The Day WWE NXT Died

Rhea Ripley Raquel Gonzalez Dexter Lumis NXT
WWE.com

NXT has nonetheless settled into a new form that fuses the wacky with the incredibly serious. These two elements sit uneasily alongside one another - particularly since Karrion Kross can be accurately described as either - but this version of the show is an improvement, nonetheless, on the oppressive melodramatic grit and off-putting, rushed desperation of the Wednesday Night War. Cameron Grimes is a delight in a badly-needed second match comedy role; the Dexter Lumis/Indi Hartwell romance is inexplicably charming; the very high-end match quality is still just about up there with the best of the global scene. Finn Bálor's awesome technical intricacy was so great and by modern standards so compact that his old home of New Japan Pro Wrestling could and should learn from it.

The strange but no less welcome flavour of NXT Redemption is unfashionable, but then, NXT in general is, too. Daft WWE fun is far more palatable than NXT churning out a soulless approximation of mid-2010s indie wrestling. The ratings seem to agree with that assessment.

NXT, of course, used to be great, as nice as it was phenomenal.

NXT in 2021 is not great, and is no longer the preeminent critically acclaimed brand. The old identity - the WWE product so good and so life-affirming that it never felt like one - is dead. It has been subsumed by AEW, and the soul coursing through that promotion, with its proper pro wrestling energy and unscripted expression, is something WWE is constitutionally unwilling to adapt.

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Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and surefire Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!