Alexander Wolfe On Why Talent Didn’t Want To Be Called Up From NXT

Alexander Wolfe was part of SAniTY when the group was called up from NXT to Smackdown, and he recently explained why some NXT talent didn’t want to be called up. Wolfe (now Axel Tischer in the indies) weighed in on the topic during his discussion with So Catch and the show sent some highlights you can see below:

On NXT talent being worried about being called up at the time: “Some of them I remember. Some of the guys said if I get the call up I will refuse. The best example was Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano because they’ve been Triple H guys for sure, and they’ve been both awesome wrestlers. So they did a lot for the NXT locker room for sure. They did a lot for a lot of talents and it was also always a pleasure to work with them because they are good, they are excellent.

“In that case a lot of people were kind of afraid of getting the call up and that was like spread out also through the office that they say: ‘Guys, what the hell?’ I mean guys were like: ‘I don’t care about the money. I want to stay here because the atmosphere is great.'”

On the appeal of staying in NXT: “You have to understand, and a lot of people don’t, that if you go from high school or college up to the actually working, you’re more responsible for your own, but you have more freedom. The only thing you have to do is you have to be reliable. You have to be on time at the venues. You have to be prepared. You have to be full professional and NXT, they help you with that a little bit more. So you tour together. Of course, you have to be on time as well, but you tour together on the bus. They book the hotels for you, they take care of the food …. It’s awesome.

“Main roster, they take care of your flight. You have to take care of your rental car. You have to take care of your accommodations. You have to take care to be on time at the venue. And if something happens, you have to make sure that somebody knows it. You’re more in an adult life, but that’s also why you make more money. You are on a bigger TV product, you’re on a live TV schedule, you work at the live TV program. In NXT everything was taped at that time. Now it’s live as well, but it’s a different kind of sketch. So let’s say it’s college and the other thing is more like the adult life with more responsibilities.”

On the difference in TV product between NXT and the main roster: “And also the product was different. So a lot of people, let’s use Sanity for an example, worked on an NXT like a charm. NXT was a little bit more the niche product for the hardcore wrestling fans, for the ones who love wrestling, who love more like the edgy stuff, love the technical detailed wrestling stuff. So that’s why Takeover’s always been a success because they say first match should come back with the attitude follow … should make it hard for the main event so the main event has to step up. I know for a fact a good wrestling show has a buildup towards the main event, all the other just do their spots, do their works. But in the end the mentality is everybody’s here for the main event.

“Nowadays it’s not like this and that’s good for a certain point. But on the other point is that stuff which would work in NXT probably would not work as much in front of the main roster audience and it’s all about the people. It should be all about the people because they come to the venue and pay their hard earned money for the ticket. They want to see what they want to see. And if you present them somebody who is an awesome wrestler but is not charismatic as the wrestler who’s not an awesome wrestler, but he’s more an entertainer, you do something wrong.”