With WWE releasing many of NXT’s old guard, we had to ask the question of why. Was this business or personal? It would seem that we were not the only ones asking.
Many wrestling news outlets began not only privately asking among themselves, but publicly asking. And it all seemed to come to a head when it occurred to us, almost simultaneously, that the releases seemed to be of Triple H’s closest confidants from NXT. Now, yes, that does sound like conspiracy or conjecture. I mean, Shawn Michaels was still there, and Samoa Joe was still there. But just a few moments ago, a tweet concerning the most recent release confirmed our suspicions and was placed on the main stage of wrestling twitter.
Yeah, you’re reading it right. Samoa Joe has been released from WWE. This follows an injury back in September 2021, resulting in him vacating the NXT title right before NXT revamped to NXT 2.0. This is rather concerning if you know your backstage, dirt sheet news. It would seem that it was done with revenge in mind.
But if you look closely at the majority of those let go, it was all important members of the team Triple H built during his regime in the company. If NXT 2.0 wasn’t a subtle enough hint that these could be acts of revenge due to NXT losing the Wednesday Night Wars against AEW the recent releases should count for something.
Bron Breaker, Breaking Up the NXT Establishment
If anything you read earlier doesn’t support this widespread conspiracy, may I submit the following on this week’s NXT New Year’s Evil event, Bron Breakker challenged Tommaso Ciampa for the NXT Championship in the main event of the show. In a true passing of the torch moment, Bron Breakker defeated Tommaso Ciampa for the title.
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The interesting part is what came prior to the start of the match. I’m speaking of Bron Breakker’s very interesting entrance. We saw him break free from chains, before smashing a giant gold X in the style of the old NXT logo. Symbolically telling us that the old Black and Gold brand was restricting and holding back the new talent and they were looking forward to “aggressive expansion”. Which translates to, death to the old guard.
It’s Not a Conspiracy, It’s Intentional
Within the last 24 hours, they have dethroned all champions and fired all NXT personnel (including Road Dogg, Scott Armstrong, Dave Kapoor, William Regal and Samoa Joe) that represented the black and gold era. This is following revamping the once famed indie superstar program. Making it a glammed up production of what it was. It would seem that the buck doesn’t stop there. Steve Carrier of Ringside News would report that it was confirmed to them that this is not only about removing Triple H’s people, but it was also personal. WWE was cleansing NXT of Triple H’s influence. They were also told by a tenured member of the team that “it feels personal because it is.”
There is a lot to unpack here and it would be impossible to do so without all the facts. For now, we know that Shawn Michaels is still employed at the Performance Center and Triple H is still COO. But how long that will last, no one can say.
What do you think about the release of Samoa Joe? Is the revenge plot against Triple H valid? How far will the cuts go? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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