A Look Back At NXT Black & Gold (2012-2021)

Happy birthday three letters which were the heartbeat of many wrestling fans a brand which defined a generation with some of the best stories matches and moments in recent WWE history a brand that reignited a love of professional wrestling for many NXT was the lifeblood for so many professional wrestling fans in North America it had humble beginnings as a developmental but the Brand quickly trended upwards and it never looked back see NXT focused on the introduction of new talent and telling simple Stories the brand had a focus on giving the fans the matches that they wanted

to see this was for the hardcore viewer who wanted to see what was up and coming who knew about wrestling outside of the WWE and slowly NXT became the ultimate collection of Outsider Talent on the main roster you'd get a ton of shenanigans and it would leave fans Oftentimes really frustrated and quite disengaged on the outcomes but NXT focused on the second W in the WWE and that was wrestling their stories were presented with the fat cut off and with a defined start and end point and that end point was usually at NXT takeover these

were some of the most fun wrestling shows on the planet with electric crowds jaw-dropping matches and debuts aplenty from 2012 to 2021 NXT was known as the black and gold brand it Spent most of its time on the WWE Network as a one hour show it was easy to digest and it became a close Community the booking decisions made sense they didn't try to wow you with something the right decision often times it was made the stories were good and they were able to build from within it gained a cult following and slowly started to

make more and more noise around the world soon it turned into a super Indie and the wrestling promotion In North America not just for fans but as the landing spot for top names as well people who were well traveled stars from TNA's Glory Days and even people from overseas NXT became the spot to sign Triple H's Vision was received well by many and the brand became something Unforgettable undeniable and unbeatable it's hard to believe that a developmental farm system turned into something so big that it went from Orlando to London to Japan to Toronto NXT

simply took over it felt like a love letter to professional wrestling a passion project in which the writers strived for excellence with the viewer in mind and the motive wasn't profit it was creating something that wrestling fans could always rely on something that rewarded you for being a fan and something that you could call your own they built a roster filled with fan favorites they developed a catalog of matches and had a rise that will forever Stand the test of time let's go back and take a look at the nine years of NXT black and

gold foreign XT originally began as a game show in 2010 in which Talent would compete in ridiculous challenges and it was a device to determine who would get a WWE contract through an elimination-based format even though most of the wrestlers were already contracted under Florida championship wrestling after a few Iterations and moderate success the NXT brand was rebranded into WWE developmental FCW was no more but the crew and wrestlers moved over WWE decided to go from this dingy old Warehouse to Full Sail University the place that would become the canvas for what NXT was about

to paint over the next near decade the production value was increased the show was now altered to give competitors more exposure many talents went back to the drawing board And rejuvenated themselves from their presentations to their characters and then on June 20th 2012 the first episode of this new NXT aired it was called the gateway to the Future and the future according to the WWE was now almost all the FCW talents made their way to this new brand it had its own distinct look with a big bold black and yellow logo the arena only fit

400 which gave it a community feeling as many people would see each other during tapings and become Good friends Dusty Rhodes was the on-screen general manager as well as a mentor to Talent behind the scenes he was the guy who helped make these Stars the best version of themselves he truly helped them establish the why why were they in pro wrestling and when Dusty worked with these people it came to the Forefront on TV and of course they had their own cast of characters the push early on was to Showcase young Talent with distinct looks

guys like Bo Dallas The Ascension Bray Wyatt Leo Krueger Paige Mike Dalton Biggie Langston and Seth Rollins the same Seth Rollins who had become the first ever NXT champion in August of 2012 the Gold Rush tournament was announced this was an eight-man single elimination tournament to Crown nxt's first ever Champion Seth Rollins etched his name in history and he as well as the brand never looked back were the real gem times in WWE's developmental system was Rollins so it Only made sense for him to be the first you saw a woman get more TV time

and be treated as an important factor of the show they weren't relegated to two-minute matches they could build their characters and have Original Stories which lasted multiple weeks with reasonable payoffs the first true woman star for NXT was Paige her character was the anti-diva rebelling against all the Norms of the typical WWE Divas wrestler you'd see on raw or Smackdown a year After nxt's relaunched the NXT Women's Championship was announced and this one was also contested for in a tournament Paige ended up being the winner NXT at this time only had singles titles until Shawn

Michaels introduced the brand new NXT Tag Team Championships tag team wrestling would become a staple of NXT a wide variety of teams went through there and the matches and storylines were sometimes better than what was happening in the main event the team of Oliver Gray and Neville became the first ever NXT Tag Team Champions when they beat the Wyatt family Neville would eventually actually win over audiences with his aerial offense following the team splitting and he became one of nxt's most early success stories there wasn't anything too crazy when it came to story lines or

deep rooted feuds early on as someone who rewatched every single episode it was a lot of nothing for the most part but we're still early On we started to see graduates of NXT succeed on the main roster almost immediately the first success story was the shield they pulled double duty alternating between shows following their debut in late 2012. in 2012 and 2013 there was a huge connection to the main roster talents would come down to work with the Next Generation the show would see the Intercontinental and U.S Championship defended on it people like Randy Orton

Cesaro CM Punk AJ Lee among Others rocked up and it really gave the brands some more buzz and credibility very much so this whole operation was still a developmental in July of 2013 Charlotte debuted in NXT alongside Ric Flair it's almost fitting that her first opponent on weekly TV was bayley because of what they'd eventually morph into these were two fourths of the group that would go on to be known as the four horse woman you're always told that these four are really important but Never the why and the Y is actually pretty simple basically

in a smaller scale they were what the smackdown 6 were to SmackDown they were the ones who everything went through one way or another everything revolved around these four tag team rivalries one-on-one rivalries Championship matches betrayals you name it it was up to these four the first person who debuted out of these four was Sasha and it took her about a year to really differentiate herself but Once she found her stride she wrote a wave of momentum and she never looked back Bailey was a shy fan girl who slowly gained confidence and won over the

fans Becky Lynch came later on and had a generic Irish gimmick which she'd come out doing an Irish jig thankfully it only lasted a few weeks but she was the last one to make her debut compared to the other three but through the creative team's writing they were able to get her on par with the rest of them Becky inch Sasha Banks Charlotte and Bailey were instrumental to the rise of NXT and the re-rise of women's wrestling yes I said re-rise because despite what WWE might tell you there was an amazing women's division before these

four they just killed it off themselves and they don't want to admit it with them there were also other women's competitors important to nxt's early years like summer ray Emma Audrey Marie who very few of you know the big development by The end of 2013 was the Women's Division and the tag team division but also in 2013 came nxt's first Big Star and I'm not talking Rollins I'm not talking Big E both Dallas or even Paige this is the man who helped the brand take off and I think a lot of people have forgotten just

how much he contributed to the online craze of NXT nxt's first sentimental star that bled black and yellow that man is Sami Zayn in January of 2013 he signed with the company he Came in with a global resume as El Generico he alongside Cesaro sent shock waves online with their matches and the whole Underdog Story of Sami Zayn honestly is a video of its own but they played the long game with him and it worked Cesaro and Sami had a two out of three Falls match which was fantastic they got people talking about their chemistry

and how this amazing match was taking place on a developmental show as we now know the two out of three Falls Match would become the NXT special in years to come when he got his crowning moment it felt like the whole world was behind Sammy they told this deep-rooted story of Sammy where he'd face his personal demons his friends and most importantly himself he overcame all he got his moment and then at that exact moment his best friend stabbed him in the back on his biggest date that was actually in 2014 and 2014 is where

I'd say NXT had their breakout year see 2012 And 2013 were instrumental in terms of building introduction to different faces bringing in titles slowly fleshing everything out but 2014 approved that NXT was a different animal and that they were here to stay William Regal became the new on-screen general manager he'd wrestled he'd been a pro he'd compensated he'd done everything for the brand and now he was the authority figure William Regal became synonymous with the NXT brand and playing maybe the Most perfect and unbiased authority figure in company history we all remember the classic Regal

announcement it felt like every time he had something to say he'd announced some big match Championship or signing and signings are exactly what we gotta talk about in the summer of 2014 WWE signed Japanese Superstar Canta to an NXT contract the brand was now looking to build their roster and add depth to it his first storyline was against the now titleless Ascension they had their 343 day tag team Title reign ended by the Lucha dragons and that record still holds up as the longest NXT Tag Team Title reign he was getting dominated two on one

so he said he was gonna bring out a tag team partner and this partner wasn't just anyone this was one of the biggest wrestling superstars on the planet fergal Devitt the man we know today is Finn Balor was in NXT Sammy can be attributed as nxt's first big Sentimental star but the signing of Finn Balor was a look at things to come he quickly rose up the ranks and became a fan favorite also the signing of Kevin Steen which made an immediate impact they were big game hunting on free agents and it was working for

them as one chapter closed for this brand and 2014 Drew to a close their biggest and most prominent chapter begun NXT started touring they started doing smaller scale shows in Cleveland in Columbus in San Jose and the turnout for their shows were something that you wouldn't expect at various festivals and conventions leaving Orlando was a really good decision for NXT in June of 2015 Dusty Rhodes unfortunately passed away the man who was a mentor and integral in the building of the brand was now gone they memorialized his passing with an annual tag team tournament called

The Dusty Rhodes tag team classic on a more positive note in online circles and Among WWE fans WWE NXT had picked up big time credibility it was one hour on the WWE Network which launched a year previous the stories were simple and easy to follow without the Clutter attached to them the characters were different to what you would see on Ron's Smackdown and in this Vince McMahon industry where he for sure had a particular type and way of looking at things NXT just let people be people NXT looked to the Indies they look to other

Companies even overseas they wanted to diversify their roster on September 16 2015 a vignette aired of this woman with colored hair in a mask come to find out that her name was Oscar Kano was now in the WWE NXT was legitimately the place to be another year another step forward that was a step forward 2016 became an astronomical leap William Regal announced that our brand new Talent would be making their debut in late February of 2016 and the person NXT had Signed was Austin Aries WWE was replenishing Talent right as they left and this is

kind of where a problem began that instead of building for the main roster they started to build for NXT on the flip side Sammy had injured his shoulder against John Cena when he went up for a one-off match on raw and he was back looking for the NXT title now held by Finn Balor I kid you not there was an NXT episode where Sami Zayn and Samoa Joe fought for almost the Entire episode at the end of it Joe became the number one Contender so the question was what was next for Sammy the next week

Regal announced that at takeover Dallas a night before Wrestlemania 32 he was gonna face nxt's newest signing not Austin Aries but shinsuke Nakamura one of New Japan Pro wrestling's most awe-inspiring and charismatic Stars the match at takeover Dallas you can call it a lot of things exhilarating perfect jaw-dropping Legendary but you could call it as the moment where NXT had truly stamped their arrival stars like Samoa Joe Finn Balor Nakamura the newly signed Bobby Roode Oscar and the iconic rivalry of DIY and the Revival continue to bring the NXT name forward they continue to add

big names from varying backgrounds as well as their own success stories from the performance center like Velveteen and Bianca in March of 2017 a vignette ran of candles and darkness and the question Was who is this gonna be it could have been Triple H himself because this man is obsessed with this type of stuff but this man's name ended up being Alistair black WWE had signed Tommy and from the Indies and here's where the pace of the signings picked up and they decided to sign everyone Under the Sun on June 28 2017 Moro Ronaldo was

added to the commentary team nahid for many become the iconic voice of NXT with pop culture one-liners and over-the-top commentary Presents his voice simply became iconic for the black and gold brand we started to see a ton of UK Talent incorporated into nxt's weekly shows names like Tyler babe done Trent seven nxt's cleanup of the independent scene was in full effect they were building a roster for the ages they became the ultimate Indie themselves if pwg roh and New Japan had a baby it would probably be NXT we also had the return of Drew McIntyre

who had some huge expectations on his shoulders The first time around he left rebuilt himself and now he was on his Redemption tour he did that he beat Bobby Roode to become the new NXT champion and following that Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby fish appeared on the ring apron another well-known team by the name of red dragon and at that same moment from the crowd emerged Adam Cole Adam Cole was a huge name on The Independent Circ and WWE signing him was literally them signing their poster boy Moro Ronaldo Said it was a seismic shift in

the NXT landscape and it was just that the formation of the Undisputed era there's just something about the group which became synonymous with NXT it's feeling that that was the group whose main colors were blacking yellow and they Define this brand at their Peak they became Staples of that show they also became the reason why War Games was revived and brought back to the WWE in the coming years of 2018 19 and 20 NXT Would see its biggest growth period as the buzz became Paramount the roster became stacked and the intricacies of stories grew larger

and larger NXT was no longer this little project out of Full Sail it had grown they were running venues just as big as the WWE with more engaged crowds better matches and signings Galore fans became elated with the product and it was almost satisfying to know that whatever might be happening elsewhere NXT was always reliable NXT Always had your back people were excited of this next generation for the WWE and the fantasy bookings I remember them they were off the chain the brand grew in roster size in Championship size and in popularity people were waving

the NXT flag high and many people were proud to follow the w bwe again and that's no exaggeration the height NXT had reached by the time takeover New Orleans came was astronomical they were through the roof they had Talent they had the Matches they had the stories they were the quintessential wrestling products so astronomical that by 2019 what was once a developmental made its way to National Television they had a rich roster of talent Gods like Finn Balor Johnny Gargano tommaso Champa Cole shirai Ripley the list goes on NXT was not your kind and it

was taking the industry by storm but you may have noticed that I've glossed over one very important thing foreign 15 2014 episode of NXT Triple H made a huge announcement that would change the brand he announced the first ever NXT special it wasn't a takeover that came later on this was called NXT Arrival the WWE Network had launched on February 24th and the big selling point was all the exclusive WWE contacts one of those was a glimpse into the future with NXT this was going to be the first live special in the Network's existence NXT

Arrival began with Cesaro and Sami Zayn Before these two even touched the crowd was chanting match of the Year both guys having each other scouted for the fourth time in NXT delivered a thriller of a match too cool rocked up on this show for some reason Paige and Emma had a rematch of their tournament finals and to cap off the Knight Neville and Beau Dallas had nxt's first ever ladder match with Neville becoming the new NXT champion later in the year it was WrestleMania season and for Paige she Went up to the main roster and

beat AJ on her very first night making her both divas and NXT Women's Champion we'd seen a lot of stars go up and succeed by this point Big E Rollins Reigns the Wyatts and so with everyone going up and NXT call-ups literally taking over the main roster a new creation was announced Triple H announced the very first NXT takeover set for May of 2014. we all know that takeovers would eventually become a two maybe three hour show Jam-packed with some of the best in-ring action in North American professional wrestling but it had very humble beginnings

NXT takeover came to us on May 29 2014 from Full Sail University the first ever takeover match was Camacho versus Adam Rose strange but even they didn't know what was about to come Charlotte became the new NXT Women's Champion beating Natalya in the Battle of generations following Paige being stripped of the NXT title the Takeover brand would become unmissable for many fans you knew what you were in for you don't need me to tell you how good they were we'll come back and take a look at takeovers later on in the video but takeover wasn't

just the name of their Network specials they were taking over literally in the eyes of fans in the hearts of many and in the minds of a lot of talent many wrestlers made NXT their Premier landing spot NXT was becoming comparable to that of a Super team everybody wanted to sign there so with all these signings let's meet our cast of characters early on there was a bigger emphasis on characters having a distinguished trait to set them apart As Time grew on this has meant in a nice way the focus became on more simple characters

who were proficient in the ring with some exceptions early on we saw biggie who'd come out with his five count and I can't keep still as his Theme his Charisma and look had fans drooling over what was going to come in his future Beau Dallas was a chicken [ __ ] heel where the crowd would literally turn their back on him and he's just like no it's cause I'm good they love me they're both leaving Paige was the anti-diva The Shield as The Hound of Justice appeared quite a few times on NXT even though they

were on the main roster Roman Reigns was low-key Santos Escobar before Escobar was in the WWE he would come out wearing suits he was rejecting interviews telling everyone that he was gonna do things on his time little did we know he would go on to become the final boss regardless but there's some forgotten ones as well CJ Parker literally had the recycling gimmick before Daniel Bryan did Cassius Ono had some of the most consistent stories on the brand especially in the early days and would later return to the brand at its height he was the

guy who You could throw in with anyone and he'd be just fine there were also people who took a while to find their footing Alexa Bliss Angelo Dawkins the character of The Lone Wolf Baron Corbin that's one that took some time to flesh out and now we get to the big ones Sami Zayn the perfect Underdog he could wrestle he could tell a story with his expressions and he could get everyone behind him without him NXT does not become as popular as it did that man bled those Colors for three years I'm sure many who

have fond memories of NXT probably first think of Finn Balor when the former bullet Club leader arrived he generated a ton of Buzz for NXT but once he introduced NXT fans to the demon Persona he became one of the most popular characters in the WWE full stop doesn't matter Ross Smackdown he was right up there I remember he was on all types of branding he was on posters he was in games people were loving this Persona One side human the other side demon the ability to dig down deep and get what you want Finn was

one of few people to have two runs in NXT and the second time around he didn't have the demon Persona I'd even go to say that it was a better run than the first his matches were better because of what NXT had become his character work was simple and effective as kind of this Old Guard among the new class Bobby Roode a guy who was all class made grand entrances Enjoyed the lavish lifestyle dressing in expensive suits reminiscent of the 80s Horseman shinsuke Nakamura brought the Charisma in Big Field to every Arena he competed in

maybe to this day the biggest signing in NXT history the only man who can oppose him in my opinion is Adam Cole and the Undisputed era four guys who had been friends before they came to the WWE and when they were all put together it was something special they tried so hard to be heels but you Just couldn't hate these guys Adam Cole was that cocky and cheeky leader who'd do anything to win Kyle brought the comedic value and is a fantastic wrestler in his own right Roderick strong was the Iron Man and could go

deep into a match with literally anyone and Bobby fish um you know he was there too no but jokes aside without him it just doesn't feel the same I gotta talk about Adam Cole a little from 2017 to 2021 he was In NXT and his run was something to Marvel at the way Triple H was able to present him and then Cole taking that presentation further was something extremely well done when the move happened to USA and he was Champion he carried that brand from 2019 to 2020 when he held the NXT title he was

probably a top five wrestler on the planet in 2019 this dude wrestled everywhere Raw SmackDown NXT evolved in 2019 also came his big Trilogy against Johnny Gargano underdogs in the w bwe Eddie Ray Brian Jeff for NXT he was that guy undersized and sometimes overlooked every time Johnny went out there he gave you a performance you would remember didn't matter if it was a seven minute match didn't matter if it was a 27 minute match his offense and way of wrestling from behind made him a fan favorite at takeovers Gargano would oftentimes lose but have

the best performance giving him the name of Johnny takeover you knew every time it was a takeover and Gargano went out there that he was gonna do something nuts that it was probably gonna be the match of the night basically what HBK was at WrestleMania the story that really made him though was against the man who we can possibly call the greatest NXT champion of all time and that is tommaso Champa who would have thought in 2015 that this guy on your screen look at him this guy right here Would have one of the most

compelling character arcs in NXT history he turned on Gargano in 2017 and legitimately became one of the most hated people on the roster if there was ever a textbook heal it was Champa he'd come out no music slow walk and people would literally champ [ __ ] you Champa they wanted this man's head on a silver platter after what he did to Gargano became the NXT champion started calling it Goldie did some fantastic character Work but just a few years later he became one of the most loved guys on that roster because of an injury

he had sustained and what he represented he represented the rise of NXT how basically anyone doesn't matter if you're a tag team guy doesn't matter if you're someone from the PC if you put in the work you can become a top star Tyler Breeze is another guy in here who's forgotten and looking back at his run probably should have been NXT champion Or at worst won the North American Title in his second time around his character was all flamboyance can't say flamboyance without The Velveteen dream it really is a sad case but he's maybe the

best pure character in NXT black and gold history at a very young age he had all the ear markings of the next one he had a very quick rise where he won over fans by simply just being different he stood out he made this sexually ambiguous characteristic and I kid you Not people were laughing in the crowd when he made his debut but he was able to make those same people who were laughing at him cheer for him and the man he made it really work with was Aleister black this is a Triple H operation

of course you need that one guy who's all spooky and pissed off at the world and that was Alistair black many had him slotted in as the new mystical dark character in the WWE and then we come to Samoa Joe who was William Regal's biggest nightmare this man beefed everyone he possibly could we already know how insane he was in TNA but when he came to NXT this dude was a menace he could talk he could wrestle and he'd do everything in his power to leave Carnage at the NXT Arena Regal wants me to sign

a contract not I'm gonna set up my own table and make them bring the contract to me Regal won't bring me Nakamura all right I'm just gonna make sure that he has no talent to Put in the matches and Destroy literally everyone making an entrance similar to him was Kevin Owens this psychopath was the most ruthless man you have ever seen I'd also be remiss if I didn't talk about Ricochet Ricochet brought a high-flying offense to NXT he was able to do things that did not seem humanly possible man would jump rebound bounce hop off

anything you could imagine andradecian almost had a fun in-ring style when he aligned with Zelena Vega He went from being a Casanova to being one of the biggest stars NXT had Drew McIntyre had a very short run but had a newly found creative genius behind him also winning the NXT title Ty Dillinger with his 10 chance maybe ruined the life of a referee forever he was also a pretty popular star during those Rising years for NXT there's so many more guys is Matt riddle Keith Lee Pete Dunn who was an underappreciated MVP of NXT Dominic

daijakovic hideo atami the Cruiser Waits later on with garzar rush and swerve Legato Del phantasma cross McAfee was really good those guys great but how about the women like I mentioned time effort and respect was given to the women of NXT and the collection that has gone through there is a chef's kiss early on it was the page show then he went to the four horsemen era which we've already talked about that era to be quite honest was fun and it was really integral in building NXT but once They left and NXT had to build

up new people man this became a different level of special the woman who took the NXT Women's title off bayley was Oscar she was presented as a tactical genius who would do anything to win and whose strength no one could overcome no one could beat her her look was unique from the colored hair to the different ring gear she was present it as the most unconquerable force in nxt's women's division even more so than the men she Held on to the NXT Women's title for 522 days without eating a pin or submission so much so

that she went to the main roster undefeated vacated that title and it was won by Amber Moon Amber moon was made to look big time one of the patterns you saw with NXT women were long Reigns in which they'd build up others by having them face the champion and the champion almost never lost this was the case for Amber Her Eclipse was presented as the deadliest thing since Draymond As Time wore on NXT looked Elsewhere for signings and the division grew and just like the men it became embarrassingly good you saw the debut of Dakota

Kai Kyrie sane following the Mae Young classic Billy K Peyton Royce Shayna Basler just ripped through everyone until she quite literally met Ria Ripley and then the rain that felt like the last NXT woman's top rain in the black and gold era and that one was of EO shirai first she came out with This baby face presentation but once this woman took out Katniss larae it was a rap she came out wearing all black the presentation was different the music hit hard her style in ring we may not see it to this degree on the

main roster but on NXT this was possibly the greatest run of matches by a women's champion we've seen in today's day and age in the WWE Bianca Beller did really well for herself on NXT building from the ground up how could we forget Alexa Bliss and Then there were also those women who were just solid for what they were you asked them to do anything and they could Tegan Knox Kaylee Ray Tony storm the Forgotten but really good run of Nikki cross and NXT out here trying to kill Oscar for some reason and lastly in

this section I gotta touch on something that the brand excelled at and I'd be remissed not to talk about tag team wrestling in NXT ever since the tag team titles were introduced in 2013 they Didn't look back what they were able to do with the tag team division was let people find their footing screw up look around and sometimes these teams just fell into place it's almost like they were meant to be like Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins took four years to find each other Dash and Dawson weren't even the original Revival the Ascension had

a completely different version to start off and Blake and Murphy were just something that fell into place and found Alexa Bliss the Wyatts were dominant three big bearded dudes whose sole purpose was to create destruction and pain after them was the Lucha Dragons 2 well one amazing high-flying Luchador the dynamic worked perfectly the VOD villains was a gimmick heavy team which really exploded in popularity in 2015. American Alpha were two guys who actually weren't even intended to be a team the story was that Gable wanted to team with Jordan but Jordan kept blowing Him off

this was eventually gonna transition into a feud but these two were two Superior wrestlers who could go in the ring with anyone and when they came together it led to in-ring Magic these teams revitalized tag team wrestling in the WWE and NXT cared about it a ton there isn't a single year where you look back and you don't see some amazing teams but it was the team of Dash and Dawson that were really the flag bearers of that division once they Came together and they started climbing their way up that Tag Division it's almost like

Triple H looked at it and went wow this is insane I have to maintain this and I can't let this go we don't have time to get into every single tag team I'll quickly rifle some more off Imperium gyv War Raiders mustache Mountain DIY aop Undisputed era duh Legato Del phantasma msk sanity it's insane how much talent this brand saw in just nine years Foreign what's a wrestling show without rivalries nxts were something special and different oftentimes what would happen was we'd get the gradual introduction of a character who'd work their way up and eventually

they'd become a star even their big independent signings would be slowly massaged into the product some stories were simple some were deep-rooted and some were slow burners which took years to complete I Already talked about Sami Zayn and Cesaro which really kicked off the storytelling aspect then came Owens and Zayn it was simple and to the point and it made Kevin Owens immediately by having him presented as a killer and continuing the Generico steam rivalry on NXT then it moved over to Finn vs Owens which was the ruthless nature of Kevin Owens against the smarts

and wittiness of Finn Balor at the same time we had the Rivalry of bayley and Sasha Banks This was the story of the opposition of confidence believing in yourself and slowly burning to a win one woman was confident in her abilities while the other one was shy and unsure of herself and she had been turned on by all of her friends she slowly built up a meme streak and she won the big one Speaking of the big one Gargano versus Champa this is the one whether you like it or not this is the Rivalry that

had the most intricacies and deep-rooted story Inside of it I know a lot of people soured on it because it became nxt's go-to feud in the later years but this story is probably the best one that NXT has ever told Champa and Gargano walked into the dusty Cup in 2015 without a contract they were paired together and they became really good friends fast forward and by the end of 2016 they'd worked their way up and became one of the most beloved tag teams on NXT they chased the Tag Team titles but they Couldn't get it

done they came so close but the Revival just kept beating them the Revival kept denying them at every turn until finally at takeover Toronto DIY in an amazing two out of three Falls match won the big one they held the titles for a bit until they lost them to the authors of pain and then they had try after try after try Gargano even took the fall for his friend but at the end of takeover Chicago when that corner bug came up there was still something Left to go Champa turned on Gargano and everyone was heartbroken

these two would go on to define the rest of NXT through a blood Feud and which can only be comparable to that of Sean Michaels and Triple H in a much lesser scale I'm not comparing those two to these two in terms of character and overall Legacy but the feud was pretty similar Champa was a complete psychopath he was targeting gargano's marriage costing him his job time and time again and making Him leave on a stretcher they headlined takeover after takeover and this was the perfect way to build a tag team into main Avengers for

the future another one of these standout rivalries was Velveteen dream vs Alistair black and this may seem ridiculous on their surface to people who didn't watch NXT but it was really enjoyable the whole premise was Velveteen dream was a provocative sexual character and Aleister black was a quiet soft-spoken And broken individual at this time black was dominating everyone and he ran through everyone in record time he was gonna speak for the first time in NXT but it was interrupted by Velveteen dream Alistair black and dream began a story in which dream wanted to be acknowledged

he wanted black to say his name but black refused to when we got to take over War Games a simple enjoy infamy Velveteen dream had the crowd going crazy but that wasn't the only big Story for Aleister black black was laid out in the oh so dangerous NXT parking lot and there was a month-long investigation as to who attacked him there were so many people that it could have been but it was Gargano continuing his slow move to the dark side to get back at Champa Oscar vs Ember moon was one where Oscar knew that

if she got hit with the eclipse it was game over so she resorted to underhanded tactics to pull out wins maybe two of the best non-title Feuds for the women were those simple stories where your friend stabs you in the back Dakota Kai versus Tegan Knox and Candace larae vs IO shirai simple to the point and they were enjoyable it was also fun to see the competitive rivalries the ones where it was basically about one upsmanship like Keith Lee and Dominic daijakovic or Samoa Joe and Finn Balor and lastly in 2021 came the final year

of NXT black and gold and it's almost perfect that This was nxt's last big Feud Adam Cole and kylo Riley for four years had been holding it down and they were winning and winning and winning they were on top of the world but on Valentine's Day Adam Cole broke everyone's heart kicked kylo Riley right in the face and he was sick and tired of him helping out Balor and not worrying about the Undisputed ERA this dude Adam Cole when he turned to heal he went full cycle mode destroying all his friends kicking Roddy down low

At one point the dude attacks kylo Riley so bad it had all of us believing that he had a legit seizure they were trying to run each other down in parking lots Cole went to O'Reilly's Jiu Jitsu class and the trilogy they had honestly deserved a crowd it's sad but also fitting that this was nxt's last big rivalry the main event did Stand and Deliver with O'Reilly winning that match and he'd eventually go on to also to win this rivalry How could I not talk about the cream of the crop when I see NXT takeover

you probably think of a dark aesthetic which focused more on the in-ring work rather than the grand nature of everything else lights camera and in-ring work from 2014 onwards there was nothing better than a takeover it almost became a parody of itself just how good it was they reeled them off one after one and the next one would seemingly be better than the previous pulse pounding exhilarating High octane action which brought you out of your seat and into the match with a very high emphasis on in-ring work for the most part takeovers had a simple

premise five matches on the card a woman's match a tag team match a rivalry oriented match a Showcase of two rising stars and then the NXT title match in the main event it was a formula which really took off in 2017. when they first started these shows were coming to us from Full Sail University the first one Was simply known as NXT takeover then they named them based on the match type fatal 4-way was the the next one with an amazing fatal 4-way Main Event makes complete sense our Evolution saw the debut of Kevin Owens

and he ruined Sami Zayn's crowning moment for their fifth special They simply called it takeover rival this is where tag team wrestling at takeovers really took off we got the Big Four Horsemen fatal four-way and Kevin Owens beat Sami Zayn so bad that He won the match by TKO take over Unstoppable saw the debut of Samoa Joe these early takeovers are so underappreciated and I don't really know why there's an organic magic to them and it makes them fun to go back and re-watch this is really the time frame which doesn't get its due but

what you guys are all waiting for are those crazy takeovers where things went from good to Great to Pure Insanity 2015 saw the first ever takeover outside of Full Sail In Brooklyn New York over the next four years every summer NXT would return to New York and each year with a new cast of characters the first ever Brooklyn takeover was critically acclaimed the match that stole the show was Sasha Banks and bayley the near 20 minute epic saw both women go back and forth and slug things out with creative spots close Falls and a rabid

Brooklyn crowd behind them it drew Rey reviews and will forever be looked at as an artifact in Women's wrestling without first takeover outside of Full Sail was almost entirely fueled by that crazy Brooklyn crowd and crazy crowds would become a theme as the years wore on Bailey and Sasha Banks killed it so much so that they had a rematch at the next one at takeover respect these two competed in the first ever Iron woman match bayley took the win and Sasha had an emotional goodbye three-fourths of the four horse women had been called up to

the main roster With bayley staying behind it's insane to think that Sasha Banks was only 23 years old at this time respect also saw Samoa Joe and Finn Balor win the first ever Dusty classic they were building up to their slow rivalry NXT takeovers were receiving critical Acclaim from writers and those whose opinions mattered their Superstars were starting to be known more even by the Casual WWE fans by the end of 2015 they made their way to London for the first takeover outside The U.S but 2016 made this even bigger here's the run of elite

and downright Unforgettable takeovers that you've probably been waiting for me to talk about it all began in Dallas two nights before Wrestlemania 32 shinsuke Nakamura had signed with the WWE the new guy was gonna take on the heart and soul of NXT and they did not disappoint they went to war against each other they had the crowd oohing and eyeing over the tiniest thing in the end Nakamura won and this Was the goodbye to Sami Zayn and NXT but again as he left a new generation took over the show made huge waves because compared to

Wrestlemania 32 this one was seen as way better writers reviewers broadcasters were all praising the time and effort put into nxt's presentation take over the end was presented as the final takeover at full sales signaling a goodbye to the arena and hello to big venues Toronto saw Mickey James return as well as a classic DIY Revival match But like most every takeover had something takeover Chicago had done and bait steal the show with a fantastic NXT UK championship match which began done 685 day Reign but at the end of 2017 they'd bring back an old

concept which became a staple in NXT they brought back War Games Undisputed era of sanity and aop were just too much to contain so takeover Houston became takeover War Games it had everyone buzzing and this show didn't disappoint each year the war Games match would somehow outdo the last the event saw Andrade become the new NXT champion now having the perfect mouthpiece by his side Undisputed era won an amazing War Games match a fantastic culmination to The Velveteen dream and Alistair black rivalry but in 2018 NXT took that Notch of amazing takeovers and they cranked

this thing to a thousand these were about to become ridiculously insane saying shows the year began with takeover Philadelphia as We know is the home of extreme and Adam Cole and Aleister black did the Extreme Rules stipulation Justice by just going out there and tearing each other into a pulp but it was at the end of the night where we saw a match that would forever become a classic among NXT fans Andrade vs Johnny Gargano for the NXT title Gargano after being backstabbed was gonna fight for his dreams and he did that for 32 minutes

he and Andrade put on a master class the match became the First WWE match to receive a five-star rating since 2011. also on this show was announced the signing of War Machine the signing of EC3 and the signing of Ricochet NXT was about to go into complete overdrive they were about to reach a level of in-ring superiority which many promotions could only pray for at this point takeovers were headed into parody territory next up came quite possibly the crown jewel of NXT takeovers take over New Orleans WrestleMania 34 weekend as the brand grew in size

they announced a brand new mid-car Championship easily one of the most beautiful designs WWE has ever put out the brand new North American championship and it would be contested in a ladder match and let's just say things were off the chain in this pay-per-view Ricochet was flying around everywhere Killian Dane and lar Sullivan were having a battle of power just killing everyone in sight Velveteen Dream was jumping off ladders and then Adam Cole won it all and cemented his name in history becoming the first ever NXT North American champion this show was so integral in

shaping the next generation of NXT we had Roderick strong join the Undisputed era giving them the Tag Team titles and the dusty classic win Andrade in Black had an amazing match that very well could have main event to the show black won the title but unfortunately his Reign would take a Back seat to Colin Gargano it was those same two that capped off the show in an unsanctioned match this was arguably the most perfect variety show ever following this Gargano and Champa continued their rivalry up until the 4th NXT takeover Brooklyn yes Florida that's how

many times they went there each match more violent and blood fueled than the last Brooklyn 4 also saw an amazing North American Title match between Cole and Ricochet as well as a killer match Between mustache mountain and Undisputed era for the Tag Team titles the era competed in their second war games match with the war Raiders who teamed up with Pete Dunn and Ricochet I'm starting to sound like a broken record but 2019 somehow was even better for the brand NXT takeover Phoenix started off the year Shayna Basler continued her dominance against an emerging Bianca

Bel-Air Gargano and Ricochet was great black and Champa main event of the show So there was takeover New Orleans in 2018 and then in 2019 we got takeover New York these are seen as the two best takeovers in NXT history unofficially this was takeover Brooklyn 5 and it was insane it started off with the farewell match for Aleister black and ricochet as they lost to the war Raiders Velveteen dream continued his rise as North American champion and then it was the showcase for the UK brand Pete Dunn and Walter tore strips off each other this

Match was amazing Walter ended done 685 day Reign the main event saw the beginning of the trilogy that carried 2019 for NXT Cole and Gargano a two out of three Falls match which was originally supposed to be the final battle between Gargano and Champa with Gargano getting his crowning moments Cole and Gargano had a match which was heavily reliant on false finishes you could say it was a bit overdone personally I think it was at every Point You'd think it was over and then someone would kick out until Gargano finally got his crowning moment the

brand celebrated its 25th takeover where Adam Cole became NXT champion and began the longest reign in NXT Championship history take over 25 also saw the street profits become NXT Tag Team Champions in another classic Ladder Match take over Toronto 2 who saw three stages of Hell match between Cole and Gargano this year for NXT was something truly special and following The move to USA they just continued to chug along War Games was great as always and headed into 2020 we had quite possibly the greatest build to a takeover ever and I'm talking about takeover Portland

Finn had turned heel he was gonna face Gargano in the Battle of generations Kaya Knox had a nasty rivalry where Kai turned on her at War Games Bianca and Ria were on the rise the broser weights had formed an oddball tag team and won the dusty cup they Ended up beating the UE to become Tag Team Champions two big beefy Boys in Dominic dijakovic and Keith Lee went out there and as someone who was actually at takeover Portland this match was something to Marvel at the spots they pulled off the athleticism they showed how hyped

the crowd was it was something truly special Cole and Champa ended the night Champa had returned from neck surgery and he'd gone from the hated villain to now the baby face trying to Get back what he never lost but this time it was Gargano who turned heel and we were headed for one final match between these two the match that we didn't get the year previous this was gonna happen at a show that's never happened called take over Tampa Bay the pandemic came in and NXT like many continued to move forward they revived old Concepts

they brought back in your house which was a decent event it saw a backlaw brawl between coal and dream for The NXT title and the night ended with EO shirai beating both Charlotte and Ria Ripley to become the new NXT Women's Champion to this day Charlotte winning at WrestleMania 36 has to be one of the most nonsensical booking decisions ever it literally helped no one takeover 30 was another show which felt like a change in NXT Cole was no longer Champion he faced Pat McAfee in a really fun match yoshirai continued her strong list of

matches facing and beating Dakota Kai an amazing North American Championship Ladder Match saw Damien priest rise up the card and to end the night carrion cross became the new NXT champion this dude came in and wreaked havoc man literally squashed one of the faces of NXT in minutes 31 was yet again Great Kyle O'Reilly and Finn Balor as the main event was a much different style than the work rate we were used to I really liked it I thought it was great War Games was again great and then we Came to 2021 where it was

Vengeance day msk came in and quickly became the team to beat Finn Balor and Pete Dunn had a match which was long overdue Balor was now in his second reign as NXT champion but that night saw the end of Undisputed era and the end of takeovers was coming too but before that we had the first two night takeover see at this point the roster had become so ridiculously good that there were so many people on there that wouldn't have made a normal Takeover card so they needed to split this up into two nights and it

was fantastic arguably the last true NXT takeover Walter and Champa had a match of the Year Contender beating each other into a pulp msk Legato and gyv did what tag teams and NXT always do they tore the house down Raquel won the NXT Women's Championship off EO shirai nice cross Beat battle on Knight 2 and the show ended with kylo Riley and Adam Cole in an unsanctioned match it was Basically a copy of Champa and Gargano from years ago I'll get into this in a bit but following stand and delivered things got really messy nxt's

consistency wasn't there the woman's title wasn't a focus anymore cross's NXT champion didn't hit like many thought it would sure there were some bright spots but ask a majority of people who followed the NXT product and they'll tell you that posts Stand and Deliver it was a strange Dynamic once the brand Moved to Tuesdays things were just kind of there following this there would be two more takeovers in your house and 36 which would prove to be the final one as of the recording of this video NXT also had their fair share of TV matches

and specials as well super Tuesday halftime heat the Great American bash a quick nod over to NXT UK which is unfortunately no longer a thing bait versus Dunn Walter versus Dunn bait versus Walter Dragunov versus Walter the match quality they had Was insane but now we move into our final chapters and we gotta backtrack for a second by 2019 NXT had become the show for the hardcore viewer also in that year we saw the debut of all elite wrestling which would air live on Wednesday nights NXT decided to also move their show to Wednesday on

the USA Network to combat aew they would stack up their cards and the fall of 2019 till about when the pandemic hit NXT was amazing they were Firing on all cylinders every Wednesday you would go in and there would never be a bad show it was a fun show to watch it was now two hours long and they didn't really lose their identity but moving to TV definitely made them add a lot more to shows something that wasn't always needed the two-hour telecast they went all out for every single week WWE wanted to present them

as their official third brand and not a developmental to the point where they added them into Survivor Series they invaded Ron's Smackdown and they gave us some memorable episodes WWE an effort to drive up viewership had main roster stars go down to NXT which gave us some pretty cool confrontations and one match in particular that I always throw on every now and then between Undisputed era and the Revival NXT One Survivor series and all eyes were on them they were built up as the brand and for a period of time they were doing just fine

They brought back Finn Balor their roster in my opinion was the best that it will ever see that Djokovic Walter Lee Ripley Bellaire shirai Basler yui riddle the list goes on but once the pandemic hit NXT started to suffer and it seemed directionless we still had great matches but it didn't feel the same once they ended their partnership with full sail and they went to the PC The Show by 2021 had a new cast of characters La Knight Cameron Grimes Legato Imperium meshed with the old guard but post Stand and Deliver like I mentioned the

woman's title not a focus they didn't have that one big Main Event championship match cross it didn't hit the way a lot of people thought he would what was branded as the Wednesday night war between in aew and NXT saw NXT lose they'd eventually move away from the Wednesday spot back to Tuesdays NXT on Tuesdays was not the same they seemed creatively stifled with a lot of people Dipping in and out of rivalries and remember how I started this video talking about a defined start and end point they didn't seem to happen in this case

not to say it was bad they just tried to cram a lot into their show like O'Reilly and Cole being the final big NXT rivalry it's fitting that the champion at this time was carrying cross the dude says the end is near well the end was in fact here by the end of August our returning Samoa Joe was your new NXT champion for the third time in his career it felt like old times maybe the full sale return was coming in no time takeovers were gonna be back on the road with fans screaming their lungs

out but Old Times weren't gonna last this was the end of the black and gold NXT a report came out saying that WWE wanted to take a different direction with the product they wanted to go back to their roots on developing Talent with hopes of making stars who Could one day Main Event WrestleMania September 7th 2021 marked the final black and gold NXT up until the recording of this video WWE released a slew of wrestlers who had been Champions and Staples of the brand they killed off the original NXT which people held dearly to their

heart at war games and it was out with the old guard fans were frustrated at WWE seemingly killing the only thing that mattered to them everything we talked about was now just A memory they got rid of takeovers they fell into the same 10 Tendencies of the main roster which was originally what separated them they had an emphasis on crazy and Ridiculousness rather than the straightforward and simple NXT black and gold was dead at XT at its peak became something special something that no one could have ever fathomed in 2012 when that first episode aired

who would have thought that something intended to be a show for The Next Generation would reach the popularity of WWE's main offering NXT built themselves a legacy which let's be honest they probably wouldn't be able to equate to why because it wasn't forced this was something that trended upwards for five or six years and in the two or three years they were at the top they stayed at the top it became laughable the amount of talent they had they just couldn't go back to their Roots anymore they had to cater to this new fan base

That they had built it's so hard in what we watched to capture the imagination of so many but NXT black and gold did that they knew who this product was for it was almost like oh you're disenfranchised with the WWE come over here give our product a try and we promise you're gonna like it to this day people love that brand people love the stars of the brand they'll follow them wherever they go it's amazing what the logo on your screen represents it Represents nearly a decade Where Stars would come and go but at the

end of the day the one thing that never left was the desire to give you a product that was different a product that you could always rely on it was truly remarkable it was able to capture the entire wrestling world and bring people from all over the place together this version was truly not your kind and I left behind a legacy that will forever be looked at for years to come three Letters one fan base an amazing Legacy and x t