There are few things that can compare to the energy and experience of seeing professional wrestling live, especially when attending an episode of TV or even a pay-per-view where the audience knows the talent are trying to show out. NXT, in particular, has always managed to draw in raucous crowds full of energy to see what the future of WWE has to show.
However, every show and promotion goes through changes that can manifest in the live experience, as well as TV, and NXT is no different. The developmental show has gone from a bizarre game show filmed after SmackDown to WWE's own in-house “super-indie” to its current iteration, with Shawn Michaels guiding the proverbial ship. It is the latter two, though, that has seen the brand's biggest periods of success, but it doesn't mean there aren't differences in the live experience as a result of the changes it has undergone.
No two shows may highlight how much things have changed in the live experience than 2019's NXT TakeOver: New York and 2023's NXT Deadline. But in order to compare them, let's take a look at what each show had to offer.
NXT TakeOver: New York Rundown
While blow-away TakeOver's were seemingly the norm during NXT's Black and Gold era from 2016-2020, 2019's TakeOver: New York stands out as possibly one of the brand's best TakeOvers from that period. The show emanated from the Barclay's Center in Brooklyn, New York, from WrestleMania 35 weekend and featured a who's-who of talent now headlining major shows all across professional wrestling.
However, fans in attendance were treated to a quick taping of the next week's episode of NXT as TakeOver's own preshow. The preshow saw Candice LeRae beat Aaliyah, Jaxson Ryker of the Forgotten Sons defeat Danny Burch, and finally the Street Profits pinning Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel on their way to winning the NXT Tag Titles at the next TakeOver.
The main show started off with the War Raiders taking on Dusty Cup winners Aleister Black and Ricochet for the NXT Tag Team Titles. It effectively served as Black and Ricochet's swan song in NXT as the pair had been teaming on Raw and SmackDown leading into WrestleMania, where they were part of a four-corner match for the SmackDown Tag Team Titles. Knowing this, the two teams started off the show hot as they went tic-for-tac over the 18-minute match that ultimately saw the War Raiders come out victorious, and was then punctuated by Black and Ricochet taking a bow to the raucous Brooklyn crowd.
Next was a match that, in hindsight, has not aged well primarily due to the wrestlers involved as Matt Riddle took on Velveteen Dream for the NXT North American Title. Various backstage and personal issues would eventually lead to both wrestlers being released, but at the time of this match, they were massively popular and Dream, in particular, was as hot as anyone had been in NXT. Taking this knowledge of their issues out of it, the match itself was another home-run on the show as Riddle's MMA-style collided with the showman that was Velveteen Dream.
Third up was WALTER vs Pete Dunne for the WWE UK Title in what was the second-best match of the night, behind the main event. The match was a hard-hitting technical showcase between two wrestlers who, at the time, exemplified the European-style of wrestling better than anyone. Dunne would ultimately lose the UK Title, ending his historic 685-day reign, and marked the beginning of WALTER's incredible 870-day title reign.
Next on the card was the four-corners match for the NXT Women's Title between then-champion Shayna Baszler, Io Shirai, Kairi Sane, and Bianca Belair. Coming off the hard-hitting UK Title match, this match was a sprint right out of the gate that showcased four of the best women at the time, and still, on WWE's overall roster. Baszler would emerge the victor, continuing her lengthy reign that was only second to Asuka's historic title reign, but also provided a glimpse of the magic to come from Shirai, Sane, and Belair as well.
Last, but most certainly not least, was the main event that saw Johnny Gargano take on Adam Cole for the vacant NXT Title in a 2 out of 3 falls match. The match was originally meant to be Gargano challenging his former tag partner, friend, and then-NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa before Ciampa had to vacate to get neck surgery. Despite this cloud, Cole and Gargano delivered one of the best WWE matches of 2019 and quite possibly one of the best matches of the year, in general, that saw Gargano finally complete his journey to the top of NXT and win the NXT title.
NXT Deadline Rundown
2023's NXT Deadline emanated from the Total Mortgage Arena in Bridgeport, Connecticut, taking the event out of WWE Performance Center for the first time.
To kick things off, fans in attendance were treated to a pre-show showcase match between two of NXT's fastest and most athletic wrestlers, Axiom and Nathan Frazier. The two went move-for-move as they tried to keep up with the other over their ten-minute sprint of a match that ultimately saw Axiom pin Frazier.
The main show then started off not with a match, but surprise appearances by both Shawn Michaels and CM Punk who continued to tease which brand he would be signing with.
The show then got underway with Dominik Mysterio defending the NXT North American Title against Dragon Lee, who served as a replacement for the injured Wes Lee. Dominik, as with most other shows he appears on, drew some of the loudest boos of the night while Lee continued to show why he is one of the top luchadors of his generation. Lee ultimately scored the win of Dominik, securing his first title as a member of WWE.
Next up was the women's Iron Survivor match between Blair Davenport, Lash Legend, Fallon Henley, Tiffany Stratton, and Kelani Jordan. While all the women got a chance to shine, it was Legend who may have had the best showing as she physically dominated the other women at various points and got to display her incredible athleticism. Davenport emerged victorious in the end with three pinfalls, securing herself at title match at the New Year's Evil TV special. The current champion Lyra Valkyria then came out before being attacked from behind by the returning Cora Jade, who made it clear she was coming for the NXT Women's Title.
Carmelo Hayes taking on Lexis King followed, serving as the latter's first PLE outing since joining WWE. Hayes would score the win over King, though the latter would reveal he was not the one who attacked Trick Williams back in October.
The men's Iron Survivor match was up next featuring Bron Breakker, Dijak, Josh Briggs, Tyler Bate, and Trick Williams in what was a high-scoring affair between the five wrestlers. Breakker, Bate, and Dijak were tied at three pinfalls a piece heading into the closing minutes when Trick made a last minute comeback to score four quick pinfalls, securing himself one more shot at the NXT Title at New Year's Evil.
Kiana James then took on Roxanne Perez in a steel cage where escaping the cage to win was not an option. Despite having Kiana's number for most of the match, Roxanne would come up short thanks to interference from relative NXT-newcomer Izzi Dame.
Finally, there was the main event where the NXT Champion Ilja Dragunov defended his title against Baron Corbin in a fittingly physical match. Both men laid into each other for the majority of the 20-minute match, with Dragunov coming out the victor after landing multiple leaping forearm strikes and a Torpedo Moscow to keep Corbin down for the three-count. The show then closed on Trick Williams coming out to stare down Dragunov ahead of their rematch at New Year's Evil.
How Do They Compare?
Despite both being under the WWE banner, the two shows truly highlight how much NXT has changed from 2019 to 2023.
The era of NXT Black and Gold under Triple H from 2016 to early 2020 is considered by many fans to be the brand's “golden era” thanks to the quality of in-ring work, consistent storylines, and high-profile talent being brought in from the independent scene, Impact, Ring of Honor, and Japan. It effectively became a “super-indie” under the WWE banner that would regularly see TakeOver's outshine the big main roster pay-per-views that took place on the same weekend.
In an ironic twist, the live experience being at TakeOver: New York feels far more akin now to being live in-attendance for an episode of AEW TV or a pay-per-view than a WWE show.
AEW, much like that era of NXT, prides itself on delivering a “super-indie” product on national TV that emphasizes the talent's extremely high work-rate over stories and angles, at least most of the time. It is reflected in the roster, as well, which features plenty of big names who also got the chance to shine on NXT such as Adam Cole, Kyle O'Reilly, Roderick Strong, Swerve Strickland, Keith Lee, Ruby Soho, Malakai Black, and Andrade El Idolo to name a few.
The current NXT live experience, by comparison, feels far more like a show in-line with WWE's style and approach than the Black and Gold era of NXT. It isn't to say the quality of matches has dropped off, as frankly every promotion on the planet is delivering some of the best in-ring work ever seen, but it doesn't have that “super-indie” feel that made the previous era of NXT feel so unique compared to the rest of WWE at the time.
The talent featured reflect this, as well, as Deadline featured more wrestlers such as Bron Breakker, Tiffany Stratton, Lash Legend, and Dominik Mysterio who had little-to-no professional wrestling experience before signing with WWE.
It is not a criticism of the current NXT live experience, though, as the fan reactions and smoother transitions for talent from NXT to the main roster shows speak for themselves. Dragon Lee is a good example of this as he had been able to work across NXT and SmackDown without any notable disconnect between the two shows, something which was an issue during the Black and Gold era as talent would often get new names or gimmicks when called up to Raw or SmackDown.
This, in turn, makes the NXT pay-per-view live experience feel like a main roster-lite show that places greater emphasis the angles and stories surrounding a premium live event. It doesn't mean the work-rate is not important to the show, but it isn't given as much emphasis as it had been in the past.
If anything, the change in feel is a reminder of just how special that period from 2016 to early 2020 was for NXT as it became the place to be seen in professional wrestling. It also helped to set the stage for the current wrestling landscape fans get to enjoy today with two major companies on national TV, mid-level promotions like Impact and MLW getting spotlighted more, the indies once again doing well post-COVID, and Japanese promotions making more and more in-roads to the U.S. market. As a result, fans can get a ticket to a wrestling show on any given night and know they could be in for something special, whether it be in a high school gymnasium or an 80,000 seat stadium.
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