NXT 2.0: A wrestling obituary or a rebirth? We’ll find out tonight
On Tuesday night, NXT ventures into the unknown.
When fans enter Orlando’s Capitol Wrestling Center, then the show begins live on USA Network, the 11-year-old WWE brand expected to look and feel totally different than it has before. Whether that proves to be good, bad or just different remains to be seen.
For live reports from the scene of the NXT 2.0 premiere, follow me on Twitter Tuesday night @runninjay.
The company has been pretty scant on details, apart from a paint-splashy new logo and a short teaser video set to a Wale track. But there is some trepidation among longtime NXT fans about the relaunch, particularly after reports in many online media outlets that the creative direction was being steered by Vince McMahon and those at the top of WWE, rather than having a different perspective led by Paul (Triple H) Levesque and a separate production team.
If it looks and feels the same as Raw and Smackdown, the critics argue, it could become stale or lost in the shuffle. Recent comments from WWE President Nick Khan point to a return to the show’s “developmental” roots, which could mean a step back in terms of match quality and importance.
They’re calling it “NXT 2.0,” though this will be at least the third iteration of the program that began as a competition “reality” show in 2010, a season probably best remembered as the WWE debut of Daniel Bryan (now AEW’s Bryan Danielson) and the beginning of the Nexus faction.
In 2012, the production moved full-time to Full Sail University in Winter Park and the second phase began.It became a showcase for developmental talent making its way to the “main roster” of Raw and Smackdown. Its most recent success story is Big E, known here as Big E Langston, who captured the WWE title first the first time Monday night.
As time moved on, more established stars from other promotions entered and made NXT into a favorite stop for fans of in-ring talent apart from the more “storyline-driven” Raw and Smackdown shows. In 2019, its status as a near-equal brand was solidified when it was given a two-hour live weekly airing on USA Network
As the pandemic started last year, the show moved to the WWE Performance Center, rechristened the Capitol Wrestling Center for TV purposes, and will remain there for the foreseeable future, whatever the new show looks like.
The happenings scheduled for tonight’s show — the wedding of Indi Hartwell and Dexter Lumis; a four-way match with Tommaso Ciampa, Pete Dunne, Johnny Gargano and LA Knight; and Raquel Gonzalez defending the women’s title against Franky Monet — are not explicitly tied to the revamp, but the look of the show could be much different.
Some see the NXT revamp as an obituary for what NXT once was: A plucky developmental promotion that a small auditorium of devoted Florida fans turned into an “underground” sensation. For others, it may just put the Tuesday-night telecasts more in line with what WWE fans are used to seeing on Monday and Friday nights.
Either way, it feels like it may never be the same.
I can be reached at jreddick@orlandosentinel.com or on Twitter @runninjay.
