Despite spending multiple stints as a member of the WWE Universe, Karl Anderson and his Good Brother Luke Gallows have never actually been members of NXT, with the duo having appeared on the brand multiple times, first in 2019 and then in again in 2022, but never actually being members of the developmental roster full time.
So how did it feel when, after being unofficially split up from AJ Styles as part of the OC, Gallows, and Anderson were sent back to NXT to take part in an ultimately unsuccessful push to become the NXT Champions at Stand & Deliver? Did the duo take it personally that they were being sent back down to developmental to work matches with players half their age? Or did they embrace the opportunity, as it beats spending the evening in catering waiting for a chance to wrestle?
Discussing their NXT return in an appearance on Busted Open Radio, Anderson noted that, in his opinion, the booking decision made total sense and was actually a ton of fun, as it presented the Good Brothers a fantastic opportunity to help out the next generation while proving he can still go.
“That was fun. Having the opportunity to go down there and seeing guys that are truly new to professional wrestling, a couple of the kids that we worked about a month ago, that we wrestled with, they’re only two years in pro wrestling and only two years into training,” Karl Anderson said on Busted Open Radio via Fightful. “So being able to talk with them about talking through a match and talking inside the ring about a match, and then after the match, talking to them about the match, it was kind of fun to be able to talk to legitimate kids that are 23, 24,25 years old that are hungry, and they’re really hungry because they’re passionate about the business. It’s been cool to go down there and see that.”
Would Anderson perfer to be working huge matches at WrestleMania? Totally, but hey, if that's not on the table, why not enjoy the opportunity presented to them and work some fun matches with the likes of Nathan Frazier and Axiom instead of doing nothing much in the back?
Karl Anderson gets the ebbs and flows of working in WWE.
Continuing his conversation on Busted Open Radio, Karl Anderson explained that, while the Good Brother and the OC as a whole would love to be used on RAW or SmackDown, in the end, wrestling in NXT is better than not wrestling at all, which was very much the faction's reality after splitting with AJ Styles.
“I don’t know so much that it’s not being used the way we think we should be used. It’s just, WWE, sometimes you gotta sit, and you gotta take your time, you gotta be patient, and you gotta wait. We’re competitive guys, right, so we always want to be used. We always want to be on TV, we’re always ready and willing to go. We want to be on RAW, we want to be on SmackDown,” Karl Anderson noted.
“We want to be on all the PLEs. But sometimes you gotta take a step back because there’s a lot of guys there, a lot of girls there, a lot of stuff going on, especially with the last year, the last couple years, especially with the way it’s been. So you gotta be patient. Also, getting the call to go to NXT, zero negative. If anything, we got the text, I believe we were actually driving to SmackDown that day. We got the group text about going to NXT from one of the writers, and it just excited us. We’ve been doing this a long time, over 20 years, for us to get in the ring, talk wrestling, talk about promos, talk about storylines, and physically get in the ring and do it, it still excites us. It’s the only thing that really gets me going anymore in the world, besides watching my kids hitting a home run or something. So being able to go to NXT, total positive. We did it for about a month, I think it was a month or five weeks or whatever it was, and I wouldn’t mind it being more. Any chance we get to be in a pro wrestling ring, we’re just ready.”
A few years back, sending a WWE Superstar down to NXT would be a certified demotion, as RAW and SmackDown were the main rosters, and NXT was a tier below as developmental. But now, in 2024? WWE is pushing NXT to a major degree, with more than a few main roster stars likely to land on the brand during the draft. If the Good Brothers land on NXT, it's safe to say they will enjoy the opportunity.
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