Daily DDT
Fansided

WWE NXT: What is ‘The End’?

By Rob Wolkenbrod

facebooktwitterreddit

WWE NXT is about to present their next live special with the subtitle “The End”, which led to plenty of speculation.

Last week, the WWE brand split was announced with SmackDown going live beginning on July 19. Days later, Triple H snuck in a piece of WWE NXT news that scared fans quite a bit, and with good reason—he gave the next TakeOver event a subtitle of “The End”.

This sparked speculation and angst for the show that was supposed to have “Revenge” as the subtitle, so the sudden change was noticeable.

More wwe: WrestleMania 33 Match Card Projections

Fans now have one thing to wonder: what exactly is “The End”?

“The End” can be interpreted in many different ways, thus the speculation. The Game kept his Tweet as cryptic as possible, which was intentionally done. Why not stir the pot with a message and the scariest subtitle of them all?

So what’s one way to interpret “The End”?

“The End” of Finn Balor and Samoa Joe’s Feud

The Finn Balor vs. Samoa Joe story has lasted since October 2015 when they won the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. With no clear-cut No. 1 contender to the title back then, everyone assumed Joe, then a babyface, was going to turn on his friend. This eventually happened when Joe beat down Balor during his NXT Championship match with Apollo Crews.

Balor and Joe would have two matches, both with the former walking out with the title. However, at an NXT live event in April, the Samoan Submission Machine shockingly won the belt off the Demon.

After this, speculation started about Balor heading to the main roster. This only continued with friends Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows debuting on Raw.

The expectation is Finn Balor will lose his rematch and be sent off from WWE NXT, heading to the main roster shortly thereafter. So is this the end of Balor’s time in developmental and his rivalry with Samoa Joe?

“The End” of NXT TakeOver Specials

With the WWE brand split taking place in about six weeks, speculation has involved multiple WWE NXT stars heading to the main roster. Raw and SmackDown will need a healthy amount of Superstars to take up space, so Vince McMahon may dip into the talent pool in Florida.

This wouldn’t spell the end of NXT, though, as there’s still going to be a plethora of men and women there. Dozens of names haven’t even appeared on TV that are working at the Performance Center, so they will likely fill in the gaps of those called up.

More from NXT

However, if a bunch of top talent is going to the main roster, does that mean this is “The End” of TakeOver specials?

NXT TakeOver has thrived on top names putting on great matches. Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, Finn Balor, Samoa Joe, Neville, Shinsuke Nakamura, Bayley, Sasha Banks, Charlotte and Becky Lynch are among those who have wrestled a top match at these live specials. Even without their matches, their presences on the shows are a draw. If this brand split is going to wipe out people like Balor (most expected), Joe, Nakamura, Bayley, and Asuka, can these shows really thrive off a tag team like like American Alpha, future star Andrade Almas, Austin Aries, and mostly unknown female talents?

There’s no way of giving a concrete answer because this has not been put to the test, but the first response that comes to mind is no.

Of course, other talents can be brought in, but with those “other talents” not there yet, it can’t impact the opinion.

So “The End” of TakeOver specials could become a reality, at least, until more names come in. Can they last if the top names all leave at once?

“The End” of WWE NXT

No. Not possible. Not happening. Never.

But what if it’s true? “Where do we go from here?”

“The End” of WWE NXT would spell a backlash against the company. The Full Sail University show is a niche product, yes, but there is a large enough fan base where many will care about this going away. They would turn to Vince McMahon, blame the brand split, and possibly avoid watching WWE programming. Numbers could go down for Raw and SmackDown even further than where they are at.

Now why would they blame Vince and the brand split? Well, if he is planning on calling up all the top NXT stars, this might not only kill TakeOver events, but destroy the brand.

More from Daily DDT

If Asuka, Finn Balor, Samoa Joe, Bayley, Shinsuke Nakamura, American Alpha, The Revival, Nia Jax, Austin Aries, Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano, Alex Bliss, among others are all called up in one big swoop, what’s left in NXT? Andrade “Cien” Almas, a guy who hasn’t debuted yet (but with big things expected)? Patrick Clark as a Donald Trump supporter? Unknown women in Peyton Royce, Billie Kay, and Liv Morgan? Can all of that really bring in viewers every week?

Triple H would probably want to continue with NXT, but at the end of the day, it’s Vince McMahon’s company. If he doesn’t feel NXT is worth the money and production time with all the big draws gone, he could cancel it.

Ideally, there should be a litmus test. Would fans continue to watch on the WWE Network and attend tapings at Full Sail University to watch inexperienced TV talents? One would think the passionate NXT fans would continue to flock to watch. TakeOver events may be a different story depending on who is still around.

Should fans really worry about the downfall of NXT, though? This should keep them positive, despite the events taking place before the first live episode of SmackDown.

Related Story: Hideo Itami Returning Soon?

So is this “The End” of WWE NXT as we know it? Is it just the TakeOver events? Is it the Finn Balor vs. Samoa Joe rivalry? Or maybe something else?

Home/NXT