Tyler Breeze on What Made the Original NXT Black & Gold Brand So Special

Tyler Breeze's tenure in the ring as a WWE Superstar may be over, but Prince Pretty and UpUpDownDown star will never forget his time in NXT. 

In 2012, WWE ended its partnership with FCW as the promotion's developmental brand and created its own alternative proving ground: NXT. The show was an evolution of the original NXT: a game-show-esque competition in which 'rookies' under the tutelage of 'pros' would compete to earn a WWE main roster contract. 

Breeze on the Gold Brand

During the formative years following NXT's relaunch in 2012, Tyler Breeze played an intrinsic role and would be selected as Jushin 'Thunder' Liger's first (and ultimately only) WWE opponent. Speaking with Agents of Wrestling, the former NXT Tag Team Champion looked back fondly on his time with the gold brand. 

“It's very cool. Very, very cool. I think it was like a genuine underground feeling to where people were. I don't know I don't want to say they're looking for the alternative or something like that. I think they just...we were new."

Breeze went on to state that a "perfect mix" of talent from the top of the card to the bottom helped earn the attention of fans from the get-go. 

"I think at that time, it was a perfect mix of all these people who you would see them kind of blossom into FTR, Sasha, Charlotte, Bayley, Becky, like, all these people that obviously they went on and have had hell of careers.

"From the main event to the start, to the tag division, to the women's division to everything and all of them were an opener or main event or wherever you need them, but they were all acts that the fans cared about." 

Concluding, Breeze remained forever grateful for being able to be a part of the NXT relaunch. 

"It just kind of took off with such a good group of people that it was awesome to be part of man, the atmosphere was just so cool and very hard to replicate I think. “

In 2019, NXT would undergo another revival with the gold brand being presented as its own third brand, equal to Raw and SmackDown. Two years later, the brand would go back to its developmental ways with the relaunch as NXT 2.0, and while that name has gone, NXT continues to serve as a proving ground for upcoming talent to this day. 

What did Tyler Breeze have to say after returning to the ring following a two-year break? Click here to find out. 

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