{"id":105617,"date":"2021-12-09T16:00:46","date_gmt":"2021-12-09T21:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=105617"},"modified":"2021-12-09T13:21:51","modified_gmt":"2021-12-09T18:21:51","slug":"nxt-changing-landscape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2021\/12\/09\/nxt-changing-landscape\/","title":{"rendered":"NXT\u2019s Changing Landscape"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>December 5\u2019s <em>NXT War Games <\/em>touted a <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2021\/11\/30\/nxt-wargames-the-direction-of-new-vs-old-generation-is-genius\/\" target=\"_self\">definitive face-off<\/a> between \u2018Black and Gold NXT\u2019 and \u2018NXT 2.0\u2019. The first pay-per-view to air since NXT\u2019s rebranding, it unfolded under a cloud of speculation about the contract statuses of popular \u2018Black and Gold\u2019 era performers <strong>Johnny Gargano <\/strong>and <strong>Kyle O\u2019Reilly.<\/strong> With both stars\u2019 contracts expiring in mere days, the rumor mill has been galloping apace that both will soon decamp to <em>World Wrestling Entertainment\u2019s <\/em>rival, <em>All Elite Wrestling.<\/em> While only time will tell on that score, December 7\u2019s <em>NXT 2.0<\/em> engendered more questions than it gave answers about what direction the new incarnation of NXT is striving for.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Johnny Gargano:<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Only in the environment of what NXT became at its most critically acclaimed heights could a talent like <strong>Johnny Gargano<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2019\/08\/11\/johnny-gargano-era\/\" target=\"_self\">rise to the prominence<\/a> he did on the \u2018Black and Gold\u2019 brand. His unconventionally small physique was not an obstacle in NXT as it would have been elsewhere in WWE. Gargano became NXT\u2019s first Triple Crown champion, and his comedic timing in backstage skits was a ubiquitous part of the brand, as well. As the aesthetic of NXT 2.0 changes, the 34 year old, comparatively diminutive Gargano stands out amongst younger, mesomorphic new talent like <strong>Von Wagner<\/strong> and <strong>Bron Breakker.<\/strong> At WarGames, he looked visibly dejected in a backstage segment alongside \u2018Team Black and Gold\u2019 teammates <strong>L.A. Knight, Tomasso Ciampa, <\/strong>and <strong>Pete Dunne, <\/strong>and gave the Capitol Wrestling Center crowd an emotional, off-the-cuff address after the pay per view stopped broadcasting, footage of which leaked on Twitter.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Johnny Gargano addresses the NXT Universe: WWE NXT, Dec. 7, 2021\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vnHDZTsIHkQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>December 7\u2019s NXT 2.0 eked considerable suspense out of the promise of an update on his future from Gargano himself. When the moment came, one would have to have a heart of stone not to have been moved by his words to NXT\u2019s fans, thanking them for their support literally from the very first, since his try-out facing off against <strong>Apollo Crews. <\/strong>\u00a0He thanked NXT\u2019s cast and crew, as well, and expressed infectious enthusiasm at the impending birth of his and wife <strong>Candice Le Rae\u2019s <\/strong>first child.<\/p>\n<p>Then, <strong>Grayson Waller <\/strong>struck, savagely attacking Gargano, interrupting what appeared to be a farewell address. Its unclear just what the purpose of the plot twist was. Is Gargano remaining with NXT after all, and this was an \u2018injury angle\u2019 that will provide him time off for parental leave? Is Gargano, then, to return? If this was a true sendoff, it was a curious one. In this narrative Waller could only be despised, after having ruined Gargano\u2019s goodbye. This plot twist will do little to put a new talent like Waller over, being met as it was by the crowd with a profane chant of disapproval.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Kyle O\u2019Reilly:<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>O\u2019Reilly\u2019s narrative is also a blend of real-life speculation about his contract status and ambiguous storytelling. His partnership with NXT 2.0 newbie Wagner began on 2.0\u2019s September premiere. They are a stark contrast to each other, the fresh talent beside the battle-tested O\u2019Reilly, a veteran of <em>Ring of Honor, New Japan Pro Wrestling, <\/em>and <em>Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. <\/em>In WarGames\u2019s closing minutes, Wagner turned on O\u2019Reilly after they lost to <strong>Imperium. <\/strong>Their steel cage match on December 7\u2019s broadcast was mostly a dominant showing of O\u2019Reilly\u2019s considerable technical skill, powered by vehement shouts of \u201cLet\u2019s go, Kyle!\u201d from the crowd. The audience was just as vocal and ready with their assessment of the match\u2019s end, a victory from newly minted heel Wagner: a chorus of boos.<\/p>\n<p>Once again, in another ongoing narrative, the 2.0 player, whom WWE presumably wants the audience to invest in, was the villain of the piece. Once again, the \u201cBlack and Gold\u201d star was painted in their best light, the sympathetic figure. Why paint outgoing talent in such boldly Apollonian strokes, and sew hate from the crowd towards talent that is ostensibly being \u201cput over\u201d? Are O\u2019Reilly and Gargano \u00a0departing NXT, or not? Has a compromise in tone been struck, where NXT\u2019s most popular, veteran performers remain its highly visible babyfaces, while newer talent are their antagonists?<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Kyle O\u2019Reilly vs. Von Wagner \u2013 Steel Cage Match: WWE NXT, Dec. 7, 2021\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Bm_dbPg_itg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>This has been the model followed with Breakker and NXT champion Ciampa, and its been effective. Breakker\u2019s aura of barely contained savagery and brutish charisma are palpable, as are the tensions of his ambition whenever he and Ciampa share space. He is chomping at the bit to ascend, and its imminent that he will be NXT champion: the only suspense lies in \u2018when\u2019. Only time will tell if WWE miscast Gargano\u2019s and O\u2019Reilly\u2019s final days on NXT, or if they are beginning new narratives between Gargano and Waller and O\u2019Reilly and Wagner, respectively, as part of 2.0\u2019s continually changing landscape.<\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p><em>Stay tuned to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/\" target=\"_self\">Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/a>\u00a0for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. You can check out an almost unlimited array of WWE content on the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/watch.wwe.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">WWE Network<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.peacocktv.com\/watch\/home\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Peacock<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-1\">\n<div id=\"rc-widget-6e0e4e\" data-rc-widget=\"\" data-widget-host=\"habitat\" data-endpoint=\"\/\/trends.revcontent.com\" data-widget-id=\"175604\">\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>December 5\u2019s NXT War Games touted a definitive face-off between \u2018Black and Gold NXT\u2019 and \u2018NXT 2.0\u2019. The first pay-per-view to air since NXT\u2019s rebranding, it unfolded under a cloud of speculation about the contract statuses of popular \u2018Black and Gold\u2019 era performers Johnny Gargano and Kyle O\u2019Reilly. With both stars\u2019 contracts expiring in mere [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3715,"featured_media":105551,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,3],"tags":[509,7038,8146,68,343,7928,536,529,7991],"class_list":["post-105617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nxt","category-wwe-universe","tag-apollo-crews","tag-candice-le-rae","tag-grayson-waller","tag-johnny-gargano","tag-kyle-oreilly","tag-l-a-knight","tag-pete-dunne","tag-tomasso-ciampa","tag-von-wagner"],"modified_by":"Alex Richards, LWOF Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3715"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105617\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}