Right now, WWE NXT is a weekly televised show – and one that is a traditional wrestling show. However, NXT wasn’t always this way, and it got it start as a gameshow type show. Eight “rookies” were put with eight established WWE stars, and would both wrestle and be given random challenges. It was meant to create stars, but instead just made a mockery of future talent. Season one was won by Wade Barrett, who would go on to lead the Nexus stable to limited success.
The field of talent in season one would also include the likes of Ryback (then Skip Sheffield), Heath Slater, and Daniel Bryan. However no matter if you had experience or not in pro wrestling, you didn’t get respect backstage – as Barrett has now revealed.
The Talent of WWE NXT Were Treated Awful In WWE Claims Wade Barrett
While speaking with Corey Graves on the After The Bell podcast, Barrett had the following to say in regards to his time spent on season one of WWE NXT.
“I’ll be honest the eight of those who were on that first NXT season one, the entire concept of it. I think universally we hated it. First of all, we were termed as rookies which the vast majority of us on that show had been working in the wrestling biz for at least six years or something at that point. I know you did the Indies before you came anywhere near FCW and I know you’re a pretty big deal on the indie scene in the UK at the time.
I was kind of working on that scene. I was on the outskirts of it in a different area, but we’d all been traveling around for 30 pounds a night and being lucky if you could actually pay your gasoline at the end of the day and you came away with a small profit. We’ve done that for years. So we were kind of upset that we were being built as rookies.
Guys who weren’t deemed good enough to be allowed even in the locker room. We’re changing in hallways. So it wasn’t just a storyline of us being rookies and nobodies in the business. We’re actually treated like that behind the scenes for a long time.”
Some Stars Came To Stardom In WWE
At the end of the day, things wouldn’t end well for Wade Barrett or the rest of the Nexus in WWE… at least as a faction. Daniel Bryan would go on to get released, then brought back to become a four time World Champion in WWE. Wade Barrett claimed five Intercontinental Championships, and remains with WWE as a member of the commentary team of WWE NXT 2.0. Another bigger name would end up being Heath Slater, who remained a steady tag team fixture of WWE for years to come, ending his run as a four-time Tag Team Champion in the company.
If NXT remained in this format – we never would have gotten the NXT Takeover epics that the brand is now known for. We have Triple H to thank for this, though he’s been out of action after a health care – and fans are waiting for him to come back to see if NXT 2.0 improves.
Did you enjoy the original version of NXT? Let us know what you think in the comment section down below.
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