10 Times Wrestling Ruined What You Loved

10. NXT's Golden Era

When NXT blossomed as a luxurious Sports Entertainment micro-buffet in 2014, the sheer impossibility of its existence was part of what made it so magic.

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As Impact and ROH fell away as captivating and viable North American alternatives in the early 2010s, there were constant and relentless calls for WWE specifically to move forward from the gluey stasis it was trapped in. As it turned out, some of them were coming from inside the house!

Triple H had been the main roster's top heel between a SummerSlam 2013 turn and The Authority's Survivor Series 2014 defeat, but he was ready to babyface himself with the online fan service NXT provided. A mix of former indie darlings and (relatively) home-grown talent meshed magnificently against a feeling of optimism that they'd solve main roster problems too.

'The Game' working through his own creative golden era perfected the mix, and until he got swallowed up by a need to ape the super-worker style the black-and-gold brand became by 2018, the project was every bit as special as you remember.

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