Sidney Akeem is finally explaining why his Scrypts character in WWE NXT never became what he originally envisioned — and according to him, the gimmick completely changed once too many people got involved creatively.
Speaking on the Rewind Recap Relive podcast, Akeem said the original idea was very different from what fans eventually saw on television.
“Too many chefs in the kitchen.”
Akeem explained that when he first arrived in NXT, he pitched a masked character tied to a storyline involving Rey Mysterio and Dominik Mysterio before Dominik eventually joined Judgment Day. According to Akeem, the original concept involved Rey giving him a mask after helping him overcome nerves before a big match. Akeem said the plan was for Dominik to slowly grow jealous over Rey giving him the mask, which would eventually lead to tension between them.
“He comes in like, ‘Hey, just put this mask on and you’ll be okay.’ That mask gave me this newfound confidence.”
“I wrote the story where Dom had some animosity that his dad gave me that mask.”
However, Akeem said the entire concept changed after NXT creative became involved and shifted the character toward a darker slam poetry gimmick instead. Akeem admitted he tried to be a team player, but he believes the final version of Scrypts completely missed the mark. He then closed things out with one brutal final line about the character fans actually saw on television.
“Their head writer said, ‘What else do you do for fun?’ I said, ‘I do slam poetry.’ He’s like, ‘Oh, I had this idea of this dark poet.’”
“On TV, I wasn’t ready because the mask was horrible, the gear was horrible, and the gimmick was horrible.”
“What you saw was not Scrypts, you saw Blink Man.”
The Scrypts gimmick officially ended after Akeem departed WWE in 2024. Since then, he has continued wrestling on the independent scene and recently hinted that a deal with AEW and Ring of Honor could be in the works.
Do you think WWE dropped the ball on the Scrypts character, or was the gimmick never going to work no matter what? Drop your thoughts and feedback in the comments below.