Best Era of NXT

[scrubadam]

I think that the era we are in NXT right now might very well be the best so I was thinking about NXT over the past few years and how each era stacks up. Here is my best attempt to divide the era's.

1)Early days - From Rollins to Bo this was before the takeovers and really before the network. I didn't follow it much and at the time NXT was just starting to take shape. Some of this era took place before full sail. From what I have heard there was some good stuff like Ambrose vs Foley and Regal. You also had Rollins/Reigns/3MB/Big E. Its hard to judge since it was so different.

2)Nevill/Zayn/KO era - NXT was taking the from of the NXT we know today. Takeovers and the weekly network show were just starting. NXT was more developmental but we were starting to see the indy guys coming in, but under new names. This was also the begining of the womens revolution. NXT started to blow up at this time.

3)Finn/Joe/Nak era - the indy guys takeover. We saw the switch of indy guys getting new names to keeping their charachters. Itami and Finn debut during this time and kicked off the buying spree. The womens revolution kicked into high gear and so did NXT's tag team division. This is when we started to see the american alpha's, revivials, AOP's, Enzo/Cass start to make their name after the horrid ascension era.

Now I have a bit of hard time classifying another era so my next description might be off.

4)Roode/Almas era - kinda a down period after NXT got raided by the main roster. A bit of TNA invasion too LOL. NXT was still accumulating talent. I would say we could add tournaments to this era because the CWC and MYC began here.

5)Black/Ciampa/Present era - brings us to today. I could push this era back to the Ciampa turn but its easier to go by champs. This has been a Renaissance for NXT. More top indy talent coming in (UE/BSS/Richochet/Lee/Rush(205 live) etc...) The storylines have been great and the ring work may have never been better.

I think right now we are in the best era. Dream and Ciampa/Gargano have been great feuds (whoever dream feuds with is great). Matches have been amazing. UE and BSS are great and Richochet is awesome as well. I am a fan of Shayna and the womens division is probably the best its been since the 4 horsewomen era.

Which brings me to my second favourite era, the Finn/Nak/Joe era. Great main events where the champ felt like an actual big star. NXT also went international with having its first title change in Japan (making it a real world title) and then an NXT takeover in London. I think many people were disapointed with some of the main events but the big fight feel of them made up for the 1 or 1.5 stars less the matches might of produced.

So whats your favourite era? rank them if you want.

Click to read more...

 

[Kimi]

I think NXT is currently the best it's ever been. I'd put the start of the era at Brooklyn III, when Cole made his debut, or just after when Undisputed became a thing. That would also be the end of Roode, with McIntyre getting the title.

But my favourite era is probably from when Sasha won the title until the end of Bálor vs Joe. Bálor and Sasha are two of my favs, so that plays into it, but I also really enjoyed it as NXT really grew into what we have now during that time.


That being said, it's really hard to rank the eras. Since the first Takeover, NXT has been somewhere between very good to amazing in quality. Even with the generally agree lull, it still had some really good stuff going on.

 

[Disclose]

never watched until the very first take over...
its hard to pick an era. maybe more of a class/roster which i guess its the question.
and my answer will vary from time to time.

but when Owens/Balor signed. i went full crazy

 

[bruins309]

This one is easy for me: everything from NXT Takeover Fatal 4 way in September 2014 to NXT Takeover: The End in June 2016.

Then they decimated the roster for the brand split and I realized there wasn't much reason to invest in NXT either.

Having the NXT Takeovers on Saturdays before PPVs hasn't helped. I'm not giving up a Saturday night to watch, no matter how good it might be. I miss the Full Sail Wednesday/Thursday Takeovers.

 

[Kimi]

That's such a stupid reason not to watch. It's trivial to watch it on demand later in the week, so why not just watch it the Wednesday after instead?

 

[Disclose]

seriously. avoid spoilers and jump on it when you have time.
if anything watch it instead of raw.

 

[bruins309]

We live in a world where you have to work hard to avoid Full Sail taping spoilers too. Guys who tweet from there live with no hashtag or anything and it gets retweeted into my feed by people I am not going to mute.

Also, I dont care for the current announce team. All Mauro does is yell Mama Mia every 20 seconds and Nigel has an annoying voice. The best team was Brennan and Graves.

 

[Cor]

I'm not sure how one can argue against the Balor/Joe/Nakamura era

 

[scrubadam]

Since we are looking at the best era, what about the best NXT champ?

Balor and Nak are up there for me. I also really enjoyed Roodes' run.

Drews run was the most underwhelming and I actually forgot all about it when dividing up the era's.

 

[The Gongshow]

I'm not sure how one can argue against the Balor/Joe/Nakamura era

Also had DIY/Revival/AA/AOP mixed in there as well, peak NXT Tag division

 

[The Gongshow]

I'm not sure how one can argue against the Balor/Joe/Nakamura era

Also had DIY/Revival/AA/AOP mixed in there as well, peak NXT Tag division

 

[GKJ]

I read all the spoils and by the time most of the episodes aired, I forget what happened anyways.

It is true they were down at the brand split, but they adequately recovered once Hunter got the green light to basically sign whoever the hell he wanted.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Post brand split did see a downturn in quality by NXT standards (was still the best show in the company), but we got some of the best tag team matches in years during this period.

DIY/Revival, the amazing triple threat with AOP, and finally the biggest heel turn in NxT ever. Bigger then KO on Sami.

I would say Brooklyn 3 marked the end of this era when Adam Cole came running out after the main event starting the current Undisputed era.

The current Undisputed Era might be the best NXT has ever been. The transformation of Almas into a true star, the rise of Black. Our first introduction to The Dream. Undisputed’s slow rise to dominance. Can’t forget the first Wargames, and the 5 Star North American championship ladder match.

Of course the backbone to all of this is the story of Johnny trying to rise above the DIY breakup and his feud with Ciampa.

It isn’t the best era for the women, or the tag teams which haven’t reached the heights of past eras, but Men’s singles is running as hot as ever.

Best era for women was the horsewomen’s time. Women’s wrestling was never hotter, and it culminated with Sasha/Bayley.

Best for tag teams was the post brand spilt era. Revival, DIY, and AOP were just putting on classic after classic.

 

[The Gongshow]

Ciampa/Gargano and Undisputed Era are my favourite things about NXT right now.

Ciampa/Gargano is the best storyline NXT has done, imo. And one of the best storylines in wrestling right now/the last little while

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

I'd say Finn/Joe/Nak era was the best.

The Zayn/Nakamura Takeover match may be the best NXT has had.

You also have the arguably the strongest womens division then too with Bailey, Asuka

 

[scrubadam]

Post brand split did see a downturn in quality by NXT standards (was still the best show in the company), but we got some of the best tag team matches in years during this period.

DIY/Revival, the amazing triple threat with AOP, and finally the biggest heel turn in NxT ever. Bigger then KO on Sami.

I would say Brooklyn 3 marked the end of this era when Adam Cole came running out after the main event starting the current Undisputed era.

The current Undisputed Era might be the best NXT has ever been. The transformation of Almas into a true star, the rise of Black. Our first introduction to The Dream. Undisputed’s slow rise to dominance. Can’t forget the first Wargames, and the 5 Star North American championship ladder match.

Of course the backbone to all of this is the story of Johnny trying to rise above the DIY breakup and his feud with Ciampa.

It isn’t the best era for the women, or the tag teams which haven’t reached the heights of past eras, but Men’s singles is running as hot as ever.

Best era for women was the horsewomen’s time. Women’s wrestling was never hotter, and it culminated with Sasha/Bayley.

Best for tag teams was the post brand spilt era. Revival, DIY, and AOP were just putting on classic after classic.

I like your classification of this era. So I think we can say this Era started with the Almas title win. We can lump Roode/McIntrye into the post brand split era that saw NXT take a dip.

And I think the womens division is actually heating up since Moon left. I really like Shayna and the division is getting nice and deep again with Kairi, Candace, Nikki, Lacey, Dakota, and Bianca Bel Air. If you remove the novelty of the Horsewomen I actually think the divsion now stacks up pretty nicely to back then.

BSS vs UE is up there with anything done by DIY/AOP/Revival. I actually like the depth of the tag division just the booking has been a bit weak. Street profits, Heavy machinary, TM61, and War Raiders are solid teams.

 

[Emperoreddy]

I like your classification of this era. So I think we can say this Era started with the Almas title win. We can lump Roode/McIntrye into the post brand split era that saw NXT take a dip.

And I think the womens division is actually heating up since Moon left. I really like Shayna and the division is getting nice and deep again with Kairi, Candace, Nikki, Lacey, Dakota, and Bianca Bel Air. If you remove the novelty of the Horsewomen I actually think the divsion now stacks up pretty nicely to back then.

BSS vs UE is up there with anything done by DIY/AOP/Revival. I actually like the depth of the tag division just the booking has been a bit weak. Street profits, Heavy machinary, TM61, and War Raiders are solid teams.

I think that is as good a place as any to draw a line between recent eras.

You were really feeling the roster crunch during Roode’s reign, and I always saw him as a hold over from Nakamura/Joe’s era.

Then reDragon and Cole shows up and a barren roster started to feel full. Definitely helped we saw guys like EC3 and Ricochet come in. Almas and Dream getting over, and you see why a mid card title was needed.

I will admit I do like Bazler as a character, but the in ring work just isn’t there yet for me. I also hold NXT to a much higher standard then the main roster. Especially the women.

 

[scrubadam]

I think that is as good a place as any to draw a line between recent eras.

You were really feeling the roster crunch during Roode’s reign, and I always saw him as a hold over from Nakamura/Joe’s era.

Then reDragon and Cole shows up and a barren roster started to feel full. Definitely helped we saw guys like EC3 and Ricochet come in. Almas and Dream getting over, and you see why a mid card title was needed.

I will admit I do like Bazler as a character, but the in ring work just isn’t there yet for me. I also hold NXT to a much higher standard then the main roster. Especially the women.

Shayna has room to grow as she is still new to the business. I think she is good but not great yet, and she always seems to have good matches. They aren't 5 star affairs but solid enough and usually get over her character and storyline. Give her a few more years and the ring work will get better.

Money storyline for her is going to be with Rousey down the road.

One thing I miss during this era is that the entrance's aren't as grand. Dream usually does something special but it isn't comparing to Demon Balor, Nak entrances or Roode entrances.