Since 2012, NXT has evolved from a developmental territory to WWE’s definitive third brand, selling out arenas and getting TV deals. Especially after 2015, it was riding high as WWE’s most exciting brand of wrestling. Despite being a place to produce new talent, it spawned into life as something fresh and new from everything else in WWE, showcasing stars from the independent scene to ready them for the main roster. But now, it seems like WWE has plans to revert backwards to a format not used since the FCW/OVW developmental days. That may not necessarily be a bad thing.

Roman Reigns Seth Rollins FCW

NXT Isn't The Brand It Once Was

Many have seen the negative side of this proposed change, as it will mark the end of something beloved by fans, and an era of wrestling in WWE that hadn’t been seen before. However, much of the buzz has been taken away from NXT in the last couple of years. With the rise of AEW, and a head-to-head competitor on Wednesday Nights, the steam dissipated, and there were changes to the way shows were booked, which left a lot to be desired.

The truth is, the NXT that everyone knew and loved had changed a while ago, way before this news of the format being altered. NXT was no longer the place to bring in hot free agents to showcase them in the biggest company, with a conveyor belt of talent coming in from the independents and moving to the main roster, it was a place where talent was coming in and moving out less and less, so a lot of the fresh matchups, large appeal and charm was taken away from NXT.

RELATED: 5 NXT Wrestlers Who Improved On The Main Roster (& 5 Who Got Worse)

Taking it back to basics at this point may be the thing to save it. Effectively "rebooting" NXT instead of trying to fix something that is arguably already broken could be the easiest thing to do. The market of independent wrestlers isn’t as wealthy, with many other options now open to talent, so being able to recapture what made it so special could be impossible.

The Change Could Fix The Main Roster's Issue Of Having No Stars

It may very well fix some problems that occur on the main roster. Whether these problems are self-made by WWE is a different story, but regardless, going back to an FCW or OVW format with bigger wrestlers could be beneficial for the future of the company.

Bobby Roode Shinsuke Nakamura Finn Balor

NXT call-ups have often been underwhelming. Obviously, there are exceptions, but in recent times, people have criticized the treatment of superstars such as Shinsuke Nakamura, Ricochet, Finn Balor, The Revival, Neville, Bobby Roode to name a few, to the point where many of these individuals who were at the top of NXT as main eventers, are now no longer even in the company.

RELATED: 10 Cool Things You Never Knew About WWE's Developmental System, FCW

These men and many of the others who are a success in NXT aren’t conventional ‘WWE’ guys. They aren’t Herculean Gods and man mountains like Batista, John Cena and Brock Lesnar. If focus was shifted to producing talent in the mold of those athletes, there may actually be a chance that names from NXT are treated seriously and booked strongly on the main roster.

John Cena Batista Brock Lesnar OVW

WWE want people they envision as stars, so bringing in talent and nurturing them, similar to how they did in FCW, will bring about a new wave of talent that could be next in line to the throne currently held by Roman Reigns. A big issue WWE has is creating mainstream stars. This is largely down to the booking, but a big part is a lack of belief in the current talent, so changing the talent may be key to longer-term success for the company.

A New NXT Would Not Be The End For Smaller Wrestlers

Not all hope is lost though for the talents who WWE may consider ‘too small’. This change could actually help create stars in that category of talent. WWE has often housed larger men, but the smaller underdogs stand out infinitely better in a world where there are less underdogs.

RELATED: 10 Cool Things You Never Knew About WWE's Developmental System, OVW

Men like Rey Mysterio, Shawn Michaels, Daniel Bryan and CM Punk all benefitted greatly from being the smaller men mixing it up with the larger athletes, and that’s why fans so naturally got behind them, producing some of wrestling’s biggest moments when these men topple the bigger athletes. When everyone is of a similar size, there aren’t as many legitimate underdogs.

Rey Mysterio Daniel Bryan CM Punk World Champion

Of course, this all rests on how WWE books their talent going forward, but as seen with a newer talent like Omos, who bypassed the NXT brand and headed from the Performance Center straight to the main roster, he was booked like a special attraction. He even won a championship in just his first match with the company, at Wrestlemania no less. This could be a sign of things to come if WWE do in fact overhaul the NXT system, but this may also be proof of it being the best thing for them to do.

NEXT: 8 Times A Main Roster PPV Was Better Than That Month's NXT TakeOver