It's Official: A New Era Has Begun In NXT

NXT had already advanced beyond what it once might have been (developmental/hideaway brand first, touring arena show second), but it had comfortably achieved that by 2017 at the latest. The ethos of the show had switched a little since then, but the TakeOver specials sold out just the same.

A golden era for babyfaces and breakout stars between 2014 and 2016, the show gradually morphed into a WWE-polished super-indie, with wrestlers and matches that had already defined the genre for PWG and similar organisations. At TakeOvers and occasionally on the Network show, NXT was matching or bettering contests taking place anywhere in the world. New Japan was in a period of unparalleled critical and commercial acclaim, but the black-and-gold brand routinely argued the toss for match-of-the-year candidates thanks to many of the cult favourites and internet darlings that were getting mainstream exposure for the very first time.

Perhaps most important of all was the perception battle NXT had won during its own formative years. Longstanding WWE fans had gravitated towards the show because it looked and felt more like the one they'd first fallen in love with, compared to the messy modern day "main roster". That very title was an important division, until the Wednesday Night War took its first casualty.

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