The following are excerpts from the 8/6/15 edition of WrestleZone Daily featuring WZ Daily regular and former WWE/WCW Head Writer Ed Ferrara chatting with WZ Daily host Nick Hausman.
NH: In WWE NXT it seems like the person that holds the belt is going to be the next person to come up to the main roster. That seems to be the transition now. When somebody is about to get a call up they become the NXT Champion, then they drop the belt and then they’re moved to the main roster. Does that method of crowning a champion and then bringing them up to the main roster seem too predictable to you? As a writer, what’s your take on the fact that this is such a straightforward process from a booking standpoint?
EF: I look at it from the flip side than the way you are looking at it. The guys who were at the top of their game in NXT would be the ones that they would give the run with the belt. Those are the ones that clearly the WWE would be looking to add to the main roster first. I don’t think it’s, “Hey, we want to bring this guy up put the belt on him.” I think it’s, “Hey, we put the belt on this guy you really should consider him.” As far as that goes, I don’t think it’s that big of a deal in terms of predictability. What’s predictable is when they bring them up before they’ve dropped the belt. Now granted, that brought Kevin Owens in with a lot more fan fare and heat. It brings Sasha Banks in with a lot more fan fare because they are, or were; in Owens case he was the champion when he came in. Sasha Banks supposedly still is (the champion) even though she has yet to actually have that WWE NXT Women’s Championship belt with her on RAW. Which I can’t understand for the life of me why they don’t have her with that belt over her shoulder. They still bill her as the WWE NXT Women’s Champion but she never shows up with the belt. I don’t know if she’s just very forgetful and she keeps leaving it in her hotel room or for some reason they don’t want to have her on TV out shining any of the other divas. Maybe they don’t want her out shining Nikki. They may be afraid of that because the chances are she’s going to out shine her (Nikki) anyway. I don’t think it’s so much predictable about who’s going up next. You can kind of get a feel of who’s on their way up and who’s going to stick around to finish baking. I just think it becomes a bit predictable, being an NXT fan, knowing that anyone of Sasha Banks’ next matches is going to be her last match since she’s already up on the main roster. She has to drop the belt and has to do the favor on the way out.
NH: You look at the way these women are being presented and Charlotte really does seem to be fitting their mold for this kind of “Ronda Rousey” figure right now. They seem to be pushing her as a genuine, pure bred female athlete on the roster. Do you think Charlotte can become a draw the same way that Ronda Rousey has become such a powerhouse draw for the UFC?
EF: She’ll be as much of a draw as:
A.) They allow her to become and…
B.) How they build her opponents.
There was only a WrestleMania not because of Hulk Hogan but because you also had Roddy Piper. You’ve got to go back to that. You’re only as good as your opponent. You’re only as important as the rivalry with the opponent.
In the full interview Ed chats candidly about his thoughts on the Hulk Hogan controversy, how the Submission Sorority would have been booked in the Attitude Era, Jushin “Thunder” Liger appearing at NXT Takeover:Brooklyn, who he would book The Rock against at WrestleMania 32 & MORE
The full interview can be found by clicking HERE or by listening to the show in the embedded player below.
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