10 Things WWE Needs To Stop Doing IMMEDIATELY

8. So Much Of The NXT Daftness

Bray Wyatt
Twitter @BrooksJensenWWE

Sure, NXT these days is far removed from the glory of the famed Black & Gold days, but the product is also better right now than it was when NXT 2.0 was in full flow.

Don't get your writer wrong, the current product veers far more towards NXT 2.0 than Black & Gold, though there are at least some bright points to the NXT we find ourselves watching in early 2023. And while there is absolutely a place in pro wrestling for a good ol' dollop of daftness, NXT needs to drop what percentage of such daftness can be viewed on its weekly programming.

One has to remember, NXT is technically a developmental ground designed for talents to hone their craft and learn the WWE style. It's also a developmental ground in terms of a particular talent being afforded the opportunity to flesh out a character or gimmick. Still, at the end of the day, NXT is televised to a worldwide audience, and so what's seen on those broadcasts does and should matter in terms of perception.

Case in point, the most recent episode of NXT opened with a very solid 15-minute TV match between Tyler Bate and Grayson Waller. For those impressed by the in-ring action delivered between Bate and Waller, they were then left rolling their eyes by a segment involving a 22-year-old virgin getting a lesson in how to kiss a girl.

This same episode later had Apollo Crews writing in his diary, Thea Hail freaked out by four jobbers in dreadful masks, a pantomime villain voice note from Isla Dawn, a security guard learning how to wrestle, a couple of tag teams played pool and racked up a 'comedy' bar bill, and we got the aforementioned 22-year-old virgin get giddy on Twitter before having his big moment ruined.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.