10 Things You Didn't Know About WWE NXT

It became a modern wrestling tradition that took place four or five times a year (although this NXT TakeOver: In Your House weekend is slightly different, of course). There was a period of time where a Saturday show was hailed as the greatest wrestling event of all-time before it was followed by a Sunday night card that was picked apart like a frog in biology class. Main roster WWE comes off uneven on its better days, while NXT, especially through its takeover cards, is considered the alpha and the omega to this day.

A full decade has passed since the letters N-X-T first graced our ears on WWE programming, though veteran fans will remember that at one time, they stood for a product that was much, much different than the gathering of independent and international stars that we see today. Certainly, NXT as we know it has come a long way over the course of the last 10 years and with its plum spot on cable, the world waits to see what the next step of the brand will be. Having come so far already, it's hard to see how we can reach the next step.

Let's dive a little deeper into the total history of NXT, from its origins to its modern standing, the facts and the statistics therein.

It became a modern wrestling tradition that took place four or five times a year (although this NXT TakeOver: In Your House weekend is slightly different, of course). There was a period of time where a Saturday show was hailed as the greatest wrestling event of all-time before it was followed by a Sunday night card that was picked apart like a frog in biology class. Main roster WWE comes off uneven on its better days, while NXT, especially through its takeover cards, is considered the alpha and the omega to this day.

A full decade has passed since the letters N-X-T first graced our ears on WWE programming, though veteran fans will remember that at one time, they stood for a product that was much, much different than the gathering of independent and international stars that we see today. Certainly, NXT as we know it has come a long way over the course of the last 10 years and with its plum spot on cable, the world waits to see what the next step of the brand will be. Having come so far already, it's hard to see how we can reach the next step.

Let's dive a little deeper into the total history of NXT, from its origins to its modern standing, the facts and the statistics therein.

10. Stranger Than Fiction

Many remember that NXT in its initial form debuted back in February 2010, on the SyFy channel on Tuesday nights, assuming the time slot previously held by the ECW brand. Although it did help launch the likes of CM Punk, The Miz, John Morrison, and Sheamus, ECW felt like an inferior brand, utterly second-class beneath the Raw and SmackDown fare. Thus turning ECW into a literal developmental/main roster go-between made a little more sense.

But when the decision was being made to turn ECW into something else, those in WWE apparently weren't sure what the new show was going to be. According to The Wrestling Observer, ideas were thrown around for that hour of television, one of which was making it into a reality show (which early NXT indeed was). Another idea considered was to, and we're quoting here, "somehow do a Sci-Fi version of wrestling", in order to match the network's motif. We'd feel sad that we never got to see mystic grabs at its finest, but Lucha Underground did alright sorta filling that void.

9. Your Name Is My Name Too

NXT is one of those set of initials that doesn't actually stand for anything, or does it? It could be New Xtreme Trailblazers, or Numpties Xhale Tobacco, or our favourite, the Netherlands Xylophone Trio, who are more rockin' than you realize. Of course, NXT is just a neo-hip way of indicating that the talents therein are the "next" generation of superstars. It's a good idea for a name - which is why somebody else came up with it first.

The Scottish Wrestling Alliance, at the time home to the likes of the late Lionheart, NXT UK's Wolfgang, and the future Nikki Cross and Killian Dain, used the NXT initials for their own developmental division, and this led to a trademark dispute between them and WWE. An agreement was made shortly before NXT's premiere episode, in which WWE could acquire the NXT trademark, while SWA changed the name of their farm system to SWA: Source.

8. No NXT Day

In its form as a reality show, there were five total seasons - four with conclusive finishes, and an unfortunate fifth season that, as far as we can tell, may still be going on to this day. By the time the final season came to a merciful end in 2012, WWE was getting ready to transition the NXT name onto their developmental territory, so we never got what lay ahead - a sixth season of NXT, using the same format as the previous versions.

The rookie class was quite impressive, too. Promotional materials reveal that the cast would have included future New Day teammates Big E Langston and Xavier Woods, as well as Bo Dallas, Jinder Mahal, Hunico (the second Sin Cara), a clean-shaven Damien Sandow, Leo Kruger (the eventual Adam Rose), and Seth Rollins. Cancelled season notwithstanding, all eight men eventually found their way to the main roster, with Rollins and Mahal ascending to the mountain top as WWE champions.

7. Success Rate

Whether it's a reality series, or a traditional minor league system, the purpose of NXT was to prepare the future stars of WWE so that they can fortify the ranks over the coming years. Going back to the original NXT in its reality TV format, 22 different men were contestants across three of the first four seasons. Out of those 22, how have they done championship-wise?

Well, it's a bit of a mixed bag. Only two men in the group eventually held a World title in the company: Daniel Bryan, and Husky Harris, who we know better as the fiendish Bray Wyatt. In addition to Bryan, only three other men have held either the IC or US titles: Skip Sheffield (that's Ryback as a freakin' cowboy), Michael McGillicutty (that's Curtis Axel with a needlessly-long surname), and Wade Barrett. Eight of them have been a Tag Team champion, while 12 out of the 22 (yes, more than half) have never held a serious main roster belt (Sorry Derrick Bateman - 24/7 doesn't count). The females on season three fared a bit better, as three of the six (AJ, Kaitlyn, and Naomi) held a Women's belt at least once.

6. Land Of Confusion

It's commonly known that NXT as a developmental territory is functionally a rebranded version of Florida Championship Wrestling, which ran out of Tampa from June 2007 until, officially, August 2012. But what's a little less known is how FCW transitioned into NXT. It wasn't exactly the smoothest changeover, and in fact, in the early going, there were a lot more questions than answers.

It began in March 2012, from somebody from WWE's programming department informed Bright House Sports in Tampa (FCW's TV home) that the promotion was closing down, the operations were moving to Stamford, CT, and that the TV shows recorded days earlier were the final programs. This created a firestorm once the news spread, as even FCW owner Steve Keirn had been left in the dark about what was going on. Triple H publicly stated at the time that FCW was not closing down, saying that there were plans in the works, but nothing he could discuss at the time. In a sense, he was right - FCW pretty much continued, but now with Triple H running the show in Keirn's place, and with NXT's branding replacing that of FCW.

5. Life's a Glitch

It was NXT, not the main roster fare, that had the distinction of being the first live in-ring program streamed on the brand new WWE Network. NXT Arrival, a two-hour forebear to what we know today as TakeOver, aired on February 27, 2014 before 400 fans at Full Sail University. The show was considered a rousing success in-ring wise, thanks to an excellent Cesaro vs. Sami Zayn match, and Adrian Neville's victory over NXT Champion Bo Dallas in a ladder match.

But it wasn't a total home run, not by a long shot. The evening was plagued with some misfortunes, not the least of all was the fact that 200 ticket-buying customers were turned away due to overbooking. The new WWE Network was still working the kinks out, and the live show was riddled with technical issues, including complete loss of a brief Tyler Breeze/Xavier Woods match for many. As a result of this somewhat-disastrous occurrence, WWE ran Tuesday night's episode of Main Event live, continuing to test their live-streaming technology in order to ensure that WrestleMania 30, the first true PPV broadcast on the Network, wasn't as catastrophic.

4. Hittin' The Road

These days, NXT is an international phenomenon, having held events outside of North America, and seeing its main title defended in Japan on a WWE main roster event. The idea of a developmental group having this kind of iron grip on the globe seems unfathomable, but certainly NXT is a unique entity. At one time, between TV shows and live events, NXT never left the state of Florida.

So who has the distinction of getting to see the first NXT event outside the confines of the Sunshine State? That would be the good folks of Columbus, OH. On Thursday, March 5, 2015, 1,100 fans witnessed a nine-match card that included Cesaro beating Neville, NXT champ Kevin Owens retaining over Alex "Rage" Riley, a still-babyface Alexa Bliss defeating Women's champ Sasha Banks by countout, and even a match with recognizable WWE brutes, in which Ryback defeated Big Show. So there you go, Columbus - you're known for doing something *other* than trouncing Jim Harbaugh's Wolverines on an annual basis.

3. Lasting Power

In all, 16 different men have ruled the NXT brand as its top champion, from the time Seth Rollins captured the gold in 2012, through Adam Cole's ongoing reign as champion. The 16 men represent an interesting cross-section of talent, including gifted TNA alums, stellar athletes from ROH, international icons, and true Bolievers. You could make quite an interesting tournament out of those 16 men. In fact, at the time you see this, WWE could *almost* run the tournament. Almost is the operative word there.

Of those 16 men, 15 of them are still with WWE in some form today, whether they're top-level guys like Rollins and Kevin Owens, killing it in NXT like Cole and Johnny Gargano, or otherwise. The only man among those 16 NXT champions no longer with WWE is Neville, who walked out on the company in October 2017, with his official release being reported in August of the following year. Of course, given how WWE is likely to hoard its wrestlers more than ever, we may still be watching the other 15 as active superstars during Raw's 50th anniversary show in 2043.

2. Wonder Women

Though the belt is only nine months younger than its male counterpart, the NXT Women's title has seen far fewer title changes. Nine different women have combined to hold the gold for 11 reigns over the last six-plus years, resulting in some especially long championship tenures. Paige breached the 300-day barrier with the gold, while Asuka pushed past 500. Shayna Baszler's second reign with the title came to an end after a mighty 416 days and provided us with an interesting statistic.

As of her victory at TakeOver: Toronto on August 10, 2019, Baszler's reign reached 286 days. A little Steiner math indicates that the average reign, as of that date, of the NXT Women's title is 236 days, which is roughly eight months. For comparison's sake, only one individual has held the Intercontinental title for that amount of time in the last 10 years: Cody Rhodes, who held it for 236 days exactly. Only two US Champions in the 2010s had reigns higher than that average: Dean Ambrose at 351 days, and Cesaro at 239.

1. Three's A Charm

The nature of NXT as a developmental hub means that top stars eventually have to "graduate" to the main roster, where there's a 50/50 chance they'll lose either their first or last name. As such, you're not going to find a lot of multi-time titleholders in NXT. There are no 13 time or 14 time or 16 time or however-the-hell-many-depending-on-disputed-history-time World champions, which is probably good, because if you're a 16-time developmental league champion, that's like being the kindergartner with the fullest beard.

Across the brand's four belts (Men's, Women's, Tag, and North American), only one individual has held any of the belts on at least three occasions: Kyle O'Reilly, holder of the Tag Team gold three times, which is an honour that'll surely put a smile on his face. Samoa Joe and Shinsuke Nakamura can claim two NXT titles apiece, Shayna Baszler and Charlotte Flair are the only two-time Women's champs, while The Revival, Roderick Strong, Bobby Fish, and Neville each have held Tag gold twice. But only Mr. O'Reilly remains a cut above. Smile, Kyle.