6 Ups & 7 Downs From WWE's Road To WrestleMania 36

Ups...

6. NXT's Shine

Charlotte Rhea Ripley Raw
WWE.com

Positivity time, and there's a lot to be positive about.

As strange as it may seem to those who have doted on the brand for years, there are casual WWE fans who don't watch NXT. To them, it will always be the developmental system; that's just the way it is, and the onus is on WWE as a company to break programming they themselves spent years designing.

Charlotte Flair choosing to challenge Rhea Ripley at WrestleMania, rather than focusing on the Raw or SmackDown belts, helps. Here was the women's Royal Rumble winner willingly pointing at NXT's championship and saying, 'I want that one'. The story is simple and relatable, and the match should be awesome.

Ripley has been portrayed as a strong, defiant champion since day one, and WWE has done a stellar job of putting her on par with Flair by having Charlotte go to Rhea's house. That was never a given, so it should be applauded by anyone who was frightened that Charlotte would gobble up Ripley or dismiss NXT.

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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.