Why Wasn't The Undisputed Era Given a Chance on WWE's Main Roster?
For some professional wrestlers, when the time has come for them to hang up their belts and exit the squared circle, they remain a part of the industry via new roles that see them working behind the scenes. Such is the case with Road Dogg, aka Brian Girard James, who went from being a member of the New Age Outlaws to becoming the WWE's Senior Vice President of Live Events. During a recent podcast interview with the "Oh You Didn't Know Podcast", the former superstar broke down why the former NXT team, The Undisputed Era, never hit the main WWE roster.
During this interview, Road Dogg broke down how the team was perceived by Vince McMahon and how the Undisputed Era was ultimately satisfied with remaining at NXT:
"We knew when it came time to shine, they were going to shine. Look, I thought they were going to be [called up to the main roster], too. I didn't think they were going to be the next Four Horsemen because, look, I don't think Vince [McMahon] saw them as the next Four Horsemen. I think Vince saw them as four smaller guys who cumulatively can do some damage, but I don't think Vince would see any of those guys facing Brock Lesnar in the main event of WrestleMania. Now, whether you disagree with that or not, that's fine. You can disagree with it all day, but you weren't the boss of the company at the time, and that's what he thought. I didn't see them as that, but I was scared, like I mentioned earlier, that they would be gone, a lot of our creative content would go with them, and it would be more difficult for us because we're lazy and want to do as little work as possible."
Dogg then went into detail when it came to his opinion on big names like Keith Lee and Damian Priest:
"I think [Undisputed ERA] did have a lot better run in NXT than they would have had on the main roster, maybe for that exact reason," he said. "I loved having them there. I didn't want them to go away. But also to the last guy's question, who stepped up, I thought Keith Lee would be gone sooner rather than later, too, once everybody got eyes on him and his abilities. I think everybody, everybody stepped up. You see now a lot of those kids that are still on top in the wrestling game, they may not just work here anymore, but even the ones that work here on top. The Rhea Ripleys, the Damian Priests, you know, all of these guys that we're talking about are, are still stars today on a bigger stage. So this was the first introduction to some of these NXT characters for a lot of mainstream wrestling fans, and I think it's paid dividends."