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

In broad terms, the biggest fear most NXT hardcores had about the move was that Vince McMahon would pollute the with the same foibles that had made elements of Raw and SmackDown borderline unwatchable for the last 20 years.

What materialised was slightly more complex, but no less of a problem.

Losing weekly viewership battles to Dynamite triggered levels of panic booking hitherto unseen on the black-and-gold brand. In the old days, the formulas and patterns on the show were occasionally used as a stick to beat it with, but yet another incredible TakeOver typically justified the rigid process. Problem was, it was easy to see when it was no longer being followed.

Capitalising on a Survivor Series "won" by NXT, the show earned strong viewership victories with what proved to be the last of their major longterm payoffs. Rhea Ripley's NXT Women's Championship triumph over Shayna Baszler was carefully crafted over the summer, while Keith Lee's star shone so brightly after pouncing Adam Cole into space that it seemed like a Royal Rumble win (or at very least, elimination of Brock Lesnar) was in the offing. Rule-proving exceptions poked through elsewhere, but the frantic new pace and extra hour had exhausted resources, ideas and the once-sacred tenet of stability.

All of it was the beginning of the end, and it has taken nearly ten months for the show to catch up with the rest of the broken world and establish a new normal.

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