10 Shocking Wrestling Plans You Won't Believe ACTUALLY Happened

6. The Original NXT

Stone Cold Steve Austin The Undertaker
WWE.com

With the incredible success of NXT as a touring brand and mini-indie for WWE in the past several years, it's understandable why the company has elected to draw a line between the yellow and black Full Sail University era of talent development and the troubled Florida Championship Wrestling outfit that closed for good in 2012.

Of course, the transition was nowhere near as smooth as WWE would like fans to believe. Alongside a host of complex politically sensitive reshuffles employed to get from Point A to Point B, the company also experimented with a hideous format that first birthed the three fabled letters.

Presumably intended to be all things to all people, NXT actually offered nothing to anybody. It was anything but a talent development project, with mettle-testing games, assault courses and promo battles exposing every performer's weakness on an almost weekly basis. Diametrically opposed to everything pro wrestling was supposed to be, each contestant was used and abused ostensibly for entertainment purposes, though few ever claimed to enjoy watching.

The talent/reality/game show hybrid farmed wrestlers from FCW into major arenas for their first taste of the bright lights, but the damaging glare of NXT burned nearly every performer that suffered the indignity of being included. Lasting five seasons, only one winner (Johnny Curtis) even remains with the company, and it took a brand new character and years of reinvention before he even came close to being the company's 'Next Breakout Star'.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett