nZo: ‘The Alternative to WWE Before It Was These Other Promotions Was NXT’

– Busted Open Radio recently interviewed former WWE Superstar nZo (aka Enzo Amore), who discussed how NXT started as the first major “alternative” to the WWE product. Below are some highlights (via WrestlingInc.com):

nZo on how NXT was the original alternative to WWE: “When I saw what happened to Dusty, my mentor, he passes away. And Cody says ‘f**t it’ and he leaves the WWE and joins the likes of Kenny Omega and Young Bucks. They do All In, I saw it coming a mile away. I think guys like Finn Balor would tell you they saw it coming. We weren’t in the locker room so jaded that we said ‘oh WWE is the only show in town. No one else can rise up through these ranks and do this and blah, blah, blah.’ I always felt like it would just take, in this new day and age in the social media era, it takes a garnering of certain audience. And NXT, people don’t realize that the alternative to WWE before it was these other promotions, was NXT. Before it was AEW, the audience that made me and Cass was the most hungry alternative audience you’ve ever seen in this business.”

On how the revolution didn’t start with Cody Rhodes: “The revolution started back then, it didn’t start with what Cody was doing right now. I saw this happen because we created something by poaching Samoa Joe, Finn Balor, El Generico, Kevin Owens (Kevin Steen at the time), Neville. You’re going out and grabbing all the likes of the greatest talent that’s out there and putting it under this alternative brand, under this home in WWE. And you’re having this women’s revolution at the same time because you’ve got Charlotte, Sasha, Bayley, Becky all under that house at one time. And tag team wrestling with Dawson and Dash and me and Cass. It was just a unique feel, it was an alternative route to the WWE. So when I saw this angle building from a million miles away, it was the smartest thing Cody could’ve ever done.”