5 Signs WWE's NXT Bubble Is About To Burst
4. There Is A Lack Of Young New Names To Sign From The Indie Promotions
Cast your mind back about 5 years or so and think of some of the youngest, biggest names of the "indie" scenes in wrestling. Kevin Steen? Yep. El Generico? Definitely. Prince Devitt, Jon Moxley, Tyler Black, PAC, Sami Calihan, Samuray Del Sol, KENTA, all could be mentioned as dream signings for WWE, and all have been snapped up, put through rebranding and have been reborn as WWE superstars.
Jolly good for them but look around the rest of the wrestling world and think... realistically, who's left? Who among the wide world of independent wrestling, from the bingo halls of Pittsburgh to the trade centres of Tokyo, who can WWE sign up and expect to become a WWE superstar for the next 10 years?
Looking at the latest NXT signings, there's a list of men and women with excellent resumes, but no real reputation. That's fine in itself, there's every chance they can build their reputations from the ground up under the WWE banner, but none of them are going to bring that instant "buzz" of excitement to NXT the first time they perform. The one exception to this would be Uhaa Nation, who wrestled in Dragon Gate USA for a few years. No offence to the man, but that's not exactly up there with the reps that Zayn or Owens brought with them when they arrived.
That's not to say that there aren't prominent young stars out there still, its just that they're getting signed by the competition. Speaking of which.....