Pro-wrestling star Chris Hero (fka Kassius Ohno in WWE) recently spoke to Conrad Thompson on the first edition of his “Can Chris Hero Save Wrestling” show to talk about his experiences in NXT, and how the yellow-and-black brand going live weekly on USA was actually a negative, as it lost focus on what it was originally trying to achieve. Hear what he had to say on the subject below.
Says NXT going live weekly muddied up their goals for what the brand was supposed to be:
Once they went live week-to-week, they started losing focus of what they wanted from the talent. The initial purpose of NXT was to have a television show to get talent ready for the main roster. They ended up with the lucrative deal with Full Sail and capitalized with the niche fan instead of the casual fan. The success of [NXT], muddies the water with the Performance Center. Are they trying to learn to wrestle so they can be WWE superstars or be for NXT? People say they are the same, they absolutely aren’t the same. They are run by different people who want different things. One of the reasons those with an Independent wrestling background are so successful is because they can adapt to that. When all you know is what you’ve been taught in the Performance Center, it’s hard to throw someone a curveball and it’s difficult for them to make certain adjustments.
How talent needs to adjust based on who they are aiming to please:
What it boils down to is what the boss wants. If he loves it, then you’re doing a good job. They have so many bodies in the Performance Center and so many classes. When you start, it is of the utmost importance to figure out who you’re trying to please and what you’re trying to do. You need to pick a peer whose opinion you trust. You have a coach, a head coach, and Triple H. When you have all these coaches and you move to a different class, you have to learn quick what he or she wants because it may be different. It gets overwhelming for the new talent.
(H/T and transcribed by Fightful
)