I’m wondering if there remains any motivation left for NXT stars to move to the main roster. I know there is a bump in pay, but is it really worth it? Is it the dream to be WWE champion? It was Jon Moxley’s dream and listen to how miserable he was.
Look at the most recent call ups. I mean Aleister Black is reduced to spitting out garbage in a broom closet with the lights out.
In NXT, wrestlers are truly appreciated for their skills. They get to truly dive in to their characters. The travel schedule isn’t as grueling.
So what’s the motivation? Johnny Gargano dodged a huge bullet. I’m sure Undisputed Era will become jobbers. Velveteen Dream will become the next Adam Rose. I bet they all dread when the Superstar Shake Up comes around.
Does anyone know how long the contracts are when they first sign on to NXT? Is it 5 years? I would just be content to do 5 years in NXT and then move on.
1.) How big is the pay bump? If it is huge then it still might be in someones best interest to move up unless they have another comparable offer.
2.) What other options are there to make similar money get exposure?
I think that talent staying in NXT will actually ruin part of what has made NXT great. NXT functions well in part because they are forced to continually use new talent, and guys that were in the main event don’t continually need to be protected, instead they just move on to the main roster.
As for what is best, I think in many ways the best thing is a great NXT run, then a short stint on the main roster that gets your name out to the main stream, then potentially jumping to another company if offers are on the table.
I also think it depends on the wrestler. I think Gargano is a bad fit for the main roster as he is small, it was shocking to see him up against the Bar and those aren’t exactly guys booked as being huge guys on the main roster, what does he do in a match against say Brock Lesner? When he makes someone like Daniel Bryan look big.
You make it sound like they have a choice when I don’t think they do. If WWE wants to call you up then you move up. If they want to move people from Raw to Smackdown then they move.
Otherwise they are in breach of contract and can either be fired or what we have seen done more often is the contract is frozen and you can’t go anywhere or do anything without being sued.
Oh for sure they have no say in it. I just can’t imagine a lot of them are clamoring to be on the main roster.
I can just imagine the dread they must feel when word spreads Vince wants some new talent sent up. I can only imagine what Gargano and Dream think of going to the main roster.
In the end it’s for sure they go where they are told to go. I guess most of them won’t be resigning contracts so quickly.
I’ve read a comment on another wrestling board that compared NXT to college and then you graduate and have to face the real world.
That a good comparison i think. Nxt is were you go to learn or perfect yourself before graduating to the main roster. It’s easier, you have more freedom and don’t have to deal with the harsh reality of the main roster. That’s why so many indy wrestlers loved nxt because you don’t have to deal with the politics of the main rosters.
But in the end, everybody that has sign with wwe as the dream of making it on the main rosters the difference is that not everybody can be the next cena or lesnar, a lot of them will be mid carder for life or in some case like johnny gargano, somebody they use as a plumber to make everybody else look good. In the end it’s mostly how you deal with the situation after you graduate from nxt.
Like every other sports, it’s every athlete wants to stay in college because it’s less stressful and the game is easier but in the end, everybody wants to make it to the big league and sadly it comes with it’s up and down and it’s how you deal with it that will dictate your success afterward
The other factor you’re forgetting is that pro-wrestlers are not usually “normal” people. They are a little crazy to put their bodies on the line. Most are addicts to the crowd reaction. They are ego maniacs with chips on their shoulders the size of bull dozers.
I’m not sure about Gargano, but my impression of Dream is that he can’t wait to get to the main roster. A guy like Dream wants to prove he can do it. That he can make it to the top even in a broken system. That Vince and the fans can’t ignore him.
And if it doesn’t work he will leave WWE even more determined to be a bigger star and make Vince regret not pushing him to the top.
Gargano is not ready to be on the main roster anyway, it’s showed when he got called up earlier this year that he didn’t fit on the main roster to the point where they had to sacrifice a major star like tomasso ciampa just so they could hide his lack of charisma. Dream is another story, i feel like it depends a lot on how he’s initially receive by the casual crowd upon getting called up.
The guy is a great talent and has a lot of charisma plus the gimmick works real well right now. The fact that he defended Vince against some of the critics earlier this month kinda tell me that he wants to get called up and is ready to prove that he can make it as a top guy which isn’t really the case for a lot of guys these days.
I know that gargano’s dream was to be in WWE but he also said that if they want to keep him in NXt he wouldn’t mind it and quite frankly, i think it would be the right move for him. With the rumors going around that they might cancel 205 live in october, they’re really is no place for him to go in this current version. So unless he’s able to get confortable and actually get a personality, i think he would be better to stay in NXT and i doubt Vince would bring him back up anyway.
I go the other way and think some people forget that wrestlers ARE normal people. If a job is going to pay more for doing less work, most people will deal with that job even if they’re not being fulfilled/challenged as much as they could be working elsewhere.
They have the perfect job right now. They have a limited schedule by being on 205 live, they get paid a pretry decent salary and they are working in a company that isn’t closing anytime soon and will take care of them for years to comes.
So they can make sure their newborn baby girl is well taken care off and they can plan for their future after wrestling. What’s not to like about this situation especially with mike’s addiction problem a steady company is the perfect place for him.
As an added bonus; the threat of leaving for AEW can be used by talent to leverage better contracts. It’s about time the wrestlers get a bit of that Fox money.
Very true about the power of money. I can’t blame Mike and Maria. The money is financial stability for their new family. Hopeful they negotiated something about travel schedules. I would’ve made the same choice
Not to mention I don’t think these two will ever be the main event in any other company. Maybe challenger of the month type thing but not championship material.I could be wrong of course (and do wosh then success) but their act has seen better days.
oh I agree - I was just doing a pun on thier gimick and power of love being power of money
Basically
If you want a stable income doing little work and more of a ‘job’ that pays the bills, and realize you aren’t main event material - stay in WWE
if you feel you are a main level talent that has been held back and want to work your butt off to prove yourself because you value that more than money - leave WWE
so you can see the division clearly between why people like Ambrose and Banks and such want to take option 2 and others like Maria and Mike take option 1.
One interesting thing that came up during the Stone Cold interview with Tony’s Kahn is that in AEW it seems like the full time employee wrestlers will have other jobs within the company, while others (they example was Brit Baker who is a dentist) will, without the house show Schedule, can get other jobs on top of being just wrestlers.
WWE is still stability in your life, AEW right now is a gamble on it being successful. So if you need financial stability long term WWE may be the better choice at the moment.