6 Ups And 4 Downs From NXT TakeOver: San Antonio

1. Hard To Get Invested

One of the biggest criticisms facing NXT in recent months has been how the talent drain has impacted the developmental territory. Obviously, NXT is supposed to exist to supply ready-for-primetime wrestlers for WWE, but the parent company’s latest “raids” have certainly impacted the territory.

Finn Balor, Bayley, Nia Jax, Alexa Bliss, Enzo Amore & Big Cass, Baron Corbin, Apollo Crews and American Alpha are just some of the superstars who were promoted to the main roster in 2016. That’s a pretty big drain on the NXT talent. As a result, we have acts like Andrade “Cien” Almas and Roderick Strong, who put on a solid match at TakeOver: San Antonio, but it’s difficult to be seriously invested in them as wrestlers or the outcome of the match as being significant.

The same could be said about SAnitY, which has an awesome entrance and performers committed to their characters, but aside from the smoke and lighting, and the occasional beatdown, what have they done? Why should we care about them one way or another? This says nothing about the women’s division, with Liv Morgan getting oodles of camera time and next to zero character development.

This isn’t meant to be a huge criticism: NXT is a developmental brand, and it’s supposed to develop these characters, so it’s an ongoing process. But it’s tough to be connected to the performers right now.