Quote:
Originally Posted by RainMaker
They did have a massive roster at one point. Still, some of those names I don't get.
Keith Lee seems hard to miss on. I know he's not great on the mic but a big guy who can move like that?
Kross isn't great in the ring but I thought his act with Scarlett in old NXT was pretty good.
New NXT is pretty bad. Only thing going for it is Ciampa and Steiners' kid who has the worst ring name I can remember.
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Let's start with a caveat: today's followup reports that suggest that vax status was involved in many of yesterday's release decision might (or might not) affect how the moves are assessed
Beyond that, Lee is an odd case I think. I've previously compared him to (of all things) Viking Raiders aka War Machine. Different level obviously but similar to me in this respect: capable of unexpected physical feats but once you've seen that and there's no surprise factor then it's less shiny. I've seen Lee have some good matches, but most of those were in Evolve 4 years ago. His highest rated work, starwise, seems to have been in PWG just before that. And many of the opponents in those matches ended up in NXT but only Riddle has made a successful transition to the main roster IIRC (I might be overlooking somebody)
In short, Lee works best in particular types of matches and against particular types of opponents, and that's not really what the WWE does on their main roster. Whether that's good or bad isn't relevant here, the fact that they simply ... don't ... is what matters when considering the cuts they make.
Plus, he turns 37 next week, and the physical changes from early 30s to late 30s aren't always kind.
And with the rebranding of NXT, I'm not sure many late 30s and beyond guys are going to be around much longer for anything other than to put people over. My description of it elsewhere yesterday was that they're going to be gatekeepers mostly and several past/present/future releases haven't been with the company long enough to really be established for that role.
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Kross feels like an even rarer case to me: someone whose valet somehow adds rather than distracts/detracts. I don't know that I can even explain why I feel that way, but that's pretty much always been my take on that pairing. For whatever reason, they chose to separate them, and that was pretty much it for Kross. Again, 36 years old, again not in the company long enough to play gatekeeper.
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I go back to something I said in my discussion with the kid last night: they may not be
right in their decision making process but I'm getting the feeling I at least understand what logic -- however flawed -- they're using.