There really hasn't been much news about the changeover from ECW to WWE NXT lately. They debuted the logo and dropped the news that all ECW superstars are free agents come the closing of the third brand. Other than that, nothing official has really come out from the Stamford camp. However, a lot of leaks and rumbings have come out giving possible inklings as to what is going to happen on this new show. Basically, if you like UFC's The Ultimate Fighter program, you might like this.For those who don't know, TUF follows fighters around behind the scenes leading up to their first fight. It's like the Real World only with MMA fighters. The WWE has forayed into that reality television arena before with Tough Enough. A lot of the opinions I've seen about this seem to fear doom or are at least in the groaning stage. My jerk reaction was similar; I mean, I'm sick of seeing reality TV dominate the landscape, but oddly enough, if NXT is what I they're saying it'll be, then it could be something interesting.
Reality television as it is right now, following the "cast members" around all day... is it that any much different than what we see in the backstage segments on any given wrestling show? No, and it's far less insulting to our intelligence because the reality show cast members know they're being taped and act as such. If anything, on NXT, they can drop all pretenses. They can go full on with the backstage stuff and even build angles in the ring off it. While a feud being built off spilled coffee on RAW has always been joke fodder, but in a faux-reality show setting (faux because let's face it, they're not going to stop with the work-aspect of it nor should they), stuff like that, spilled coffee, fights over women, even stuff as petty as maybe using someone else's toothbrush, can be used as fodder for a mini-blowoff wrestling match, especially if the show is not shot live and is in a setting where the wrestlers live in the same house or complex.
What they can't do though is heavily script everything. What makes reality television watcahble for the people who like it is that it's at least partially organic, that they're watching people act normally. Working scenarios that lead to heat and thus matches is fine, but they have to come off as if the guys are doing it naturally. It would be embarrassing to have guys in "reality" situations tripping over lines, even moreso than when they're in the ring. I mean, you'd expect a guy cutting a promo to have memorized what he was going to say, but if the crux of this show is going to be based backstage, watching the wrestlers as they go through "real life" situations, then overt scripting of the material will just expose the business even further, especially if everyone in that situation isn't a natural actor.
However, I feel like if it works, it'll work in a big way. Even though reality TV produces stars that end up being famous for 15 minutes tops, there's no denying that they're among the biggest, most obsessed-about celebrities when they're on top. The WWE has the advantage in that they can take their big reality stars and put them in an even bigger position to succeed in their regular programming. Sure, they may not retain a lot of their mainstream or crossover celebrity, but they could come out as big stars within the company, becoming moneymakers for the WWE in a time when building draws is being done so ham-handedly by them, and the program itself if it's executed correctly might bring in new or return viewers, which would help grow the audience, something that the WWE may not need but could absolutely use.
So yeah, I'm not totally all doom and gloom about this WWE NXT with the rumblings coming out about it. It could be a really cool thing, and it might be the best way for a guy like Bryan Danielson to get over without having to change a whole lot about him, for example.
And it certainly sounds a lot more promising than the "conspiratorial angles" that were first floated out there as a base for the show.
