NXT 2.0 looked like a developmental program.
As it should.
Now I don’t like a lot of things in the show. I thought Bron Breakker is a bad wrestling name. It’s not realistic… it’s also a potential career killer. It’s almost in the realm of Braden Walker, Gunner Scott, and Scotty Goldman. Maybe they just made his name crappy because they still hate Scott Steiner? With that said, the dude screams potential. He looks like a wrestler and in some ways, it would look awesome if he’s given Rick Steiner’s headgear.
Rick is his dad and Scott is his uncle.
Rick’s headgear is awesome but Scott’s chain mail headgear only works for Big Poppa Pump…
… and Petey Willams?
I also did not like the developmental feel. I think the watercolor splatter logo is hard on the eyes and will eventually be phased out.
Here’s the thing though… Triple H did everything to make NXT a global phenomenon that he forgot that the main roster needs the system’s fresh blood. I know people would hate me for saying that most main roster busts should only blame their selves but in some ways, they forgot that Triple H is nothing but a subordinate of Vince McMahon.
The thing about this developmental look though is that a lot of the old hands seem out of place in this iteration.
Sure, Tomasso Ciampa re-gained the title but it also made him a little overqualified for the title. Ciampa and Johnny Gargano have done virtually everything in NXT and this time, they really need to join the main roster. If they still have live contracts, they could either retire as coaches or just get fed to the main roster as jobbers. The developmental system needs to have an end goal and despite the great matches a lot of indie darlings did back when NXT is cool, in some ways, it made the main roster weak.
People can say have stars like Finn Balor, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, and most TNA and Ring of Honor stars made life awesome for a wrestling fan but look at the current standard-bearers of the main roster. In the women’s division, the main roster relies on Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, Sasha Banks, Bayley, and Alexa Bliss. Bianca Belair, Rhea Ripley, Nikki Cross, and Shayna Baszler are misused talents but if they are that good, they should overcome their current situation. Bliss, apart from her voodoo crap, can always turn to her personality. The same goes for the men in the main roster. Roman Reigns and Big E came from the original version of NXT and now they are champions. Moreover, John Cena, Brock Lesnar, and Randy Orton were all part of that star-studded class of 2003 and whenever WWE is in dire straits, they always go to these men for some sort of saving grace.
And then there’s this – I still believe that a guy shouldn’t go into business with his friends because there’s a chance that this will lead to problems. Sure, it’s all fine and dandy at the moment but if the WWE gets their developmental system going, they are able to weed out the whiny backstage people in their company, and they become this one, big cohesive unit… then they can destroy the competition.
I think of AEW and WWE as more of an NBA franchise. At the moment, AEW is the destination for those who want opportunities to shine. Meanwhile, WWE is in rebuilding mode. Sooner than later, WWE is going to get the best from their rookies while the AEW veterans are either going to get stale or disgruntled. In the 90s, WWE acquired the likes of Stone Cold Steve Austin, Brian Pillman, Mick Foley, and Triple H via free agency. They were able to develop The Rock and Kane from the ground up and they were able to elevate the careers of Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker when Hulk Hogan and his cronies left for WCW. At the time, these names aren’t top stars as compared to their WCW counterparts but as time went by, their careers gained an impressive upside and then the rest is history.
AEW is getting the upper hand at the moment because WWE made their system flawed. If WWE is able to do away from the indie stars with potential but are ultimately in the 50-50 booking zone, create Cena, Batista, Orton, and Lesnar-like stars in NXT 2.0, and when the AEW roster is so jampacked that most of their stars are stuck in "lower midcard limbo" like Sami Guevara, Jungle Boy, Ricky Starks, and Darby Allin, I can imagine this move to payout.
So maybe Bron Breakker is a crappy name.
But he’s potentially the company’s next best thing.