Pete Dunne talks about NXT 2.0
Pete Dunne is one of the youngest superstars currently signed to WWE. At only 28 years old, Pete Dunne found himself fighting alongside the NXT veterans at WarGames 2021. Because Pete Dunne has been in the NXT system for five years, he's now being looked at as part of the old guard of NXT.
Speaking on WWE After the Bell, Dunne explained how he feels about the change in philosophy toward NXT 2.0, saying that despite the changes, Pete Dunne wants to keep the quality of NXT shows that were associated with the black and gold era.
“It's a completely different scene there now, right? And it continues to change. But to me, it's business as usual, in a sense, right? Like, I'm still me, I'm exactly the same. I want to be as competitive as I can. I wanna find the best matches I can. It's just a different, different crew of people to work with and do that. [I want to] still do me, the same style of match, the same sort of thing, but with a new cast of characters, right. I'm looking forward to different opportunities to work with different guys and also show them what NXT is about. You know, like you said, preparing for WarGames, I know what I'm going out there and I'm about to do. I think for a lot of these guys now. It's about keeping that same standard that we got NXT known for. People knew about those TakeOvers that were going to be hard to follow. I want to keep it at that standard right and just bring these new guys in and see if they can hang with us and the ones that do, [will] still gonna have the same quality.”
Dunne continued, “To me, the in-ring product has always been at such a high level [in NXT]. You could argue it's the best in the world, right? I want to keep that. Obviously, with newer guys coming in that maybe don't have the background that people like myself, [Undisputed] ERA or yourself have had, that's gonna feel difficult at first. But if there's ever a place where hopefully we can manage that, it's the WWE Performance Center. You have access to Robbie Brookside, William Regal, Finlay, all the way up to Shawn Michaels, you know, so you really can get a crash course in what this is, and I just hope that we can keep it to that standard. I'm sure we can, even in the short space of time. You know, we're only one big event in and I'm not sure how long now, but it's still a fairly recent change. But you can see how much of the audience are gravitating towards the Bron Breakkers, the [Carmelo Hayes], you know, people like this. So, hopefully, we're at the start of something that is just the next evolution of NXT. Like you said, some things remain the same and I feel like that could be the buzz about the whole thing. Going back to your original era, all the way through now. Obviously, some things are going to feel different for a while and there might be a bit of an awkward transition at times, but I hope, overall there's still that buzz about it and there's still that, ‘I can't wait to see what this guy does when he moves up to Raw, SmackDown, goes on to do whatever it is that we're all gonna do.’ Hopefully, that buzz remains the same and everyone's quality can stay to the super high standard.”
NXT continues to go through changes as two of the staple members of the roster, Kyle O'Reilly and Johnny Gargano have left WWE and are currently free agents. Johnny recently reopened his Pro Wrestling Tees shop. Learn more here.
Shawn Michaels, the WWE Vice President of Talent Development, recently stated that despite what people think, it is still Triple H and his team in charge of NXT. You can read Shawn's comments at this link.
Fightful has live coverage of WWE NXT 2.0 as it airs on the USA Network, beginning every Tuesday at 8 p.m. eastern time.
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