When Bron Breaker arrived at WWE NXT in the Summer of 2021, his ascent was set in stone. The son of wrestling legend Rick Steiner, Breakker was the first out of the gate after the company overhauled its developmental brand’s presentation.
Over two years later, Breakker has rounded into form. Initially, he played the role of a good guy. Breakker was an elite athlete and a former FCS football player at Kennesaw State University in Georgia. He also, obviously, has plenty of wrestling in his blood. His father, Rick, and his uncle, Scott, were highly prominent wrestlers in the 1980s and 1990s. Breakker often wore singlets that reminded many of the ones his father and uncle wore. The comparisons were entirely too easy to make. They leaned into it, involving Chucky, “Steiner Math,” and a general exuberance only a Steiner could know.
Since then, Breakker has been NXT Champion two times. He also just won the Dusty Classic, a tag team tournament that NXT has held annually since 2015. That’s another notch in his belt. He also added another one at the end of January: Entering the Royal Rumble.
Breakker was the 20th entrant in this year’s Men’s Royal Rumble. To everyone’s surprise, Breakker had a really outstanding showing. He eliminated Jimmy Uso, Ivar, the towering Omos, and former Grand Slam Champion Finn Balor.
It appears that Breakker will get a payoff for that tremendous Rumble showing. Lately, on Smackdown and then on Raw Monday night, both Nick Aldis and Adam Pearce, the show’s general managers, appeared in hot pursuit of the prospect Breakker.
Talk about a great presentation. The guy surprises everyone by showing up to the Rumble, doing great, eliminating two big dudes, and then two guys who had prominent WrestleMania matches last year. Of course, the general managers would heavily pursue him. That makes sense!
The bidding war over Breakker allows WWE to do something they haven’t in a while. There have been times when major names have come through NXT. And a lot of times, they’ve become massive deals to the NXT audience. But rarely do we see the GMs, or whoever’s been in charge, actively pursue NXT wrestlers. Not only does this put Breakker in a unique position where he’s the center of attention, but it also further bridges the gap between WWE and NXT. Continuity between the brands, or a lack thereof, was a problem in previous years. The hybrid model they’ve used now has paid off, and taking another route like this can only enhance things.
There’s also clearly an apparent interest in Bron Breakker. The WWE Raw crowd in St. Louis notably cheered, and quite loud, when Breakker appeared on Monday night’s episode backstage with the GM Pearce.
No deal has been signed yet, but WWE wants you to pay close attention to Bron Breakker with this bidding war storyline. Doing this for him could create a significant launching pad that may send him into superstardom.
About Chris Novak
Chris Novak has been talking and writing about sports ever since he can remember. Previously, Novak wrote for and managed sites in the SB Nation network for nearly a decade from 2013-2022