10 Recent Times WWE Hit The Upgrade Button

7. Flair Gives Way To Io

Charlotte Flair Io Shirai
WWE

WWE have to live with the fact that they've upended Rhea Ripley's momentum horribly in 2020. They might make peace with the thought that experimenting with Charlotte Flair as NXT Women's Champ and sending the 'Queen' over to Wednesday nights was worth the risk to Vince McMahon. Still, it didn't pay off with ratings.

So, switching back to a 'proper' NXT worker was wise.

In Io Shirai, WWE has a wrestler who better fits the NXT mould in 2020 than Flair. She's on the way up as a rising force in the company, and her character would be proud to hold the belt rather than using it as a prop to shove in everyone's faces as a superstar heel. That's what Charlotte was all about, and it didn't work.

Shirai as NXT Women's Champion harks back to Flair, Sasha Banks and Asuka when they were striving for more in WWE. Now Shayna Baszler is gone, Io is the best candidate to lead this division into the future, or at least until someone new comes along.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.