10 Worst First Days For WWE NXT Call-Ups

2. Charlotte Flair

Karrion Kross
WWE

Somehow lost to time over the years, the main roster's rotten abuse of Charlotte Flair's character and the prestigious NXT Women's Champion was a sign of things to come years before Triple H had to start tearing out bits of his beard in place of his once-luxurious hair.

'The Queen' didn't exactly look like wrestling royalty when, after years of careful seasoning and immaculate booking within NXT, she was brought to the December 8th 2014 edition of Monday Night Raw to lose to Natalya in just 2:34.

Flair was a talismanic figure in Full Sail, having won the belt with an epic era-defining battle against her fellow second generation star, but what chance did they have of getting anywhere near that contemporary classic with this? It may well have been categorised as a risk-free way of getting a good luck at the Champion's basics and fundamentals in front of a full crowd, but the television audience were given a stark reminder of just how much distance separated NXT and the supposed big leagues of Raw and SmackDown.

NXT viewers already knew this of course. Just not quite same way around Vince McMahon saw things. And evidently, still does all these years later...

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