NXT Continuing to Go Indie As F, Will Play a Music Show

Imagine this with Suicidal Tendencies playing "Send Me Your  Money" in the background. MONEY.
Photo Credit: WWE.com

The next NXT tour date has been announced, and in the vein of the Chikara Road to Ruin Festival appearance, Anarchy Championship Wrestling and Inspire Pro Wrestling camping out at the Fun Fun Fun Fest, and the Jersey Championship Wrestling action at a concert a couple of weeks ago, it will happen at a music festival. The Aftershock Music Festival is a two-day event taking place October 24 and 25 in Sacramento, CA, and NXT will have matches on both days. Talent has already been listed, and it reflects the current roster. Among the names are Finn Bálor, Sasha Banks, Charlotte, Bayley, the Dubstep Cowboys, and Baron Corbin. Notable by his absence is Kevin Owens, whom I'm guessing WWE is planning on moving fully to the main roster by then. At this point, who knows.

Of course, a music festival wouldn't be a music festival without bands, and hoo boy, if you love '90s and '00s arena rock, you'll love this lineup. Day one features Slipknot, Shinedown, Marilyn Manson, Seether, Clutch, Breaking Benjamin, Sevendust, Pop Evil, POD (POD? WAHAHAHA), and Helmet among others. Man, if you loved wearing baggy cargo pants and dreading your hair despite your whiteness, you're gonna love that lineup.

The second day improves drastically with the addition of former NXT theme song performers Coheed and Cambria, the triumphantly reunited Faith No More, Jane's Addiction, the Deftones, Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age) side project Eagles of Death Metal, All Time Low, Death from Above 1979, punk icons Suicidal Tendencies, Failure, and the apostate lineup of Stone Temple Pilots featuring Chester Bennington on lead vocals instead of Scott Weiland. For those who don't know, Weiland and the rest of the band are engaged in the musical equivalent of a divorce. The Linkin Park lead singer is the equivalent of the way-too-young paramour for the one divorcing party. But that's just my bitterness speaking.

Anyway, wrestling and rock music go together like lamb and tuna fish, which is a great reason why the indies have flocked to joining up with festivals like these. WWE has now adopted this part of the ethos for its boutique independent-style brand, which either is tremendous marketing or an insidious ploy to further disrupt the grounding of other indie promotions who tack onto music festivals. Depending on who you are is how you feel about this strategy. However, for the common fan, it's a win. You head over to the ring area and watch some great rasslin, then wander over to the stage to see Faith No More perform a bunch of songs that aren't "Epic" and also probably "Epic" too, because who the fuck do you think they are, Radiohead? You can't go wrong.