10 HUGE Tests Wrestlers Failed
7. Sin Cara Fails To Adjust To WWE
The recent failures of NXT to both defeat AEW Dynamite in the ratings war - and inform the star power and popularity of the main roster it feeds into - have brought into question whether it is needed, or even what it is.
At its core, the very premise is condescending; the Performance Center is a place for seasoned pros to learn the dark arts of WWE production, before they are permitted to grace the big stage, which itself is presented as the key to stardom. But is it? The complexion of modern US wrestling suggests that it is not. Several major AEW stars didn't need it.
And if there's no need for these super-indie workers to develop, that leaves a glorified training school with a fairly piss-poor ratio of money spent: stars made. Charlotte Flair, Braun Strowman, American Alpha: that's four stars, generous, with no prior experience made in eight years. One main roster-ready act per two years. A dismal failure.
The dismal failure of Sin Cara however proves that it is in theory a decent idea to bridge select talents to North American TV in some form. That form is usually "reps," which Sin Cara was never afforded, and he was sprung on to WWE TV quite literally. He failed at that, too, infamously; the jaw-dropping luchador with phenomenal agility, body control and the ability to pull people into his matches degenerated into a confidence-bereft botch merchant.
The other side of the extreme that sees ready-to-go talent stuck in normalised stasis, the balance of developmental is worse than Sin Cara's rope work.