Remember When? (Vol. 3)

Remember When? (Vol. 3) The Beginning of NXT

Last time on the "Remember When" series, we took an in-depth look at the history of the newly formed ECW, lasting from 2006 to 2010. We described the argumentative state that the brand always seemed to be in. Then on ECW's second to last episode, they announced the end of ECW. They announced that in its place would be WWE's latest "developmental" series, NXT. There wasn't too much known about the brand at the time. We just knew NXT would be pairing "Rookies" with "Pros". The rest was proven to be history, and now we have the brand known as NXT every Wednesday. So that being said, let's take a look back at the early history of NXT!

Chapter 1: An Extreme Beginning

As we mentioned, Vince McMahon came down the ramp on February 2nd 2010, and congratulated ECW for "|Being the success it truly was". To the dismay of the announce team of Josh Matthews and Byron Saxton, they continued on with the show, however questioning what that meant for the future. The last episode of ECW on SyFy saw Christian defending his ECW Championship against Ezekiel Jackson. He proclaimed that he was fighting on behalf of "Every ECW Original who just wanted the three letters to mean something." He also praised Yoshi Tatsu, mentioning that he had a big future...Well. 

Anyway, after Ezekiel Jackson defeated Christian in his one and only ECW Championship reign, the brand had ended. In a matter of 4 years, WWE went from Sabu smashing tables to Christian hitting people with Kendo Sticks. The time for ECW had ended. To many (Not me), the brand became a watered down, WWE by-product of RAW and Smackdown.

The following week, we got WWE NXT. The show featured  8 "Rookies" matched up with "Pros". We saw "Rookies" such as Daniel Bryan, Wade Barrett and Heath Slater, teamed up with The Miz, Chris Jericho, and Christian. It featured a Game Show like format, where contestants would do various "Challenges," no matter how scripted they were. We saw Barrell-Moving, Promos on cheese...Yeah, it wasn't a good time. Point is, the first season of NXT was something different. While it had wrestling, the main focus was just trying to get these FCW prospects over. Not quite sure they did, but it was still fun to watch.

It wasn't long after Wade Barrett won the inaugural season of the show that the roster made their debut as The Nexus, dismantling John Cena, CM Punk and Luke Gallows all in one night. The Nexus was a direct result of the first season, and some of these names finally had their time to shine in the spotlight. Of course, this was also the same night Daniel Bryan choked out ring announcer Justin Roberts with his own tie, leading to Daniel getting legitimately fired from WWE, only to be brought back months later...Teaming with Cena at Survivor Series? Man, 2010 was a wierd, weird year.

Chapter 2: An All Female Cast

As 2010 and 2011 would progress, we would see a slight shift in the NXT landscape. No longer was it a "Competition" show that featured just men competing. Now we had an all-women cast. It displayed the talents of eventual winner Kaitlyn, Naomi, AJ Lee, Aksana, Maxine and...Jamie? There's always one after thought. This time, most of the "Pros" were Divas as they were called back then. The only exceptions were Primo and Goldust, who were for AJ and Aksana respectively.

This season of NXT I feel was the turning point for WWE. I feel that once this season hit, and fans started to show their disinterest, so did the company. The challenges became even more silly than what they were before. There was no crowd reaction. There was nothing. And it wasn't something that the WWE was going to take seriously. However, being on the SyFy channel probably wasn't in their favor. They had already switched formats once before, and I'm sure they wouldn't be happy if they did it a second time in only 6 and a half months.

While using an all female roster I'm sure was a great move for the company, it was too little too late. There wasn't much of a reason for the fans to tune in other than the fact that the roster had all-women. There wasn't anything aesthetically different. No rule changes, no twists, nothing. That's the problem the show had. You couldn't make a show different if you only change one real minor thing, then present it as different. While the season did bring us AJ Lee and Naomi, it wasn't enough to make us tune in consistently.

Chapter 3: The Roar

Nearly four years to the day ECW ended, WWE aired NXT: Arrival. It was the first major event the company held for NXT as a developmental territory, rather than this weird, semi-reality show that we were used to seeing. Now we had reasoning for these younger talents to try to get over. The NXT Title was defended in a ladder match between Bo Dallas and Adrian Neville. It was an event that was marked with praise from fans and critics alike. I would actually say that this event left a stamp on the NXT landscape for years to come.

But the brand started 2 years ago. We saw the first NXT Champion be someone who was beyond well
deserved in Seth Rollins. The company had a definitive direction in terms of where they wanted to go.
The fans were beyond elated that NXT was not just a "thing" anymore. Now it was something far more
than that. It was a developmental brand but with the attitude of a show that deserved main roster
attention. Matches had a lot more meaning and from this point on was served as a launching pad for
careers and rightfully so.

you get when watching an NXT show that you just don't get on the main roster. It also helps that the "Man with Three H's" is heading the show. Now, talent not only have a place to go to improve, but also a place to gain experience, regardless how long you have been in the business. Well, unless your name is AJ Styles.

So what can I say about the early days of NXT? Well, it was a crap show. Frankly, it had no point even being associated with WWE during that time, as it wasn't a dedicated wrestling show. This is something you make for online, not for a TV deal. No one was interested in those moments we got, which was why fans just sat on their hands.

I will say this as a positive. The early days of NXT were very helpful in the landscape of where we're at today. We got names like Seth Rollins, Samoa Joe, Naomi, Asuka, Bayley and more who all came through the ranks of NXT, regardless of where it was at during that time. So in a sense, it did was it was intended to do, and make characters.

That's our post! Do you agree or disagree? Leave a comment below and don't forget to follow us on Twitter for all things 'Rasslin!
-Nick