Wear and Tear on Independent Stars Beginning to Hurt NXT

Professional wrestling is laced in inconvenience.

From a wrestler's arduous journey to the current welfare of the lovable underdog stars who currently define WWE's hipster subculture, nothing comes easy in WWE.

This is quickly becoming a reality for the popular NXT brand and its vocal supporters. The physical past of the promotion's top stars are beginning to catch up to them. 

While the debut of Sami Zayn highlighted a buzzworthy yet low-rated episode of Raw, via ShowBuzzDaily.com (h/t WrestlingInc.com), Zayn suffered a shoulder injury prior to his biggest match to date against John Cena. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t WrestlingInc.com), he is expected to miss a few months. 

Wrestler injuries are signaled by referees throwing up a vaunted "X" symbol during a match. Since WWE brought in an onslaught of independent all-stars to headline its developmental territory, that symbol could just as easily resemble the "X" in NXT.

NXT champion Kevin Owens (via WWE.com, per WrestlingInc.com), Solomon Crowe, (per his Twitter account) and most recently Hideo Itami, per F4WOnline, have all been sidelined with injury.

WWE's "cool" brand appears to be cursed, but that would imply that the numerous injuries are flukes. As I mentioned on this week's PodNasty Wrestling Podcast, this is no curse.

It's perfectly explainable.

Name	Age	Alma Mater	Injury
Sami Zayn	30	ROH	Shoulder
Kevin Owens	31	ROH	Knee
Solomon Crowe	27	CZW	Chipped Tibia
Hideo Itami	34	Pro Wrestling NOAH	Shoulder

WWE's hiring away top independent stars is an obvious competitive strategy. Now that NXT is a full-fledged traveling road show, these stars will help NXT outdraw promotions such as ROH and EVOLVE with a similar audience but now without their biggest talents.

WWE is beginning to pay a steep cost to compete with the indies, though. It is signing 30-somethings with a history of competing in the physical, alternative style that WWE no longer endorses. This lends itself to a higher risk of injury. NXT star Finn Balor has avoided serious injury thus far, but he has a long history of working this style and is not getting any younger at 33 years old.

This is the same age as Daniel Bryan, who is the template for an independent star's journey to the top of the WWE. Unfortunately, his body is beginning to break down, and he is currently sidelined with a serious, albeit undisclosed, injury for the second consecutive year.

WWE reportedly has designs on signing 36-year-old Samoa Joe, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t WrestlingInc.com), who is expected to debut in June. Given the alarming rate of injury among stars of his ilk, this would be yet another risky addition to the NXT roster.

NXT recently aired vignettes for Uhaa Nation. He is just 27 years of age, but he suffered a torn ACL in 2012 while wrestling for Dragon Gate USA.

The pattern of injury-prone independent wrestling stars is far too glaring to dismiss. 

Upon opening the developmental system, Triple H told David Shoemaker and Bill Simmons of Grantland.com "right now, probably 85 to 90 percent of our roster came through our system in some way. Five years from now, 100 percent of our roster will have come through there."

To preserve the overall health and stability of WWE's future, Triple H should consider taking this a step further and move toward crafting more homegrown WWE talent.

Charlotte, Tyler Breeze, Enzo Amore and Colin Cassidy are homegrown and among the most popular stars in NXT.

It's easy to argue that professional wrestling is an unforgiving sport where injuries are inevitable. Even top star John Cena has struggled with injuries in his decorated career.

But this should give WWE added incentive to resist the temptation of signing top independent wrestling talent. If WWE's Superman is prone to injury, this does not bode well for the next Mighty Mouse.

Inconvenient as it is, tenured independent wrestlers are a high-risk proposition. The evidence is quickly piling up to suggest they simply aren't worth the reward.

Alfred Konuwa is a Featured Columnist and on-air host for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @ThisIsNasty, and subscribe to his weekly wrestling podcast.