After NXT was soundly defeated by AEW Dynamite in the Wednesday Night War, Vince McMahon has finally decided to get more hands-on with the developmental brand. He no longer wants the show to focus on older, indie stars, and will instead make creating the WWE Superstars he believes could one day main event a WrestleMania a priority (bad news for anyone under 6'0" tall).
Last night's colourful NXT 2.0 has certainly led to mixed reactions online, and it definitely didn't feel like the NXT of old. One big change saw Mandy Rose, WWE's "Golden Goddess," debut a startling new look. Now wearing black and sporting darker hair, it looks like she'll be pushed as a top star.
Recently, Samoa Joe announced that he would have to relinquish the NXT Championship due to injury, though there's been a lot of speculation that Vince just wanted the title off him.
Whatever the case may be, NXT 2.0 was headlined by a Fatal 4-Way NXT Championship match featuring Von Wagner (a.k.a. Cal Bloom) vs. Tommaso Ciampa vs. LA Knight vs. Pete Dunne. Ultimately, Ciampa managed to win the title for the second time, though it seemed obvious WWE was laying the groundwork for him to drop that to one of these younger talents.
If anything, Ciampa's win just felt like a way of placating longtime NXT fans as he's clearly one of the older, smaller talents Vince has zero interest in making a focal point of this show now.
Check out Rose's new look below: