Category: NXT

WWE NXT Preview 2/8/22

Tonight’s WWE NXT 2.0 episode will be the go-home show for next week’s Vengeance Day special.

NXT will air on Syfy for the next two weeks starting with tonight’s show. It’s believed that there will be limited commercial interruptions with more picture-in-picture commercial breaks.

WWE NXT Preview 2/1/22

Tonight’s WWE NXT 2.0 episode will air live from the WWE Performance Center with more build for the upcoming Vengeance Day event.

WWE NXT Preview 1/25/22

Tonight’s WWE NXT 2.0 episode on the USA Network will feature the final first round matches in the 2022 Men’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic.

Brian Kendrick Has Requested His Release From WWE

The WWE release train refused to stop rolling in 2021, and it doesn’t appear to be running short on steam this year either. WWE kicked off the year by letting go of a number of its backstage staff in NXT. That was followed up by Mustafa Ali requesting his release, although the former Retribution leader doesn’t appear to have been granted his request at the time of this posting.

According to PWInsider, Ali isn’t the only Superstar waiting for WWE to grant a release request. The site has confirmed with multiple sources that Brian Kendrick asked to be released as far back as six weeks ago but is yet to be told he is free to leave. Kendrick hasn’t wrestled on WWE TV since October 2020 and even said he had retired from in-ring competition.

Kendrick has remained busy behind the scenes though, working with talent in NXT and on 205 Live. He even briefly returned to TV recently as a part of an angle involving NXT 2.0 stars Joe Gacy and Harland. Kendrick was thrown down the stairs during one of Harland’s fits of rage. That was supposed to lead to a match between the two, but it never came to fruition.

The timing of the angle and Kendrick’s reported release request is certainly very interesting. What’s unclear is when exactly Kendrick requested his release, and therefore what triggered it. Whether WWE knew he was unhappy with his lot in the company and started up an angle in an attempt to appease him, or if the angle was WWE’s idea and his involvement is what led Kendrick to ask if he could leave the company.

Source: TheSportster

WWE NXT Stand & Deliver, WWE Hall Of Fame And More Confirmed For WrestleMania 38 Week

The second WWE NXT Stand & Deliver event has been confirmed for WrestleMania 38 Weekend near Dallas, TX.

WWE announced today that NXT Stand & Deliver, without the Takeover name, will take place in the Dallas area leading up to WrestleMania 38, which takes place on Saturday, April 2 and Sunday, April 3 from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX.

The previous Stand & Deliver event was a two-night event, but there’s no word yet on if Stand & Deliver II will take place over two nights.

WWE also confirmed that RAW, SmackDown and the 2022 WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place in the Dallas area during WrestleMania 38 Week. There will also be “an unprecedented” Superstore Axxess for fans.

WWE will be announcing full details on the WrestleMania 38 Week events in the coming weeks.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WALTER Undergoes Unnecessary WWE Name Change

NXT 2.0’s “Ring General” WALTER has been given a new ring name by WWE. For some reason.

WALTER has a new name! The former NXT UK Champion revealed that his new name was Gunther following the main event of this week’s NXT 2.0.

It all went down at the WWE Performance Center on Tuesday, January 18. In what was his first singles match on NXT 2.0, “Der Ring General” went one-on-one with Diamond Mine’s Roderick Strong in a thrilling main event. It was a hard-hitting bout, and Strong put up a good fight, but ultimately, WALTER was too powerful a foe to overcome. With his brute strength and wily in-ring skills, the gargantuan Austrian eventually overpowered the former NXT Cruiserweight Champion and finished him off with a brutal powerbomb for the 1-2-3.

After the bell, WALTER got on the mic to make a declaration. “The winner of the match … is GUNTHER!” as his Imperium colleagues Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner appeared and proceeded to deliver a beat down to the still-reeling Roderick Strong. Strong’s Diamond Mine underlings Brutus and Julius Creed ran to the ring to make the save and a three-on-three brawl ensued as the show went off the air.

Changing WALTER’s name to Gunther seems pointless — and it is definitely pointless — but it could mean that WWE has some big plans for him. Right?

“It is tough to bet against Walter,” Triple H said of Gunther (back when was Gunther was still called WALTER) during an appearance on The Bump back in January 2021. “Anyone who has watched him over the last few years, anyone who has recently watched him against Ilja [Dragunov], one of the most physically imposing, physically dominating performers out there. There’s no wasted movement, he’s not flashy, he doesn’t care about how it looks, he’s just effective.”

Source: TheSportster

WWE NXT Preview 1/18/22

Tonight’s WWE NXT 2.0 will be the second episode of the new era with NXT Champion Bron Breakker leading the brand.

The 2022 Men’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic will kick off tonight, and continue next week. First round matches include MSK vs. Jacket Time, Edris Enofe and Malik Blade vs. Legado del Fantasma, The Creed Brothers vs. Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen, and Grizzled Young Veterans vs. Andre Chase and Bodhi Hayward.

As seen in the promo below, WWE is teasing an appearance by Elektra Lopez on this week’s show. She picked Santos Escobar over Xyon Quinn on last week’s NXT.

Below is the current line-up for tonight:

* Elektra Lopez plans to unleash

* The 2022 Men’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic kicks off

* Tony D’Angelo hosts a memorial service for Pete Dunne

* WALTER vs. Roderick Strong

WWE NXT Preview 1/11/22, AJ Styles

Tonight’s WWE NXT episode on the USA Network will feature fallout from last week’s New Year’s Evil special.

Backstage News On Changes To WWE NXT’s Creative Team

WWE has reportedly made changes to the creative team setup in regards to NXT 2.0. According to PWInsider.com, things will be getting switched around internally with the third brand continuing to evolve. These alterations come following the recent releases.

WWE cut several long-term employees during the latest batch of cuts. The focus was more behind the scenes than in-ring talent, although Samoa Joe was released as well. The company let go of Gabe Sapolsky, William Regal, and Road Dogg during the re-shuffle.

Moving forward, the WWE NXT creative team will not operate independently, as it has done in the past. Previously, Paul Levesque oversaw things with his own team, which was separate from everything else in WWE. However, that is no longer the case.

Instead, the team will now work under Bruce Prichard and Christine Lubrano. Decisions will be reported to them, with WWE looking to streamline the operation to be consistent with how the Raw and SmackDown creative departments work.

Johnny Russo (no relation to Vince Russo) will be heading up WWE NXT’s writing team, working under Prichard and Lubrano. He originally joined WWE in the fall of 2011, and has been involved with the main roster from 2015-2018. However, he does also have experience with NXT, working within the creative department for the black and gold brand since August 2019.

Russo has also been working as the lead writer for the show since July 2020 and therefore knows how things work. Elsewhere on the creative team, Dewey Foley, who is the son of Hall Of Famer, Mick Foley, will remain on the team. He has been working on the 205 Live product as well.

Meanwhile, Anthony Golden Jr. will also still be on the NT creative team. He joined WWE in March 2020 and has a background in theatre, while he also boasts a Master’s in Film and Television production.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Samoa Joe Released By WWE

On Thursday, WWE released former NXT Champion Samoa Joe from his contract.

Following the news of his release, Samoa Joe issued a statement on social media that you can read below:

This is the second time WWE has released Samoa Joe over the past nine months. He was also let go from the company on Apr. 15 of last year, but WWE wound up bringing him back on a new deal. Samoa Joe returned to television as William Regal’s “Special Enforcer”.

He would go on to claim the NXT Championship at NXT TakeOver 36. Joe defeated Karrion Kross that night. Kross was among the company’s round of cuts in early November. In WWE, Joe won the NXT Championship three times and the United States Championship on two occasions. In 2015, he and Finn Balor teamed up to win the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic.

WWE has released several NXT wrestlers and employees since Wednesday. This included the stunning release of NXT mainstay William Regal, Scott Armstrong and WWE Hall of Famer Road Dogg. Wrestlers Hideki Suzuki, Timothy Thatcher, Danny Burch and Allison Danger were also released.

NXT talent contracts usually consist of 30-day non-compete clauses, and the clauses for main roster talents are traditionally for 90 days. It’s unclear how long Samoa Joe’s non-compete clause is for, but the well-respected wrestling legend shouldn’t have any problems finding a new home. Impact Wrestling could very well look to bring him back, and it obviously wouldn’t be a surprise if AEW made a play for the 42-year-old.

Various injuries unfortunately sidelined Samoa Joe for long periods of time in WWE after he joined the main roster in 2017. Still, Joe had high popularity among the fans and is an elite in-ring worker. Simply put, he should have had at least one world championship reign on the main roster, but WWE often failed to fully maximize his star power and potential. There’s little doubt that Samoa Joe will enjoy great success in his next stop.

Source: TheSportster