"WWE NXT" has garnered a lot more eyes on the product since it's move to The CW last fall. With already trendsetting names taking a go like Ricky Saints,Giulia, Ethan Page,Jordynne Grace, andStephanie Vaquer, to name a few, it's argued that "NXT" and its stars are on the same pedestal as those on the main roster, due in part to how Shawn Michaels utilizes and promotes his athletes. Former WWE star Layla El, who knows a thing or two on how difficult it can be to find a leg up on the competition when first starting in WWE, commented on how she thinks "NXT" fares to a young star's career now.
"I feel like 'NXT' is like a lifesaver, you know what I mean? It saves all these young wrestlers coming into the business. It helps them, it preps them,"El said on "Busted Open." Even when I was there, I used to watch talent come up, and it was basically everyone's watching to see are they going to sink or are they going to swim...To watch now and to see the characters already produced, everything, so when they come up to the main roster they should fly."
Women's wrestling has come a long way. It doesn't matter which promotion you tune into, at the forefront of most weekly television programming or pay-per-view events, several women's matches are always added to the card. Some even main event the entire show. Back when El was a full-time competitor, "eye-candy" wasn't just a term thrown around, it sadly was a labeled identity to women who wrestled during the Divas era from 2008-2016. While it grinded her gears, El used that and something a writer once disclosed to her, as motivation to optimize better moments and opportunities for women's wrestling in the future.
"Even in, like, 2012 or 2011, when I was talking to a writer at the time, we were pitching ideas, this was after LayCool, the writer said to me, 'Nah, they just tell us we don't give a damn about the girls,'" El shockingly revealed. "That's the truth, and it hurts."
El said that despite hearing that absurdity, it did not derail herself or her cohorts from working harder, fighting robustly, and banding together to make the division what it is now, which they did successfully. Thanks to women like El, current women's wrestlers like Vaquer have the opportunity to become the first to ever hold both the NXT Women's North American and NXT Women's Championship simultaneously.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Busted Open Radio" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
