I haven't done a wrestling post in a while so I figured I'd start with the best brand going today. I'll also do a partial review of 2017 in this posts. If you've followed NXT in 2017 I think you have to admit that while it started on a rocky plane it ended wonderfully. After the TakeOver: Philadelphia event it's clear that the folks at the WWE Performance Center are turning out some good future talent. Now you know me when it comes to these things. I'm going to explain about what everyone else is not talking about. Lets start with this. The performers who have no independent wrestling history are carrying the brand.
I could go into how great the main event from Philadelphia was but I won't. I was a great match that threw everything plus the kitchen sink, twice. But I've expected a great match from Johnny Wrestling for years now. I knew the man formerly known as La Sombra had it in him to maybe become the best all around performer I've seen since Eddie Guerrero. What caught me by surprise was The Authors of Pain, Shanya Bazler, and The Velveteen Dream all had great matches on that show as well. It use to be that I expected the veteran indy performer to carry the inexperienced persons to a good match. Now I look at NXT and realize more of these performers are more than holding their own in big matches.
At the beginning of 2017 that was not the case at all. Last year NXT was far and away the best indy wrestling company in the world. But their not an indy company. They had some of the best indy talent in one place, at the same time, having great matches with each other. The purely performance center talents were basically canon fodder for the more experienced wrestlers. At some point that changed as call ups happened. This is what people aren't seeing. At the Performance Center there was a sign that stated, "You are not here to FILL a spot, You are here to TAKE a spot." With the openings made by roster call ups there was a fear that unless those spots were filled by indy wrestlers on NXT the brand would lose steam. That did happen for a very short time. But Triple H should be proud of everyone involved in the production and performance of NXT because in 2017 the spotlights were taken by more non-indy wrestlers than I can remember since the the beginning of the current iteration of NXT.
When performers like The Authors of Pain, Lars Sullivan, Lacey Evans, The Velveteen Dream and The Street Profits had to have more screen time on NXT television they made the most of it. I have to single out Velveteen because initially I didn't think the gimmick would work. It was too much of everything all at once in my eyes. But he committed to the character and with some solid matches got himself over. Working with Aleister Black helped get him an award for feud of the year for a feud that went on for less than three months. The question becomes was all of this just an anomaly or are we at the beginning of a new era of WWE Performance Center individuals becoming stars.
I wonder if the training of people who weren't established on the indy scene could be a long term success for WWE. I know Velveteen Dream did some work on the indies but long term I think he'll be seen as a Performance Center creation. I question this because I don't know if they can bring in enough people and get them to the top of NXT. Nevermind the main event of WrestleMania I'm thinking NXT Championships. I'm going to give this some more thought and come back to it later.
+WWE
I could go into how great the main event from Philadelphia was but I won't. I was a great match that threw everything plus the kitchen sink, twice. But I've expected a great match from Johnny Wrestling for years now. I knew the man formerly known as La Sombra had it in him to maybe become the best all around performer I've seen since Eddie Guerrero. What caught me by surprise was The Authors of Pain, Shanya Bazler, and The Velveteen Dream all had great matches on that show as well. It use to be that I expected the veteran indy performer to carry the inexperienced persons to a good match. Now I look at NXT and realize more of these performers are more than holding their own in big matches.
When performers like The Authors of Pain, Lars Sullivan, Lacey Evans, The Velveteen Dream and The Street Profits had to have more screen time on NXT television they made the most of it. I have to single out Velveteen because initially I didn't think the gimmick would work. It was too much of everything all at once in my eyes. But he committed to the character and with some solid matches got himself over. Working with Aleister Black helped get him an award for feud of the year for a feud that went on for less than three months. The question becomes was all of this just an anomaly or are we at the beginning of a new era of WWE Performance Center individuals becoming stars.I wonder if the training of people who weren't established on the indy scene could be a long term success for WWE. I know Velveteen Dream did some work on the indies but long term I think he'll be seen as a Performance Center creation. I question this because I don't know if they can bring in enough people and get them to the top of NXT. Nevermind the main event of WrestleMania I'm thinking NXT Championships. I'm going to give this some more thought and come back to it later.
+WWE
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