Looking at Why Some Superstars Exceed in NXT, but Not on Main WWE Roster

WWE has done an amazing job putting together a developmental territory where young wrestlers can grow and indie veterans can acclimate to the WWE style, but there are many differences between NXT and the main roster that make it hard for some Superstars to be successful.

There's no denying that a lot of the talented wrestlers who have come up through the NXT system have done very well for themselves. The Shield, The Wyatt Family and Paige are a few examples of people who excelled.

On the other hand, you have people such as Emma, The Ascension and Bo Dallas. These are wrestlers who were extremely over with the crowd at NXT shows, but they have failed to develop the same report with the Raw and SmackDown audiences.

It's not as if these performers suddenly lost all the skills that made them popular in the first place, so what is it that keeps these people from reaching the same heights on the main roster that they ascended to in NXT?

The Crowd

The biggest difference between NXT and the main roster is the crowd, both in the arena and at home. Obviously the size of the audience is different, but that's not what makes the two groups different.

The WWE Universe is comprised of every kind of fan imaginable, from longtime viewers to little kids to the casual fan who comes and goes without any real commitment to watching on a weekly basis.

The fans in NXT are completely different. When you watch one of these shows on the WWE Network, it's not the same kind of people in the audience, and that creates a completely different atmosphere.

The fans in NXT are, for the most part, hardcore fans. Because every show is taped in the same place, you will often see the same faces in the stands week after week.

These dedicated fans are what we in the Internet Wrestling Community call "Smarks." It's a term that stands for people who are smart marks or people who pride themselves on having a deeper knowledge of the product than the casual viewer.

These are the people who absolutely love wrestling and want to see the next generation in action before those wrestlers get watered down and put on the main roster.

They understand the hardships faced by these men and women, and therefore have a greater appreciation for the work everyone puts in. They share the performers' passion, and this leads to them cheering for someone who may not get over with the masses.

Because of this, NXT often feels similar to watching an indie show. The fans are invested from beginning to end, and they let you know if they like or dislike something in a very vocal fashion.

It's also a more intimate atmosphere. Instead of thousands of people packed into an arena, it's a few hundred fans sitting in a small venue.

It's much easier to connect with a smaller group of people, and that is why the goofy antics of someone like Bo Dallas or Emma are received with a more positive response than they are by a much larger audience.

Their Peers

The WWE roster is made up of all kinds of different wrestlers. Some of them have been in business for decades, while others have only been around for a few years.

In NXT, most of the roster is at the same level. Sure, you have guys such as Finn Balor and Sami Zayn who have been toiling away in smaller promotions for several years, but for the most part, everyone is there to learn and help each other.

When two WWE Superstars enter the ring for a match, they have a different mindset than two NXT Superstars who face each other.

In NXT, everyone is hungry, but they also appear just as interested in making their fellow athletes look good as they are in making themselves look good.

There is also a lot less backstage politics in the developmental system, which may sound backward to some. You may assume that rookies would stab each other in the back to get ahead, but in the end, they only hurt themselves by doing that.

When you watch Charlotte and Sasha Banks or Adrian Neville and Tyler Breeze have a match, they are doing their best to make sure the other person is going to come away looking like a star.

When someone in NXT goes to the big leagues, it all changes. It becomes about advancing their own career instead of trying to make sure everyone gets ahead.

This is not to say everyone on the main roster is greedy or self-serving. There are plenty of people who will go out there and take care of their opponent as much as they do themselves, but it appears to be more prevalent in the developmental system, at least on the surface.

Gimmicks

The world of professional wrestling has always been filled with colorful characters and over-the-top personalities, but how they are perceived in NXT and the main roster is completely different.

When wrestlers are working their way up through the ranks, they sometimes have to play a character who is a far stretch from their actual personality.

Kane is not really a devil-worshipping executive. He is a highly intelligent, college-educated athlete who majored in English literature.

The gimmicks wrestlers use help differentiate them from every other wrestler on the roster, but over time, they tend to steer closer to their real-life persona.

The smaller crowds in NXT tend to appreciate the outlandish characters more than the larger WWE Universe, and that is a big reason why some of the more eccentric gimmicks don't excel on the main roster the same way they did in the developmental system.

The Ascension are the most recent example. They were over with the fans in NXT as much as anyone else. They drew heat and had some great matches with a variety of different tag teams.

When they were called up to the main roster, they were not received nearly as well. Everyone saw them as a ripoff of The Road Warriors and Demolition. The constant promos where they criticized those legendary teams didn't help, but it was the fans who made the decision to view them as generic copies.

Another good example is Bo Dallas. His ridiculous personality brought him success in NXT as the longest-reigning champion, but he failed to get over with the same character on the main roster.

These days it's all about who can be the coolest cat in the room. Everyone wants to be Stone Cold or The Rock, but sometimes they have to settle for being closer to Doink the Clown.

The NXT fans cheered for Adam Rose like he was a rock star, but people who only watch the product put on by the main roster were not as receptive.

It's partly on the creative team to get someone over, but in the end, it falls to the talent to make that all important crowd connection, and it's much harder to do that when you are playing a buffoon.

There are a lot of factors that can contribute to a person's success or failure, and just because a person can get over in NXT does not mean that person will have the same success on the main roster.

What do you think? Why do some people excel in NXT but flop once they get called up?

Thanks for reading, and follow me on Twitter @BR_Doctor.