5 Most Insane Things Happening In Wrestling Right Now (Nov 30)
4. Meet The New Boss...
Triple H this week took a sledgehammer to the United Kingdom Independent scene.
WrestleTalk broke the news; in an inevitable development with ramifications as global as they are grim, WWE has reconfigured the performer contracts of NXT UK talent, disallowing them from working for any and all unapproved promotions - i.e. the promotions they wrestled in to inform their ability. Different fanbases appreciate different products, and by performing to eclectic audiences, those wrestlers in turn develop eclectic skill-sets.
Not no more. At this rate, we're in for Florida Championship Wrestling Poland.
Various wrestling personnel leapt to the defence of this model, in the same week that RAW happened (!), claiming that "the talent pool is deep" (Pete Dunne) and that "the scene stays alive because of your support" (David Starr). History suggests otherwise; the rawer talents on NXT UK, who still need to develop, have fewer places now in which to develop. If the stars no longer make the towns, fans won't make the shows. With fewer reactions to play off, and fewer experienced names to learn from, everything gets that bit sh*ttier. Trips, with his lame obsession with various medieval b*llocks, should have learned by now that iron sharpens iron. The oversaturated British wrestling was already showing signs of slowdown, in tandem with WWE's ownership/sanitisation of it.
And now it's as shagged as Lars Sullivan's Ronda Rousey cardboard cut out.