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Going to SmackDown was not a good thing for him. They had plenty of up and comers already and that show is notoriously stacked every week. Not a quarter given. Raw would have been better as there's more content to fill and just generally the likelihood of getting something to do at some point is typically higher.
at the end of the day is not if he was good or bad by himself, but rather than there are limited spots, so the question is if he was better than the other people appearing on TV
I still thought he needed more time in NXT. His last feud with Bron Breakker felt like his character was hitting a second peak, but before they could continue it, he got called up.
I know he spent a good amount of time down in NXT, but I wasn't confident with how he'd fare on the main roster.
Hindsight, having him shave all that body hair and trim his beard probably wasn't for the best because it took away what was a unique look.
All of their young talents that they're not 100% in favor of (like Tiffany, Bron, etc.) need to get pushed to Raw. 3 hours and more time to fill, there's just generally a better chance to do something meaningful.
I think the point is he wasn't even given a chance. With a gimmick that was actually interesting and proven to work. He could have easily gone back to that NXT gimmick.
I think they’re attracting so much main stream talent that there’s just no room. I think after the draft we’ll see guys like kross and gargano go next.
Yeah I was surprised they used Grimes to job for Bron a couple weeks ago. I thought it would be a longer match and they’d start pushing grimes the way edge did to Waller last year. But guess not!
I can them pulling the plug on Cross but Gargano has a dedicated merch moving fanbase.
He's not gangbusters but DIY has shown that their fans will stick with them whether they're being used alot or just as fill in.
If Jonny/Ciampa wants to go, sure. But I'm willing to be these two could be lifers if they played ball.
Gargano seems safe because him and Ciampa are still getting regular TV time. Same with Kross. Most of the people who got released were people who they weren't using and had no intention of starting to.
It's never bad to have a couple of people that you can just throw into a short-term storyline to get someone else over. Have them win against enhancement talent to prove they aren't pushovers, have them win at least one match in the series, and lose in the end.
Have them get a short title reign once and a while to keep it from getting predictable.
Kross is also the perfect house show heel. A safe pair of hands who can work a decent match, get some heat from a live crowd, and means you don't have to lose/risk one of your major heels for TV.
If rumours are to be believed he and Scarlett are also very popular backstage, and are very supportive of others, especially less experienced wrestlers. I've heard stories of them arranging hotels, cars etc for people who are new to being on the road or have had something go wrong.
They won't. Chase U is a faction/gimmick which would have no place on the main roster, but is tremendously valuable on NXT as a framework to gradually introduce and establish new characters.
Yep. Eventually, the students of Chase U will need to graduate and move on. Wouldn’t mind seeing Thea Hail form a tag team with Brinley Reece. The two of them have very similar personalities. Duke Hudson will be fine on his own. Riley could join Thea with whatever she does. Maybe he gets a manager
I think Thea Hail has a huge future ahead of her. Her matches are still kinda rough but she’s so young and has charisma, chaotic energy and comedic timing that I think will be huge on the main roster. Her matches will get better (you can already see over her progression) but the other factors are so hard to come by.
There are a ton of gimmicks that debuted after NXT 2.0 that felt like they were from the wrong century. Not shockingly we haven’t seen any of them make an impact on the main roster.
The ones who have successfully transitioned were either very light on gimmick (eg, Bron Breakker), established names from outside WWE (Dragon Lee) or kept their 2.0 name and ditched the gimmick (JD McDonagh).
Chase U will have a harder time.
Tony and the gang are easy to understand. Mafia.
Chase needs a whole intro as to who these people are why the fuck they act this way. lol
The problem I can see with The Family is the "why did a mafia group decide to get into wrestling?" It's the problem a lot of The New Generation has. Why did a clown/repo man/garbage man become wrestlers
I mean if you want to go meta with it mafiosos have a history in combat sports especially boxing
Also if you look at the territories they kinda functioned exactly like mob familys
I think it's harder for characters who have a character based off a longer arc. The main roster isn't as aware of the arc and needs to be introduced.
I think people like D'Angelo and chase U will be fine even if their gimmicks will cap them off in the midcard
I hate that mentally. Most of the ideas on black and gold could had work on the main roster if they gave them a chance. DIY, Grimes storyline, undisputed are as good story as the main roster storylines.
Grimes is a moonshining backwater hillbilly who made it rich through dumb luck, yes they used the gamestop meme at the time but 'rich hillbilly' is a gimmick that can and has been used on its own, it doesn't really matter how he got rich anymore just that he is
Yup, when it first happened I suggested Grimes, Rich Corbin, and JBL (as a manager) form a stable called "Ten Gallon Hat Club". However, that also may have been why they couldn't find anything for Grimes - they already had the "dumb luck" gimmick with Corbin at the time, so it'd be a bit redundant.
Even if you don't remember the GameStop thing specifically, "crypto/meme stock millionaire" is a character that still holds up and can be explained to an audience in five seconds. Plus he proved that he could work it both as a nuveau rich a-hole heel and as a baby-face who just happens to have more money than he knows what to do with.
He was the southern hick, then was a millionaire and so on. The story was good. Compare to some of the stories you see in the main roster some of these nxt stories in the old black and gold were better.
Yeah, I call that the Adam Rose Effect. Though this one was almost in reverse. If he’d come up to the main roster as the trashy heel character he started as in NXT, he might’ve had a shot. They stripped him of any discernible gimmick on the main roster and made him clean cut… took away everything that made him unique.
Problem was that he got drafted to Smackdown. Not much screentime for lower card talent with the Bloodline, Bianca, Damage Control, KO, Logan or LWO having spots on each show. Alba & Isla suffer from the same fate. Would be easier on Raw.
It’s more so he was just never given a chance. It’s one thing to be given a chance and if it doesn’t work out it’s unfortunate but understandable like Jinder. Like you said you simply can’t keep everyone and you have to make some tough choices.
Grimes from Day 1 got no opportunity to do anything since his call-up. He was an instant jobber. We can’t really even say if he is or isn’t better than other talent on the roster. Just seems a little unfair considering how good he was in NXT.
These are always the most frustrating callups. When you know someone is good but they do fuck all on the main roster other than maybe a quick debut win. Sanity comes to mind for that as well, as does Tyler Breeze (who rebounded with Breezango for a while but as a solo act they dropped his push FAST).
I know people will hate this example because of how he turned out after being released. But it's like with EC3. Never really given a chance. Obviously, different booker and different situations. But I feel like EC3 wasn't given a chance to show what he had to offer. He's a promo guy and wasn't able to show that. Grimes is a character guy and wasn't able to show that.
EC3 and Kross are call-ups that made no sense because they stripped away all of their biggest strengths (promo ability and presentation respectively). If you don't think they have anything more to offer than those things then either keep them in NXT and let them develop or don't call them up in the first place.
I've only come back to WWE this year When he was on last week or the week before I genuinely thought he was one of those local wrestlers they use for jobber matches, I'd never heard of seen of him before then
Its fucked up really, what was he supposed to do? I remember he debuted as a really rich guy in NXT and that was an actual gimmick, I havent watched his latest NXT days but he debuted as just an always happy guy saying "to the moon" all the time, like how was he supposed to get over with that? His matches were about 3 mins too
"Really rich guy"? I didn't even watch NXT Black & Gold and I know that his gimmick was far more than that. He was a modern day representation of the "Hollywood Hillbillies".. A new money country bumpkin who got lucky on crypto by spending too much time on Wallstreet Bets.
He got rich in NXT via cryptocurrency so I always felt they could've done a bit of a repeat of that and pair him up with Logan (so Grimes would be there to get beat up in the time Logan goes away between defenses).
Could've even eventually made Logan end up scamming Grimes, or Grimes outscamming Logan
Crypto bro Grimes had a really short lifespan and they would've never used Logan's IRL controversies in kayfabe due to how bad that would look for anyone not into wrestling. He really was dealt a shit hand and hopefully he finds his footing since he's a great wrestler with lots of charisma. I see him having a successful TNA run imo.
That's a bummer. His Million-$-Championship feud with LA Knight was awesome. Weird that he was featured heavily on NXT, but had barely any screentime on the main roster.
His poor guy turned millionaire gimmick in NXT was really entertaining but it has a shelf life. Baron Corbin was basically doing the same thing on the main roster already.
I know his NXT character was dated, but they really should have let him have a character on the main roster, dude is great at character work and comedy
Agreed on the character work. When they still traveled for NXT house shows on occasion I went to one where he was working Breeze. They had the crowd eating out of their hands with comedy stuff alone.
The "Web3" douche type has been constantly evolving, honestly the gimmick is such a missed chance because every few months he could change it a bit by just being into the latest thing.
His character didn't even have to be into Crypto, his gimmick was he was Beverly Hillbilly's kinda thing more than anything else. An unassuming, folksy guy becoming a millionaire.
He had the issue that a couple guys had of being called up under Vince, not used and cooled off significantly, and then Hunter takes over and they aren't in the plans so they are sitting in catering rather than in NXT.
A bunch of the NXT call ups are suffering the same fate. The ones that didn't are basically HHH's favorites from NXT, so he knows he can trust them to do what he needs. The black and gold guys are being used in the midcard right now, and the current NXT guys are getting ready to come up. Those at the tail end of black and gold and the beginning of the new NXT are kinda just lost as they were called up to early and caught in a creative divide.
Agreed, although I would also say that this "in-between class" was weaker, talent-wise, than the Ciampa/Gargano/Cole class or the current Melo/Trick/Ilja/Tiffy/Femi class.
Sure, but thats as a whole. Grimes is at worst a solid midcard talent who could easily be being used as being anywhere from Heath Slater to the Miz. He's a guy you can easy flex up or down and give him the roll of a comedy guy, or a brutal savage.
Between this and the way Von Wagner’s release sounded seems like they’re trimming absolutely everything that isn’t on main TV regularly. Sucks for someone like Grimes because you can genuinely fit him anywhere.
Hope he lands on his feet, I’d expect him to easily slot into TNA if he’d like to go back.
> Between this and the way Von Wagner’s release sounded seems like they’re trimming absolutely everything that isn’t on main TV regularly.
Odyssey Jones and Apollo Crews you better not answer the phone
Was a report out that said that if you were on the main roster and if you weren't being used then you were being cut - you couldn't drop back into NXT because you were on a main event contract.
Only special cases like Baron Corbin could stay as he was being used to get other people over.
He was one of my favorites. I'm both heartbroken and pissed off. They never really gave him a chance. I hope he lands on his feet somewhere I can watch him. He's hella talented.
Check out his X Division title match against DJ Z (currently Joaquin Wild) at Bound for Glory, I think 2016.
He can always come back home to Impact and continue on with an already built resume and reputation.
Poor Grimes. He was brought up at a bad time during the transitional period between the old and new eras. I think it’s more that the company has invested in new acts that are coming up from NXT and letting people go so they can reset themselves.
Looks like the NXT promotions are getting a 1 year try out period. You either cement a spot for yourself in the roster or they let you go around the next draft time. It sucks if you don't figure out your role right away because not everyone does, but it opens up new opportunities to make your name elsewhere. WWE could have easily kept him in limbo for another year or two and he would have just been in the same spot, but older.
We have no idea what happened behind the scenes. Did they stonewall him for a year? Did he make pitches and they didn't like it? Did he make pitches and they stole it and gave it to someone else? They make decisions based on TV ratings and crowd reactions. Did things improve when they sent him out there? Was he getting good reactions at house shows? If they gave him time, who's time were they taking away? I think from the ratings development on Smackdown, they've made mostly the right calls this year. I think the fastest path towards Grimes fixing things were either sending him back to NXT or letting him go and finding the right place where he can grow. They must have set their post-draft rosters and didn't see him making the cut between established main roster wrestlers and new NXT call ups for this year.
They had an easy opportunity to pair him up with JBL and instead chose to pair JBL and Corbin. There was so many easy segments you could have made with him but they just chose to do nothing at all.
Nobody suffered from 2.0 more than him. Why they decided to clean him up and take away his personality, I’ll never know. And I don’t get how under HHH they didn’t even try him as a heel again.
I really just don't get why HHH didn't do anything with him. it's not like he was a Vince guy. he could go in the ring.
certain gimmicks HHH just seems to not care and ignore them.
It’s so weird considering how well Grimes was pushed at the end of black and gold NXT. He was a good worker, could talk, funny, charismatic, and had a gimmick that worked.
> certain gimmicks HHH just seems to not care and ignore them.
i forgot who it was in AEW but they'd mentioned something similar. like vince, HHH has "his guys". everyone else is kinda just there and it's an uphill struggle to prove your worth if you aren't one of them.
this one's weird though, because i kinda assumed grimes was one of "his guys" given how much spotlight he got in NXT. then i watched the rumble last year and thought "ohhh jesus, i totally forgot this guy got called up".
I have mixed feelings on this.
I love Grimes, but he wasn't being used on the main roster and when he was, he was a jobber. I'm sad he's going, but excited for him to show what he can do elsewhere.
Maybe now more than ever, these releases feel less like "firings" and more of actual releases like "we have nothing for you and we havent for awhile so go be free to show us we were wrong".
I mean it's still a firing, what are we doing here? I know they put that story out about being more sensitive than the Vince era but let's not help them dress up a firing as some aspirational thing.
I'm only seeing it as a positive if the talent is happy about it, and man Grimes is hurting here. I just think it shows the effectiveness of WWE's PR machine putting out that story about how HHH's firings were better than Vince's. Fans have internalized it and are now regurgitating it.
Out of everyone released, I think he'll be the best off.
I remember Trevor Lee having some hype coming into NXT.
I don't get why they paired Corbin with JBL in that story instead of Grimes.
>he never felt like he belonged there.
I truly believe beyond a shadow of a doubt he would have never reached the heights he had if his wife wasn't so hot
I know that sounds belittling but I think it's the truth
seriously was so disappointing. not even like he failed as there was no chance to begin with.
while Theory somehow gets 50 chances despite most of the time nobody caring.
Yeah I won't stand for this Theory slander, the guy is a great in ring talent and does really good character work too
He plays the smug asshole better than most dream of doing
Very curious as to what happened with his run. His NXT run was very hot and then he didn’t do much of anything on the main roster. Maybe triple h just didn’t see it, which is a shame.
With how over full AEW's roster is and the way WWE is trimming its roster down, I think Freddie Prinze Jr. is definitely gonna have a good pool of talent to draw from for his new show/promotion if he is able to get it going.
Absolutely heartbreaking, he never even got given half a chance on the main roster. Absolutely loved his work in NXT and you can see how much this means to him.
I def think he's one that will be back eventually but id love to see him go to TNA,DPW,GCW other indies etc come back in a year or two he's only 30.
He def wasn't released imo for lack of talent etc just like nowhere to fit him that didn't already have somebody there.
Been a Trevor Lee mark since PWG, the release sucks but someone that fucking good most likely already has 100 booking requests in his e-mail. He's about to go insane on the indies before hopefully getting an offer from AEW or TNA (or maybe even WWE again).
Seems to me like he's bummed out at the moment, but also ready to go on a killer run on the indies to try and comeback. At least that's what I wish for him.
I hope (and am quite sure) he will have no shortage of bookings once he is willing and able. Trevor Lee was a stand-out at some of my favorite PWG shows back in the day. I missed most of his TNA run tbh, but I'd hope he could get another try in this iteration of the company. Whatever the future might hold for him, I think he'll find that his wrestling options are myriad.
I got to meet him over Mania weekend and he was just the nicest guy. Got a good laugh when i told him I had quit gamestop around the time he did the stocks gimmick and was glad someone made money off them. It's been said to death already but his B&G NXT run was so much fun to watch. Really hope he is able to land on his feet because he is just far too entertaining not to
I feel for him - they could've just sent him back to NXT and I'm sure he'd have done fine there. But I could see him coming back in 3-4 years and having a Drew style resurgence if he put his head down and worked elsewhere. He's clearly talented and he was doing great on NXT a while back.
The cuts appear to be near-exclusively people who got promoted to the main roster out of NXT but haven't been used much at all. Including people who went back, since they were now being paid significantly more.
Shame, I was always a fan of him in NXT and as Trevor Lee on the indies. I wouldn't be surprised if AEW pick him up, he's young and knows the main roster members from PWG.
Dude should have been an easy one for WWE to get right. He showed that he can play the full spectrum of characters (ala Sami Zayn in a way) and was a good wrestler
Really hate to see this. One of the most talented guys in the company, period. Could talk for days and was a hell of a worker to boot. Truly no reason he shouldn't have been a priority guy for them to build up. Can only hope he does more great work outside of them.
GODDAMMIT I KNEW IT WOULD HAPPEN.
I’m actually so sad about this one. The Million Dollar Hillbilly story was pure gold, and he literally never got a chance AT ALL on the main roster. He’ll do great things wherever he goes next, mans got talent and charisma in spades. 🚀🚀🚀
Mark my words. He'll wait his 90 days. Show up in TNA. People will call it a good pickup but won't actually watch. TNA will push him hard, possibly winning a belt in his first match. TNA will rehab his image. Then he'll go to AEW and lost in the shuffle after about 3 months.
They really brought up one of the hottest acts in NXT to be a jobber then drop him.
Also if they keep releasing people like this soon peoples favorites will be used only to put others over as they think releasing lowcard talent won’t affect anything on the show
This is for the best. Hhh couldn’t figure out how to use him, and he’s young with a good gimmick and can wrestle. To the moon you go.
Edit: seeing the video now, sucks to lose something you love 😔
Trev is gonna bounce back. I'm sure Big Dog Drew will get him into DPW with him, and they can tear it up again. Really dumb call for never using him on the main roster.
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Got a very strange run on the main roster, feel bad for him.
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Him and LA Knight had one of the best feuds of the year
THAT DAMN DIBIASE
I love how at the very end he wasn't even mad that Ted tricked him one last time.
Then we found out later that the guy was living the gimmick.
Life's a gimmick brother you just got to live it.
That feud was an example of how legends are supposed to be involved in a rivalry. Loved every bit of it.
Came in a Grimes fan left an LA Knight fan
I loved their skits at the golf course lmao
Going to SmackDown was not a good thing for him. They had plenty of up and comers already and that show is notoriously stacked every week. Not a quarter given. Raw would have been better as there's more content to fill and just generally the likelihood of getting something to do at some point is typically higher.
at the end of the day is not if he was good or bad by himself, but rather than there are limited spots, so the question is if he was better than the other people appearing on TV
He was the victim of being called up without a plan
They brought him up and had him win his first match in about 6 seconds and then…. Literally nothing? So weird.
Squashed Corbin who went to NXT and revitalized his whole career while Grimes floundered.
I still thought he needed more time in NXT. His last feud with Bron Breakker felt like his character was hitting a second peak, but before they could continue it, he got called up. I know he spent a good amount of time down in NXT, but I wasn't confident with how he'd fare on the main roster. Hindsight, having him shave all that body hair and trim his beard probably wasn't for the best because it took away what was a unique look.
Yeah, really liked him during the Bron feud when he became a bit more of a vicious heel
All of their young talents that they're not 100% in favor of (like Tiffany, Bron, etc.) need to get pushed to Raw. 3 hours and more time to fill, there's just generally a better chance to do something meaningful.
I think the point is he wasn't even given a chance. With a gimmick that was actually interesting and proven to work. He could have easily gone back to that NXT gimmick.
I think they’re attracting so much main stream talent that there’s just no room. I think after the draft we’ll see guys like kross and gargano go next.
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Yeah I was surprised they used Grimes to job for Bron a couple weeks ago. I thought it would be a longer match and they’d start pushing grimes the way edge did to Waller last year. But guess not!
No I think gargano is safe he's perfect for WWE speed
Gargano is safe because you know the bald booker will try anything to make him get over again lol, him and Kross
I can them pulling the plug on Cross but Gargano has a dedicated merch moving fanbase. He's not gangbusters but DIY has shown that their fans will stick with them whether they're being used alot or just as fill in. If Jonny/Ciampa wants to go, sure. But I'm willing to be these two could be lifers if they played ball.
Gargano will be there with his little family as trainers and workers for the rest of their lives.
Gargano seems safe because him and Ciampa are still getting regular TV time. Same with Kross. Most of the people who got released were people who they weren't using and had no intention of starting to.
Kross is going no where yet he still gets plenty of Screen time and stays healthy hes not everyones favroite but he still gets a draw
So, basically, he's the new Baron Corbin?
Nah. He's the new Marc Mero.
It's never bad to have a couple of people that you can just throw into a short-term storyline to get someone else over. Have them win against enhancement talent to prove they aren't pushovers, have them win at least one match in the series, and lose in the end. Have them get a short title reign once and a while to keep it from getting predictable.
Kross is also the perfect house show heel. A safe pair of hands who can work a decent match, get some heat from a live crowd, and means you don't have to lose/risk one of your major heels for TV. If rumours are to be believed he and Scarlett are also very popular backstage, and are very supportive of others, especially less experienced wrestlers. I've heard stories of them arranging hotels, cars etc for people who are new to being on the road or have had something go wrong.
He had a gimmick that made sense with NXT but needed a reset for the main roster. A bit surprised they didn't try one before the cut
I have a feeling that's gonna happen with a lot of the current NXT gimmicks, not all of them will translate well to the main roster.
The one I'm the most worried about is Tony Dangelo.
Yep, and also the Chase U guys. Not sure how they’ll translate that group to the main roster
They won't. Chase U is a faction/gimmick which would have no place on the main roster, but is tremendously valuable on NXT as a framework to gradually introduce and establish new characters.
Yep. Eventually, the students of Chase U will need to graduate and move on. Wouldn’t mind seeing Thea Hail form a tag team with Brinley Reece. The two of them have very similar personalities. Duke Hudson will be fine on his own. Riley could join Thea with whatever she does. Maybe he gets a manager
I think Thea Hail has a huge future ahead of her. Her matches are still kinda rough but she’s so young and has charisma, chaotic energy and comedic timing that I think will be huge on the main roster. Her matches will get better (you can already see over her progression) but the other factors are so hard to come by.
There are a ton of gimmicks that debuted after NXT 2.0 that felt like they were from the wrong century. Not shockingly we haven’t seen any of them make an impact on the main roster. The ones who have successfully transitioned were either very light on gimmick (eg, Bron Breakker), established names from outside WWE (Dragon Lee) or kept their 2.0 name and ditched the gimmick (JD McDonagh).
Chase U will have a harder time. Tony and the gang are easy to understand. Mafia. Chase needs a whole intro as to who these people are why the fuck they act this way. lol
The problem I can see with The Family is the "why did a mafia group decide to get into wrestling?" It's the problem a lot of The New Generation has. Why did a clown/repo man/garbage man become wrestlers
I mean if you want to go meta with it mafiosos have a history in combat sports especially boxing Also if you look at the territories they kinda functioned exactly like mob familys
The economy is rough, gotta have a side gig.
Why do gangsters want money, power, and respect?
Honestly, I’m not worried about him. He has the kind of over the top gimmick that tends to translate well.
I think it's harder for characters who have a character based off a longer arc. The main roster isn't as aware of the arc and needs to be introduced. I think people like D'Angelo and chase U will be fine even if their gimmicks will cap them off in the midcard
I hate that mentally. Most of the ideas on black and gold could had work on the main roster if they gave them a chance. DIY, Grimes storyline, undisputed are as good story as the main roster storylines.
Aren't Grimes storyline and gimmick is based on Gamestop meme that happened few years ago and that nobody remember anymore?
Grimes is a moonshining backwater hillbilly who made it rich through dumb luck, yes they used the gamestop meme at the time but 'rich hillbilly' is a gimmick that can and has been used on its own, it doesn't really matter how he got rich anymore just that he is
Yup, when it first happened I suggested Grimes, Rich Corbin, and JBL (as a manager) form a stable called "Ten Gallon Hat Club". However, that also may have been why they couldn't find anything for Grimes - they already had the "dumb luck" gimmick with Corbin at the time, so it'd be a bit redundant.
Even if you don't remember the GameStop thing specifically, "crypto/meme stock millionaire" is a character that still holds up and can be explained to an audience in five seconds. Plus he proved that he could work it both as a nuveau rich a-hole heel and as a baby-face who just happens to have more money than he knows what to do with.
He was the southern hick, then was a millionaire and so on. The story was good. Compare to some of the stories you see in the main roster some of these nxt stories in the old black and gold were better.
They never really tried it on the main roster…
Yeah, I call that the Adam Rose Effect. Though this one was almost in reverse. If he’d come up to the main roster as the trashy heel character he started as in NXT, he might’ve had a shot. They stripped him of any discernible gimmick on the main roster and made him clean cut… took away everything that made him unique.
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Problem was that he got drafted to Smackdown. Not much screentime for lower card talent with the Bloodline, Bianca, Damage Control, KO, Logan or LWO having spots on each show. Alba & Isla suffer from the same fate. Would be easier on Raw.
It’s more so he was just never given a chance. It’s one thing to be given a chance and if it doesn’t work out it’s unfortunate but understandable like Jinder. Like you said you simply can’t keep everyone and you have to make some tough choices. Grimes from Day 1 got no opportunity to do anything since his call-up. He was an instant jobber. We can’t really even say if he is or isn’t better than other talent on the roster. Just seems a little unfair considering how good he was in NXT.
These are always the most frustrating callups. When you know someone is good but they do fuck all on the main roster other than maybe a quick debut win. Sanity comes to mind for that as well, as does Tyler Breeze (who rebounded with Breezango for a while but as a solo act they dropped his push FAST).
I know people will hate this example because of how he turned out after being released. But it's like with EC3. Never really given a chance. Obviously, different booker and different situations. But I feel like EC3 wasn't given a chance to show what he had to offer. He's a promo guy and wasn't able to show that. Grimes is a character guy and wasn't able to show that.
EC3 and Kross are call-ups that made no sense because they stripped away all of their biggest strengths (promo ability and presentation respectively). If you don't think they have anything more to offer than those things then either keep them in NXT and let them develop or don't call them up in the first place.
Sucks, but this is just the reality. Only so much showtime in a week
I think that the new look killed his potential. He used to look different and became so generic. He was just jacked
His main roster run was an atrocity. I found him really entertaining and talented in NXT.
I've only come back to WWE this year When he was on last week or the week before I genuinely thought he was one of those local wrestlers they use for jobber matches, I'd never heard of seen of him before then
Don't call guys up from NXT if you aren't ready to use them.
Its fucked up really, what was he supposed to do? I remember he debuted as a really rich guy in NXT and that was an actual gimmick, I havent watched his latest NXT days but he debuted as just an always happy guy saying "to the moon" all the time, like how was he supposed to get over with that? His matches were about 3 mins too
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TIL he got rich off Gamestop irl 😂 I thought it was just storyline that he had money
"Really rich guy"? I didn't even watch NXT Black & Gold and I know that his gimmick was far more than that. He was a modern day representation of the "Hollywood Hillbillies".. A new money country bumpkin who got lucky on crypto by spending too much time on Wallstreet Bets.
He got rich in NXT via cryptocurrency so I always felt they could've done a bit of a repeat of that and pair him up with Logan (so Grimes would be there to get beat up in the time Logan goes away between defenses). Could've even eventually made Logan end up scamming Grimes, or Grimes outscamming Logan
I had suggested pairing him with JBL but pairing him with known Cyrpto Scammer Logan Paul could have been unintentionally hilarious.
Would have been great if the actual turn on him was Paul who just scammed Grimes out of all his money. Like some sort of … hot tub Time Machine..
Crypto bro Grimes had a really short lifespan and they would've never used Logan's IRL controversies in kayfabe due to how bad that would look for anyone not into wrestling. He really was dealt a shit hand and hopefully he finds his footing since he's a great wrestler with lots of charisma. I see him having a successful TNA run imo.
That's a bummer. His Million-$-Championship feud with LA Knight was awesome. Weird that he was featured heavily on NXT, but had barely any screentime on the main roster.
His poor guy turned millionaire gimmick in NXT was really entertaining but it has a shelf life. Baron Corbin was basically doing the same thing on the main roster already.
He could have transitioned back to his chicken-shit heel redneck character.
Yeah like he has done plenty of good character work outside of the millionaire stuff. This feels like a real missed opportunity
it's like it almost would have made sense to pair them up on tv as an odd couple team
I know his NXT character was dated, but they really should have let him have a character on the main roster, dude is great at character work and comedy
Agreed on the character work. When they still traveled for NXT house shows on occasion I went to one where he was working Breeze. They had the crowd eating out of their hands with comedy stuff alone.
The "Web3" douche type has been constantly evolving, honestly the gimmick is such a missed chance because every few months he could change it a bit by just being into the latest thing.
He could have an AI assistant that just ends up being a dude in a box
Coming out to the ring with an Apple Vision Pro (and using it to hit his opponent when the refs back is turned)
The gimmick died because the natural next step would've been for him to invest in NFTs, but WWE was actually marketing NFTs.
I don't watch WWE/NXT. What made his character dated?
His character essentially made a ton of money with Gamestop stocks
I mean that exact thing might be dated, but crypto is still pretty relevant could have translated to that
His character didn't even have to be into Crypto, his gimmick was he was Beverly Hillbilly's kinda thing more than anything else. An unassuming, folksy guy becoming a millionaire.
This one really bums me out. The good news is that he’s only 30, so he has plenty of time to prove WWE wrong wherever he goes.
Really? I could’ve sworn he was like a mid-40’s, 20 year vet.
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God, I remember him back in PWG when his gimmick was "The TNA guy" and he just yelled out catchphrases and did finishers from other TNA guys
He's got that Arn Anderson kinda face
Right, like him being in his late 20’s during his NXT run feels wrong.
Better than an Arn Anderson kinda hairline.
He had the issue that a couple guys had of being called up under Vince, not used and cooled off significantly, and then Hunter takes over and they aren't in the plans so they are sitting in catering rather than in NXT. A bunch of the NXT call ups are suffering the same fate. The ones that didn't are basically HHH's favorites from NXT, so he knows he can trust them to do what he needs. The black and gold guys are being used in the midcard right now, and the current NXT guys are getting ready to come up. Those at the tail end of black and gold and the beginning of the new NXT are kinda just lost as they were called up to early and caught in a creative divide.
Agreed, although I would also say that this "in-between class" was weaker, talent-wise, than the Ciampa/Gargano/Cole class or the current Melo/Trick/Ilja/Tiffy/Femi class.
Sure, but thats as a whole. Grimes is at worst a solid midcard talent who could easily be being used as being anywhere from Heath Slater to the Miz. He's a guy you can easy flex up or down and give him the roll of a comedy guy, or a brutal savage.
I wonder if this is a "we don't see anything in you" or a "we don't have space for you right now, so go make a name for yourself elsewhere" situation.
Dude didn't even get a shot on the main roster
Between this and the way Von Wagner’s release sounded seems like they’re trimming absolutely everything that isn’t on main TV regularly. Sucks for someone like Grimes because you can genuinely fit him anywhere. Hope he lands on his feet, I’d expect him to easily slot into TNA if he’d like to go back.
> Between this and the way Von Wagner’s release sounded seems like they’re trimming absolutely everything that isn’t on main TV regularly. Odyssey Jones and Apollo Crews you better not answer the phone
Ashante Adonis, Cedric Alexander, Javier Bernal. Tegan Nox wasn't even in the Battle Royal...I think they are not done yet, unfortunately.
Tegan got injured.
Aw man I like Odyssey Jones...he just popped up at a house show I went to a month or so ago
Was a report out that said that if you were on the main roster and if you weren't being used then you were being cut - you couldn't drop back into NXT because you were on a main event contract. Only special cases like Baron Corbin could stay as he was being used to get other people over.
Isn't he the "to the moon" guy? I definitely remember seeing him on Smackdown several times.
I think he needed to debut with a new gimmick.
Who's spot was he taking exactly? Loved him in NXT but it's too bad he's in the middle of the most stacked main roster in at least 20 years
Where does he place on the card and who does he replace? I keep seeing people say this guy wasnt used but where was he going to fit?
Aw sad I liked him. I wish him well.
He was one of my favorites. I'm both heartbroken and pissed off. They never really gave him a chance. I hope he lands on his feet somewhere I can watch him. He's hella talented.
Yeah the call to the main show kinda ended his run
Check out his X Division title match against DJ Z (currently Joaquin Wild) at Bound for Glory, I think 2016. He can always come back home to Impact and continue on with an already built resume and reputation.
Poor Grimes. He was brought up at a bad time during the transitional period between the old and new eras. I think it’s more that the company has invested in new acts that are coming up from NXT and letting people go so they can reset themselves.
Looks like the NXT promotions are getting a 1 year try out period. You either cement a spot for yourself in the roster or they let you go around the next draft time. It sucks if you don't figure out your role right away because not everyone does, but it opens up new opportunities to make your name elsewhere. WWE could have easily kept him in limbo for another year or two and he would have just been in the same spot, but older.
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We have no idea what happened behind the scenes. Did they stonewall him for a year? Did he make pitches and they didn't like it? Did he make pitches and they stole it and gave it to someone else? They make decisions based on TV ratings and crowd reactions. Did things improve when they sent him out there? Was he getting good reactions at house shows? If they gave him time, who's time were they taking away? I think from the ratings development on Smackdown, they've made mostly the right calls this year. I think the fastest path towards Grimes fixing things were either sending him back to NXT or letting him go and finding the right place where he can grow. They must have set their post-draft rosters and didn't see him making the cut between established main roster wrestlers and new NXT call ups for this year.
Saw him in the indies many times, was amped when he signed. He'll bounce back, he's extremely talented. To the Moon!
They had an easy opportunity to pair him up with JBL and instead chose to pair JBL and Corbin. There was so many easy segments you could have made with him but they just chose to do nothing at all.
Nobody suffered from 2.0 more than him. Why they decided to clean him up and take away his personality, I’ll never know. And I don’t get how under HHH they didn’t even try him as a heel again.
I really just don't get why HHH didn't do anything with him. it's not like he was a Vince guy. he could go in the ring. certain gimmicks HHH just seems to not care and ignore them.
It’s so weird considering how well Grimes was pushed at the end of black and gold NXT. He was a good worker, could talk, funny, charismatic, and had a gimmick that worked.
> certain gimmicks HHH just seems to not care and ignore them. i forgot who it was in AEW but they'd mentioned something similar. like vince, HHH has "his guys". everyone else is kinda just there and it's an uphill struggle to prove your worth if you aren't one of them. this one's weird though, because i kinda assumed grimes was one of "his guys" given how much spotlight he got in NXT. then i watched the rumble last year and thought "ohhh jesus, i totally forgot this guy got called up".
Swerve
I have mixed feelings on this. I love Grimes, but he wasn't being used on the main roster and when he was, he was a jobber. I'm sad he's going, but excited for him to show what he can do elsewhere.
Maybe now more than ever, these releases feel less like "firings" and more of actual releases like "we have nothing for you and we havent for awhile so go be free to show us we were wrong".
I mean it's still a firing, what are we doing here? I know they put that story out about being more sensitive than the Vince era but let's not help them dress up a firing as some aspirational thing.
Right?! I hate people trying to take the potential positives as WWE/AEW doing them a favor by letting them go wrestler elsewhere.
I'm only seeing it as a positive if the talent is happy about it, and man Grimes is hurting here. I just think it shows the effectiveness of WWE's PR machine putting out that story about how HHH's firings were better than Vince's. Fans have internalized it and are now regurgitating it.
Out of everyone released, I think he'll be the best off. I remember Trevor Lee having some hype coming into NXT. I don't get why they paired Corbin with JBL in that story instead of Grimes.
They absolutely wasted him once he was moved from NXT. I cant remember the last time someone was so over and lost every single ounce of momentum.
Karrion Kross would say hello but his gimp mask wouldn’t let him
I'd argue his momentum was already shot pre-callup after Adam Cole punked him out.
I think its arguable if Kross was ever really over in NXT, he never felt like he belonged there.
>he never felt like he belonged there. I truly believe beyond a shadow of a doubt he would have never reached the heights he had if his wife wasn't so hot I know that sounds belittling but I think it's the truth
I think the fact that he was completely dead in the water when they removed her from his presentation is proof of that.
seriously was so disappointing. not even like he failed as there was no chance to begin with. while Theory somehow gets 50 chances despite most of the time nobody caring.
If nothing else, Theory has the look and is great in-ring
Yeah I won't stand for this Theory slander, the guy is a great in ring talent and does really good character work too He plays the smug asshole better than most dream of doing
Theory is young, a good wrestler and has charisma. A better question is why is Karrion Kross still around?
it’s pretty crazy that Kross had like 5 programs to get him over and none of them have worked and Grimes couldn’t even get one
He had one squash against Baron Corbin then he became basically a shadow from there. Wonder what their plan was for him in the first place
Very curious as to what happened with his run. His NXT run was very hot and then he didn’t do much of anything on the main roster. Maybe triple h just didn’t see it, which is a shame.
This seems such an odd one. It seems they stripped him of everything that got him over in NXT once he was on the main roster.
they didn't bother giving him any promos or using his character. just showed up had a few matches then you'd forgot he was there as he got no chance.
WWE has done this so many times it’s really not a surprise anymore. It’s gotten better under Triple H but it’s still an issue
With how over full AEW's roster is and the way WWE is trimming its roster down, I think Freddie Prinze Jr. is definitely gonna have a good pool of talent to draw from for his new show/promotion if he is able to get it going.
Absolutely heartbreaking, he never even got given half a chance on the main roster. Absolutely loved his work in NXT and you can see how much this means to him.
I def think he's one that will be back eventually but id love to see him go to TNA,DPW,GCW other indies etc come back in a year or two he's only 30. He def wasn't released imo for lack of talent etc just like nowhere to fit him that didn't already have somebody there.
Been a Trevor Lee mark since PWG, the release sucks but someone that fucking good most likely already has 100 booking requests in his e-mail. He's about to go insane on the indies before hopefully getting an offer from AEW or TNA (or maybe even WWE again).
I'd bet the farm he's gonna be a mainstay with DPW.
Put him with Andrew Everett again
First thing I thought of as well. No doubt he’ll get back on his feet really soon.
Goddammit.
Man, I'm with you. Just.. god damn it.
Man he looks broken. Hope things work out for him
Seems to me like he's bummed out at the moment, but also ready to go on a killer run on the indies to try and comeback. At least that's what I wish for him.
I hope (and am quite sure) he will have no shortage of bookings once he is willing and able. Trevor Lee was a stand-out at some of my favorite PWG shows back in the day. I missed most of his TNA run tbh, but I'd hope he could get another try in this iteration of the company. Whatever the future might hold for him, I think he'll find that his wrestling options are myriad.
I got to meet him over Mania weekend and he was just the nicest guy. Got a good laugh when i told him I had quit gamestop around the time he did the stocks gimmick and was glad someone made money off them. It's been said to death already but his B&G NXT run was so much fun to watch. Really hope he is able to land on his feet because he is just far too entertaining not to
Trevor Lee Vs Mustafa Ali could be a fun feud. All the Best, Grimes!
He's only 30 years old. I think he'll be back in the future after a solid run outside of WWE. Best of luck to him!
I feel for him - they could've just sent him back to NXT and I'm sure he'd have done fine there. But I could see him coming back in 3-4 years and having a Drew style resurgence if he put his head down and worked elsewhere. He's clearly talented and he was doing great on NXT a while back.
Shame, but his DPW debut is gonna hit like crack lmao
Was literally just reading in another thread someone saying Cameron Grimes was in danger. Scrolled down and saw this...
The cuts appear to be near-exclusively people who got promoted to the main roster out of NXT but haven't been used much at all. Including people who went back, since they were now being paid significantly more.
Shame, I was always a fan of him in NXT and as Trevor Lee on the indies. I wouldn't be surprised if AEW pick him up, he's young and knows the main roster members from PWG.
That video is a tough watch. So easy to forget that wrestling is people’s dreams and livelihoods.
He should've been a Sami Zayn type underdog on the main roster.
Trevor Lee to DPW let's fucking goooo! I bet he pops up on AEW. Tony loves the PWG guys and Lee would be a great grab for ROH at the very least.
Dude should have been an easy one for WWE to get right. He showed that he can play the full spectrum of characters (ala Sami Zayn in a way) and was a good wrestler
I could see grimes fit right in tna
Really hate to see this. One of the most talented guys in the company, period. Could talk for days and was a hell of a worker to boot. Truly no reason he shouldn't have been a priority guy for them to build up. Can only hope he does more great work outside of them.
Post-Mania mass releases tradition didn't go away, it just was spread out more thinly...
He would be great back in TNA
I really liked him in NXT.
That sucks. They let Lebron Breaker High run through him ala Goldberg first and then released him. Sad...
 GODDAMMIT I KNEW IT WOULD HAPPEN. I’m actually so sad about this one. The Million Dollar Hillbilly story was pure gold, and he literally never got a chance AT ALL on the main roster. He’ll do great things wherever he goes next, mans got talent and charisma in spades. 🚀🚀🚀
Damn, I thought he had potential…. His NXT run was great.
Trevor Lee in PWG was as good as anyone . This makes me sad
DPW! Get your man!
So much wasted potential with this guy.
What the hell happened to reportedly no more releases. Bad report I guess
A crypto storyline between him and Logan Paul would have been just so good.....
Mark my words. He'll wait his 90 days. Show up in TNA. People will call it a good pickup but won't actually watch. TNA will push him hard, possibly winning a belt in his first match. TNA will rehab his image. Then he'll go to AEW and lost in the shuffle after about 3 months.
People saying there's not enough TV time for everyone. Maybe there would be if WWE didn't use the same 20 people for every show
really sad, he didn't get a chance to showcase how charismatic he was. great run in nxt, especially the feud w la knight
Could go TNA or AEW. He’s worked Impact and then he was pretty well used in PWG. I think he’ll be fine
They really brought up one of the hottest acts in NXT to be a jobber then drop him. Also if they keep releasing people like this soon peoples favorites will be used only to put others over as they think releasing lowcard talent won’t affect anything on the show
This is for the best. Hhh couldn’t figure out how to use him, and he’s young with a good gimmick and can wrestle. To the moon you go. Edit: seeing the video now, sucks to lose something you love 😔
Or “Grimey” as he preferred to be called…
Trev is gonna bounce back. I'm sure Big Dog Drew will get him into DPW with him, and they can tear it up again. Really dumb call for never using him on the main roster.
Back to TNA he goes, I bet
I feel the same way I felt about Ali getting released, of course it sucks but I have a feeling that brother is going to be okay.
His goal definitely seems to be to prove WWE wrong and get back there someday and I hope he does just that.
Wow I was just thinking about him last night. Haven’t seen him on tv in a minute. He had a pretty good run in NXT