Jaxson Ryker says WWE’s old black-and-gold NXT was so good that Vince McMahon couldn’t stand it. According to the former WWE star, the freedom Triple H and Shawn Michaels gave talent helped create a product that felt completely different from what McMahon was doing on the main roster.
Speaking on Developmentally Speaking, Ryker looked back on his NXT run from 2017 through the pandemic and called that period a “golden era.” NXT didn’t feel like developmental to him at the time, especially when the brand was selling out arenas and its TakeOver shows were becoming major events.
That’s also where Ryker brought up something he says he heard about McMahon behind the scenes. According to Ryker, Vince wasn’t exactly happy with the quality of the product Triple H and his team were putting together.
“And you knew that. We would go in and sell out arenas, sell out, you know, live events. And from what I heard, Vince could not stand it because the quality — because what Hunter did, and I loved it, is Hunter and Shawn, those two and some others behind the scenes were putting together the shows.”
Ryker believes one reason NXT worked so well was that wrestlers actually had a voice. He recalled Triple H, Shawn Michaels and others asking talent what they wanted for everything from entrance music to specific moments inside their matches.
“They would have our — they would listen to our input. Even me and the Forgotten Sons, they would go, ‘Okay, well, what kind of music do you like for your theme song?’ Or, ‘What do you think about — what would you want to do in this match, in this circumstance?’”
That was noticeably different from Ryker’s experience after reaching Raw and SmackDown. He said there were times on the main roster when matches were far more tightly controlled.
“Instead of, you know, at times on the main roster, Raw and SmackDown, there was a lot of, like, man, micromanaging your matches. And, you know, not all the time, but there was a lot of micromanaging.”
Triple H still had the final call in NXT, but Ryker didn’t have a problem with that. In fact, he admitted that when Triple H stepped in and suggested changing something, his idea was usually better anyway.
“And it was, you know, Hunter still had the ultimate say-so. If he’d go, ‘Eh, maybe you should try this,’ and if he did that, dude, half of the time what he wanted you to do was going to be better.”
For Ryker, the important part was that Triple H was willing to listen before making that call. He believes that freedom helped NXT develop its own identity instead of simply feeling like a smaller version of WWE’s main-roster shows.
“But he’s very open for your character, for you putting a match together, and, like, the product was just different. And I think that’s why Vince was irritated, because it was just different. People loved it.”
The interviewer also remembered NXT TakeOver events sometimes selling out before the main-roster pay-per-view happening the following night. It was the kind of run that made NXT feel like WWE’s legitimate third brand rather than simply the place wrestlers went before Raw or SmackDown.
Ryker also remembers the locker room itself being completely different from the cutthroat environment people sometimes associate with wrestling. He said talent weren’t trying to stab each other in the back because everyone felt like they had an opportunity.
“Yep. One hundred percent. Yeah, man. Everybody had an opportunity. And that was the beautiful part about it. It’s just — it was, like I said, it was a family, too.”
That atmosphere apparently carried over outside the building as well. Ryker remembers the roster traveling together and being focused on putting on the best show possible rather than trying to knock somebody else out of their spot.
“It wasn’t — nobody was out there backstabbing anybody. It was just, we got along together, we traveled together, and we put on a great show together.”
Ryker wasn’t in Vince McMahon’s head, and he specifically framed the claim about Vince’s reaction as something he’d heard rather than something McMahon personally told him. Still, his version of events paints an interesting picture of an NXT that became successful by doing things differently — and, according to Ryker, that difference was exactly what irritated the man running WWE.
What do you think about Jaxson Ryker’s claim that Vince McMahon couldn’t stand the success and quality of Triple H’s NXT? Let us know in the comments below.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
