protect the company from fan expectations when/if a talent is called up and has the typical transition problem most seem to have when going to the main roster.
This is an interesting contrast to how WWE has done business since McMahon took over.
Then he raided other territories for big names and then did so following the Monday Night Wars to keep the top talent under their banner.
All in all this is a rosy outlook, but it also feels like it’s damage control after the company was blasted by fans and critics for the releases.
The USA network was reportedly unhappy as well, but they and Fox have allegedly been demanding better storylines for the last year and that hasn’t really developed, so we’re curious where this will lead.
We’re looking forward to what kind of fruit this will create down the road.
Do you think Samoa Joe is right in his beliefs and what do you think the future of NXT and the WWE look like? Let us know in the comments below.
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