On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer provided some more details on the changes coming to WWE NXT and the reasoning behind some of the recent cuts. Meltzer noted that Triple H and Shawn Michaels were not involved in picking the names that were released on Friday.
Meltzer said, “Paul Levesque and Shawn Michaels didn’t have anything to do with the cuts. It was done by Vince McMahon, Bruce Prichard and John Laurinaitis. The basic gist is that NXT is gonna change in some ways and they think that a lot of the competitors are too small and too old.”
Meltzer noted that the original idea for NXT was for it to be developmental and to find and develop wrestlers who can main event WrestleMania. Meltzer said, “that means that they want more Roman Reigns-looking guys. The basic feeling is they lost the war…this is the aftermath and this is the new direction is younger guys and bigger guys.”
“The general feeling is that NXT has ventured out…originally it was the competition for Ring Of Honor. Then it became the competition for AEW. When Ring Of Honor started showing life and the independent scene started showing life, this was supposed to be them getting that fan base. Then it became the competition for AEW. What happened happened and now they want to get it back to what it was and so there’s cuts that were made and these were the guys that were cut and there’s gonna be changes. Power play is a weird word [but] there’s divisive opinions about wrestling among the key people and they are fighting for Vince’s ear and this is the ear that Vince has this week. Next week he may listen to somebody else’s ear and may go in a completely different direction but that’s what happened this week.”
Meltzer added that the idea is to go back to the days when Curtis Axel was in NXT and a memo was sent out describing what is wanted for the new NXT. Meltzer said, “The wording is ‘no more midgets, no one starting in their 30s, they want people who can be box office attractions and main characters.”
What is interesting is that they are pushing to keep Adam Cole, someone who McMahon usually wouldn’t want to keep because of his size. The idea is that if he signs then he would move to the main roster. Cole is one of the exceptions but generally, McMahon wants bigger wrestlers and the writers on the main roster were told to come up with ideas for him.
There is no word yet on if Cole has decided to stay with WWE or if he is going to start talks with AEW.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Wrestling Observer Radio with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription. A WrestlingObserver.com subscription includes the Wrestling Observer Newsletter and daily audio shows in addition to thousands of hours of archived audio shows.
