Select Answers: Cope Schedule, NXT Talent Method, WWE Ten Years From Now

Welcome to Select Answers, a feature that provides some of the answers to questions that were posed to Sean Ross Sapp in the most recent Fightful Weekly Q&A Podcast. The show drops every week on Fightful Select for subscribers.

When aggregating these posts please refer to it as "Fightful Select Answers Q&A" and tag Fightful, noting that it was in the Q&A format to avoid confusion.

***

When it comes to talent like JeVon Evans & Oba Femi… do you think they’re more important to NXT bc they do have their own TV deal and they’re both stars there or are they needed more on the main roster since they lack youth on RAW & SD

NXT is always going to need established TV stars on its show. However, they have a roster full of them, including talent that they aren't using. Now they have AAA at their disposal as well. With a deal on CW, they like having people such as Jordynne Grace, Ethan Page and Ricky Saints because they have more familiarity than a lot of the NXT talent traditionally does, and fans can discover talent. I think that when one person like that comes in, more will come up. But for Oba and Evans, the very reason you have NXT is to eventually develop main roster stars.

In 10 years time how do you see the top men and women in WWE as most into their 40’s would be retired or at least close to with a new generation at the helm. Personally I think it has to be Bron, Oba and Je’Von for the men and Rhea, Roxanne and Blake for the women

I think Bron Breakker and Oba Femi will have the ability to do what they're doing for a very long time. The landscape is going to look way different, because WWE has a lot of 40+ guys that eventually Father Time will catch up to -- certainly by ten years from now. I think Jordynne Grace will still be able to do what she's doing at 39, and Je'Von will have rounded out even more as a performer. Thea Hail and Blake Monroe are definitely going to be people that emerge and do well. There are also people like Izzy and the new generation of Rhodes' that will be signed by then. There's a lot of promise from people in The Vanity Project as well.

After Cope signed with AEW, that first presser after the WrestleDream PPV, he talked about wanting to be a presence there on a weekly basis. I was pumped to see him so excited about it all, but It doesn't feel like he's been there much in 2025. Did that original plan get wrecked after his foot/ankle injury and then future acting roles he's received? Thanks.

Well, you can never plan for injuries, but considering his age, they didn't expect to have him there in AEW 52 weeks a year. That was never an expectation that I heard of. AEW knew there was a possibility that the Percy Jackson and the Olympians role could lead to more though. There have been plenty speed bumps and creative adjustments, but AEW has seemed happy with him.