25 Worst Wrestling Moments Of 2022

Hit Row were a cool and contemporary faction during their run on NXT. Their blend of hip-hop aesthetics and culture with legitimate star appeal had people predicting big things for the combination of Isiah 'Swerve' (soon to be Strickland) Scott, Top Dolla, Ashantee 'Thee' Adonis, and B-Fab. As was so often the case in 2022 and its surrounding years, though, the fear was that an act that had its finger on the pulse of modern pop culture was about to hit a roadblock in the shape of an elderly billionaire who "didn't get it".

This was the case during their October 2021 SmackDown call-up. Hit Row instantly didn't feel as authentically themselves as they did in NXT, and despite only being called up on October 22nd, B-Fab was let go by the company on November 2nd. Adonis, Swerve, and Top Dolla followed 15 days later, but hope was restored when the group re-debuted without Swerve in August 2022.

Undoubtedly, losing Swerve was an enormous blow. He did a great job of elevating the group as Hit Row's mouthpiece, and without him and without any real direction in their booking, they felt like a far less convincing package. Their feud with Maximum Male Models never caught fire, and by the end of the year, Hit Row had lost all of the potential they showed in NXT.