The Rise & Fall Of WWE NXT
Wrestling Twitter was still enjoying itself with the clip of Bron Breakker sticking the boot into the big yellow X when storm clouds loomed and Vince McMahon and Nick Khan hit send on some texts with a more literal interpretation of the move.
As the sun went down across most of America, so too did the WWE runs of (deep breath) William Regal, Brian 'Road Dogg' James, Scott Armstrong, Timothy Thatcher, Danny Burch, Hideki 'Hachiman' Suzuki, Sarah Cummins, Chris Guy, Dave Kapoor, Ryan Katz, Cathy Corino, and George Carroll. They're mostly names we all know with a few we don't, but the takeaway (beyond the shock of those at the top table being let go) was that NXT and The Performance Center had been directly targeted for the latest round of budget cuts.
Regal's departure in particular brought back the sort of emotions associated with the pandemic-gripped April 2020 cuts in just how unthinkable it was, before the shock subsided and glum reality resumed. This is WWE now, and has been since Khan started work there as the biggest axe man since Man Mountain Rock.
If the debut of 2.0 was the black-and-gold brand's funeral, the NXT General Manager's release was a reminder that we've all been hanging around at the wake a little too long. The death in general has felt particularly cruel, but that speaks volumes for the life it lived...
CONT'D...