The greatest in-house creation of the last decade got greater at the very end of it following WWE's decision to counter-programme All Elite Wrestling's flagship show Dynamite, but even being swept up in wider company concerns hasn't blunted the black-and-gold brand's blade.
Set up by Triple H in response to a system he'd seen collapse under mismanagement during the latter days of his in-ring career, NXT felt as much a proving ground for him as anything else. Instead, it morphed into the one thing wary and weathered WWE fans could still rely on. A weekly product offering logical progression and great matches that all fed into the aforementioned TakeOvers with their amazing payoffs and incredible matches. On its best day, it is quite simply a f*cking exceptional wrestling product - something Raw and SmackDown can only really harness in microcosmic moments.
Funded and augmented by WWE money and production respectively, it grew hand in hand with an Orlando-based Performance Center that, for better and worse, has determined a far securer future than the wretched one promised by a mid-2000s malaise.
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
