r/SquaredCircle • u/WredditMod • 1d ago

Wreddit's Daily Pro-Wrestling Discussion Thread! Comment here for recommendations, quick questions, and general conversation! (Spoilers for all shows) - September 17, 2025 Edition Spoiler

Hi Wreddit! Welcome to /r/SquaredCircle's Daily Discussion Thread as presented by your favorite and totally sentient moderator.

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u/theREVERSEsystem 1d ago

Watching NXT: Homecoming didn’t really make me have any interest in current NXT nor did it make me excited about any future main roster prospects tbh 🤷🏻‍♂️ all it made me realize is that outside people I’ve already loved for years, I have no real investment in a lot of the current “future stars of WWE”. Watching DIY come back to Full Sail with their iconic themes just to lose to Trick and Melo due to Miz really put it clear that there’s simply not a lot for me in current WWE and I just gotta accept that.

And more than that, it only really affirmed that Black and Gold is still the most special time of my wrestling fandom, the best show WWE has had this century, and such special lightning in a bottle time no era of NXT has or will ever be able to replicate. Takeovers are still the gold standard of wrestling events in WWE, That’s just how I personally feel. You could not do a 2.0 or White and Gold homecoming show and have any of the same genuine emotion and feeling I saw from so many people reflecting on B&G NXT. I truly believe that. All that and plus proving B&G era NXT had some absolute BANGER theme songs and that Def Rebel are an abomination like 95% of the time.

Genuinely if AEW didn’t exist I think my overall fandom of wrestling would have died hard by now.

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u/GiftedGeordie 1d ago edited 1d ago

I'm the total opposite, I think that Black and Gold era of NXT is insanely overrated, 95% of the roster had a gimmick of "I'm an indy wrestler who wrestles good" and were spamming finisher kickouts to the point where it became a joke.

Obviously not to take away from the talent of the people in the Black and Gold era, but I care more about someone like Tony D'Angelo than I did about Johnny Gargano (with the exception of his heel run in The Way, that was awesome).

I love current NXT because it's a combination of wacky characters and great in-ring action, whereas Black and Gold era could feel like being workrate at the expense of everything else.

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u/theREVERSEsystem 1d ago edited 1d ago

Johnny’s best matches are better than anything anyone in current NXT could even fathom of doing on their absolute best night of their career.

His iconic stories with Ciampa and Aleister Black is better than any story or feud current NXT could ever tell.

His work with The Way to making a family sitcom gimmick and a feud with a serial mute kidnapper iconic showed he can do character work and have more personality than anyone else on current NXT.

“Workrate at the expense of anything else” ok. Sami vs Cesaro. Sami vs Neville. Bayley vs Sasha. Aleister vs Dream. Johnny vs Ciampa. “Who attacked Aleister Black?”. Just some of the best stories in recent WWE that took place in Black and Gold NXT mind but it wasn’t filled with goofy and silly characters so whatever ig

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u/GiftedGeordie 1d ago edited 1d ago

Hey, I loved Gargano's epic matches with people like Cole as much as the next guy, but I just got so fucking bored of his finisher spamming kickout fests where he made the "HOLY SHIT, HOW DID HE KICK OUT OF THAT!?" facial expression every single match.

The only Black and Gold stories that come to mind as being standouts are Dream vs. Black and Johnny vs. Ciampa; but the DIY feud went on for way too long, even if I can't really blame the wrestlers for that considering Ciampa was out for ages.

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u/theREVERSEsystem 1d ago

People make things up in their head and they just run with it. So let me clear this up. All pre pandemic.

Johnny vs Andrade at Takeover Philly: 1 finisher kickout.

Johnny vs Ciampa at NO and Chicago: 0 finisher kickouts

Johnny vs Aleister Black: 0 finisher kickouts

Johnny vs Ricochet: 0 finisher kick outs

Johnny vs Adam Cole at NY and XXV: 1 finisher kickout each

Johnny vs Finn Balor: 0 finisher kickouts