The Day WWE NXT Died

Adam Cole Matt Riddle
WWE.com

On October 2, 2019, NXT promoted Adam Cole Vs. Matt Riddle in the very first segment of direct competition. The match was awesome. They should have saved it.

As was later revealed by Dave Meltzer in his inimitable way, Riddle was "huge for teenage boys". NXT had squandered the opportunity to set a key demographic draw on course to lift the NXT Title at a TakeOver purely to spite the competition. The one-and-done opener illustrated that all the Triple H hand-shaking was formally b*llocks. It was no longer about introducing talent to a wider audience. Quite the opposite: the cynical strategy taken by NXT in late 2019 was expressly designed to minimise the appeal of the latest round of recruits. They weren't stars; they were cannon fodder. NXT turned heel, in effect, jealous that "each and every one of you" fancied watching something else.

But NXT had descended into something worse than spite before the Wednesday Night Wars: full, laughable parody.

NXT TakeOver: Toronto II marked NXT's death as the cool league. By that point, the TV was what it was: functional to a fault, the Network show was so missable that Table For 3 sometimes toppled it in the weekly top 10 rankings. TakeOver, however, remained electrifying appointment viewing: a unifying force of wrestling greatness.

But on August 10, 2019, it became something to laugh at.

CONT'D...(4 of 6)

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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 current Undisputed WWE 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!