There might not be a more interesting talent in all of NXT than Bron Breakker.
Obviously, you start with his bloodlines. His father and uncle formed one of the greatest tag teams in the history of professional wrestling, but they also had their share of singles success through the years. In their primes, they were two of the absolute best technical wrestlers in the business, using their tremendous pedigree as amateurs as a great foundation to build on.
The man born Bronson Rechsteiner followed in his family’s footsteps by becoming a successful amateur wrestler, winning a state championship as a senior in high school. He would choose football over wrestling in college, hoping to make it to the NFL one day. After a good few years playing all over the field for Kennesaw State University, Rechsteiner would impress NFL scouts and front offices with his postseason workouts leading up to the 2020 NFL Draft. A 40-yard-dash time clocked at 4.48 seconds would’ve put him in the top ten for his position at the 2020 NFL Combine if he were invited to participate. He bench pressed 225 pounds 35 times, which would’ve easily placed him at the top of his position at the Combine. A vertical jump of 35.4 inches would’ve had him right around the top 15 of his position. Clocking in at 4.22 seconds on the shuttle run would’ve had him in the top five.
If you don’t know anything about what I just talked about, just understand this… the man was a freak of nature, blessed with a rare combination of size, speed, strength and athleticism. Unfortunately, playing at a smaller school probably prevented him from being drafted, and he would find his NFL dreams dashed after a brief preseason stint with the Baltimore Ravens ended with him getting released.
When the average man sees their NFL dreams destroyed, they try to find other avenues to play pro football. There are other leagues they can participate in while they hope someone that works for an NFL team will see them, be impressed and offer them a job.
Bronson Rechsteiner is not the average man.
He was let go by the Ravens on August 10th, 2020. Less than two months later, on October 8th, he would make his pro wrestling debut. Four months later, he would sign a WWE contract. Seven months after signing with the company, he would make his debut on television as Bron Breakker, defeating LA Knight.
It has been a wild ride ever since. In just his fourth match with NXT, he would compete for the NXT Title, taking champion Tommaso Ciampa to the limit before ultimately taking the loss. The loss wouldn’t send him back down the card, though. He would continue his feud with Ciampa, and it would lead to Breakker pinning Ciampa to win the match for his team, setting up the obvious title rematch at some point.
This is a man who is still brand new to the wrestling business. As of the moment I type this, he has wrestled in a grand total of 12 matches for NXT, with five of them taking place on WWE live events during a tour in England last month. Seven televised matches. That’s it, and yet, he appears to be a fixture in the NXT 2.0 main event scene.
Honestly, he deserves it.
He is someone that has everything needed to be a major success under the WWE umbrella.
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He looks like a million bucks. His in-ring work is clearly still green, but he is so much further along than he has any business being at such an early stage in his training. He has the same unique, memorable charisma that his father and uncle had, even going so far as to sound exactly like what would happen if you blended Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner’s voices in a lab somewhere. Two months ago, he celebrated his 24th birthday, which means that, barring injury or any type of wild unforeseen circumstances, he has a ton of time to let his career play out.
If I were a betting man, I would say that Bron is going to be the next NXT Champion, and it will probably happen in the upcoming rematch, whenever it happens. He has already proven to be a major part of the shift from NXT to NXT 2.0, and he’ll probably only get bigger as time goes on.
Well, as is the case whenever someone is a star in NXT, the immediate question is obvious…
What about a move to the main roster?
I’m not saying that Bron Breakker is a better performer than people like Adam Cole, Johnny Gargano, Tommaso Ciampa, Kyle O’Reilly and people of that nature. However, it’s pretty easy to make the assumption that Bron Breakker is a more attractive addition to Raw or Smackdown than people like Adam Cole, Johnny Gargano, Tommaso Ciampa, Kyle O’Reilly and people of that nature to the one person that matters… Vince McMahon. Vince probably sees dollar signs in Bron Breakker already.
That’s great and all, but we’re talking about a man who doesn’t have a great track record recently when it comes to NXT wrestlers being moved to the main roster. Over the last few years, there have been some careers that have completely derailed because they went from NXT to Raw or Smackdown.
Keith Lee is a great example of that. In NXT, he was one of the hottest acts in all of wrestling. He got the call up to Raw, and Vince decided this needed to be changed and that needed to be changed and this needed to be changed and that needed to be changed. Throw in some health issues, and you have a recipe for disaster. Lee never got any momentum on Raw, even after an early feud with Randy Orton that saw him pin Orton at Payback 2020, and he would go on to be released from his contract last month.
Karrion Kross is another example. Sure, Kross had his share of detractors during his time in NXT, but he was clearly positioned as a monster there, winning the NXT Title on two occasions. Kross, like Lee, moves to Raw and everything falls apart almost immediately. His debut match on the main roster saw him lose to Jeff Hardy. Yes, Jeff Hardy is a six-time World Champion, but two weeks before beating Kross, Hardy lost to Veer on an episode of Main Event in four minutes. Hardy was 2-9 in singles action in the five months leading up to his victory over Kross. The biggest damage done to Kross during his time on Raw was a lot of the nitpicking that was done, similar to what happened with Keith Lee. Vince McMahon decided to take Kross’ manager, Scarlett, away from him. Scarlett was, arguably, the most interesting part of Karrion Kross’ entire presentation. Then, Kross was put into silly ring gear that did him no favors. His crowd reactions completely flatlined, and he, too, would be released from his contract last month.
The Authors Of Pain. Dominik Dijakovic. The Ascension. Ember Moon. Sanity. Tye Dillinger. EC3. Emma. Bobby Roode. Aleister Black. Ricochet. Chad Gable. Neville. Really, the list of people who were viewed as “sure things” at some point, only to fail on the main roster, goes on and on.
Can Bron Breakker avoid joining the names on that list?
It should go without saying, but it is insanely important for WWE to build stars for the future. Even if you’re a fan of people like Brock Lesnar and Goldberg, it says a lot that WWE has to continue to rely on them to try and pop a television rating or get some more eyes viewing events on THE COCK.
If Bron Breakker continues on the trajectory that he’s on, he could easily be one of those big stars in WWE’s future. I’m not just talking about on NXT, either. He’s someone that can translate to being a star on Monday or Friday nights.
That kooky bastard running the company stands in the way of that.
When you look at all the names I mentioned earlier, and then look at some of the call-ups that did achieve success, you’ll notice some things right away. It seems like you have a better chance of success if you’re a woman. That’s first and foremost. Sasha Banks, Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, Bayley, Bianca Belair, Alexa Bliss, Paige, Asuka and so on are all shining examples of people who came up and were/are huge stars on the main roster. Digging a little deeper, it seems like you have better odds if you’re someone who obtained a certain level of success in the business before signing with WWE. Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Kevin Owens, Finn Balor and Shinsuke Nakamura are examples of that.
Unfortunately, Bron Breakker doesn’t check either one of those boxes. He’s not a woman, and he wasn’t winning titles at places like Ring Of Honor or New Japan before signing with WWE. That would indicate that he has a steeper hill to climb if he’s going to be a main roster success story.
I’ve seen people say that Bron’s second-generation status will work in his favor, and while it very well might, I think those people are forgetting a lot of the past. Mike McGillicutty/Curtis Axel? Bo Dallas? Ted DiBiase Jr.? Those are just some of the wrestlers with famous bloodlines in the business that got called up from WWE developmental territories and never really did much. Clearly, unless you’re a member of the Anoa’i family tree, there’s no guarantee that you’ll be successful as a member of WWE.
I’m only half-joking there.
Vince McMahon’s track record over the last several years is bad. Really bad.
Bron Breakker’s brief tenure in NXT has been good. Really good.
Something’s got to give.
Will Vince actually let someone handle their thug thizzle and become a star without all of the unnecessary nitpicking?
Or will Bron’s WWE career go off the rails and see him get added to a lengthy list of depressing “what if” cases?
If you’re looking for a good “test run” with Bron on the main roster, there’s an event coming up on January 29th that could provide an opportunity for just that. No, I’m not saying you should have Bron Breakker as the 2022 Royal Rumble winner as some of you have suggested. Instead, I think the blueprint to follow would be Keith Lee’s Royal Rumble appearance in 2020, maybe mixed with a little bit of Lee’s 2019 Survivor Series performance. Lee didn’t win either of those matches, but he made a major impression in both. At the 2019 Survivor Series, it was Raw vs Smackdown vs NXT, and Lee was on Team NXT. He would go on to pin and eliminate Team Raw’s Seth Rollins, leaving the match down to a one-on-one between him and Team Smackdown’s Roman Reigns. Lee would then get a very believable near fall on Reigns before eventually losing, but would get a seal of approval from Reigns in the form of a post-match fist bump. Two months later, Lee would enter the Rumble to a big pop and go face-to-face with Brock Lesnar, who seemed to give his seal of approval, as well, by noting that Lee was a “big boy” and seeming happy to be facing him.
Why not do something like that with Breakker at the Rumble? He can come in as a surprise entrant, either in one of the first two spots or during a moment when there’s only one person in the ring. Just as an example, let’s say Bobby Lashley is the only one left in the ring after eliminating a few people in a row. Bron Breakker comes out as the next entrant, and we get them facing off against each other for a bit. You could either have Breakker eliminate Lashley, or have one of the next entrants… Damian Priest, as another example… team up with him to eliminate Lashley. Fist bump between Priest and Breakker, sign of respect, blah blah blah, and then carry on with the match.
That’s just an idea. It would be a good way to gauge how bigger crowds react to him. Would they like him? Shit, would they even know who he is? It sure seemed like it would work for Keith Lee… until the “Vince McMahon Effect” kicked in.
What say you, ReaderLand? First of all, what are your thoughts on Bron Breakker? Do you think he has a bright future, or do you not understand the hype just yet? Also, what are your thoughts on Vince McMahon when it comes to the decisions he makes with call-ups? As always, hit me up in the comments section below or on Twitter (@HustleTheSavage), and let me know what’s on your mind.
Weekly Power Rankings
- Men’s War Games Match: It was a mess, as all War Games matches tend to be, but it worked. Everyone involved looked good in spots. The right team won, and as an added bonus, it sets up a future NXT Title match, with the current champion being pinned to end the match.
- Imperium vs Kyle O’Reilly & Von Wagner: Pretty amazing what can happen when you actually let wrestlers do what they’re good at, huh? Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel have wrestled a bunch for the NXT brand, but rarely… if ever… have they been allowed to wrestle the way they did in this match. They looked incredible out there. Let them do THAT more.
- Sammy Guevara vs Tony Nese: This was probably one of the best matches in Rampage history, if we’re being honest. Sammy is putting together an impressive reign as the TNT Champion with entertaining match after entertaining match. Tony Nese, on the other hand, is able to show a lot more than he was ever able to show in WWE.
- Johnny Gargano’s Promo: Very well done. It was emotional, and it sure sounded like a farewell to the NXT Universe, but it was done in a way that didn’t quite close the door on Johnny Wrestling sticking around, or at least returning sooner than later. Then, there’s Grayson Waller. If done right (big if, I know)… that was a star-making performance. The crowd was so connected to Gargano and what he was saying, and for Waller to come out and ruin the entire thing? He can be “made” as a heel because of that. Waller gets a ton of heat, even if Gargano comes back and gets his revenge. What would get Waller even more heat, though, is if that really was Johnny Gargano’s final appearance in NXT. We’ll have to see what happens, I guess.
- Becky Lynch vs Liv Morgan: I don’t know many people who expected Liv Morgan to win the Raw Women’s Title here, but the match was still really good. Liv continues to get better and better, and the finish here allows for a rematch at some point. If the WWE Universe continues to support her, Liv Morgan could have a major year in 2022.
- CM Punk vs Lee Moriarty: A lot of the time, it just seems like Punk’s AEW opponents are chosen out of a random generator. He continues to bring good matches out of everyone, though, and they’re all given plenty of offense to shine. Moriarty is someone who could be a big star for AEW in the future. It’s important to keep him looking strong, even in losses.
- Big E vs Kevin Owens: All of the rumors have Kevin Owens leaving WWE when his contract expires at the end of January. If that’s true, you certainly can’t accuse Owens of phoning his performances in as he gets closer to his departure. This was another really good match in a long line of them for both men involved, and it further sets up the WWE Title match at the upcoming Day 1 event on New Year’s Day.
- Penta El Zero Miedo & Pac vs FTR: Whenever FTR wrestles opponents like Penta, Pac, Rey Fenix and people of that nature, it always blows my mind. Their in-ring styles simply cannot get any more different, but the matches are always good. This was no different.
- Ruby Soho vs Kris Statlander: While I wish Statlander was a little more “important” in AEW, I’m not going to complain about the result here. Ruby Soho looks, and feels, like a star.
- Brock Lesnar & Sami Zayn’s Promo: Because Brock spent so much time having Paul Heyman do all the talking for him, people tend to forget that he’s a good “talker” when he gets the chance to be one. He was a lot of fun in the show-opening segment on Smackdown. Sami Zayn is Sami Zayn. He’s always on point, and they were able to play off of each other very well.
This Week’s Playlist: “Present” by Khalid… “Backseat” by Khalid… “Retrograde” by Khalid, 6LACK & Lucky Daye… “Brand New” by Khalid & QUIN… “All I Feel Is Rain” by Khalid & JID… “Open” by Khalid & Majid Jordan… “Scenic Drive” by Khalid, Ari Lennox & Smino… “Sinister” by Cordae & Lil Wayne… “Who Gives A Fuck Where You From” by Three 6 Mafia, Lil Wyte & Frayser Boy… “The Boss” by James Brown… “The Payback” by James Brown… “I Wanna Get Next To You” by Rose Royce… “Mary Jane” by Rick James… “As Long As I’ve Got You” by The Charmels… “Freddie’s Dead” by Curtis Mayfield… “If You Think You’re Lonely Now” by Bobby Womack… “For The Love Of You, Parts 1 & 2” by The Isley Brothers… “I’d Rather Be With You” by Bootsy Collins… “Together” by K-Young… “You” by Jesse Powell