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Mick's Blog: NXT Invasion

Posted: Jun 23rd 2010 By: mikeiles

I like the NXT deal. OK, maybe I'm not a fan of eight guys secretly showing up in public places clad only in wrestling trunks, as it would seem to undermine the clandestine nature of their arrival, but as a piece of business, and a way of making an impact (no pun intended), I think the NXT invasion is pretty captivating stuff.

First off, let me get in a quick thought on Bryan Danielson. I really hope his firing is just a part of the bigger picture. If not, it seems that firing an individual as talented and committed as Danielson is an extreme punishment for breaking a rule (choking) that he, in all likelihood, didn't even know existed. If he is indeed fired, I hope that TNA or ROH, or any promoter who admires and respects great wrestling will put this young man on their roster immediately. I, for one, would like to see a Danielson/Desmond Wolfe feud on national television.

I know there has been quite a bit of talk about the NXT Invasion in general, so I won't tread on the same material. Instead I will instead share my thoughts on the FCW training process as I remember it back in 2006.

Breaking new stars into the business is difficult, especially without the old territories, which once provided both training and proving grounds. The territories allowed so many great stars to establish their own characters, build confidence, learn poise, and gather experience around the country and globe in literally hundreds, sometimes even thousands, of matches before being subjected to the blinding glare of the national spotlight. Every new wrestler makes mistakes, but there was some relief in knowing that those initial mistakes would be suffered, and learned from, in armories and middle schools, low-paying foreign tours and small TV studios, before breaking into the big time. But with the death of the territories, so came the death of the seasoned veteran debuting on national television.

When WWE ended their affiliation with OVW, I thought the pipeline of good, new talent was gone for good. Certainly, most top WWE (and TNA) had cut their teeth in OVW. I still don't agree with the move made by WWE. But in the fall of 1996, I had a chance to see the young wrestlers in FCW training. More importantly, I had the chance to see Steve Kiern adapt to the realities of wrestling in the 21st Century.

Please don't quote me verbatim on this, but my recollection of my day there was that Kiern had realized that the days of the wrestler needing to cut fifty promos for local towns was over. No more "give me a 30 second, a one minute, a 90 second and a two minute for Birmingham." No more showing up at the CNN Center on your day off and doing promos all day long. Instead, Kiern told me that so much of wrestling in the new age consisted of guys being able to improvise, and interact with each other and the fans during the course of segments, matches and multi-person promos.

Kiern showed me how he would divide his guys into groups of four or five, give them a scenario, and have them react and interact with each other throughout the course of it. All of these segments would be recorded, and then the men and women of FCW would be able to watch themselves later, in order to learn and improve.

I still don't think there is any substitute for experience, and I wouldn't trade the way I broke in for anything. Well, maybe that's an exaggeration. But so much of surviving in the wrestling business hinges on the ability to adapt to changing times. When I see the guys on NXT (most of whom I've never heard of up until a few short months ago) and see them coming across as confident performers, I have to believe that the lessons they learned at the hands of Steve Kiern are largely responsible.

Tags: Mick Foley, TNA, WWE