10 Worst Sacrifices In WWE

1. NXT Loses Focus And Loses A War

Hulk Hogan Yokozuna
WWE.com

When the original WWE Network version of NXT was expanded to two hours and dropped on to USA Network with a view of marginalising the fledgling All Elite Wrestling's success, the company sacrificed more than just a relatively sound developmental process.

The aura around the black-and-gold was seemingly unshakable, despite its place at the core of a company that seems to thrive on chaos in the image of its ancient ruler. Wrestlers would leave for redder and bluer pastures, but the new ones that took their places helped the salve the loss before becoming new favourites themselves. Triple H's propensity for signing fully-trained beloved stars helped expedite that too.

Great wrestlers begat great stories, or at least good ones told well and functionally to foster great matches at TakeOvers. It was an...arrangement almost everybody was at peace with until the Wednesday Night War began in 2019.

At that point, NXT lost tribalist fans to AEW, but lost the discerning audience to rush-job angles and ramshackle booking. That Dynamite was a good show only highlighted its flaws, too. In April 2020, NXT moved to Tuesdays - it would do well to revert the simplistic show of old too.

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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