PJ Black reflects on the original NXT.
In 2010, NXT debuted as a competition show that aired on Syfy and paired rookies with veterans in search of the next big WWE Superstar. PJ Black, who performed under the name Justin Gabriel and was paired with Matt Hardy, was eliminated in the final week of the competition.
Speaking to Steve Fall of WrestlingNewsCo, Black reflected on the original season.
“At that time, it was cool because we just wanted to be on TV. We were a bunch of rookies. Well, in the storyline. I had been wrestling for 10 years at that time. Honestly, I didn’t care what I was doing on TV. I was like, oh cool, I’m on TV, I’m on the road. That was my goal in life, to wrestle full-time. That game show went completely in a different direction. The original plan was for us to live in a house like the Ultimate Fighter and actually compete and do proper athletic challenges. But as the wrestling goes, time ran out, and on the day, they were like, ‘Oh, let’s write a show,’ and then they were like, ‘Oh, we don’t even have time to write a show.’ So we kind of free-styled pretty much everything. It was pretty much all on the fly," he said.
Gabriel would remain with WWE until 2015.
NXT, as a competition show, lasted five seasons before becoming a developmental/third brand for WWE.
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