NXT: From Secret to Sensation

2017 saw WWE release their second home video release spotlighting their third brand/developmental league, NXT. Titled, NXT: From Secret to Sensation (trailer), the three-disc DVD (there was no BluRay release in America) contains a near hour and a half feature counting down the fan voted top 25 NXT stars and two additional discs that have 18 matches from the first five years of NXT.

Going by the title, one would be led to believe this would be a comprehensive documentary at how NXT came to be and how it exploded into popularity once it gained exposure with the launch of WWE Network that kicked off NXT’ debuting their popular TakeOver specials. While a WWE endorsed book of the same name simultaneously released featured that story, it is nowhere told in the feature as it merely gives abbreviated profiles and highlights of the 25 stars that made the list. That said, this release would have been better titled, The Top 25 Stars and Matches of the First Five Years of NXT or something to that effect.

Watching the countdown was both exciting and a bit of a buzzkill. It was exciting because it was a nice refresher of top matches and moments from the first five years of NXT. Relieving highlights of the first NXT live special, Arrival with standout matches like Bo Dallas/Neville and Cesaro/Zayn were great entry points for first-time NXT viewers like myself at the time. Also being reminded of Samoa Joe, Finn Balor, Bobby Roode, Bayley and Sasha reigning supreme brought back many fond moments too. Since this is ‘fan voted’ it is difficult to say how right or wrong it is. For my two cents however there were a few eye-brow raising rankings to say the least. Baron Corbin’s run in NXT was more of a developmental run to flesh out his in-ring work and he only really had a handful of memorable matches/rivalries that were nowhere near the top tier of NXT’s history yet he has a surprising ranking. Same with Alexa Bliss, while she has had an astounding run on the WWE main roster, her only standout NXT role as manager for Blake & Murphy for a few months before dumping them for the main roster hardly screams top half of the list material, let alone a ranking on the list altogether.

The list is a buzzkill at moments because some of the stars featured on here that had memorable runs in NXT have already flamed out of WWE like Neville, Sasha Banks and Tye Dillenger and others have never escaped undercard doom like Bobby Roode, Bayley and Bo Dallas. Also the tag teams of NXT were relegated to their own separate three minute montage while it seems WWE could have easily done a little more fleshed out top five or ten NXT tag team acts supplemental feature considering how big tag teams are in NXT with the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament dominating NXT airwaves each year.

For the two discs of content featuring bonus matches, a good chunk of them are from the pre-WWE Network era. This is both good and bad. It is positive to see how far the NXT Arena at Full Sail has evolved from a dingy looking soundstage into a sleek professional set. It is a negative because this era was before NXT was known for their epic matches with passionate crowds that took off once the first TakeOver live specials started off in 2014. Of the seven matches from that period, only three of them I notated as must-see. Unsurprisingly the first battle between Cesaro and Zayn from 2013 is on there, along with a surprisingly good clash of polarizing styles between Dolph Ziggler and Rusev and finally a good encounter between Tyler Breeze and Neville. Sadly, no matches from the ‘reality competition’ era of NXT on SyFy/wwe.com from 2010-2012 are included….which is admittedly for the better.

Once the matches shift over into the post-network period of NXT there are more matches from various TakeOvers included. Shinsuke Nakamura’s awesome NXT debut against Sami Zayn is included, along with one of my personal favorite NXT matches that saw Tye Dillenger and Bobby Roode tear the house down at the end of their rivalry. The previously unaired live event that saw Samoa Joe win the NXT Title from Finn Balor is included in its entirety for the first time to the best of my knowledge as I recall they only showed brief excerpts from it on NXT TV before. On the women’s side the two must-see bouts in this collection feature Sasha Banks against Becky Lynch and Charlotte when she was owning her ‘boss’ character that never saw its true form on WWE TV.

After finishing off NXT: From Secret to Sensation I came out of it with mixed feelings. On one hand the top 25 list is a nice quick snapshot of the main stars behind the early years of the promotion, but on the other they could have done so much more with a fully fleshed out documentary detailing how NXT evolved year-by-year. While about half of the 18 matches included in the collection are must-see I think unless you are craving those bite-sized character profiles, you will probably be alright skipping this collection, especially considering that WWE released best of 2017 and 2018 NXT home videos as of this writing that will likely have a far superior selection of matches.

Past Wrestling Blogs

Best of WCW Clash of Champions
Best of WCW Monday Nitro Volume 2
Best of WCW Monday Nitro Volume 3
Biggest Knuckleheads
Bobby The Brain Heenan
Daniel Bryan: Just Say Yes Yes Yes
DDP: Positively Living
Dusty Rhodes WWE Network Specials
ECW Unreleased: Vol 1
ECW Unreleased: Vol 2
ECW Unreleased: Vol 3
Eric Bishoff: Wrestlings Most Controversial Figure
Fight Owens Fight: The Kevin Owens Story
For All Mankind
Goldberg: The Ultimate Collection
Impact Wresting Presents: Best of Hulk Hogan
Its Good to Be the King: The Jerry Lawler Story
The Kliq Rules
Ladies and Gentlemen My Name is Paul Heyman
Legends of Mid South Wrestling
Macho Man: The Randy Savage Story
Memphis Heat
NXT Greatest Matches Vol 1
OMG Vol 2: Top 50 Incidents in WCW History
OMG Vol 3: Top 50 Incidents in ECW History
Owen: Hart of Gold
RoH Supercard of Honor 2010-Present
ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery
Scott Hall: Living on a Razors Edge
Sting: Into the Light
Straight Outta Dudley-ville: Legacy of the Dudley Boyz
Straight to the Top: Money in the Bank Anthology
Superstar Collection: Zach Ryder
TLC 2017
TNA Lockdown 2005-2016
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Tough Enough: Million Dollar Season
True Giants
Ultimate Fan Pack: Roman Reigns
Ultimate Warrior: Always Believe
War Games: WCWs Most Notorious Matches
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Wrestlemania 3: Championship Edition
Wrestlemania 28-Present
The Wrestler (2008)
Wrestling Road Diaries Too
Wrestling Road Diaries Three: Funny Equals Money
Wrestlings Greatest Factions
WWE Network Original Specials First Half 2015
WWE Network Original Specials Second Half 2015
WWE Network Original Specials First Half 2016
WWE Network Original Specials Second Half 2016
WWE Network Original Specials First Half 2017