Killian Dain reveals why SAnitY really failed on WWE SmackDown (Exclusive)
SAnitY debuted on the main roster with a lot of promise in 2018. Under the villainous leadership of Eric Young, the faction enjoyed a great spell in NXT before being given a deserved call-up.
However, SAnitY failed to replicate their NXT success on SmackDown, and Killian Dain spoke about the faction's ill-fated main roster run during a recent Sportskeeda Wrestling exclusive interview with Riju Dasgupta.
Killian Dain stated that Sanity was pushed into a stacked playing field when they got to the big leagues.
The SmackDown tag team division had the likes of Sheamus & Cesaro, The Bludgeon Brothers, and a few other established teams, making it difficult for Eric Young and his sinister crew to stand out from the pack.
Big Damo added that 'there wasn't much room' for SAnitY to make a big splash, and WWE's decision to introduce them as heels on SmackDown additionally hurt the team's cause. SAnitY transitioned to babyface roles in NXT, but the company reverted them to heels after moving up to SmackDown.
Here's what Big Damo had to share about his former faction:
"We went from being faces towards the end of our NXT run. We go into SmackDown, completely brand new as villains, and the top villains at the time were the Bludgeon Brothers. They were champs for a long time, and then I think it was Sheamus and Cesaro. There wasn't a great amount of room for us, so a lot of it comes down to time, and a lot of it is luck," said Big Damo.
Killian Dain shed more light on the other possible reasons that hindered SAnitY's rise on SmackDown. The former NXT star speculated that the faction faced some terrible luck. He felt that the group might have just failed to impress WWE officials.
Dain also highlighted the creative flip-flop within WWE and noted that the writers loved one of SAnitY's promos. The writing team rewatched the same promo two weeks later and astonishingly didn't like it.
Killian Dain was informed about the writers' altered remarks about the promos only after his brief SmackDown career concluded.
"It just maybe wasn't on our side; maybe we didn't impress the bosses when we had our chances. I don't know like those are questions that are better asked to somebody else but what I can tell you is that one writer told me they saw a promo of ours, they loved it. They adored it. They loved what it represented. They watched the exact same promo two weeks later, and they didn't like it. So, that's literally, that's literally what was told to me when I came back after the SmackDown run. That's all I can tell you. As I said before, wrestling is a very fickle industry, and you just have to roll with the punches when you can," explained Killian Dain.
Killian Dain on SAnitY not getting enough time on SmackDown
Killian Dain brought up the differences between NXT and the main roster and how the blue brand didn't give SAnitY enough time to showcase the full scope of their on-screen act.
SAnitY was a top faction when NXT was still a taped show, and WWE had the freedom to allocate ample amounts of time for a team, especially for the in-ring entrances of the talent.
As NXT was a pre-recorded offering a few years ago, Sanity and its members had the opportunity to flesh out their characters and mannerisms.
SmackDown turned out to be a whole different ballgame for Sanity as the dynamics of a live show were unlike what the stable experienced in NXT.
Killian Dain noted that the change in presentation and Nikki Cross being kept back on NXT contributed towards SAnitY's downfall on SmackDown.
"It's time," Dain continued, "So, really, like, when we were recording NXT and whatever else, you had all the time to do the full entrance and everything else, whereas, on SmackDown and RAW, it's dictated by how much time you can do before commercials and everything like that because it was live TV. NXT was recorded; it was different. They could change it around, move the commercials that suited them. You know, that's one factor when it comes to the entrance and the presentation. Also, we went up without Nikki, so we were immediately a different group without her."
SAnitY will sadly be remembered as a missed opportunity in WWE's history books, but where did the company go exactly wrong with the once-dominant NXT collective? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.
If any quotes are used from this article, please add a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling and embed the video.