10 Things You Didn't Know About WWE In 2015

4. NXT Drew More Fans Outside Of Florida

Brock Lesnar Roman Reigns WrestleMania 34
WWE

A brand that had for so long been the preserve of Florida thanks to its home base at Full Sail University and the fabled "Largo Loop" house show runs, NXT broke out huge in 2015 and its ability to pull more punters outside the 'Sunshine State' confirmed its remarkable success.

The aforementioned Brooklyn sellout brought the black-and-gold brand to New York, and anybody that attended any date on the 2015 United Kingdom tour speaks of it like a religious experience. Several sold out venues all built brilliantly to the wonderful TakeOver: London where thousands packed London's Wembley Arena for Finn Bálor's first NXT Championship defence against Samoa Joe.

With live events touring more outside of Florida and two wildly successful arena TakeOvers teeing up an all-timer in Dallas the following spring, 2015 was the first time the lines became blurred between developmental show and welcome third brand. By the end of 2015, there was no hotter ticket in North America than an NXT one.

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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