Despite dropping "2.0" from its branding, WWE reportedly intends to maintain its current ideology for NXT moving forward.
According to Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio (h/t Subhojeet Mukherjee of Ringside News), NXT won't be called "NXT 2.0" anymore, but it will remain similar to NXT 2.0 in that the primary focus will be on "younger" wrestlers.
Just over one year ago, NXT was rebranded as NXT 2.0 with a new logo and color scheme. It also had a new philosophy, as less-experienced and lesser-known wrestlers were pushed over the independent stars who had become the faces of the brand under Triple H.
The change occurred while Triple H was on the mend from heart issues, meaning Shawn Michaels was left in charge. Triple H is back and in a more prominent position than ever as head of WWE creative following Vince McMahon's retirement, but Triple H has kept his longtime friend in Michaels as the head of NXT.
NXT celebrated the one-year anniversary of NXT a couple of weeks ago, and at the end of the show, a new logo was revealed with the "2.0" branding disappearing.
That led to speculation about whether NXT would now more closely resemble what it was under Triple H's leadership, but that apparently won't be the case.
Triple H's NXT was arguably one of the best things in wrestling ever, so there was understandably a great deal of backlash when WWE transitioned to the NXT 2.0 concept.
While few would argue that the NXT product is better now than it was under Triple H, there is little doubt that far more stars have been built from the ground up, including the likes of Bron Breakker, Carmelo Hayes, Toxic Attraction, Cora Jade, Solo Sikoa, Grayson Waller and Tony D'Angelo, among many others.
Now that Triple H is in charge of the main roster, he can run it like he previously ran NXT, while Michaels can make NXT a true feeder system to Raw and SmackDown.
The biggest difference with Triple H as head of creative figures to be a much smoother transition from NXT to the main roster and a far greater chance for those Superstars to succeed.
There was a clear disconnect under McMahon's regime, but given how much time and effort Triple H has invested in NXT, he is unlikely to make the same mistakes.
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