Former WWE Stars Reflect on the Confusion Surrounding NXT's Reboot
WWE's decision to reboot NXT as NXT 2.0 wound up being one of the biggest stories of 2021. And depending on who you ask, many of the changes were not for the better. The former Black and Gold Brand has seen a complete overhaul both in visual presentation and booking philosophy, putting a greater emphasis on homegrown Performance Center talent while adopting many of the booking tactics (distraction finishes, disqualifications, count-outs, goofy backstage segments) that dominate Raw and SmackDown. The reboot coincided with a number of releases in the final months of the year and several of those stars have since opened up about witnessing the changes to NXT first-hand.
Karrion Kross, a few NXT Champion, was cut from the WWE after a disastrous yet brief run on the main roster. He spoke with Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp this week and was asked about said changes.
"How can you say it doesn't feel [like the original NXT was dismantled]," Kross said. "...It does feel really unusual. Just thinking back, there's just so many things that weren't adding up and making sense. Just right before TakeOver (36) to all the way on the way out. I still have a ton of friends that are there. There's just so many question marks all over everything."
Then there's Taya Valkyrie. Despite being heavily decorated from her time in Impact Wrestling and Lucha Libre AAA, she only wrestled six times as Franky Monet before being let go in November.
"It was like night and day," Valkyrie said while on Insight With Chris Van Vliet this week. "It was a very obvious change of energy and a very obvious feeling. We were hearing all sorts of rumors about what they were looking for compared to last week. I was very confused and like, 'What is going on?' This was in the summer, and I had debuted in like March. It was so weird. It was the most confusing experience in my entire life. Having worked everywhere, I was left like, 'What's going on?'"
Kyle O'Reilly, who along with Johnny Gargano was the final NXT departure of the year, also opened up about the changing landscape on a recent episode of The Sessions — "I think people in wrestling are really rare in the sense that you really, really have to love it," Kyle shared. "I think that might be an underlying problem in this new NXT," O'Reilly said. "There's a lot of people coming in that I don't think really have that true love for it. I'm sure they'll do well, they'll make a big splash, be a big star, and make a ton of money, but at the end of the day, if your heart isn't really in it, I don't know. It's tough."