NXT

[The Cook]

I'm intrigued by the Iron Survivor Challenge's but I'm not sure having two of them on the same night is a good idea in debuting the gimmick, because if the first one bombs then they're stuck with a second one later on. And actually I think Breakker/Apollo could be very good and had the build been slightly better I'd think there's a chance at a title change, with Breakker then debuting in the Rumble. Although that could still happen with him losing the title to the winner of the Iron Survivor, who I predict will be Carmelo Hayes.

[Oliver]

So Deadline, new match type and all, is this weekend. Mild spoilers for this week's NXT in the below match listing, just in case people want to avoid those.


NXT Title Match
Apollo Crews vs. Bron Breakker (c)

NXT Tag Team Titles Match
The New Day vs. Pretty Deadly (c)

Men’s Iron Survivor Challenge Match
Axiom vs. Grayson Waller vs. Joe Gacy vs. Carmelo Hayes vs. JD McDonagh
Winner earns future NXT Title shot.

Women’s Iron Survivor Challenge Match
Zoey Stark vs. Cora Jade vs. Roxanne Perez vs. Kiana James vs. Indi Hartwell
Winner earns future NXT Women’s Title shot.

Isla Dawn vs Alba Fyre


To be honest, for me the main intrigue here is the Iron Survivor match/gimmick over either title match or the women's singles bout. I'm fairly sure the singles and tag matches will be solid, but I'm not sure they'll be spectacular. The rules for the Iron Survivor seem to favour whoever enters in the first pairing if they can get a fall or two in the first 10-15 minutes of the match. The later someone comes in, the less time they have to rack up falls but the more exhausted their opponents.

I don't think the 90 second penalty is going to work in favour of the match overall, to be honest. I think it will differentiate it from the Championship Scramble format by adding that (as otherwise it's very similar) but I'm not convinced it's going to quite come off on TV as a good thing to have someone spending a minute and a half sat out.

[PEN15v2]

I forgot Halloween Havoc was on until 30 minutes before it started. I have barely paid attention, and it's been beyond my tolerance of silly. I don't know if I'll sit through the whole thing.

[PEN15v2]

NXT Preview
Matches

• Raquel Rodriguez vs Cora Jade - Pick Your Poison
• Roxanne Perez vs Rhea Ripley - Pick Your Poison
• Cameron Grimes and Good Brothers vs Schism - (not sure if it's tag team of GB vs the Dyad, or 6 man also including Joe Gacy and Grimes)
• Sonya Deville vs Alba Fyre
• Tony D’Angelo's enforcer vs Stacks

[PEN15v2]

NXT Preview
Matches

• Toxic Attraction vs Nikkita Lyons / Alba Fyre / Zoey Stark - 6 woman tag
• Andre Chase vs Von Wagner - For entry into the North American Title Ladder Match at Halloween Havoc

Segments

• Grayson Waller Effect show - with guests Roxanne Perez and Cora Jade

Thoughts

• none

[Oliver]

I think the one thing I really like on an NXT point is that it feels like up and down the card they know where people are going. Some of it is straightforward - Lyons/Stark vs Carter/Chance, for example, is easily established by Lyons' singles win this week. But then they have more developed/intriguing things, like whether JD or Ilja should have the next title shot, or what Grimes is going to do in the face of Gacy. I'm not sure I see much right now in people like Gacy or, particularly, Lyons, but at least they both seem to have some kind of longer term direction.

That does sometimes mean you get weeks like this one where most things are short and for a storyline purpose, which means it's not showing off the best in ring product, but that's par for the course I think.

Damon Kemp looks and feels like a star in waiting, to me. Very interested to see where he goes.

Also, slightly slowly and sneakily, Mandy Rose has nearly had a whole year as champion. Assuming she holds the title through Halloween Havoc and beyond, she'll like hit 365 days or more. Only Asuka and Shayna have had longer reigns with the title.

[PEN15v2]

I think a problem is they are struggling to get the best in ring workers in the ring. Strong is injured, Crews is doing more segments and eye bleeding scare tactics, Zoey Stark accompanies Lyons, Alba Fire has the flames gimmick... So you get a 2 hour show of wrestling that hit the mark. When main roster TV was being critically panned, they still had regular good to great matches. We know WWE PLE/PPV deliver way more often than they don't. But NXT weekly TV is lacking in that department unless it's a Takeover or special event.

It's been mentioned a few times that the goal to showcase younger/new talent is the priority for NXT, and it shouldn't sway away from that. But the balance is needed, and experience ring workers aren't getting to display their best assets enough. It isn't to say it never happens, but this week it didn't at all.

[Team Farrell]

I've tried watching NXT off and on for a while, and just can't get into it.

[PEN15v2]

NXT Preview
Matches

• Tony D’Angelo vs Wes Lee
• Gallus vs Briggs & Jensen - Pub Rules
• Cameron Grimes vs Joe Gacy
• Mandy Rose vs Fallon Henley
• Kayden Carter vs Nikkita Lyons
• Sol Ruca debuts vs ?
• Brutus Creed vs Damon Kemp

Maybe it's the strength of the main roster shows, but NXT isn't grabbing my interest as much these days. Most of the characters booked here aren't that interesting (Wes Lee, Gallus, Briggs/Jensen, Henley, Kemp...etc) or are too green to invest in yet (D'Angelo, Lyons, Creed).

[Oliver]

Seems like they've done little to immediately mix up the presentation other than dropping the 2.0 from the logo. Colours and general vibe are largely the same. Enjoyable show, though.

[PEN15v2]

NXT Tonight

• Tyler Bate vs JD McDonagh
• Nathan Frazer vs Axiom
• Cora Jade vs Wendy Choo
• Toxic Attraction vs Ivy Nile / Tatum Paxley
• Sanga vs Von Wagner

This is a taped show, so spoilers are available. I'm interested in seeing how the logo change from last week might change things for these shows.

[Oliver]

I agree on Bron, Pen - there's nothing there that suggests he's not going to have a decent career in WWE, but also something a bit intangible that isn't quite there yet. I appreciate it's an easy, almost lazy, comparison to make but he's a bit pre-Vanilla Ice John Cena at the moment. That's not saying he needs to get a gimmick, exactly, but that he's not quite caught onto exactly what will take him from Bron Breakker, decent wrestler, to Bron Breakker, must see prospect. If that makes sense.

I'd like them to strip NXT back a bit, actually - work shorter and smarter. That's something 2.0 has done well this year, delivering events that are concise and don't outstay their welcome. Since Wargames effectively ended the Black & Gold, I think the longest match a show has had was a five way ladder match, and even that was only around 20/21 minutes. That was what really built NXT up originally.

The real hope, for me, is that we don't just get one style from the bottom to the top of the card. That, and less destroyers.

[PEN15v2]

Not sure how likely it is, but I just remembered that Jonathan Gresham got his release from AEW/ROH. If NXT is going to a more black and gold program, he'd be a great signing. I also remember he was looking to cut back in the wrestling business, so who knows how willing he'd be to sign.

The only story Bron was in that wasn't challenger of the month was Gacy kidnapping his dad. And... that sucked. No fault to anyone involved. Gacy is good at the creepy cult leader thing, but isn't a strong enough wrestler to really back things up. Bray Wyatt is the obvious comparison, and despite his main event win loss record being weak, he was still a dominant force when he entered the ring. Gacy isn't. Maybe he needs wins, but he doesn't look imposing either so I don't think victories are enough.

Bron is fine, by the way. He's doing everything right. I merely can't say he's the next big thing yet because I have no idea how much he's prepared before coming out. As fans of the developmental brand, we don't know if he can really perform to main roster expectations. What if he is move scripted like DDP/Savage, and we don't know? I understand scripting a match is a lot more common now, but I think we all know the top wrestlers in any company are able to call it in the ring easily when needed. Can Bron do that? NXT doesn't answer that.
And he's got personality. He's got the Steiner attitude, but he's more focused on a mic than his dad was. But Rick wasn't a main event talent for a reason. Bron needs something. I really don't know what that could be though.

As for NXT 2.0 and stories, I feel they've done a better job than the workrate era of 1.0 (what Oliver referenced with Balor/Cole/Ciampa/Gargano). The issue is that it hasn't been in the main event programs. Santos vs Tony D was a great story. It had odd curveballs, and the whole Italian mafia aspect is more silly than captivating at times, but the drama of the faction joining Tony's family was good.


One thing I feel really needs to be addressed is that with the in ring work improving on Mondays and Fridays, I REALLY don't want another brand delivering the same style. For all the weaknesses 2.0 had, it was such a unique watch compared to other WWE shows, and other promotions. It would be exhausting to have Raw and SD incorporate more of the black and gold in ring style, and then have NXT move in that direction too.

That being said, the goal of developmental is to prepare people to work the main roster, so having it as a similar as possible is the smarter decision for that goal. But as a viewer, I prefer it be different.

[Oliver]

I agree with you, Pen - I hope we get NXT 3.0 rather than going back to NXT 1.0. I loved NXT 1.0, I don't think that's a secret particularly, but I think as well it developed it's faults when it got more into the 'workrate' era and away from the 'storyline' era, if I can make that distinction. The way I see it there was the initial NXT era where they built stories and had a good, but not excessive, in ring product - this is where Zayn, Owens, Neville, Banks, Bayley, Charlotte, Becky all came through, and it wasn't just a case of showcasing what was, if you like, a modern style of wrestling but it was also a focus on the storylines that got built. To me that shifted once you got into the Balor/Ciampa/Gargano/Cole (especially Cole) era when it became more about showcasing the in ring product at the expense, in some case, of the storyline around it.

I've enjoyed the year of NXT 2.0, and enjoyed that they really shifted back to it being developmental without an overarching focus on the in ring stuff. But I also think that it's relied significantly on character creation as opposed to really having strong stories on the card. Breakker was an example talked about earlier in this thread, he's been champion for 220+ days of the last year and yet I can't really tell you a good storyline he's had outside of fighting x, y, or z. Same goes for Rose, she's nearly been women's champion for a year but I can't put a finger on one single storyline she's had in that period that stands out.

I think moving away from a challenger of the month, or of the Takeover/Live Event cycle, and back into the storyline driven approach of the first era of NXT, would really help the people in NXT develop beyond just having good characters.

[PEN15v2]

I'm hoping a post before the show, and a post the day after the show isn't considered an infraction of double posting.

But, pretty eventful NXT after all. I feel like most of thew show was fine/good, but the big news was in the last 20 minutes.

Solo Sikoa came out to challenge Carmelo Hayes for the NA title, and won. How this will work into the Bloodline story on Smackdown will be interesting.

And then we got a teaser that NXT 2.0 is returning to their black and gold roots. The NXT 2.0 multi coloured logo switched to the current "font" or structure, but without the 2.0, and being white, silver, black and gold.

Not sure what this will mean. Could we see a complete return to NXT 1.0 aesthetics? Will NXT rehire B&G stars, like Bobby Fish? Or will we get the exact formula we've seen from 2.0, but with a bare hint of when NXT was more popular?

I just hope it evolves and not devolves. I know the 1.0 era has its fans. I was one of them. But the talent pool isn't there anymore to do what B&G did. I mentioned Bobby Fish, but outside of him, there's very little free agent talent that were in the old NXT. That being said, there might be a new home for people that moved up to the main roster and haven't found regular TV time. Maybe NXT will be where we see the returns of Veer, Elias/Ezekial, Bobby Roode, and Dana Brooke. Maybe a new home for Ali, Cedric, and Tamina.