It's one of the worst-kept secrets in the world that NXT is the single best programme that WWE produces from week to week. The rivalries are better built, the tag and woman's divisions are immeasurably better, and their quarterly specials broadcasts - the PPVs of the NXT universe - are more often than not, downright jaw-dropping. As the old NXT chant goes: "Better than RAW, Better than RAW, Better than RAW." But, in its current model, NXT is merely a holding pen for WWE superstars. The goal of NXT was, and still is, to prepare WWE newcomers for their (hopefully) inevitablel rise to the main rosters of RAW and Smackdown. It's the training level before the video game starts in earnest. But for every successful transition, like The Shield, Bray Wyatt, or Rusev, many superstars flop, and flop hard. The Ascension, Xavier Woods, Big E, Bo Dallas, Adam Rose, Emma, and Paige (to a lesser extent) have all suffered in the 'big leagues', achieving a mere fraction of their considerable NXT success. What is it that creates this dissonance? How does a winning formula in one ring translate into a recipe for disaster in another? Could it be that, as beautifully crafted as NXT has become, this system of preparation is inherently flawed? What follows are just some assumptions, but might shed some light on the situation.
