More NXT Unstoppable (SPOILERS!)

So Samoa Joe made his NXT debut,
What are peoples thoughts? How do you think he will do WWE? Any feuds/angle people are looking forward to?

Spoiler alert man.

Amended title.

Marked out something rotten when it happened though despite waking up to a notification on my phone of his debut (cheers WWE for the spoiler).

Sorry about the spoiler, I had similar notifications also I now noticed it has been mentioned on another thread.
But agree with Hero was cool moment and the old "Joe's gonna kill you" chant brought back old memories

I'm really pleased he joined as Samoa Joe. The story I heard is that he has a contract with NXT / WWW rather than he's signed for them. So like Rhyni can work other organisations (but maybe not TV tapings?).

And that sounds sensible. He's not a developmental talent, but this allows WWW/NXT to use him and draw in tours. Seems like he's going straight into the title scene.

I think what this (and guys like Itami, Balor and Owens joining means) is that NXT is no longer primarily a developmental program, but is WWE's Indy show.

Prometheus, as a guy who's big on the indys are you happy that WWE is cherry picking this crop of stars over the past 3-4 years?
Do you think it'll continue at the same rate and who else would you like to see?

WWIndy’s talent pool is ridiculous. Whenever I think about it I always come back to the whole ‘CM Punk wanting change’ thing. Rollins and Ambrose main eventing. Wyatt, Ziggler, Cesaro, Neville all more than relevant. Owens, Zayn and Itami all flirting with a main roster call up, and now Joe joining in on the action. CM Punk wanted change, I think he’s got it. The WWE are on the cusp of something special right now. If Bryan makes a recovery, and who knows if Punk is lured back due to the lure of working with Joe, Owens etc, it could be a very exciting couple of years. I have to tip my hat to Triple H here though, what a job he has done with NXT, kudos to the guy really.

Let’s just pray for Brock vs Joe. Can you imagine?

Hero wrote:Prometheus, as a guy who's big on the indys are you happy that WWE is cherry picking this crop of stars over the past 3-4 years?
Do you think it'll continue at the same rate and who else would you like to see?

I wish I were big on the Indys Hero, I'm afraid I'm not at all. I maybe watch RoH about 3 - 4 times a year just when I'm browsing YouTube and see something, so there are many who would know this much better than I.

But, I will still try to answer your question.

I think 2 really interesting things have happened in NXT in the last 6 months. The first is that talent has been brought in that is not on a development contract. So Balor, Rhyno and Samoa Joe if rumours are to be believed are not on developmental contracts. Probably the question I'd most like to ask WWE is whether this is a reason Charlotte appeared in that nothing Raw appearance, did her being on Raw enable a new non-developmental contract to be written? I've no basis for wondering this, but why did that Raw appearance happen?

And that is important, because if talent knows it will get paid much more for being on WWE they will not be happy. So, for example, if I were Balor and I were on a developmental contract, while Curtis Axel is on a full contract and earning $XXX more than me, I'd be banging down the door of management every day, saying why am I still here in NXT?

Then we have talent like Rhyno and Samoa Joe where it seems management is happy for them to work other promotions too, I'm just assuming they will either have to be cleared first and probably can't be for TV tapings.

Secondly, we have WWE as this touring brand. So, someone is responsible now not just for the talent it develops ready for WWE, but it's P&L. And if I were that P&L person then I'd be kicking up a stink if WWE suddenly decided that Sasha, Becky, Charlotte, Kevin, Sami & Finn were all being brought up. Thanks, so now I have to sell 5,000 seats with the name of Baron Corbin?!

So, we have WWE Indy. Which can become a relatively stable operation, with some talent exchange between WWE and NXT, which is good for everyone as it keeps everything fresh.

At the same time we have NXT development. And you see these guys (and gals) joining, mostly transitioning from other sports or sports models and very green to wrestling. We know many of these wont make it, and it'll take about 5 years for the ones who do. So, they are long term projects, but I think some of them have to work too.

And sorry for all that chat, because back to your question of WWE taking more Indy talent. This is a model that has worked hugely well for them. Look at those recent names at the top of the card. Rollins, Ambrose, Daniel Bryan, CM Punk.... Where I think WWE is smart is that some Indy names wouldn't want to work for the WWE Corporation and all it's politics. Well, there is a way for them now to kind of stay cool. You don't see even the most hardcore IWC person accusing Zayn or Owens of selling out. So, as eventually WWE will want to test how well the likes of Balor, Zayn, Owens, etc. can draw on the main roster, they need replacements that are names that can draw at shows and are ready to go.

Is this bad for the Indys? As I've said, I don't follow them enough to feel I can really answer this. I'm not so sure if they promote the benefits, e.g. RoH could legitimately feel it gets wrestlers in as it is a potential lauching pad to a WWE career and they could loosely agree to some minor talent exchange or working / training in a way that WWE approves of. I'm not so sure they make the most of the talent when they go, so how do you push that footage you have of Tyler Black now he's known by all WWE fans? We know that ECW for a long time was kept alive by Vince because it was a place for talent acquisition (Dudleys, Tazz, etc.) I think it is again in the best interest of WWE not to strongly compete with RoH (and others) e.g. by not touring the same places, taking too much of their talent, maybe having some low level talent exchange, etc.

At the end of the day, WWE is (and always probably will be) the biggest player in town, and that means that with the odd exception to prove the rule, they will always get the talent they want.