Beth Phoenix made the surprising announcement today that she is stepping down from her commentary position with WWE NXT. The WWE Hall of Famer said she wanted to spend more time with her family. Her final appearance for the rainbow brand will be Sunday’s WarGames PPV.
On today’s Wrestling Observer Live, Bryan Alvarez talked about the situation. He mentioned that Beth could leave NXT and still do the rumored main roster feud with Edge against Miz and Maryse. Instead, she’s just done with NXT completely. Alvarez said that others working on the show have relayed to him that morale is low.
“It’s not like she couldn’t do the main roster feud with Miz & Maryse and also do NXT commentary. She has just decided she is done with NXT. Whatever that means, she says it’s due to family, but this also, again might not be the last person.
Because no matter what you guys think about me or anyone else saying that it sucks — it does. There are people there who have told me that it’s just not fun anymore.”
NXT has struggled to gain interest from viewers since rebranding to NXT 2.0. The dramatic change took what was widely agreed to be one of the best pro wrestling shows on television in a completely different direction. Many completely rejected the idea from the start, but those who gave it a chance are often left unsatisfied with the product.
The move to the new NXT 2.0 format is part of a larger company-wide initiative in WWE. The goal is to bring in elite young athletes with no wrestling background and train them in the WWE style. Those who don’t catch on quickly will be let go. It dovetails perfectly with the quick cuts and short matches and segments that have thus far dominated NXT 2.0.
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