Daniel Bryan
WWE NXT made its debut on Tuesday night with a star-studded lineup of current WWE talents and former ROH Champion Daniel Bryan.
All in all the show was pretty good. It was a nice mix of reality programming and traditional wrestling.
The thing that stood out the most was that WWE finally opened up and talked about the Internet dirt sheets and rumors. Hell, the practically built Bryan’s persona around them.
At one point Josh Mathews poked fun at Michael Cole saying that Cole was still “being coached” in the broadcast booth after 10 years. He knew it was true because he read it on the Internet.
Typically WWE will not acknowledge the Internet subculture nor a talent’s achievements in wrestling outside of World Wrestling Entertainment spotlight.
Whether or not the show has lasting power remains to be seen.
ECW was dropped because the ratings had fallen off significantly since the brand re-debuted on Syfy. In an effort to bolster them WWE instituted its New Talent Initiative which brought the likes of Yoshi Tatsu, Tyler Reks and others to television.
However, they were unable to pull the show out of the ratings skid.
Like ECW, WWE NXT is a hybrid of new talent and established veterans. Unlike ECW, WWE NXT is breathing new life into the wrestling business instead of trying to hang on to the past.
The show allegedly will have a 16-week run per cycle. How many times can WWE cycle through before the format gets stale?
By the third time around the show will pretty much have run its course unless they evolve it further. Perhaps take it a step closer to Tough Enough.
Regardless, we should enjoy the programming while it’s still fresh.
WWE has gone out of their way to come up with a creative and unique concept which is rare to come by in their historically cookie cutter approach to storylines and programming.
The fact that they have acknowledged that Daniel Bryan (aka Bryan Danielson) had a career before WWE is a big step forward. Pairing him against Chris Jericho in the main event was a great way to get him over and make a name for himself. Of course he wasn’t going to defeat the World Heavyweight Champion, but he did shine through.
Kudos, WWE.
What do you think? Leave your comment below.
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I watched a little of the show, all the way up to the first match, then I turned it off and never came back to it. The premise doesn’t seem to be very new or innovative. “Chris Bryan” certainly is not new, though he hasn’t been in the WWE before. And the rest of the guys, well, they are new but they are minor leaguers. Why focus a show on minor leaguers who nobody knows and may not be around in a month?