WWE's Indie Acquisitions & the Real Purpose of NXT
WWE is awash at the moment with names who have passed through Ring of Honor, IMPACT, New Japan, and other similar promotions. That makes sense: they're on the lookout for the next big star, or guy/girl with "a tremendous upside." Finding and acquiring them is the name of the game. In the territory era, a wrestler had to cut his teeth in a given area to learn and come out of his shell. These days, independent wrestlers travel the world and learn how to work by becoming versed in different styles, predominantly Japanese puroresu , Mexican Lucha Libre, and the mat-based technique and brawling of the UK. As the years go by, they get noticed and bigger promotions come calling, esp. WWE. That's how AJ Styles got to where he is and Daniel Bryan and Cesaro and Samoa Joe -- and the list goes on. All of them are doing reasonably well for guys who got their start elsewhere and came in as virtual stars already. But that's not where the story ends. For one, anyone you c...
