10 WWE Disasters Rescued With One Tiny Change

7. Mandy Rose Is “Demoted”

Sheamus Pete Dunne Butch Ridge Holland
WWE.com

Mandy Rose went from flirting with Otis to feuding with Sonya Deville to teaming with Dana Brooke in a going-nowhere-fast women's tag in a heartbeat. That dramatic fall from grace seemed complete when WWE demoted Rose to NXT and tried to repackage her as some world class worker.

That was a bit jarring for fans, but Mandy defied expectations by relishing the challenge and becoming a weekly highlight on the third brand from July 2021 onwards. By October, she'd captured the NXT Women's Title, was leading her own Toxic Attraction faction and refused to let WWE's wobbly 2.0 change negatively affect her.

You've got to admire that effort.

Rose's company career was on course to end in disaster, but she pulled the nose up by putting her head down and working really f*cking hard to improve in-ring. NXT (even with the crap 2.0 branding) was a million times better than teaming with Dana long-term.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.