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The WWE Performance Center officially opened in Winter Park, Florida on July 11th, 2013. Here is my original coverage of the facility opening as well as that night's WWE NXT taping:
As Dave Scherer mentioned yesterday, I flew to Orlando to cover the Grand Opening of the WWE Performance Center. To say I was blown away by the facility would be one of the biggest understatements I've ever written. The media jaunt was a long day with Triple H personally providing a tour of the facility, followed by a complete official Grand Opening presentation, then post-ceremony interviews before finishing up with a four hour plus NXT taping (see the main page for a report on that). Now that I have flown back to NYC, I am still trying to find the words to convey what an amazing facility the Performance Center truly is..and it really did give me hope for the long-term future of WWE.
For many years now, I (and to be fair, others) have been writing and saying that I was worried about where WWE would be once the current generation of veterans like Triple H, Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Booker T, etc. would eventually get to the point that they had to exit the ring. With John Cena, CM Punk and well, not many others truly set for the top-tier, WWE seemed to be heading into a direction where the next generation would be far less versatile at performing, getting over and breaking through as legitimate in-ring workers and captivating personalities. There was a genuine worry that things could eventually hit a point where they go off the cliff and where WWE goes, goes the entire industry. So, the idea of going off that cliff is a pretty frightening proposition.
After visiting the facility, I really do feel that WWE is doing everything they can to address that. I have no doubt that yesterday was one of the most important days in company history. In many ways, it's really appropriate that the opening came on the same year as the 50th Anniversary of the company's existence. There was a lot of talk about history as much as there was the future yesterday during the Opening Ceremony and with good reason - you have to know where you've been in order to properly assess where you need to go.
Nestled in an industrial complex in Orlando, the Performance Center is pretty understated from the outside. Unless you know exactly where to look, you probably won't find it. When I entered it, the training camp for Drago in Rocky IV first came to my mind, just this massive machine to create the best WWE-centric athletes there could be.
If all goes according to plan, the building could soon be as much of the heart and soul of WWE today as Madison Square Garden was during the territory days.
In looking around the facility, it was obvious WWE put their money where their mouth was in terms of the creation, development and nurturing of their next generation of performers. No more lip service. In many ways, this was the natural evolution of not just talent development but also the company's Wellness Program.
There was talk yesterday the facility cost them upwards of $3-4 million dollars. That investment, probably the largest in the history of the company's developmental program, was as much about WWE, the entity, growing up and embracing themselves as not just a pro wrestling company, not just a sports-entertainment company, but as an entity that controls its own genre, a genre they have to tend to and have to self-govern it. This was as much about WWE embracing their future as much as it was about training new wrestlers.
As much as the Davis Arena in OVW has its loyalists and as much as FCW has churned out names like Sheamus and The Shield, those facilities were a Junior High School gym in comparison to the Olympic Training Center that the Performance Center will be for World Wrestling Entertainment. 26,000 square feet is a lot of space and WWE has filled it with every aspect of what their modern day performers would need, not just to train in the ring but to provide the support and maintenance that goes with the lifestyle of a professional wrestler.
Walking into the facility, there were seven rings set up and the sight of that was just massive, really giving you an impressive immediate visual over what a huge undertaking this is for the company. One of the rings was designed specifically for working out aerial moves so that those practicing can hit a state of the art softer mat in order to lessen the physicality of those bumps as they hone their skills.
Bill Demott, Norman Smiley, Steve Keirn, Sara del Rey and Billy Gunn were overseeing training in five of the rings. No one was working matches but talents in the different rings, depending on who was running them, were going through different styles of drills. It appeared that Keirn and Smiley were going through basic drills with one group while Demott and Taylor were working on finer points of how to work holds in another. Del Rey was training all the new potential Divas. Billy Gunn was working with some of the more experienced talents, like Kassius Ohno. Some of the beginners were wearing head gear to prevent trauma to their head as they learned to bump.
The central ring sits under a state of the art lighting truss so that should WWE decide they want to film material here, it's all ready-made for their HD broadcast quality. Every corner of the facility is wired with cameras that can broadcast in HD and be immediately sent to WWE HQ in Stamford, CT. There's no pulling of tapes to look at someone. Vince McMahon can now sit down at a monitor and watch potential talents working out live from the facility as they are in the ring or cutting promos. Not only will that streamline the process with immediate feedback, but the idea that everything is being filmed and recorded will keep everyone working hard and prevent laziness from the talents who are there working. WWE will always be watching.
It was when WWE took us on a tour, led by Triple H, that one really understood how massive the facility truly is.
To the right of the main room sits the main offices of the Performance Center, including a massive steel conference room table that looks like something a group of super-villains would have a conference around. The hallways are decorated with framed posters of old WWE PPV events and large photos of different legends, a quiet reminder to the talents as to what they are aspiring to reach and who they should be inspired by. The main conference room was connected to several smaller offices.
Given that pro wrestling isn't just about the physical aspect of what happens inside the ring, the Performance Center also houses several studios allowing the talents to hone and grow their skills outside of the ring. When I toured the facility, Dusty Rhodes was overseeing potential promos with the Wyatt Family in a small promo room that allows the talents to cut promos, watch them back for feedback and have a place to experiment and find themselves. The studio will be able to be operated by the talents themselves, allowing them the freedom to create whenever they want and not leaving them at the mercy of when someone is available to film them.
Another nearby studio was designed to help develop announcers and interviewers for the company - a modern day studio where they could call older matches and work with veteran announcers to improve. Another room housed a green screen background, perfect for shooting vignettes and practicing pre-taped. All of this was held together by High Definition broadcasting quality equipment and a state of the art editing studio that could conceivably allow them to shoot something at the Performance Center at 7 PM, then have it edited, cut and ready to broadcast live on Raw at 8 PM.
The facilities and hallways lead to the medical office of Dr. Michael Sampson, the doctor who saved Jerry Lawler's life when he had a heart attack on Raw. Here is where the WWE Wellness Policy comes into play in the Performance Center. Sampson will have regular office hours here in order to provide medical care to ailing or sick WWE developmental talents. Since Sampson works for the company, he will be well versed in the nuances of the business, Sampson will know the best way to treat the issues at hand and provide specialized care for a specialized athlete working in the unique world that is professional wrestling. The days of the pro wrestler going to a doctor that doesn't understand the business or worse, one that's willing to help them medicate their issues, could be coming to an end.
Another major evolution of the WWE Wellness Program that comes with the opening of the facility will be the state of the art rehabilitation center. Instead of sending talents elsewhere to work on healing their injuries, WWE staff can personally oversee the process, again, with an understanding of mindset that wrestlers have and with a well-versed education into the physicality that performers have to put themselves through to perform in the business. WWE will have a regular physical therapist and a trainer on staff full-time, also allowing for immediate care if talents at the facility have any issues. All of this allows a new level of protection and nurturing for the talents. The rehab center is large enough to care for 6-10 talents at once if necessary. While not stated, the company also now has a facility to send talents if, for example, John Cena or someone suffers an injury that requires rehab. WWE's staff can now oversee the talent's healing and prognosis themselves, just like a major sports franchise would for their players.
Of course, the Performance Center also houses a MASSIVE workout area with state of the art Rogue workout equipment. The idea here is not to just have weights and workout equipment for the talents to use but also medical rehab equipment, strength and conditioning equipment with Joe DeFranco, who has worked with the NFL for years, coming on board as a strength and conditioning advisor to the Performance Center. The workout area could have easily have housed anything from Olympic gymnasts to MMA fighters given all the equipment it housed.
All of this collected under one roof is more than just a training facility or a medical facility or even a wrestling facility. It's WWE protecting and embracing their future as well as providing a legitimate concrete destination to bring potential partners, potential investors and potential recruits to give them a taste of what WWE is and how it works, since it doesn't fall neatly into any one genre. Sure, you can whine and dine people and dazzle them over Wrestlemania week, but that doesn't really give them a deep understanding of what it takes to work and excel in the business. WWE now has that headquarters - as well as a fighting chance to develop the new breed of talents that will hopefully, if all goes according to plan, will replace the Undertakers and Triple Hs and eventually, the John Cenas and CM Punks.
For all the talk online over the years of all the negatives that Triple H has allegedly brought to WWE, this one move may eventually prove that his true legacy in the business was insuring not just its continued survival, but by putting a system in place where talents can develop and thrive from day one under the WWE umbrella.
No system is ever perfect and for sure, at some point, there will be stumbles and falls and mistakes, but on 7/11/13, WWE opened the doors to what may truly be the brand new era that their press release proclaimed it to be.
***
WWE NXT held their latest TV taping at Full Sail Live yesterday on the campus of Full Sail University in Winter Park, FL (just outside Orlando). I was in town to cover the WWE Performance Center Grand Opening and WWE invited everyone who had come down to the taping as well, as a way to showcase their developmental talents that will make up the "next generation" of the company. Shrewdly, WWE loaded the taping with legitimate main event talents from Mark Henry to Paul Heyman to the Shield all making non-advertised appearances on top of the already advertised AJ Lee and Dolph Ziggler.
Full Sail Live reminded me immediately of the old TNA Impact Zone, except it was smaller, looked nicer and unlike TNA, WWE has cracked the code on taking the energy of the room and translating it to TV broadcasts. TNA was never able to do that and it always hurt their PPVs and tapings. The venue is small, sitting less than a 1,000 fans or so, who surrounded the ring on bleachers and a few ringside rows, with the exception of the side of the ring featuring the NXT entrance ramp, where fans sat on fancy NXT chairs similar to the ones WWE sells for PPV ringside seats. The crowd was hot all night. Even with four hours of TV being taped, the company lost very few fans over the course of the evening.
The venue has no real food concessions, since it's really a studio used for all sorts of projects at the University, so instead local food trucks were brought in. Fans could exit, get their food and return to the venue. No merchandise table, except one selling the NXT logo shirts. That surprised me, considering how much WWE pushes the merchandising at their house shows.
The taping itself was excellent. I've said this a number of times but the show really reminds of what a modern day equivalent of the old Jim Crockett Promotions TV shows taped at Techwood Drive would be like today. Back then, you really got a lot of wrestling for your time investment and that's how I feel about the NXT shows. Most weeks, the placement of the show is good. They have some talking segments but the backbone of the show is guys working longer matches as they hone themselves and their personalities. It's far and away the destination for the best balanced in-ring product right now and last night was no example.
Four shows were taped, so if you've been watching the show on Hulu Plus, SPOILER WARNING!
Episode One-
I arrived a few minutes into the first taping and was told I missed a Wyatt Family promo where they basically said farewell to NXT. I also missed a Divas bout won by Ric Flair's daughter Charlotte, which bummed me as I have been really interested in seeing how she is in the ring.
*NXT Tag Team champ Corey Graves defeated Scott Dawson via submission. A really solid back and forth match. Dawson shows some really good aggressive heel work and Graves has a pretty cool charisma to him and is really over. The Shield came out unannounced on the stage, which the crowd popped huge for. They told NXT Tag champ Adrian Neville, who was with Graves, that he didn't earn the NXT Tag title because he just took Kassius Ohno's spot (Ohno was "injured" in storyline), so to them, that is an injustice and they are coming for him. Neville took the mic and said they could fight right now, but said Dean Ambrose should make it for the United States title. Ambrose agreed but said they would do it on his terms, next week. Neville promised that he would destroy the Shield starting with Ambrose. Neville is still finding himself as a talker but it was fine.
*Leo Kruger & Antonio Cesaro defeated NXT champ Bo Dallas & Sami Zayn. Dallas is beyond hated here. The crowd really rags on him sort of how the main roster crowds rag on John Cena. I get the impression part of it is that he's getting put over people they like more but for the most part, it's the crowd having fun by booing the babyface as opposed to any legitimate disgust. Everyone around me was laughing at Dallas' smile and goofy babyface antics. The match itself was solid. Dallas is a natural in the ring. The storyline here is that three of them are battling over the NXT title and Cesaro and Zayn hate each other so Zayn was pulled into this. They had a solid bout. Zayn and Cesaro battled to the back late in the match. Dallas had Kruger on the run (and at point, kept him from running off) but Kruger nailed him and scored the pin.
*Backstage, Renee Young was interviewing Tyler Breeze, a Lance Storm trainee who may be my new favorite developmental talent. He plays his narcissistic model who is obsessed with admiring himself on his cell phone, almost like he was Facetiming himself. He was going on and on about himself and in the background, CJ Parker, who plays a hippie, was behind Breeze mocking him. The crowd got into this.
Episode 2 -
*Adrian Neville defeated WWE United States champ Dean Ambrose by DQ in a good match. They went back and forth. Neville had Ambrose beat afyer a twisting dive off the top but Seth Rollins attacked him to cause the DQ. Corey Graves and Xavier Woods made the save and the Shield backed off.
*They held the first-ever NXT Dance-Off with Summer Rae and Emma. Rae shows a lot more of a heel personality in NXT so I think a lot of people will be surprised when she gets the chance to cut loose on the main roster. Emma's theme music has been trapped in my head since this segment. The crowd really loves the silly Australian girl with her goofy dance and bubble-popping entrance. The idea here was that they each did a dance routine and Emma's was just complete goofiness, so the crowd loved her and hated Rae. Rae finally demanded they play her real music and the crowd went nuts doing the Fandango-ing. Emma's music then played and she did her entrance dance. The audience decided Emma won. Rae attacked her and laid her out.
*Tyler Breeze defeated Danny Burkes. Breeze has a top level entrance, where he's looking at himself on the phone and the image is simulcast live onto the Titantron. Great use of technology there. Breeze is a mix of the old Rick Martel "Model" personality with some of the Shawn Michaels swagger from Michaels' initial heel turn in the early 1990s. This was the first bout where the crowd knew who was going to win once they got into the ring. After, Breeze did a bit where he admired himself on the phone while disrespecting his opponent. They simulcast that on the Tron. It was an awesome old school heel jackass move. There was a good throwback 1980s dastardly heel feel to Breeze, who looks like a million bucks. You can see this act making a splash down the line.
*NXT champ Bo Dallas defeated Leo Kruger. Kruger is really good as the sick madman. He reminds me a lot of the Cactus Jack we'd see in Memphis, World Class and the earliest days of WCW - not in terms of his bumps but in terms of playing a believable nutter. The crowd really wanted to see Dallas lose here and when he teased tapping to Kruger's finisher, the place was ready to explode. In the ring, Dallas won by submission. The audience was chanting "No more Bo" afterward.
Episode 3 -
*Paul Heyman came out to one of the bigger reactions of the night. The place chanted "ECW." Heyman took the mic and said he was stepping out of character and thanked everyone, but he didn't want to live in the past, he wanted to come to NXT and scout for the next Paul Heyman guy. He put over how blown away he was by all the talent here and then went into his shtick.
*At some point, they must have gone "live" because Heyman was then ripping on Florida fans. WWE Intercontinental champ Curtis Axel came out. They declared no one deserved a title shot. Out came Big E. Langston, who is a total badass babyface here. He and Axel had a good match. Axel feels more like a guy who means something by the week. Langston won via DQ when Heyman got involved. Langston pounded Heyman but was attacked by Axel. Langston made his own comeback and scored a "five" count (his gimmick here) on the champ.
*Mason Ryan, who looks every bit of a star now, defeated Garrett Dylan. Enzo Amore (who's work on the mic as the excitable, sleazy guy from Jersey improves every time I see him) and Colin Cassady came out to distract Ryan but it didn't work.
*NXT Women's champ Paige defeated Summer Rae. Paige's charisma is even better live than it is on TV and I was already impressed with that. After she beat Rae, Emma hit the scene to attack her and get revenge.
*The Shield won a six man tag over NXT Tag champs Adrian Neville & Corey Graves & Xavier Woods. This was awesome. The finishing sequence with Seth Rollins nailing a running powerbomb into the corner, followed by Reigns decimated him with a spear was just great.
Episode 4 -
*WWE Divas champ AJ Lee pinned Bailey. Bailey does a deal where she is this naive, shy girl who is so excited she's on the roster (and may even be a little bit of a simpleton) that the audience is behind her as a sympathetic character. She got a lot of offense and near falls in early and looked really good. AJ finally scored the pin. Good match.
*The Ascension won a quick squash over two talents I couldn't make out.
*CJ Parker defeated Darren Corbin (at least that's what the name sounded like). Parker does a complete zoned-out dreadlocked hippie deal. He's got some charisma to him and the crowd liked it. Renee Young came out for a post match interview. She asked Parker where he had gone and why he's changed since the last time we had seen him. Parker said, "I'm just a guy going with the flow and having a little fun." Tyler Breeze came out, ripped Parker for destroying the photos of himself a few weeks back when Parker was goofing off behind him. Breeze had an almost effeminate delivery that added to the role. Parker finally teased a punch after telling him it was all clean fun. which led to Breeze acting like he wanted to fight, only instead
powdering out.
*Antonio Cesaro defeated Sami Zayn in one of the best matches of the year so far. This was a Three Falls bout. Zayn hit a flip dive on Cesaro as he came out, tossed him in the ring and slammed him forward into the buckles for a quick three count. Cesaro powered over the smaller Zayn in the second fall and finally make him tap to a submission. The third fall was all nuts, including Zayn hitting his dive through the ringpost/buckles into the corner and nailing a tornado DDT on the floor. That was awesome. Back in the ring, Cesaro cut him off while he attempted a dive and muscled him into the uppercut as Zayn came down, then destroyed him with the Neutralizer. This match was just awesome. The crowd chanted, "Match of the year" and gave Zayn a big ovation as he was helped out.
After the taping ended, Dolph Ziggler (who received a completely mind-blowing reaction and played babyface) defeated Alexander Rusev. Rusev is a throwback in how he physically looks and works. He's an Ivan Putski like squat powerhouse of a beast. Solid match.
Mark Henry came out to do a promo to close the show, announcing he would be back here on 8/27 and would bring the WWE title with him. His promo was awesome.
Overall, a great taping.
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