Could we see Steve Maclin back in NXT?
The partnership between TNA and NXT has been an exciting one. We’ve gotten plenty of fun surprises such as the reunion of The Rascalz and Joe Hendry, along with several familiar faces like Ash by Elegance (who went by Dana Brooke during her time in WWE).
Could Steve Maclin be another face to pay a visit to the developmental brand? Well, according to the former Impact World Champion himself, he’s not going out of way to make sure he makes an appearance down in NXT, but if it happens, it happens:
"If it happens, it happens. I'm very happy with where I am in my spot right now in TNA. Obviously, with the crossover, it'd be awesome, because he gets more eyes on me, and then TNA itself. But I'm just happy with the direction right now, the stories that I'm going through, and my feud right now with Josh [Alexander], I'm enjoying. But if something was to happen, who knows? Maybe Rumble time," he said during the That’s Wrestling! Interview.
For those who don’t remember, Steve Maclin was originally Steve Cutler in NXT. He signed with WWE in 2014 and made his television debut that same year on July 3. Maclin’s most notable time in the company was being a part of The Forgotten Sons group with Jaxson Ryker and Wesley Blake. The trio was gaining steam in the developmental brand when they were officially called up to the main roster in April 2020.
Upon debut, it seemed as The Forgotten Sons were primed for a major push within the tag team division, but Ryker put up a tweet supporting Donal Trump in the middle of the Black Lives movement. That garnered severe backlash from fans and wrestlers alike. The Forgotten Sons gimmick was ultimately dropped.
WWE tried to repackage Cutler and Blake as a pair of lackeys for King Corbin, but the group just wasn’t working out and the company decided to release Cutler on February 4, 2021. Wesley Blake, who was also released that year, talked about the heat the trio received with Gary Cassidy of Inside The Ropes following Ryker’s tweet and management’s reaction:
“When that tweet happened, Steve and myself, we went into the Performance Center to talk with creative and they kind of let us know, like, ‘Hey, we’re going to let this blow for about two weeks and then we’ll kind of bring you back and y’all start going again with the New Day.’ So, you know, at that time, we didn’t think the tweet was going to cause that much damage. But then, of course, a week later, we were told that they’re going to go into a storyline with Cesaro and Shinsuke.”
It would be cool for WWE fans to see just how much Cutler had changed since his time in the company. Maclin has been a notable standout in TNA and deserves his spot as one of the company’s top guys.