5 WWE NXT Rookies Who Needed The Modern Format
1. Johnny Curtis
The success of the first format of NXT can be seen in the careers of its four winners. Wade Barrett won season one, and can now be found either winning the intercontinental title or losing to a guy who carries a plunger to the ring. Kaval won season two, and was released not long after. Kaitlyn won season three and forged herself a pretty decent career, but she has since taken her delightful thighs and moved on. Johnny Curtis won season four, and now he’s a dancing jobber.
Yeah, I forgot too. Johnny Curtis won season four of NXT!
Johnny Curtis is one of the most surprising talents in the WWE. When he was introduced to us as the aforementioned plunger-carrier’s rookie in season four, he was a vanilla as all hell babyface, entirely forgettable. Imagine my surprise then, when he developed one of my all time favourite wrestling characters in season five. In season five Johnny Curtis became weirder than weird, turning up in all manner of situations with his jacket and no shirt, making strange comments and generally being incredibly sinister and well, weird.
If there’s one thing that season five of NXT showed, it was that all the performers benefited from the game show elements of the show being toned down. It was here where the Prime Time Players came together after all. Johnny Curtis, Derrick Bateman, Maxine and Kaitlyn held the show together, and only now do I realise that this article might just be a love letter to that lost group. Either way, if Johnny Curtis was introduced into the NXT of today, who knows where he would be. Fandango might never have beaten Chris Jericho at WrestleMania, sure, but maybe I would have gotten a little more ‘Dirty Curty’.