Its wonderful time in the sporting calendar, and this Memorial Day is not short any of your sporting needs. Conference Finals in the NBA and NHL. A huge UFC Pay Per View last night. Major League Baseball a quarter of the way through their season. The French Open starting, and if you're a Motor Sports fan? Today is one of your favorite days on the calendar as the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 both run today. The other sport, that… I'm guessing might slip through the cracks?
Wait! Come back! I assure you there is a good reason I bring this up last. If you paid attention to the name of today's Dissection, you might start seeing what I'm getting at. Today many European soccer leagues capped of their 2014/2015 seasons. Sure you might realize La Ligua (Spain's top division home to Messi and Christiano Ronaldo) – or England's Premier League will be crowning champions, BUT… that's not all. Every year in these leagues. The bottom 2, 3, or 4 teams (differs depending on each league's rules) will be sent down a division. In the lower divisions, beneath the top tier the same number of teams that are sent down, will be promoted. See where I'm going with this in terms of wrestling, and specifically the WWE?
Every year in the Premier League the bottom three teams will be sent down to the "Football League Championship". Which means despite how bad your team could be? There are incredibly important and meaningful games to be played. I spent the start of today watching numerous games on TV, despite the fact that Chelsea had the title already locked up. The reason I stayed tuned was because of the relegation race. As I watched this game that would otherwise be meaningless. Neither team would have had ANY incentive as they couldn't improve their standings. It would have been a glorified preseason/exhibition. Okay… Now that I can feel any non soccer fan's eyes glazing over, and any soccer fan rolling their eyes and giving me a sarcastic "DUH", I give you this background because a lightbulb went off. With WWE currently having "2 Divisions", with NXT and the Main Roster, they haven't really established any kind of method or explanation on how some talents get called up, or how some of the main roster crew will go down to NXT for an extended period of time.
My thought, at the start of every calendar year 2 men and 2 women from NXT will get promoted. This ALSO means every year 2 men and 2 women will get "relegated" to NXT. (for this the numbers don't have to be 2 and 2. It could be 3 and 3, or even 1 and 1.) This doesn't mean these are the ONLY call ups over the course of a year (And of course any later "relegations" will come in the form of being wished well in their future endeavors) – but this would mean you know, without a doubt, there will be some shake up around the New Year. So lets tackle some of the bigger questions with my proposal.
Why?
WWE has something special with NXT. Its widely praised. Its changing the wrestling landscape week by week. The only problem? There doesn't seem to be any continuity between NXT and WWE. They've started leaning on it more and more. Mentions of the Ascension being the longest reigning Tag Champions, or Neville being the most decorated NXT product, or Rollins holding the first NXT Championship… But there can be more consistency in the cross over. Having this as a story point will FORCE main roster writers and NXT bookers to sit in a room and decide who is going where, why they should go, and HOW they should go. For Fans it gives us more of a reason to pay attention near the end of the year. Especially during the Survivor Series to Royal Rumble Lull that seems to permeate the WWE through the holidays. Also gives you a reason to follow what is going on with some undercard talent that is "on the bubble". When is the last time Zack Ryder was in a legitimate MEANINGFUL match? So if he's fighting for his livelihood on the main roster? You might be able to capture some of that crowd interest he built himself years ago. It can highlight four talents who don't get much shine. Maybe you stumble into someone the crowd loves. Give the lesser used talent some time, and it might afford them to give some of the workhorses a little extra rest, here and there. Give the people a reason to care and I think crowds would have fun with it.
When?
You might try keeping track year round, but really all you need is the last 2-3 months of the year. It can be highlighted on all WWE programming, especially as we get into fall. I have total faith NXT would make it a year long part of the storytelling.
Who?
For NXT, all champions of that calendar year are eligible for call up. You could also run a tournament. For the WWE. Anyone who held a championship, or marquee match (Money in the Bank, or the Royal Rumble, King of the Ring, etc) during that calendar year is safe. You might also expand that to anyone who had a non battle royal Pay Per View match. Ultimately you want to whittle this down to 6-10 men and 4-6 women battling it out to stay on the Main Roster. Suddenly the fact that Adam Rose and Heath Slater had a tag team match this week has some importance.
How
Laid out how for the NXTers a bit above. A tournament would work for one spot. Maybe a battle royal for the other spot. The promotion side of things is easier to handle. For the Relegation/WWE side? Once you get to the bottom four to six, you simply have relegation matches. With six you could do two triple threats. Winners are safe. Then the losers of those triple threats go at it in one on one matches. Bottom line: Lose and you go down. WWE has been sending down talents, or maybe NXT requests them… either way. Tyson Kidd and Natalya spent the better part of a year working on NXT TV, and occasionally appearing on WWE TV. I think it definitely helped Kidd. Cesaro spent some time down there having great matches with Sami Zayn while Sami was on the rise. Emma has been heavily involved the last few months, and I hope the time down there rejuvenates the WWE's interest in her with a new heel personality… IF they actually maintain that continuity (NOT holding my breath) . Curtis Axel came down looking get get a little NXT shine recently. Its an easy enough transition, for tapings. These guys still could go out on tour with WWE. There's some fun a good heel could have who got relegated to NXT, and crowds taunting him/her with NXT chants.
Ultimately this is the roughest of drafts for kicking around an idea where MAYBE we get some intrigue into the depths of the undercard of the main roster. Gives some continuity and consistency between NXT and the WWE, that just feels lacking. In house it gives those that are in NXT "biding their time", despite being more than ready? Some light at the end of the tunnel. You're no longer at the whims of WWE creative for getting the call. You know there is a storyline that can expedite the process. And what better time and place to debut than leading into the Royal Rumble. Again crowds will be more excited to see new different faces coming into the Royal Rumble, than a parade of guys who will be "Stat padders" for whoever they want to eliminate the most guys.
There is a lot of talent, and maybe the added highlight of fighting for their position helps trigger something in fans. Maybe a year down in NXT helps them refine something and they come back a better stronger wrestler. At the very LEAST this would shake things up from time to time. It could give us some unique matches and could give us something to care about late in the calendar year when the WWE really…really… REALLY
yes…
Seems to phone it in.
So there it is. Lots of room for differing ideas, or to build upon the ones I put forth. Let me hear it. As always follow me on twitter: @sirmhayesxiv – Enjoy the rest of the weekend!
