Before NXT was WWE’s “third brand” and even before it was their underrated developmental promotion that aired exclusively on Hulu, WWE NXT was a reality show styled competition program. On it, “Rookies” from then-developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling were paired with main roster “Pros” to compete for a spot in the WWE and a title shot. Sometimes they’d compete in matches, but they’d just as often take part in goofy physical challenges. A lot of it has aged poorly.
That said, some aspects of the game show era of NXT have actually aged well for one reason or another, so let’s take a look at the things that have actually held up over time, as well as the stuff that has only gotten worse.
10 Aged Well: The Burial of Daniel Bryan
For diehard wrestling fans in 2010, Bryan Danielson was the best wrestler in the world -- indie or otherwise -- and the opportunity to see the former Ring of Honor World Champion on WWE television was a promising prospect. Unfortunately, in his brief time on NXT, the renamed Daniel Bryan was treated like a total loser and ended up being the first competitor kicked off the show.
It was frustrating at the time but eventually worked out as it would become part of the narrative of Daniel Bryan, the character, who had to fight his way to the top of WWE, against the wishes of evil WWE management.
9 Aged Poorly: The Hosts
One of the worst parts of watching game show NXT is the broadcast talent and hosts, who do their best to make the show as unenjoyable as possible. At the commentary table is usually Michael Cole, during his much-maligned heel run, alongside Michael clone Josh Mathews, who actively trash the show they work on.
Hosting the show is Matt Striker, disgraced teacher and failed wrestler whose condescending approach to the contestants is harder to sit through than his condescending approach to play-by-play commentary.
8 Aged Well: The Nexus
The best thing to come out of game show NXT was The Nexus, a stable composed of the entire cast of Season 1 -- including season winner Wade Barrett -- who decided to stage a hostile takeover of WWE. Their debut is an all-time classic, where they dismantled the entire ring, took out the commentators, ring announcer, and John Cena himself.
Even though Cena ended up single-handedly winning their first big encounter at SummerSlam, the disappointment didn’t take away how great the Nexus was.
7 Aged Poorly: The Challenges
The Nexus likely made a better case for the talent of NXT more than the show itself did, as WWE may have overestimated how much they wanted to see guys they haven’t heard of attempting to run obstacle courses.
NXT episodes were shot at regular WWE tapings, so these embarrassing segments were staged in front of mostly silent fans who were just waiting to see John Cena and Randy Orton on the main shows.
6 Aged Well: Derrick Bateman
There was a lot of embarrassing content throughout NXT, but it did offer some bright spots, one of which was contestant Derrick Bateman. Mentored by Daniel Bryan in Season 4, the Steve Blackman-obsessed Bateman proved to be a very goofy, hilarious foil to the more straight-laced Bryan, and surprisingly adept at WWE style comedy.
One of the big highlights of Season 4 was a Newlywed Game style segment that Bryan and Bateman obviously conspired to cheat at, breaking the entire show and offering one of NXT’s few legitimately entertaining competition segments.
5 Aged Poorly: The All-Female Season
The nadir of the game show run of NXT was Season 3, the only season to feature an all-female cast. The season boasted future stars like AJ Lee and Naomi putting on some pretty good matches, but this sadly was long before WWE learned how to respect female talent.
As a result, the demeaning nature of the show was at an all-time high thanks to the commentators totally checking out during the season. Some fans found this hilarious, but it’s also kind of a bummer.
4 Aged Well: The Genesis of McGillicutty
Curtis Axel really had a tough go of it in WWE. While he wrestled under his real name of Joe Hennig in FCW, he lost his real name and legacy prestige, becoming “Michael McGillicutty” for NXT Season 2. It was also in that Season when he delivered a legendary promo.
Commonly referred to as “Genesis of McGillicutty,” the future Curtis Axel delivered a promo so plodding and redundant (“from now... from this moment on... this will be the moment... starting now…”) that it became unforgettable.
3 Aged Poorly: The Winners
Like any reality competition shows, contestants would be eliminated until there was a sole winner. Winning NXT was touted as a stepping stone to potential greatness, but the winners never quite got very far. Wade Barrett was a midcard champion who lost every match until it was time to defend the title.
Kaval floundered on the main roster until he quit in frustration. Kaitlyn ended up back in NXT Redemption. Johnny Curtis ended up accidentally getting over as Fandango. None of them ever won their title shot, either -- if they even got it.
2 Aged Well: NXT Redemption
The best season of NXT was the fifth and final season, NXT Redemption. While it initially started out as a game show for the losers of previous seasons to get second chances and score ill-defined “Redemption Points,” eventually the show evolved into a strange little transitional period between game show NXT and Full Sail NXT.
It featured developmental talent as well as underutilized undercard WWE talent. It was clear management wasn’t paying attention to the show, so the guys and girls on NXT Redemption seemed like they had a surprising degree of creative freedom.
1 Aged Poorly: The Attitude
Fans of modern NXT who go back and watch the original version might be shocked at the attitude the show takes to its developmental talent. While modern NXT is all about treating up-and-comers like they’re characters that matter and putting them over, the game show version seems like its goal is to bury and embarrass talent at every turn.
Few NXT contestants seemed ready for TV, but they looked worse even being mocked by Michael Cole while trying to do “Talk the Talk” challenges.