NXT Reportedly Loses Head Writer Joe Belcastro

NXT head writer Joe Belcastro has reportedly left the WWE, according to a new report via Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio. Meltzer said that, just like with Renee Young last week, he gave his notice to the company last week and is "gone already." Triple H was asked about that during his media conference call on Wednesday, but refrained from giving any details beyond saying he, Brian James (Road Dogg) and Shawn Michaels were all still o the creative team for the Black and Gold Brand.

"As far as the writing of NXT goes, we shift around a little bit," he said. "I won't necessarily comment on people that aren't necessarily talent for us, but we have a team that works with NXT that includes Shawn Michaels, Brian James and myself. So it's a group and the ideas all go through that.

"It's really business as usual for us," he continued. "As far as lessons learned, there's a dramatic difference between doing taped television, doing live television [and] doing one-hour of live television vs. two hours. I can tell you that three is exponentially harder than that. There's lessons everywhere. I think the biggest difficulty for us has been, in this timeframe, is just the shifting of everything."

During the same interview, "The Game" addressed why NXT wasn't moving to the ThunderDome like the rest of WWE's programming.

"Right now, with trying to move SmackDown, SummerSlam, Raw for the foreseeable future and all the undertaking that is happening there, I'm very happy to be staying. As spectacular... as that's going to be, I feel they have enough on their hands right now. Our partnership with Full Sail is, to me, probably one of the most important partnerships we have, and I love it there. Right now we're there."

Here's the lineup for this Saturday's NXT TakeOver: XXX:

• NXT Championship: Keith Lee vs. Karrion Kross
• NXT Women's Championship: Io Shirai vs. Dakota Kai
• NXT North American Championship: Cameron Grimes vs. Damien Priest vs. Bronson Reed vs. Finn Balor/Velveteen Dream vs. Johnny Gargano/Ridge Holland
• Adam Cole vs. Pat McAfee
• Finn Balor vs. Timothy Thatcher
• NXT Tag Team Championship No. 1 Contender: Breezango vs. Legado Del Fantasma vs. Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch