Just a year ago, NXT was considered to be the WWE’s best pure wrestling show. From a humble, developmental program, NXT quickly grew to become a solid rival to RAW and SmackDown. The more NXT TakeOver shows were made, the more grew the popularity of the brand, attracting huge indie legends. The Blue and the Red Brands had to step up their game to match the level of NXT. And then suddenly, after the brand split, something happened and NXT began to wither away quickly. The viewership of the program went so low that even Table for 3 and Ride Along turned out to be more popular on the WWE Network last week. What went wrong? Here are the main 3 causes of NXT’s downfall and the one thing that can fix it all.

Talent Drain

The turning point for NXT was, without a doubt, the WWE Draft, which drained a lot of the star power from the show. The top females, the top tag teams and one of the biggest names on the brand – Finn Balor, were all called up at the same time. Call-ups are the point of NXT. However, the show has never had to deal with such a huge blow to its roster before.

The worst hit was taken by the Women’s Division. Suddenly, the show was left with one big name only and that’s the champ – Asuka. The rest are underdeveloped characters, who have no chance of beating Asuka. Also, it’s hard to build someone’s personality when their opponent’s mic skills are non-existent. Asuka’s lack of language skills is detrimental to her rivals because no promo segments can be made without her looking weak on the mic in comparison.

The tag team division also suffered. The Revival had two vicious feuds – one with American Alpha and one with Enzo and Cass. Both went up. NXT struggled with pushing new teams. TM-61 got no introduction and their lack of gimmick, along with getting squashed by the Authors of Pain killed whatever hype they were hoping to get. The Authors of Pain are a disposable pair. They are monster heels that draw interest only until they are defeated. Yet, they had a chance of getting some spotlight having taken out the beloved American Alpha. Too bad NXT missed the opportunity ot bank on that. Only Gargano and Ciampa can fix this mess.

Big Names over Developmental Talent

One of the biggest issues NXT has is that in its rapid growth, the show lost what made it special. NXT was all about wrestlers you have never heard of, developing a character in front of your eyes and delivering brilliant wrestling in the ring. There were a few indie names there but they were all fairly underappreciated in their career and they were the minority.

However, after NXT’s popularity exploded on a massive scale, huge international names started to flood the roster. Finn Balor, KENTA, Shinsuke Nakamura, Samoa Joe, Austin Aries, Bobby Roode and Asuka are just some of the names on this list. To show you how overwhelmed NXT was with the superstars, coming in, Austin Aries felt like a midcarder amongst this invasion.

The problem is that people like that come with a legacy. It’s very difficult for a WWE Performance Center-bred talent to come up against this and win. Even Tye Dillinger, who’s an NXT veteran and is a fan favourite stands no chance against the legend of Shinuske Nakamura. Before, Neville vs. Bo Dallas was a legitimate main event feud, which brought to life some great wrestling matches. Now, Nakamura is so over that no NXT man can defeat him. Same goes for Asuka and her status in the Women’s Division.

NXT became a show for big names and hierarchy appeared. The gap between the indie stars and the WWE developmental talent is too big. It kills NXT.

Storytelling Issues

The storytelling has gone down too. Before, NXT used to put Raw and SmackDown to shame when it came to booking. The rivalries were simple, the promos – limited, but everything was clear-cut and relatable. Most of the developments took place in the ring. Now, despite the wrestling still being amazing, there’s much to be desired from the plot of the show.

All of it – the disbalance of power, the inability to create new characters to fill in the gaps, the ludicrous decisions (like for example – creating an on/off relationship between Blake and Murphy, instead of using their tag team credibility as veterans and ex champs), it can all be attributed to one thing – bad booking.

This might have something to do with the fact that NXT’s head writer Ryan Ward is now working on SmackDown, instead. This actually explains why SmackDown is doing so much better than RAW at building all talent at a roughly equal pace; giving opportunities to people you would have never thought of. Ward seems to have a real talent for creating quality character development.

The Solution

The solution for NXT is simple – the show has to go back to basics. NXT should focus on people, who need to develop their characters and connect with the fans. This is the place to test new gimmicks out. Tyler Breeze in his utterly ridiculous gimmick actually was a serious competitor on NXT. Equal opportunities, despite all preconceptions, this is what the brand needs.

Unfortunately, that can’t happen with so many OP superstars on the card. The big names that are too big for the brand should go up to the main roster. All the writing power of the NXT team should be invested in the new, fresh talent. The charm of seeing new superstars get discovered and blossom will bring the fans back to NXT.

The only question left is – Can NXT reverse back time? Can the show control its own appeal and get back to what made it great?

What do you think? Comment below with your thoughts, opinions, feedback and anything else that was raised