6 Ups & 3 Downs From Last Night's WWE NXT (11 Sept)

This is not goodbye...

Johnny Gargano Shane Thorne
WWE.com

And so it's come to this.

As per breaking news earlier this week, NXT won't be leaving Full Sail University any time soon, but the show's final night in its current one-hour format promised not to be the end of an era but a carefully constructed bridge to the brave new world.

An absolute belter of a main event was promised ahead of the move to USA Network. Rhea Ripley's interruption of Shayna Baszler two weeks ago was scintillating. The former NXT UK Champion showed no fear in the face of the dominant Champion nor her Horsewomen underlings, utilising her somewhat-unknown threat to the American arm of the brand as reason for the 'Queen Of Spades' to fear the very worst.

They weren't the sole focus of another busy hour this week - the last of its kind, no less. An icon of the era was in attendance, as too were enough new stars to give fans of the show the suggestion of a stacked roster right as one was particularly required.

This was no new beginning, but it never once felt like an end...

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Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 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 30 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz", Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 50,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, 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