{"id":204270,"date":"2025-09-11T15:17:48","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T20:17:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=204270"},"modified":"2025-09-11T12:24:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T17:24:15","slug":"parkss-take-has-nxt-stumbled-upon-a-potential-new-top-heel-theres-some-real-heel-heat-here-even-from-performance-center-regulars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2025\/09\/11\/parkss-take-has-nxt-stumbled-upon-a-potential-new-top-heel-theres-some-real-heel-heat-here-even-from-performance-center-regulars\/","title":{"rendered":"PARKS&#8217;S TAKE: Has NXT stumbled upon a potential new top heel? There&#8217;s some real heel heat here even from Performance Center regulars"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-1583196166\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p>In an era where NXT is lacking male stars, they may have stumbled on a potentially new top heel.<\/p>\n<p>After the breakup of his tag team with Brooks Jensen, Josh Briggs turned into somewhat of a heel, though NXT was not quick to capitalize on his work.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2016\/09\/Staff09ParksC_120_3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-31220 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2016\/09\/Staff09ParksC_120_3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"120\" height=\"138\" \/><\/a>After his involvement with Jensen ended, he went to Pro Wrestling Noah and came back to form a tag team with Yoshiki Inamura. This is where things changed for Briggs.<\/p>\n<p>He was a babyface again, but the eventual breakup with the crowd favorite Inamura cemented him as a hated heel. Briggs&#8217;s heel turn came in an aggravating way, where he was trying to &#8220;help&#8221; Inamura, but would ultimately hurt his partner&#8217;s title chances.<\/p>\n<p>It was a bit of a slow burn and the crowd bought into it. Therefore, the actual turn meant something. In the aftermath, Briggs has garnered tremendous heat from the NXT live crowd &#8211; not &#8220;go away&#8221; heat, but authentic, real heel heat that is sometimes difficult to achieve with the usual weekly fans that attend tapings at the Performance Center and who often love everyone.<\/p>\n<p><em>ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW&#8230;<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Check out the latest episode of &#8220;PWT Talks NXT&#8221; with Kelly Wells and Nate Lindberg, part of the PWTorch Dailycast line-up: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spreaker.com\/episode\/pwt-talks-nxt-wells-lindberg-discuss-heavy-promotion-for-nxt-homecoming-featuring-rhea-ripley-stephanie-vaquer-more--67697297\">CLICK HERE<\/a> to stream (or search \u201cpwtorch\u201d on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)<\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"PWT Talks NXT - Wells &amp; Lindberg discuss heavy promotion for NXT Homecoming featuring Rhea Ripley, Stephanie Vaquer, more\" src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?episode_id=67697297&amp;theme=light&amp;playlist=false&amp;playlist-continuous=false&amp;chapters-image=true&amp;episode_image_position=right&amp;hide-logo=false&amp;hide-likes=false&amp;hide-comments=false&amp;hide-sharing=false&amp;hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"200px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>On Tuesday, Briggs gained a big victory over Je&#8217;Von Evans, an up-and-coming star of the brand and oh by the way, one of the most popular figures in NXT.<\/p>\n<p>Just 32 years old, Briggs is young enough to where his best may still lie ahead of him. Prior to arriving in NXT, Briggs wrestled for Evolve, so he&#8217;s someone whose in-ring abilities certainly meet the main roster threshold. His size is alluring as well in a business where WWE has more than ever tossed aside height requirements; something like this now helps him stand out.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-1080380652\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>It&#8217;s still early in Briggs&#8217; heel odyssey, but right now, the arrow is pointing up for him, and I&#8217;m not sure I would&#8217;ve said that six months ago.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"PWT Talks NXT - PWTorch NXT Post Show w\/Lindberg &amp; Wells (9\/9)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/63-D_GvN634?start=3&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-992736790\"><div id=\"pwtor-792123429\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>In an era where NXT is lacking male stars, they may have stumbled on a potentially new top heel. After the breakup of his tag team with Brooks Jensen, Josh Briggs turned into somewhat of <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2025\/09\/11\/parkss-take-has-nxt-stumbled-upon-a-potential-new-top-heel-theres-some-real-heel-heat-here-even-from-performance-center-regulars\/\" title=\"PARKS&#8217;S TAKE: Has NXT stumbled upon a potential new top heel? There&#8217;s some real heel heat here even from Performance Center regulars\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":204271,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,57,53],"tags":[6301],"class_list":["post-204270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opnionandanalysis","category-takes_parks","category-opinion_stafftakes","tag-josh-briggs"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2025\/09\/Screenshot-2025-09-11-at-12.20.51-PM.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204270"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204270\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":204272,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204270\/revisions\/204272"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/204271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}