Kevin Owens: WWE NXT 2.0 Is So Different That It Should Have A New Name

Kevin Owens believes the NXT 2.0 product is so different from the NXT he was involved in that it should go by a different name. 

WWE relaunched NXT in September with a greater focus on younger, athletic talent, as the promotion seek to return the brand to its developmental routes. 

Owens notes that NXT is no longer the same and, because of the changes, he no longer feels the same attachment to the product. With WWE taking the brand in a different direction, the former Universal Champion also admits he is no longer as receptive about a return to NXT as he once would have been.

Speaking on les Anti-Pods de la Lutte, Owens said: "Today’s NXT is very different than the NXT I was part of, to the point I believe it should have a totally different name. And I don’t think it’s better or worse, but it’s just too different.

"So when I’m watching NXT, I don’t see the NXT I was part of. It’s not the same thing. It’s a little bit like Ring of Honor. The ROH of old days and the ROH now, it’s just not the same thing. So to me, it’s completely two different products, so when I’m watching it, I put myself in the mindset we had when I was at NXT and the mindset there seems to have right now, it’s completely different.

"It’s very hard for me to compare them. I don’t even consider that to be the same show. I don’t really feel any attachment to NXT now. Listen, there are very talented people working there, and I have watched the last TakeOver show they did and there were parts of it that I thought was really good, but it’s like a few years ago, if they had asked me to go back to NXT, I would have said yes. But if they would ask me that now, I don’t think I would be as receptive to go back, because it’s not the same thing.

"I don’t think I fit in the new NXT as I was fitting in the NXT I was part of, with guys like Sami, Finn, Samoa Joe and Nakamura. When I watch NXT now, I don’t feel the same thing I felt when I was watching NXT two years ago."

H/T PWInsider