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With the “Tuesday Night War,” between the World Wrestling Entertainment’s (WWE) NXT and All Elite Wrestling’s (AEW) Dynamite, the WWE brought in some of their biggest stars in order to gain as many viewers as possible. However, what most might not have noticed, is that it also served to lay the groundwork in building up two of the company’s future stars, Bron Breakker and Carmelo Hayes.
For the recent episode of NXT, the WWE advertised appearances from stars from “RAW” and “SmackDown” such as John Cena, Paul Heyman, Cody Rhodes, Becky Lynch, Asuka, and a few more surprises. While it has become common for WWE stars to pop up in NXT here and there, fans knew that there was a different motive this time around.
That was because for the first time in months, WWE were competing with “Dynamite.” Dynamite is AEW’s main weekly show, which typically airs on Wednesday nights, but was forced to go on a day earlier this week due to their network (TBS) airing the Major League Baseball’s playoffs this past Wednesday.
The WWE had no desire to lose its viewership to their competition, and so they responded by stacking the show with their top stars. It was announced a week before that we would see Breakker and Hayes in a rematch from their previous rivalry. Cena was set to be in Hayes’ corner, with Heyman in Breakker’s.
Hayes took the win despite interference from Solo Sikoa, who took out Cena by orders of Heyman. Breakker later attacked him with a spear and told the crowd,
“Win or lose, there’s only one badass in all of WWE”
As Breakker learned the hard way, it’s best to choose your words carefully, as The Undertaker came out in his “American Badass” persona, giving him a few words of encouragement before delivering a Chokeslam.
With these huge names being brought in to interact with these two young rising stars, it is clear that the company has bigger plans for their future.
Breakker is a second-generation wrestler. His father is WWE Hall of Famer, Rick Steiner, who is famously known for being one half of the Steiner Brothers alongside Scott Steiner.
Before starting his career as a pro-wrestler, Breakker’s passion was actually for football. He had a short stint as a fullback for the National Footbal League’s (NFL) Baltimore Ravens, being signed to the Ravens in April of 2020. However, he was released just four months later.
After his release from the NFL, Breakker decided to switch his focus from Football to following in his father’s footsteps and becoming a pro-wrestler. Though for most second-generation professional wrestlers it is an immense challenge to step out of the shadows of their family name, but Breakker has done it with ease.
Fast forward to today, Breakker is now a two-time NXT Champion. One of those victories came from dethroning Ciampa at NXT’s “New Year’s Evil” on Jan. 4, 2022. The other was from reclaiming his championship title from Dolph Ziggler on the April 4, 2022 episode of “Monday Night RAW.”
Throughout his two reigns as NXT Champion, he defeated some of the the best talent the company has to offer, including Gunther, Ilja Dragunov, Tyler Bate, Greyson Waller, Apollo Crews, and more.
However, one opponent who Breakker has not been able to defeat is Hayes, who defeated Breakker at NXT’s “Stand and Deliver” pay-per-view and captured the NXT Championship title.
Hayes’ career in NXT has been just as remarkable. He is a former NXT Breakout Tournament winner, Cruiserweight champion, two-time North American champion, as well as NXT champion.
The relationship between Hayes and Breakker has been intriguing. The two have been on a meteoric rise simultaneously. There was always a mutual respect between the two, at least until Hayes dethroned Breakker. Which led to the issues between them we saw come to ahead this past week.
The two were a part of Team 2.0 at “WarGames” back in 2021 when they battled against Team Black and Gold in a “WarGames” match, where they came out victorious. This marked the end of the NXT that fans knew and loved and ushered in a new era that shifted its focus into creating the stars of the future.
Since then the two have carried NXT on their backs since the show rebranded into “NXT 2.0” in 2021. Most fans would agree that these two have reached the point where they are ready to make the move to RAW or SmackDown where they can continue building their legacies. It is only a matter of time before that happens, but it is clear that the future is in good hands with these two at the helm of it.
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