10 Times WWE Was Legitimately The COOLEST Place On Planet Earth
3. The Original Black And Gold Era Breathes New Life Into The Machine
After a bit of a bumpy start as a bizarre reality TV show, the black and gold brand known as NXT eventually evolved into a developmental territory where Triple H and co. were able to give some of the brightest stars on the independent scene and other talented athletes the chance to grow into WWE's stars of tomorrow.
Before long, the likes of Seth Rollins, Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, Finn Balor, The Four Horsewomen, and more were blowing the roof off of Full Sail University on the regular. And this vibrant new offering for those who'd grown tired of WWE's uninspired main roster programming quickly grew to the level of being able to sell out arenas whenever a TakeOver came to town.
From there, this bold new dose of WWE entertainment kept going from strength to strength as the sensational Samoa Joe, Shinsuke Nakamura, Drew McIntyre, Shayna Baszler, D.I.Y., Undisputed Era, Asuka and Rhea Ripley all helped make the outdated organisation feel somewhat relevant again.
Those good times unfortunately couldn't last forever, and a high profile Wednesday Night Wars defeat at the hands of AEW soon forced a complete change of ethos in Orlando.
But from 2012-2019, NXT was unquestionably the hottest ticket in town.