Fuck me it better not be Chris Hero.
Part of me hopes it's somebody either not currently on NXT, or somebody that is actually, you know, developed by this developmental territory.
What's wrong with Fat Jesus getting the title? He gets just as strong of a reaction now as he did during his first run. He may not be main roster bound no matter what; if they had issues with his physique before, I fail to see how putting on 60+ pounds of pure flab is going to help matters. They could always use him as a champion who keeps the title for a long period while putting over strong challengers who will be/could be bound for the main roster. Also, being "developed" doesn't necessarily mean someone that's been brought up from the ground up. When some guys from the indie scene have shown up in NXT, their idea of wrestling was essentially moving from one high spot to another without actually wrestling and burning their bodies out, something that would in pretty short order given WWE's intense schedule. A big part of being developed in the way we're used to as fans who watch wrestling on TV each week involve being taught to put some emphasis on telling a story, selling, making some use of psychology; these things aren't exactly necessary in a lot of indy companies where the weekly, episodic nature of pro wrestling that we're used to seeing on doesn't happen. A lot of indie companies only put on shows every 4 to 6 weeks, so whatever happened during the last show won't be fresh or foremost on the minds of fans who show up for the next show. So, as a result, the emphasis is often placed on big spots or matches that are pretty much nothing but spots.
The so called "golden age" of NXT is over. Unless they find a way to bring in some more legitimate top indy guys to make the smart marks pop it's time for NXT to regress to being a true developmental territory like OVW. The brandsplit killed NXT.
NXT continues to be a successful touring brand that could potentially sell out or nearly sell out larger venues and the TakeOver events continue to be sell outs. NXT is consistently among the top 3 most watched programs on the WWE Network each week, often it's
THE single most watched program during the week, and fans are still extremely excited whenever stars from NXT make it to the main roster. So, I'm not seeing any sort of real regression in NXT's popularity. Sure, it's possible and likely that there'll be times in which the overall talent pool of the roster isn't as strong as in the past. It may very well be going on right now in the opinion of some people, but so what? That's perfectly normal in the pro wrestling business. In OVW, every third or fourth guy to get a big push wasn't the next Lesnar, Cena, Orton or Batista just like everyone from NXT isn't a Balor, Zayn, Charlotte or Sasha. The brand split didn't kill NXT, it was part of the natural progression of NXT ultimately fulfilling its primary purpose of getting talents to where WWE officials felt they should be and bringing them to the main roster. Some might roll their eyes at such a notion and feel that it's just WWE marking out for itself; while that may be true in some respects, it's not as though WWE hasn't earned it considering it's a billion dollar company that's synonymous with the term professional wrestling itself in the minds of most wrestling fans and non-fans alike. Being on the main roster should be the goal of every wrestler in NXT because that's where the real big money opportunities are going to come from. Not all of them are going to make it, it's a cold hard fact of life and it's just as simple as that. However, if you're someone who'd prefer to stay a second stringer, then you shouldn't be in NXT in the first place and it's just a matter of time before you're cut to go back to the indie scene wrestling in front of 30 people and hopefully earn enough money to pay for your gas.
