Taking away the biggest stage

I spend an unhealthy amount of my life yelling about wrestling. I yell about terrible booking decisions that ruin pay-per-views. I yell about stubborn promoters who refuse to elevate new talent until it is far too late.

But right now, I have to yell about what WWE is doing with NXT. The decision to move Stand & Deliver away from WrestleMania weekend is genuinely baffling. For years, this event has been the ultimate proving ground for the black-and-gold, or rainbow, or whatever color scheme we're on now, brand.

It was the one time a year where developmental talent got to perform in front of the most hardcore, international, exhausted-but-hyped wrestling fans on the planet. The energy in those arenas was entirely different from a standard Tuesday night in Orlando.

The developmental pipeline needs that pressure cooker

Think about the classic TakeOver events that used to piggyback on the big four pay-per-views. Those shows routinely blew the main roster out of the water. They forced the talent to step up. They forced the bookers to deliver.

Taking Stand & Deliver off that marquee weekend robs these up-and-comers of that crucial experience. It's one thing to have a great match at the Performance Center. It's an entirely different beast to try and steal the weekend when everyone in the crowd is buzzing about Cody Rhodes or Roman Reigns.

It completely changes the dynamic of what NXT's biggest show of the year is supposed to be.

Blake Monroe sees the writing on the wall

Blake Monroe speaking out about this is telling. The talent knows how important that weekend is. It's the ultimate showcase. You have media from all over the world in town. You have eyes on the product that might not normally watch NXT.

To isolate the brand's biggest show feels like a step backward. It feels like WWE is saying, "You're developmental again, stay in your lane." We moved past that era of NXT years ago, or at least I thought we did.

With WrestleMania 41 just 21 days away, the absence of an NXT showcase event during that massive week in Vegas is going to be glaring. The indie shows are going to eat up all that excess fan energy, and WWE is leaving money—and valuable experience—on the table.