Jimmy Korderas Discusses His Hopes For “WWE NXT 2.0”
Veteran WWE referee Jimmy Korderas made a return appearance to The Wrestling Inc. Daily where he discussed the upcoming changes to WWE NXT in the form of "NXT 2.0". A new NXT Champion is set to be crowned as Samoa Joe was forced to drop the title due to injuries and many production cuts have reportedly been made. Wrestling Inc. Managing Editor Nick Hausman asked Korderas what he thinks NXT can do differently in their reboot.
"I think it's going to be more cosmetic than anything, at least I'm hoping so because NXT is one of my, if not my favorite, show of the week because it appeals to me personally, as a wrestling fan," Korderas admitted. "I'm not looking at it from a critique standpoint. I'm looking at it from a wrestling fan standpoint. It hits me where I live. The storylines are good. The the matches are good. You have a little bit of a mix of different styles that mesh very well.
"I've seen what, allegedly, is the new logo with the colors and stuff. Let me put it this way, it's funny because last week's NXT, I was watching it here in my little office. My wife was sitting there doing something on the computer, but she was watching out of the corner of her eye. She's not a wrestling fan.
"So for her it was kind of like, yeah, it's alright, and now she's curious to see what this new looks going to look like because she grew up watching SmackDown, and RAW, and the big production, and the flashing lights and all that sort of stuff. That appeals to a larger audience. I think NXT maybe needs to do some of that if they want to grow their audience. I don't know, but at the same time, the challenge is not offending that core audience that you got."
Vince McMahon will reportedly be taking over the big picture moves for NXT moving forward with Triple H taking over the smaller details. Korderas gave his thoughts on McMahon seizing more control over NXT.
"I think it depends on how hands-on Vince gets with NXT," Korderas said. "I think he's there maybe to oversee everything. This is what I'd like to see. I'd like to see him let Hunter pretty much run things, handle the reins, and Vince will just be there as kind of an overseer and offer little things as opposed to going, 'No, we're not doing that,' ripping up the script an hour before going to air kind of stuff. An overseer but not someone who is completely hands-on. Let the guys who have been running it run it and just offer some suggestions and be part of the overall production value, if you wanted to present it, from a visual standpoint, differently."
WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley blew up on social media after he released a video critiquing WWE's creative direction. He highlighted how NXT talents can have success in NXT but be used in a completely different way, using Karrion Kross as an example of this. Korderas reacted to Foley's comments in the video.
"I completely understand where he's coming from, and yes, I agree with what he's saying," Korderas stated. "I hate to sound so cliché, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Karrion Kross was working. There was a character, and here's a guy that was right in Vince's wheelhouse with that character and the size. He had it all, and then he gets brought up to the main roster and we have this.
"Was it a test to have him lose in his debut match and then to change him into Lord Humongous or whatever this new iteration is of Karrion Kross. Yes, I understand the appeal to children, and we've got some masks that we can sell on our merchandise, but at the same time, you have other talent you can do that with. You can sell Karrion Kross to that other hardcore base audience that really buys into that stuff. I don't understand why the change because Karrion was right in that wheelhouse Vince likes."
You can follow Jimmy on Twitter @JimmyKorderas
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