The small independent company within the billion dollar company. The secret third brand. The WWE’s yellow and black alternative to the other two shows. How did this underground brand begin? What were the early days like? How did it become a true equal yet somehow punk third option within the WWE umbrella? All of those questions and more are answered in the WWE book from 2017.

This book falls into a frequent problem within WWE releases. It is full of information already known to hardcore fans. If you’re new to pro wrestling or the NXT brand then this book is well worth picking up and quickly reading how this company started as a thought and grew to a live weekly 2 hour show on the USA Network. There is a lot of information, stories, and quotes within but all of it is presented very straight forward with a good amount of pictures. The average reader could finish it in a couple nights and feel satisfied with the time spent.

Long time fans though won’t find much of anything new in here. From either watching the show from the beginning, or various documentaries over the years, or wrestling internet sites – we know most of this story already. Some things get forgotten over the years and there were stories within that will ensure its history. Tales of the rudderless previous training ground, Florida Championship Wrestling. Accolades given to people who helped form NXT but missed out on something greater. Talent like Emma, Bo Dallas, and Neville.

The book isn’t written so much as it is copy pasted and transcribed. Everything within is WWE approved so they will always tell their version of events. The writer of the book has taken previous retellings of events by WWE contracted employees and put them to page in a chronological order. A similar book told through investigation and/or interviews with talent no longer under WWE contract would be a great compliment to this book. With the truth somewhere in the middle.

If you’re just getting into wrestling and want to learn, the book is well worth the read. For veteran fans though, it’s a nice extra for the collection and easy to find for cheap.