Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Welcome to the Busted Open After Dark Podcast. I'm your host, Tommy Dreamer. NIL athletes or independent wrestlers coming up the scene on NXT. Who's better? Who's worse?
Chapter 2: What is the NIL era in NXT and how does it compare to indie wrestling?
The history of it, and I'm going to talk about it right now.
This is the Busted Open Podcast.
Right off the bat, I've got to tell you, I liked NXT for a lot of different reasons. Before we do the show, we actually do research. I log on now at 9.30 just because I want to talk so much about NXT. I'm talking to our producers and we've got a team. Just so you know, this is a whole other subject, but I'm going to jump on it.
A lot of people wanted to talk a Busted Open After Dark or a show after for NXT. I'm sorry, for the weekend. But it's Memorial Day weekend. And yes, I as a host, because I saw a lot of people comment about it. I as a host volunteered. But there is a team, a team of really, really good people that have helped us. to build this 24-7 juggernaut that we got going on.
We got producers, we got interns, we got people back at SiriusXM Studios that I don't even know. We also got other offices. So they deserved a whole break to celebrate Memorial Day.
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Chapter 3: Who are the standout athletes in the NIL era of NXT?
So it's just not on the hosts. It's a team and it's a great team and I'm happy to be on it. And yes, everybody deserved to have a nice holiday. Well, thank you. I appreciate that. Except for me because I was wrestling every day. That's right. I'll get into that because I want to talk more so about NXT. But just a lot of just things flowing. Enjoyed today's conversations.
And I hope we continue the conversation today. But basically focused on NXT 877-344-4893. I think tonight's episode was really, really strong. And I'm going to tell you why. Outside of anything that Robert Stone was involved in, and I'll get into that. Right off the bat with Dark State and Dark State coming out and explaining why.
I love when one show goes off the air from last week and they remind us of what happened. WWE always does a great job of what happened in the past episode to get us to where we are. Dark State had some heat. Yeah. Interesting to see that the crowd was a little mixed, but here's what I think NXT should really lean in on, and they could have, if this was by accident...
You just stepped into something that could be great. If this is on purpose, well, guess what, guys? You're pure genius. I would love to take credit for when I find out things on social media, like when Mustafa Saeed showed up in a battle royal interview. And everyone told me it was the five years of New Jack's passing. You look like a genius when you do something like that. But guess what?
I did not know that. I just wanted to have a nice surprise for our AMC audience. And stuff like that happens. I feel it's the wrestling gods talking to us. So I liked Dark State's promo. And then I was just like, whoa, you have something here. Because they gave their accolades. And all of their accolades are division two athletes or division like superior athletes.
I want to say even before NIL, but people who had no wrestling experience.
and then got signed to deals on potential and i do feel that because listen i am old school oh you got to pay your dues all that stuff and you do but guess what these people are paying their dues because i said this all the time if tommy dreamer started wrestling today i don't know if i could make it because i don't know if i could train in a pc every single day and simulate matches or or go through that yes
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Chapter 4: What are the advantages of NIL athletes over indie wrestlers?
It's my dream, but a lot of people, this isn't their dream, but they're excelling at this game. So then they put over, oh my gosh, why am I drawing a brain fart here? Andre, help me out. The guy they beat up, oh my God. The guy who's no longer in the group.
Oh, it's like Sugar Shane. I'll get the name for you. I know the sound. It's hitting my brain right now.
Yeah, look up. He's a phenomenal independent wrestler. But that was the whole thing. They were talking, man, why am I drawing a complete blank? This is going to bother me. It's the story of, are you going to pick to... find somebody from the indies or are you going to uh find somebody from who's just an amazing athlete and they have a lot of amazing athletes uh saquon sugars that's right uh
And listen, man, I'm a big fan of all of Dark State. I'm a big fan of Saquon. There was mixed reactions during that promo when they were like, let's go Saquon. Something like, maybe not, or no, we don't. It was just a weird reaction for a babyface. But the heels got heat. But then, like I said, I think they stepped on this of...
Independent wrestlers working within the WWE versus people who were just, hey, were hired out of college. Our careers could go no longer. And here we are. I will take both sides. And of course, Nation, I want to hear from you. And I know there's a lot of wrestlers that would chime in on this because, hey, like I said, business changes. You have to keep on adapting.
I will go with the positives of basically finding these athletes. Number one, they're athletes. They're people who are primed and ready and good for coaching. And this will come from people who have trained other wrestlers. Booker T, Bubba, myself, or anyone. If you get somebody from ground zero, you could train them.
And you have different levels of coaches in the PC, but you train them in the mode of how you want them to perform. And these coachable athletes will do all these repetitions because they're used to that from their real sports background. Independent wrestlers. There's a lot of great independent wrestlers. People, I see them all the time.
Sunday, I'm up in Massachusetts area and I'm like, man, four or five of these guys can all be within the WWE system. I see it every show or I can at least pick out one. But then I'm like, OK, if I look at it the other way, they have to be taught the television style or taught the WWE way.
Here's the other part about like independent wrestlers or listen, there's people if I actually I'll just stay on topic. They have bad habits. And it's the hardest thing to do is break people out of bad habits. And certain things, it could go to dislikes. I know personally, it's more acceptable now. But up until a certain point...
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Chapter 5: How do independent wrestlers adapt to the WWE style?
Look at her rise through that. Bianca Belair, though she's not currently wrestling, great athlete. Mark Henry finds her on Instagram. WWE hires her because of her athletic ability. Then we have the Roxanne Perez or Raquel Rodriguez, where they both, you know, did indies and they busted their ass on the indies. But I'm talking specifically about NXT and I'm talking specifically about this.
The other part is of the indie wrestlers, like the indie wrestlers. They already have a fan base and people can be like if I look at, you know, Johnny Gargano when he first burst upon the scene and Tommaso Ciampa when they were in NXT. Man, they became the faces of those brands, but they had a large audience. Because of what? They busted their ass on the indies.
And it did help that black and gold brand. You could have this debate about everybody on the roster. So it really does set the tone of... this angle with where they are, because with dark state, if they feel they're better, superior than everybody else, you could set up for people who busted their ass on the Indies.
And those people who busted off their ass on the Indies, they will become your hot, Baby faces like Saquon if he gets somebody else who bust their ass on the Indies and hey if you bring on somebody there's a whole lot of people we saw somebody return but there's a whole lot of people that WWE is not doing a whole heck of a lot with.
And if you brought these people down to NXT to help maybe represent, I'm so proud of my journey here in WWE. But yes, I worked the bingo halls, the VFW halls, all these small places to get here. Those people are going to be the baby faces in it. Even somebody like, again, Kevin Owens. Kevin Owens comes in and helps endorse this person or this group. You're seeing it on LFG.
But it instantly ignites, A, a feud that you're already going to. But it answers this debatable question that is out there. And what's better or who's better? Because, listen, for older generation, Bill Goldberg, Bill Goldberg got a lot of heat because, well, he just went to the power plant and then he came up because he's an ex-football guy.
But then Bill Goldberg became one of the biggest stars in the industry. And you have people like that, even though he's born into this business. Everyone's saying he's going to be your next world champion, but Bron Breaker. Brom Breaker didn't really do any indies, but his father is a WWE Hall of Famer. So he got hired. He's a great athlete.
His brother is currently, you know, under a WWE NIL deal. Mark Henry's son, you know, who probably will be a world champion if... But like these talents should go through college and they should try to up their brand, have a full NFL career or whatever you're doing career. And then, yes, come to the WWE and become even a bigger global star. The other part, and this is also key. What happens?
Because I've seen this a lot when these talents are let go. And they've had everything handed to them, everything catered to them. And now they don't know how to survive because they did not come up through the indies. They came up getting this, oh, here's money right away. We're going to pay you to train. And then it becomes, well, now what do I do?
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Chapter 6: What challenges do NIL athletes face in their wrestling careers?
Catch the full three hours of Busted Open every day of the week at 9 a.m. Eastern on Pro Wrestling Nation 24-7, channel 156.