WWE NXT Head Writer Joe Belcastro Reportedly Leaves The Company

[cero2k]

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The head writer of WWE NXT has left the company.

Joe Belcastro has reportedly departed WWE, according to Wrestling Observer Radio. The news was first reported by Ringside News.

It was noted on the latest Observer Radio episode that like Renee Young, Belcastro also gave his notice to the company. He is reportedly gone from WWE already.

Belcastro was first hired as a writer in September 2013, to work on WWE TV and WWE Network programming. He was promoted to lead writer and a producer of WWE TV and Network programming in February 2016. He was then promoted to the role of Vice President of Television Creative in February 2019. Belcastro's LinkedIn profile notes that the February 2019 promotion had him working as lead writer, showrunner, producer and talent development for WWE TV and WWE Network programming.

Triple H was asked about the NXT head writer position during Wednesday's media call. He noted that a group committee heads up NXT creative, and that group includes himself, Shawn Michaels and "Road Dogg" Brian James.

"As far as the writing of NXT goes, we shift around a little bit," Triple H said. "I won't necessarily comment on people that aren't necessarily talent for us, but we have a team that works with NXT that includes Shawn Michaels, Brian James and myself. So it's a group and the ideas all go through that."

There's no word yet on if they are looking to fill Belcastro's position, but the WWE Careers website does not currently have any listings for that job. They are hiring for writer's assistants, writers and a lead SmackDown writer, but those job listings were posted more than a month ago.

[Big Red Machine]

Hmm...

Just looking at the time-frames, this seems like it could be a pretty big loss.


The really interesting part, though, is this line:

"I won't necessarily comment on people that aren't necessarily talent for us, but we have a team that works with NXT that includes Shawn Michaels, Brian James and myself. So it's a group and the ideas all go through that."

So does that mean there are people working on this who aren't under contract? Does it just mean people who haven't been on screen (Gabe?) or people who are hired as bookers/agents and might appear on screen but aren't "talent" like Adam Pearce or Steve Corino?
Some of the women's divison stuff recently feels pretty Gabe (Stone/Mercedes is mostly a variation on Stokely/Thatcher), the Balor stuff feels kind of Corino or Hunter (inside references, brother) the fireball feels Road Dogg or Corino, and the Garganos stuff strikes me as a Shawn Michaels thing, though I don't have anything to base that last one on other than a gut instinct.