5 Signs WWE's NXT Bubble Is About To Burst
Are the best days of NXT already behind us?
When WWE reconfigured NXT from a cheesy reality show format and launched it as their new developmental brand, few would have expected it to garner attention from the industry the way that it has. Since its inception in 2012, NXT has gone from a simple developmental territory into its own distinct brand. With high quality matches, an extremely talented roster from all over the globe and a dynamite womens division in particular, it has captured a new following more in common with an indie promotion doing it their own way.
Many comparisons have been drawn to the original ECW, including its preference for smaller, localised venues and its passionate, cultlike audience. Plus, NXT chants have started to become a mainstay, both on the brand itself and on mainstream WWE programming. And when you get people chanting the name of the show itself, you KNOW you've done something right.
With some of NXT's graduates going on to great things in WWE and some huge signings from the independent scene in the last two years, NXT has been riding high.
However, there are some worrying signs that the peak of the brand's success has already come and gone...
5. The Main Stars Of NXT Will All Graduate
First and most obviously, the roster is a revolving door, especially at the top of the card. With how popular the brand is and how talented every performer across the roster is, it can be easy to forget sometimes that NXT is a developmental brand. It's the breeding ground, the training camp for the main WWE programming. This means that no matter how popular a wrestler is, eventually they will leave the show. In fact, it means that, ideally, they leave the second they peak. The second they get as popular and successful as they possibly can, they're gone. This is a fact.
It should be a good thing, really. Finding acclaim in NXT should ideally mean you're capable of finding it in WWE. Whether you're actually given that chance is another story *COUGHCOUGHASCENSIONCOUGH* But when you think about NXT's biggest stars, who springs to mind? Sami Zayn, Adrian Neville, Tyson Kidd, Finn Balor, Kevin Owens, Hideo Itami and so on.
Out of that small selection alone, Neville is on the main roster full time, with Owens and Balor soon to follow. Kidd and Zayn are on the shelf with injuries, but as soon as they're healthy, you can bet that they wont be going back to NXT.
So the main event scene is left on the shoulders of Hideo Itami. And the better he carries it, the quicker he's gone too. So who's left? Who becomes the next one to lead the next generation?