How WWE Should Book The NXT Expansion
You know what the best part of WWE is right now? NXT and it isn’t even close. Well 205 Live has been great for a little while now. These have one thing in common, and that these are the brain children of Paul Levesque better know as Triple H. He has been the one taking the pictures with the new champions, the new signees, and calls the shot. I just finished watching the 2018 WWE UK Championship tournament, and there he was in the middle of the entire roster.
WWE NXT UK is the start of something that has been coined the NXT Expansion. NXT UK is the only the start of this project. When looking at the map Triple H displayed, when announcing this concept, 5 areas were covered in yellow with the NXT Logo. Those areas are South America, Europe, The Middle East, India, and China & Japan. With the already announced NXT UK and the existing NXT, how can WWE book 5 new NXT Shows? After some deliberation, I came up with the solution, these are the new territories like the 1980s.
Think about it like this, NXT UK and all the other NXT’s are the proving grounds where some independent stars go to have a shot at proving that they belong in WWE, while maybe winning the top title in their respective NXT Territory Championship. This can also allow for the company to widen their wrestling diversity when it comes to the main roster of WWE stars. The majority of them are either American or Canadian. The main reason for this is because the WWE used to only have eyes on local talent due to limitations. Yes tapes use to make the rounds, but I can imagine how hard it was to get tapes of international wrestlers. Now we can see them at the power of a few keystrokes on a keyboard. We have the wrestling world at our fingertips and so does Triple H. He sees who we like, what type of wrestling we like, and has a thought process that he uses to make NXT what we love. Which looking at it, these NXT’s can be booked like territories, and the big thing is they could be used to show off the independent talents of the wrestling world.
This will allow the fans of WWE a glimpse into the hardworking wrestlers from around the world that may have never gotten a chance in the WWE otherwise. Just look at the tournaments that Triple H has run. We got Kota Ibushi, TJP, Zack Saber Jr, and Noam Dar in the Cruiserweight Classic. We got Kairi Sane, Toni Storm, Mercedes Martinez, and Shayna Baszler in the Mae Young Classic. We got Tyler Bate, Trent Seven, and Pete Dunne in the 2017 UK Tournament. We got Travis Banks, Flash Morgan Webster, Ligero, and Jordan Devlin in the 2018 iteration of the UK Tournament. These wrestlers all were well known before the tournament, but what about some of the names we didn’t really know before these tournaments?
The likes of Cedric Alexander, Lince Dorado, Mustafa Ali, Dakota Kai, Rhea Ripley, Wolfgang, Dave Mastiff, Ashton Smith, and so many more that we may have not known of outside of our local areas. This is the opportunity that these NXT shows can provide. We could see the likes of WALTER, Timothy Thatcher, Chris Brookes, Kid Lykos, Chris Ridgeway, Millie McKenzie, and so many more, and that’s just NXT UK as WWE has a working relationship with Progress Wrestling. With WWE also having a new working relationship with Pro Wrestling NOAH, we could see the likes of those competitors in NXT Japan. If NXT Europe happens, which could exclude NT UK superstars, we could see the likes of the members of WXW and German Wrestling Federation along with many other promotions. The same can be said for NXT South America and NXT India. The future of NXT is bright, and that means if the cards are played right, then the future could be bright for WWE itself.
WWE NXT UK is the start of something that has been coined the NXT Expansion. NXT UK is the only the start of this project. When looking at the map Triple H displayed, when announcing this concept, 5 areas were covered in yellow with the NXT Logo. Those areas are South America, Europe, The Middle East, India, and China & Japan. With the already announced NXT UK and the existing NXT, how can WWE book 5 new NXT Shows? After some deliberation, I came up with the solution, these are the new territories like the 1980s.
Think about it like this, NXT UK and all the other NXT’s are the proving grounds where some independent stars go to have a shot at proving that they belong in WWE, while maybe winning the top title in their respective NXT Territory Championship. This can also allow for the company to widen their wrestling diversity when it comes to the main roster of WWE stars. The majority of them are either American or Canadian. The main reason for this is because the WWE used to only have eyes on local talent due to limitations. Yes tapes use to make the rounds, but I can imagine how hard it was to get tapes of international wrestlers. Now we can see them at the power of a few keystrokes on a keyboard. We have the wrestling world at our fingertips and so does Triple H. He sees who we like, what type of wrestling we like, and has a thought process that he uses to make NXT what we love. Which looking at it, these NXT’s can be booked like territories, and the big thing is they could be used to show off the independent talents of the wrestling world.
This will allow the fans of WWE a glimpse into the hardworking wrestlers from around the world that may have never gotten a chance in the WWE otherwise. Just look at the tournaments that Triple H has run. We got Kota Ibushi, TJP, Zack Saber Jr, and Noam Dar in the Cruiserweight Classic. We got Kairi Sane, Toni Storm, Mercedes Martinez, and Shayna Baszler in the Mae Young Classic. We got Tyler Bate, Trent Seven, and Pete Dunne in the 2017 UK Tournament. We got Travis Banks, Flash Morgan Webster, Ligero, and Jordan Devlin in the 2018 iteration of the UK Tournament. These wrestlers all were well known before the tournament, but what about some of the names we didn’t really know before these tournaments?
The likes of Cedric Alexander, Lince Dorado, Mustafa Ali, Dakota Kai, Rhea Ripley, Wolfgang, Dave Mastiff, Ashton Smith, and so many more that we may have not known of outside of our local areas. This is the opportunity that these NXT shows can provide. We could see the likes of WALTER, Timothy Thatcher, Chris Brookes, Kid Lykos, Chris Ridgeway, Millie McKenzie, and so many more, and that’s just NXT UK as WWE has a working relationship with Progress Wrestling. With WWE also having a new working relationship with Pro Wrestling NOAH, we could see the likes of those competitors in NXT Japan. If NXT Europe happens, which could exclude NT UK superstars, we could see the likes of the members of WXW and German Wrestling Federation along with many other promotions. The same can be said for NXT South America and NXT India. The future of NXT is bright, and that means if the cards are played right, then the future could be bright for WWE itself.
