The NXT angle was stillborn the moment they shitcanned Danielson for being a pro wrestler. It was salvageable, but without Danielson, there was only one competent wrestler in the group. Without Danielson, it lost all of the 'holy

' momentum it had - not solely because the lines between reality and tv were destroyed by a corporation publicly stating they were releasing a wrestler from a contract when he wasn't supposed to be under one to begin with.
It *was* the most interesting thing WWE had going in months - maybe years? I dunno, I can't think of anything that got my attention focused on new talent in the second half of this decade. The best WWE feuds have been going into Wrestlemania and involved HBK at WM 24, 25, and 26. One was the retirement match of the greatest wrestler of the 20th century, and two involved the Undertaker's streak - which, while not impossible to

up (see Giant Gonzalez, Big Boss Man, Nathan Jones), always has the added benefit of built-in mystique.
But the NXT guys lost the mystique when they lost Danielson. Barrett is indeed a natural - and recalling seeing how green he was as "stu sanders" back in OVW, I'm truly shocked he matured and grew so substantially in 2-3 years. Without him, however, the crew is just ruined. They're jobbers, they're the nWo B-team, they're nobodies. That ginger-haired hee-haw is just a goofy bastard, justin gabriel is too much like Steamboat to be a believable bad guy, sheffield was ruined because as y'all noted they let him talk, michael tarver is garbage, and I'm having a hard time really remembering who the other two are right now, so that says all I need to know about them. Ah, Otunga and Darren Young. Whatevah.
Now, international employment laws are partially to blame, but again, a company like WWE should have been on top of this shit. There's no excuse. Way to ruin another good thing. Not to mention that it appears they are so focused on this group that they had the week one beatdown of the NXT2 guys, and then the issue disappeared altogether from the program, with business going on as usual and zero animosity b/w the wwe guys and the nxt rookies. the

?