WWE Gets a 5-Star Review for New NXT Production

WWE has hit a home run with their new NXT show now being produced at Full Sail University.

I saw the first episode and was exploding with enjoyment over what I was seeing and was excited to pass on the praise to wrestling fans.

The show manages to mix top-shelf production value with an old-school studio wrestling feel. A generous dose of bell-to-bell action with an intimate but vocal audience. This content is complemented by a legendary voice that is the narrator of so many great moments in wrestling in Jim Ross.

The interim general manager of NXT is Dusty Rhodes, who started the show with Jim Ross by cutting a promo on the future moving forward for the show. Add in William Regal on commentary and you have three legendary characters who worked in the old days of territory television wrestling, which NXT has a positive resemblance to.

In addition, Dusty Rhodes already adds something to a show when you get to hear that music, see him dance and speak as only “The American Dreeeeam” Dusty Rhodes can, baby!

Sometimes it's better to be the biggest fish in a smaller pond rather than trying to make it in the vast ocean. When NXT was being filmed prior to Smackdown, it was in a 15,000-person arena, often not filled and often with people who weren't interested. They had come to see Randy Orton or Sheamus and had no care or knowledge of the new guys who occupied the NXT roster.

It would be as if a minor league baseball team was playing at a 50,000-person baseball stadium. It just doesn't fit.

This small, enthusiastic environment at Full Sail University was very appropriate for talents such as Bo Dallas or the tag team of Kenneth Cameron and Connor O'Brian (who had a fantastic entrance before a solid match).

The small setting with the fans close by to the ring was perfect because it symbolized these young talents who are trying to make an impression on the audience for the first time. It's as if they can look each fan in the eye and convince them that they are worth the price and time of admission. Theoretically, the could have spoken to every fan because the arena only holds so many.

If one of those young NXT stars was performing in a full-size arena where Raw or Smackdown was taking place, there would be more people in the concession stands buying John Cena merchandise than there are in the Full Sail University arena.

This episode of NXT featured talent from FCW and talent we would see on a Raw or Smackdown. This allowed for a healthy variety for the audience to see some performers for the first time while having familiarity with others. WWE main roster talents such as Tyson Kidd, Michael McGillicutty and Damien Sandow were in action in addition to new stars I mentioned like Dallas, Cameron and O'Brian.

In traditional NXT fashion, we saw some brief video packages providing background and hyping up other characters we will see in the coming weeks.

Teasers were shown of the Cameron and O'Brian tag team in a segment prior to their match. We also got a look at Seth Rollins, who we were told would make his debut next week.

My favorite personality profile was Bray Wyatt, formerly of Husky Harris, who was hyped up in a very entertaining and edited video package. His new character has a hillbilly swamp tone mixed with Mankind-like derangement.

The unique feel NXT now has compared to other WWE programs could also be an indirect promotion at what to expect with some programming for the WWE Network. There have been rumors of a Cruiserweight show and perhaps it could be produced in a similar manner to NXT.

WWE gets a lot of criticism for a lot of things. I have given out my share of critiques on certain topics, but the NXT production is a great example of why they are WWE. They are a machine, and it brings a smile to my face to see the machine use its resources in this way.

One of the key things so many young wrestlers in independent promotions lack is television awareness. They don't know what it means to play to a hard camera, be conscious of facial expressions at all times and the timing element that goes into a televised wrestling production.

The independent company I work as the commissioner for Prime Wrestling is on DirecTV every Sunday night and is one of the few companies able to provide this television education to young wrestlers. I feel this is a large reason why we have seen so many talent of ours go on to TNA and WWE. Sure, our production is not to the level of WWE's, but the simulation is still valuable enough to give young guys a huge edge when they get to the “big leagues.”

Another way “the machine” that is WWE is giving back is by them doing this production at a university, which, from my understanding, has a very impressive television production program. I don't know any details, but I've heard WWE has some plan or program of helping give back in the way of experience to those students at Full Sail University.

Reportedly, Triple H is said to be in control of the direction of this NXT project. From one week of judging, this could be a great mark on his resume as an executive and should bring a lot of excitement to where WWE programming could be headed as time goes on.

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