NXT has gotten a reputation over the past couple of years as a workers' paradise, where world-class independent and international talents are scouted, pushed, and allowed to have fantastic matches. The most talented men and women in wrestling are groomed to take over WWE, which leads to a strong developmental territory. That may be true, and undoubtedly the past several NXT Champions - Finn Balor, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, and Neville - speak to that belief. It's not completely accurate, though - as fans who followed NXT before it debuted on the WWE Network can attest, early champion Bo Dallas isn't quite on the level of those men. To be fair, Dallas, while not world-class, isn't a bad worker - he's just floundered terribly on the main roster. While his NXT matches and character work were far superior to what he's done in WWE, the strength of his work since making the main stage doesn't do much for the reputation of the NXT Championship.
Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried.
*Best Crowd of the Year, 2013
