WWE’s current crop of superstars mostly got their start at about the same time in NXT. It’s almost like the era before that where Cena, Orton, Lesnar, Benjamin, and countless others came from the same OVW class. But the early footage of Rollins, Bray Wyatt, Harper, Reigns, and Big E and more before their WWE debut was nowhere to be seen. Now it’s on the WWE Network, and it’s awesome.
Everybody’s characters are different, but still the same in a way. They’re almost infantile in the sense that fans have seen them all grow so much since they’ve even been introduced on the main roster. This new addition to the NXT library is outstanding and worth a watch for sure.
For example, the oldest episode made available was 11/7/12 and it was right after Seth Rollins won the NXT Championship. The main event of the show is Drew McIntrye, Bo Dallas, Jinder Mahal, and Justin Gabriel in a fatal-four-way elimination match for the #1 contendership. It’s so good we’re not even going to spoil the ending and tell you who won. .
What we will tell you is this is the same episode where Luke Harper makes his debut and becomes a son of the Wyatt Family. Harper squashes a pre-American Alpha Jason Jordan in a mop top hair-cut. Bray Wyatt delivers an amazing promo where he starts speaking in tongues and he looks like he did when he made his main roster debut in a red Hawiian shirt.
Big E is booked like a monster too. He flattens his opponent and almost looks confused and overtaken by his destructive powers. He’s like an uncontrollable beast and his last name is still Langston. Vicki Guerrero comes out and offers a $5,000 bounty on Big E’s head because he made her mad in a previous episode. He left so much carnage back then, now he is shaking hit booty and selling New Day Pops.
Kassius Ohno and Trent Baretta also tear each other apart in the opening contest. This is before both of them left WWE to find bigger success in the indies. Ohno has found his way back in NXT, but Baretta is having a great time in New Japan as part of Roppongi Vice.
Corey Graves is still an active wrestler too. He was amazing and if he hadn’t suffered so many concussions he might be headlining WrestleMania instead of commentating it. Dusty Rhodes is also an authority figure on the program. Needless to say, this is a freaking awesome time in NXT.
Early Roman Reigns is pretty interesting as well. He’s wearing very little in the way of ring attire, and his move set has yet to be established. He’s still being booked as a machine, and it’s obvious there were big things from him from the start. The announcers really put him over as being such a big young haus with an incredible family lineage.
So jump in and watch them all. If WWE sees good numbers for early NXT they might release the earlier stuff and into Florida Championship Wrestling. This is history available at the click of a button and it’s outstanding. WWE has so much more of it too yet to be released. Coupled with the promotions they’re always running, it’s no wonder why WWE Network’s numbers keep growing.
