WWE: NXT is now the main roster, says Johnny Gargano. And he’s right!

On the final episode of NXT before the switch to the USA Network, Johnny Gargano made it clear that he’s staying put. The next night, he tweeted that his brand is the WWE main roster now. And the evidence is there to support Gargano’s claim.

Over the past few years, no one has been a bigger part of NXT than Johnny Gargano. After failing to regain the NXT Championship at TakeOver: Toronto, many fans were expecting Gargano to move up to the WWE main roster. After all, he had a brief cup of coffee teaming with Tommaso Ciampa earlier in 2019.

On the Sept. 11 episode of WWE NXT — the final one before the brand moves to the USA Network and expands to two hours — Johnny Wrestling left no doubt that he was right where he wanted to be. In fact, after a brief interruption from Shane Thorne, Gargano punctuated his announcement with an homage to the New World Order, tracing “NXT 4 Life” in the air.

But wait, there’s more! (No, this is not a late-night TV infomercial, although I am the owner of a beard that rivals that of the late great Billy Mays.) The night after he announced he was sticking around at Full Sail University, Gargano headed to Twitter, where he posted the following message:

It may seem like a pretty bold statement, but Johnny Gargano threw down the gauntlet and stating that NXT is “THE Main Roster now.” For him, there’s no more “going up” to WWE. Clearly, moving from NXT to, say, SmackDown Live is, in Gargano’s mind, no different that moving from Raw to SmackDown Live.

Stranger still, Gargano may have a valid point. Since WWE shut down Florida Championship Wrestling in 2012, NXT has served a main purpose as a developmental organization, meant to prepare talent for a potential future as a WWE superstar. And the likes of Bayley, Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch, The Revival, Big E, and Xavier Woods are current WWE superstars who came of their own in NXT.

But eventually, NXT’s homegrown talent was joined by high-profile signings from independent promotions. Initially, these superstars were renamed and rebranded upon their arrival. Well-known competitors like Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, Neville, Hideo Itami, and Finn Bálor became the faces of the NXT brand.

At this point, NXT began its shift to a “third brand,” less developmental than alternative. It would be hard to argue that someone like the former Prince Devitt needed to “develop” before heading to Raw or SmackDown. The presence of these established superstars muddied the waters of the purpose of the show, since rookies and developing talent were still present.

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Eventually, the charade of renaming incoming talent was slowly dropped as well, as former world champions like Samoa Joe and Austin Aries made their way into NXT. It seemed odd that they would head to NXT as opposed to a “true” WWE show, given their extensive resumés. Sure, some superstars like Asuka and Kairi Sane were renamed, but the vast majority were not — Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly, Bobby Fish, Roderick Strong, Io Shirai, and Candice LeRae among them.

Also not renamed? Johnny Gargano. And as more and more superstars were able to keep their names, NXT clearly became less of a place meant for true development, and more of a true extension of the WWE product. There were less televised appearances for the rookies, who were almost exclusively relegated to live events only.

The final step in making NXT a true “main roster brand” came just a few short months ago. Tyler Breeze, a former NXT standout who had mixed success on Raw and SmackDown, returned to NXT on a full-time basis in May 2019. In short order, he was joined by his tag team partner Fandango, and the duo have been enjoying a nice little run in the NXT tag team scene.

In an interview with Newsweek, Breeze shot down any talk of returning to NXT being a “demotion.” In his words, the brand switch was a “lateral move” — a point now being echoed by Gargano as part of his rationale for remaining with the brand. And given the evidence at hand, it’s hard to argue with Breeze and Gargano.

Over a period of seven years — and a little more than five since the WWE Network raised the profile of NXT — the gradual changes to the presentation of the brand and the talent within may not seem significant. But go back and watch an episode from, say, September 2012 and compare it to this week’s offering. From the featured talent to overall production, really the only constant is the filming location.

The move to a bigger network like USA is honestly probably long overdue for the brand, as is the expansion to two hours. But with Johnny Gargano, Shayna Baszler, Matt Riddle, and Velveteen Dream leading the charge, NXT really has become a true “main roster” level brand. And like Gargano said, when you’re NXT, you’re NXT 4 Life.