This one should be no different with a main event of NXT champion Adrian Neville defending his title against Sami Zayn with the added stipulation that Zayn will leave the group if he loses. The two have been intertwined in storylines for many months now with Zayn hoping to finally win the big one — and the championship — from his friend Neville.
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As has become accustomed, Triple H (Paul Levesque) — who is the Executive Vice President of Talent, Live Events, Creative in WWE — held a media conference call in advance of the special to talk about the show and the NXT brand. One of the topics that came up is when Neville and Zayn will be brought up to the WWE roster and Triple H admitted that he hopes it happens within the next six months.
Both of them had quite the resume before signing with the WWE. Zayn has been wrestling now for 12 years, most notable with Ring of Honor, while Neville is in his tenth year as a pro with both having literally traveled the word. Fans have been clamoring for both to advance to the main roster for quite some time but it just hasn’t happened yet. Triple H went on to explain the process that goes into who and when someone makes it out of NXT to the WWE.
And that really just depends on … it’s a lot of a timing issue. It depends on the time when there is a need and when they’re brought in. My hope is the same as yours, in six months from now, we have this call and maybe neither one of them are here. But I think that sooner or later you’re definitely going to see them making the move.
Both of them are obviously ready from a talent standpoint and have adapted to the WWE style after working in NXT for a few years. But if the WWE doesn’t have something good for them creatviely, it would just be a waste to throw them on the WWE roster.
You’re going to be here for a while because you have to learn how to do this and then once you learn how to do it, then you have to go out and do it live in front of crowds and pick that part up. For guys coming in here with a massive amount of experience — Finn Balor, Kevin Owens — those guys are at a different level. Now it’s adapting culturally, if you want to say it that way, to the WWE style. It’s different playbooks and we run a playbook a certain way and that’s what we need them to adapt to. But as they do, they become ready to go much faster and then it’s about the spot opening up.
The bar was set a few years ago when The Shield — Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose — were brought up and given a great spot. So if both of them aren’t put in a good position right off the bat where they can make an impact, either could fall flat which would be of no good for the talent or the WWE.
Brian Fritz has previously covered pro wrestling and MMA for AOL FanHouse and The Orlando Sentinel. You can find more of his work including podcasts at www.BetweenTheRopes.com E-mail him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @BrianFritz.
