3 Pros and 3 Cons of Vince McMahon getting involved with NXT
Depending on your stance, you are either for or against the upcoming involvement of Vince McMahon in NXT once it moves to Wednesday nights at 8 p.m. on the USA Network. His involvement was reported a week ago once it was decided that NXT would be changing homes. It was rumored up until it was finally confirmed yesterday that NXT would indeed be moving to the USA Network starting September 18th.
Triple H has primarily been the one to run and grow the yellow brand on the WWE Network. He's close with a lot of the talent and has scouted most of the stars that have come through the WWE Performance Center.
But with a move to a nationally-syndicated cable network, the move means that NXT will likely be run similarly to the ways in which McMahon has operated both RAW and SmackDown. In order to present the show on its new home, it primarily means that the team in charge of presenting the main-roster shows for television will be tasked with doing the same for NXT.
The show's move was primarily made due to counter AEW's upcoming show that will also be airing on the same night. Its time slot is still unknown, but prime-time wrestling shows have traditionally either started at 8 or 9 p.m. and ended at either 10 or 11 p.m.
Some might be for the change because McMahon has years of successful production to back up his team's ability to maintain NXT's smooth operation. Others might feel that some of the problems that have plagued RAW and SmackDown recently might be brought to the yellow brand once he is involved. Some don't like 50/50 booking, constant booking of the same stars atop the divisions and promo parades often opening the shows.
The news of NXT's big move means that we might see a lot to change regarding its presentation, roster use, and booking. Will it change so much as to lose what made the show so beloved by the WWE Universe? It makes sense for McMahon to be more involved since he has a multitude of experience doing so with RAW and SmackDown. Change in life is sometimes good and sometimes bad. Here are three pros and three cons of the Chairman taking a much bigger interest and role in the production of NXT.
#3 Pro - There will be fewer strange character name changes/tweaks
One positive of having McMahon focusing on NXT involves the naming of wrestlers. How many times in recent history has a Superstar from NXT graduated to the main roster only to have their names partially or completely changed? Apollo Crews lost his last name for a time but got it back. It was due to an unfortunate crime that had been committed so it was a good decision to temporarily drop the last name.
Mustafa Ali became simply Ali while Cesaro and Rusev also lost their first names. Shinsuke Nakamura was called "the Artist" upon his main-roster debut due to his rock star-like charisma. Tag teams like the Bludgeon Brothers and Heavy Machinery went from men with complete names to having only first or last names.
How crazy was the post-WrestleMania debut of the War Raiders? Their debut was historic because they not only debuted with a weird new name seen above but also with two completely different names. If McMahon's hands are already in the pie, then he'll likely work through most of the tweaks before they get called up. It would keep the characters more consistent. That's a benefit in my eyes.