10 Awesome WWE Moments We Wish Had Happened Earlier
The greatest moments that WWE could have created years before they actually did.
WWE are the best in the world at creating single isolated moments of perfection. They are usually not the long term storytelling promotion, they can barely capitalise on a good idea when it's first presented to them, let alone follow it up with months of meaningful work, but they know how to make little fragments of transcendent wrestling better than almost anyone on the planet.
You might get a horrendous build to that point and they might throw all the goodwill away a month later, but usually, an exceptional WWE moment lasts forever as something special.
However, the biggest problem in their method of creating wrestling memories is that so many of them happened at the wrong time. There are so many instances over the years that could have been even more special if WWE had realised what strengths they'd had at their disposal and cashed them in.
While all of these examples still remain wonderful, it's hard not to imagine a world in which they had occurred at their most natural point. Would it have been a better one? Let's find out.
10. Crowning Io Shirai As The Ace Of NXT’s Women’s Division
Io Shirai is currently the undisputed highlight of weekly NXT television. During the brand's worst year to date in terms of creative booking and in ring work, Shirai has been a breath of fresh air with her consistently exceptional matches and sensational NXT Women's Championship reign.
Since her victory over Charlotte Flair and Rhea Ripley at TakeOver: In Your House, Shirai has had scintillating defences against Ripley, Dakota Kai and Candice LeRae while providing the women's division with essential stability after a hectic few months. She is exceptional and should continue holding the title for a long time as she's got even more potential as the world champion.
However, it's a shame that her popularity and talents as a babyface champion weren't capitalised on last year during her feud with Shayna Baszler, where she seemed to be the perfect candidate to send off Baszler after her two epic reigns with the women's title. Instead of going with Shirai then, she lost twice to Baszler before turning heel against Candice LeRae, which admittedly resulted in the best NXT match of last year. Still, it feels like a missed opportunity, especially given the pandemic, that the trigger wasn't pulled earlier.