WWE SVP James Kimball Explains The NXT Two-Year ‘Up or Out’ Rule

In an interview with Wrestlerant (via Fightful), WWE SVP of Talent Operations and Strategy James Kimball explained the two-year ‘Up or Out’ rule in NXT.

He said: “Literally, six-month intervals. Two-year mark, you’re up or out. Obviously, there is a constant evaluation at the Performance Center. Coaching staff, our staff, on-site, all the time, constantly evaluating, but formal, deliberate evaluations occur in six-month periods. At that time…these all kind of flow around the same entry points. We’ll do a tryout and then a set of releases and churn out. Right now, our goal is to add volume, quality, and depth to developmental. Coming into this week, we have 110 talents in developmental. Our goal by the end of the year is 130. Sweet spot for us, long-term, is about 150. During COVID that number got below 100. We’re replenishing it, but we’re replenishing it with what we believe to be real premium, quality talent. To do that and to do it consistently, you have to make sure there are no bottlenecks. That boils down to archetypes too. Right now, in this tryout, there are 3 to 4 females who are 5’3” to 5’5”, 130 to 140 pounds, generally the same type of look. Eventually, it’s the same type of character. We have a few of those same archetypes and frames in developmental. We need to now be discipline. You have so many slots for this profile and that make-up. We come into the week thinking, while there may be some gaps, we need height on the female side. Here is a full system in place from a churn and a schedule against where evaluations take place and at that two-year mark, if you’ve not made it on NXT TV on a regular basis, this is not for you and it’s not for us.“