The NXT 2.0 overhaul wasn’t just a flashy new logo and a coat of paint — there was real fear backstage that people were about to lose their jobs. Triple H was suddenly out of the picture because of his serious health problems, Vince McMahon and Bruce Prichard moved into control of the brand’s major decisions, wrestlers started getting released, and talent who had moved their entire lives to Orlando were left wondering if their phone would ring next.
NXT officially transformed into NXT 2.0 in September 2021, right around the same time Triple H was forced away following his cardiac event. During the overhaul, Vince McMahon and Bruce Prichard were put behind NXT’s big-picture decisions, including its direction, marketing and promotion, while their booking influence was expected to focus primarily on talent at the top of the card. That was a major change from the Black-and-Gold NXT that had been built under Triple H, and the people actually working there could feel the ground moving underneath them.
While speaking to Wombeezy, Joe Gacy recalled walking straight into that mess. He had joined WWE expecting to eventually find his place in the Black-and-Gold version of NXT, but suddenly Triple H was gone, McMahon and Prichard had become major forces behind the revamped product, and nobody around Gacy seemed to have any clue what was coming next.
“It was definitely a change. I came into NXT at the time knowing Black and Gold, and that’s how NXT had been for years, and I originally saw myself slotting into something in that era. It was weird because it was very unsure and nobody really fully knew what was going on. It was also a weird time where Triple H had some health issues and everyone was worried about that. So he was kind of not in the picture at the moment, and we were all unsure if he was even going to be coming back, to be honest. Nobody was really telling anybody anything.”
That uncertainty only got worse when WWE started physically changing the Performance Center and word spread that NXT itself was about to become something completely different. Then wrestlers started disappearing from the roster. Gacy said some of his own friends were among those released, which made the overhaul feel a hell of a lot more serious than changing the colors on television.
“We kind of were just waiting to see what was going on. And then we hear they’re coming in to repaint the building and we’re doing different colors and this and that, and NXT’s going to change. And then a lot of people started getting released and some of my friends got let go.”
That’s when the fear really kicked in. Gacy had uprooted his life to move to Orlando for WWE and had only been there for about a year. With Triple H sidelined, a new power structure influencing NXT and releases already happening around him, he started wondering whether WWE was about to send him packing too.
“That transition period was kind of stressful for the simple fact of, like, wow, I just moved my life down here to Orlando, Florida, and I’ve been here for maybe a year, and I’m like, ‘What if I’m about to lose my job?’ That would suck at the time.”
Things finally started looking better for Gacy when WWE began discussing a new character for him. He revealed that plans had already been pitched for him during the Black-and-Gold era, but those ideas died when NXT changed direction. Once the 2.0 version started taking shape, WWE finally told him they had something for him after nearly a year of barely being used.
“Conversations started happening about developing a new character. And I was in talks of a character previously when Black and Gold was still going, and there were some pitches there for a character which, because of the changeover, did not happen. But there’s the idea for the new character, and when they told me kind of what the idea was going to be and that it was going to be something used on the new version of NXT, I got excited because I’d been there for almost a year and I hadn’t really been used yet.”
Gacy could also immediately tell that the McMahon-era makeover was going to be a tough sell for some longtime NXT fans. He understood the logic behind making developmental television look and feel more like WWE’s main roster, but he knew the audience that loved Black-and-Gold NXT might not be thrilled with what was replacing it.
“It was a little nerve-wracking and exciting because I saw what the product was aiming at being, and I knew right away, like, I don’t know if these fans are going to like this or not. Not only just me, but just the product as a whole. But I could see the thought process because I think the idea was going to be if you make NXT more like the main roster shows, it’s going to be an easier transition when somebody gets called up to not have to revamp somebody completely.”
Gacy ultimately found success during NXT 2.0, but his memories show just how ugly the transition felt from inside the building. Triple H was suddenly gone, Vince McMahon and Bruce Prichard had taken control of the major decisions surrounding NXT’s new direction, releases were hitting the roster, and wrestlers had no guarantee they would survive long enough to find out where they fit into WWE’s new vision.
What do you make of WWE talent fearing they were about to be fired during the NXT 2.0 takeover? Did Vince McMahon and Bruce Prichard’s overhaul help NXT, or did WWE destroy what made the Black-and-Gold era special? Let us know what you think in the comments.
Please credit Ringside News if you use the above transcript in your publication.
