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NXT – From the Beginning
Alright, so I’ve been sitting this idea for a while and am finally going through with it. Here’s my backstory: when the WWF implemented the brand extension in 2002, they did it to try to give both shows their own unique feel and also to allow their large roster to be spread out in such a way so that everybody got airtime. They were also sitting on what was viewed as one of the deepest rosters in development ever, and Brock Lesnar had just debuted on Raw a few weeks prior and was clearly going to be a big deal straight away.
With Tough Enough being a big success in 2001, MTV awarded the WWF a Wednesday night TV show to give them a platform to show off some of these developmental talents. The rookies would be paired off with pros and compete against their fellow rookies and the pros themselves. Throughout the competition, the pros will vote off rookies and whoever is left standing at the end will earn a WWF contract.
Anyway, some ground rules for the purposes of EWR: I used Arsenic to get all of the rookies to an overness rating of an even 50, which most of them were hovering around anyway. This just makes it easier to track the rookies’ overness as the competition goes on. Officially the game is set on an early evening timeslot, which gives me 8 segments with a minimum of 3 matches. Most likely I’ll be going with 7 segments and 3 matches just because realistically I wouldn’t want to rush everything on a 1 hour show. I may have more matches as the competition rolls on. There isn’t a timetable yet on how long the season will last but I imagine it’d go around 4 months at least as again I don’t want to rush things.
As far as who is going to be in the show: anybody who debuted on the main roster from the start of April 2002 through the end of the year is eligible, as is anybody who might have been in developmental at the time but never got a call up at any point. Anybody in developmental who subsequently was called up to the main roster during a later year is NOT eligible, as I may do a season in 2003, 2004, etc. if this takes off and I enjoy it.
The pros will have different rules. Anybody on the active main roster as of the first week of the brand extension is eligible to be used as pros. If selected, they’ll remain for the entire season even if they got fired, quit, or were injured in real life. I’m just doing this because, as you’ll see, a big chunk of my pros cast won’t be around by 2003 so this is my only chance to use them.
I've basically figured out my first show, which will feature a few matches and a decent-sized write up on the rookie/pro pairings. Just gotta actually get around to finish writing it and booking the show in EWR. Hoping to get it posted at some point Monday evening while I'm inevitably bored watching Raw.
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