10 Insane Things You Missed When You Stopped Watching NXT

9. Johnny Gargano & Candice LeRae: Goths

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WWE

This might actually have been the moment NXT died.

Yes, NXT had already squandered any realistic chance of winning the ratings war, and had lost the battle of cult buzz. Its USP as the excellent stripped-back wrestling show had been subsumed by the competition, and Triple H set about making changes to the presentation. Comedy - which will be covered imminently - was folded in, as were supernatural elements.

After One Final Beat, the new heel unit of Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae took to sharing dinner in various skits in the spring of 2020. They chatted about the various wrestlers they wanted to target before directing their promos to the camera. In a weird and risible special effect - possibly expressing their "inner darkness" or some sh*t - the colour drained to black and white and their faces onion-skinned.

Why?

Were they disassociating from their "good" selves?

Were they practising magick?

Or was it superficial "Looks hella cool, this" b*llocks that sought to be cleverer than it actually was?

This marked the first occasion on which NXT had become so trivial a concern that AEW fans stopped burying it for clout. Think of the parallels between this scene and AEW's bizarre, wildly unpopular obsession with the supernatural in late 2019. Everybody buried the Nightmare Collective and the Dark Order, yet nobody buried this.

They'd stopped caring.

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Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and surefire Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!