8 Ups & 9 Downs For WWE NXT In 2020
1. (Not) Speaking Out
This is a wrestling problem, and is 2020's ultimate Down across any and every brand.
A lack of clarity and public acknowledgement regarding allegations made against performers that appear regularly in NXT, AEW and on WWE's main roster has resulted in a swirling and dangerous amateur detective discourse online, a lack of overt or obvious aftercare for survivors and scenarios in which it becomes impossible to separate the accused from what they've been accused of during a work of fiction that feels completely irrelevant in comparison.
It is up to those watching Dynamite every week to reconcile how they feel about Darby Allin and Justin Roberts, to those viewing Raw to decide where they stand on Riddle, and with NXT fans to figure out how to receive Velveteen Dream and Austin Theory. That obviously extends to everybody else named in the disparate and devastating SpeakingOut movement anywhere in the industry.
In your writer's opinion, all of the above (and anybody else named or linked) should have been kept off television to not potentially cause further upset to survivors, or - and this is crucial - gradually and transparently work through the enormous emotional, physical and legal ramifications of them until some sort of mutually agreeable end had been reached. If this sounds like hard work, it's because it is. It's the hard work that needed to be done after the avalanche of
In NXT, Dream got title shots and follow-up feuds, and Theory got a retirement/return angle peaking at a TakeOver. These were not the answers to the complex questions asked of the industry.