Nick Khan: ‘We’re Doing A Complete Revamp On NXT’, We Don’t Want To Keep Focusing On Indie Talent
Photo Credit: WWE
For several weeks, rumors and reports have suggested that WWE plans to make some major changes to NXT and its overall developmental system.
In an interview with Ariel Helwani of BT Sport, WWE President Nick Khan confirmed that “a complete revamp”, led by Triple H, is underway. He explained that instead of using the typical model of signing independent wrestlers and developing them, WWE is shifting its focus to other sources of “great young talent.” Khan also described how WWE wants to make sure its system is “easy” for this young talent.
“We’re doing a complete revamp on NXT, led by Triple H, Paul Levesque, who’s really one of the architects of the original NXT,” said Khan. “So what we found, it’s part of why we did the tryout yesterday, what we want to make sure is [that it’s]easy for folks who wanna be WWE Superstars is figuring out how to become WWE Superstars.
So if you think of the life of an elevated athlete throughout their career, the opportunity to go play somewhere has always been easy. Being able to play somewhere is not. That’s what hard. But if you’re an amazing high school football player, colleges come after you, you get recruited, you go into their system, and either you make it or you don’t make it. All that it takes to get there, very difficult. But the system, not difficult from my point of view. So we want our system to be an easy system where people who wanna be Superstars, they know how to get to us, and we can get to them.”
Khan then emphasized that this NXT rebrand will produce some major changes, as the show will have a different look and tone. He noted that while the company has relied on buidling its developmental roster with independent wrestlers, WWE wants to alter its method by using a different source.
“In terms of an NXT rebrand, look for it,” said Khan. “In the next couple of weeks, it’s gonna have a whole new look, it’s gonna have a whole new feel, and we believe, because a lot of the ‘indie wrestlers’, if you will, have come through our system and are in our system with SmackDown and RAW now, we don’t wanna just keep doing that same thing. We wanna look elsewhere for great young talent. The look of the show, the production of the show, everything’s gonna change [in] the next few weeks.”
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The full interview is available here: