Welcome to another eWrestlingNews Question of the Day!
As a result of last night’s main event of WWE NXT, wherein Ridge Holland defeated Andre Chase to earn an NXT Championship match against Trick Williams for NXT Deadline, part of the stipulation was that if Chase lost, it would mean the end for Chase University. They will now be forced to disband, seemingly immediately, though we can assume there will be some sort of follow-up segment next week on NXT that illustrates this dissolution of the school and stable.
My question for you today is “What would you do next with Andre Chase, Thea Hail, Duke Hudson, Riley Osborne, and the idea of Chase U itself? Where should this storyline go?”
Remember to answer with your response in the comments below.
As far as my answer…
I reserve the right to be wrong about this and admit that I was short-sighted, but I fear that getting rid of Chase U is going to spell the end of all four of these careers. All too often, when Superstars are in this kind of a position long enough, WWE cannot help but to have zero follow-up on a major character shift. They split up tag teams without knowing what to do next, all parties struggle in singles capacities because they can’t handle the weight of multiple gimmick changes and pushes all simultaneously, and before long, some if not all members of the faction are gone because WWE seemingly felt they weren’t making enough progress.
Maybe this was a last-ditch-effort type of thing in their minds, where they felt the gimmick was too stale and wanted to freshen things up. Hopefully, if that’s the case, there are actual ideas in mind of what to do next, and not just an attitude of “we’ll figure that out later.” But what strikes me as odd about all of this is that WWE Creative leaned so heavily into Chase U for so long that I can’t imagine they just got sick and tired of the act a mere few weeks ago. That’s fishy.
What else is curious to me is the random tweet from Andre Chase however long back where he made it seem like he was leaving WWE. That didn’t turn out to be the case, but as far as I’m aware, nothing’s ever been clarified just what was going on there. Was he under the impression he had been fired and wrong? Did he try to quit and was convinced not to? Was this just some complete misunderstanding from people like me and it had nothing to do with a potential exit from NXT and WWE? Or was that just a harbinger that he was on a ticking clock and now, we’re going to see the ramifications of that?
Ignoring how I’m worried that all 4 of these Superstars could be on the chopping block, and instead, looking at this with a glass half-full mindset, what would I do with them going forward, as I pitched this question?
With Chase, we’ve seen enough of the distraught and downtrodden loser of a leader with the previous other scenarios that almost led to the end of Chase U. I don’t want to go down that rabbit hole again and retread familiar ground. Instead, I think a heel turn would be fun for him to explore, as he’s always had a bit of an edge to him. Let’s see what happens when he can let it all out. Obviously, he has to ditch the sweater and change up his gear. I don’t want him to be teaming with anyone, nor mentoring anyone. He has to be 100% solo, angry, and a hungry part of the midcard scene. Ideally, I’d like him to feud with Charlie Dempsey over the NXT Heritage Cup, as that would suit him better than the NXT North American Championship (which I don’t think he’d win)
Duke Hudson has shown so much more character than I originally had given him credit when he was cycling through various names and gimmicks. The poker player shtick wasn’t great, so I don’t want him to revert back to that. Overall, I think he works best as a sort of comedic character. As such, he could use someone to play off, either as the straight man to his goofiness or a fellow silly person. A few names I’d toss around to play that sidekick role would be Javier Bernal (whenever he can return from injury), Lexis King (but only temporarily) and maybe some lesser known people that I just don’t know the personalities of, like a Cutler James or a Uriah Connors. Since I couldn’t even tell you what Drake Morreaux or Shiloh Hill or Harlem Lewis look like, I certainly couldn’t suggest they’d be better tag team partners than a Jasper Troy or whoever. But maybe one of those types who are only on Level Up can be a good partner.
Riley Osborne, unfortunately, has the least character development of the bunch by far. At this point, I think he needs to just simply find a total reset and start all over. Without a gimmick, he’s just another dude on the roster who isn’t bad, but doesn’t have anything that makes him stand out. My prediction is that he’ll be wrestling predominantly on Level Up and house show live events, jobbing out on television once in a while, and will have no upward momentum until he turns into an entirely different character, just with the same name. Maybe he, too, can get a tag team partner, but there isn’t a single person I’d jump straight to pairing him with.
Lastly, Thea Hail is the one that I’m least worried about. She’s had the most character depth, she’s young, and she continues to get better in the ring as time goes on. As far as I’m concerned, all they need to do with her is keep her active and book her to win matches here and there. Naturally, if all they ever do with her is use her as enhancement talent, she’s going to be pigeonholed into a lackluster spot. But I see no reason why she can’t be a regular fixture of the women’s division just by herself, competing against people like Jaida Parker, Karmen Petrovic, and others. Let’s give her an eventual shot at the NXT Women’s North American Championship. Hell, I’d even consider having her be the one to beat Fallon Henley to help ensure that she’s got a foundation to build on. I definitely don’t want to see Hail fall by the wayside, as she’s too talented and has too much raw potential to be sidelined.
What do you think? Drop your thoughts below!
