NXT might become a legitimate third brand after the Survivor Series event later this month if that does happen what’s next for the WWE developmental system?
It seems ever more likely that NXT will be a justifiable, third brand for the WWE. No longer a two brand show, that would mean that NXT would be past the ability of being a developmental brand.
Let’s not get into the issues that arise with NXT no longer being viewed as a developmental brand; the first being the pay. The fact that the NXT talent can make anywhere from 50% to 80% of a main roster wrestler is pathetic. That’s not counting a main event caliber salary.
Lio Rush was going broke. Mia Yim has roommates. How is a billionaire company with millionaire employees paying wrestlers beans and expecting them to get by? That won’t change just because the perception changes. Also, why is NXT the only brand with exclusive pay per views? That’s always been an issue I’ve had that RAW and SmackDown share one event per month. Don’t do that. That’s dumb.
So if Survivor Series is the christening of NXT as a legit third brand, and how can it not when they swept the main roster, what happens to the developmental system? What happens to the place where talent go in order get better?
Enter EVOLVE.
Ever since Gabe Sapolsky sold his soul and got in bed with Vince McMahon’s whorish company, EVOLVE has been seen as the Single-A affiliate to NXT’s AAA program. You none baseball fans are so lost by that analogy. Essentially EVOLVE is NXT’s NXT. If NXT really does get the promotion many fans seem to want, and God save me I don’t know why they do, then it would only make sense that you turn EVOLVE into the WWE’s developmental territory.
It’s not like it’d be a unique thing. Smokey Mountain Wrestling, Ohio Valley Wrestling, Deep South Wrestling, and even Flordia Championship Wrestling have all been there before. So why not add the name of NXT to the list of brands that used to be the developmental arm of the WWE?
No matter what happens after Survivor Series and the direction NXT goes be it as a true third brand or back to the minor leagues, the one thing that’s for sure is that it has to be one or the other. You can’t keep pretending that NXT is this great breeding ground and that it’s somehow a rival to RAW and SmackDown. If the rookies and newbies can beat the top of the top, then why the hell are they not on RAW and SmackDown beating them all the time?
You can’t start poking holes in the USS-Sinking Ship. The WWE already has enough issues to worry about and getting shown up by your own inferior third brand would just be one of the many many nails into the coffin that is the WWE’s hold on the industry.
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