The Lost Magic Of WWE's REAL Golden Era (And How To Bring It Back)

When Triple H took the NXT letters and almost nothing else from the original version of the show to grab the company's developmental system by the scruff of the neck, he did so to make his next steps forward as a future company figurehead. But producing a good wrestling show was a healthy by-product for a self-confessed lifelong fan.

Having WWE as the backing (and ultimate destination for the fledgling talent) was multifariously beneficial at first too. Following just short of tinkering and toiling by 'The Game' and the NXT talent, the brand was given centre stage on the brand new WWE Network as it launched ahead of WrestleMania XXX.

February 2014's "Arrival" was one of the rare cases in wrestling history where the promotional bluster genuinely matched the vibe of the product. NXT was already being given the sort of gifts you only receive when operating under the auspices of the market leader, but that in itself aided its charm and insidious genius; the more you watched, the more you simply couldn't believe it was a WWE product. In much the same way he'd be given the chance to do in 2022, Triple H was booking a show that - at the time - had perhaps the worst ever example of a product as its comparison point.

Vince McMahon's pickled creative brain was beyond compare by the end of the 2010s, but was still routinely shambolic in 2014 too. It didn't help Hunter's longstanding succession to be any more attached to it than he already was, and to this end, 'The Game' played another political masterstroke. On television, he was the authority figure trying to suppress Daniel Bryan's title aspirations, but over on NXT he was crafting the "Papa H" persona behind and in front of the camera. In real life, McMahon was telling Bryan before he'd even won the belt that Roman Reigns was always going to be 'The Guy', while in NXT world, Hunter cultivated a community where anybody on the roster could dream of occupying such a spot.

The former multi-time WWE/World Heavyweight Champion wanted to be 'The King Of Kings' once again, only this time in the roles that required him to wear a suit, hold a pencil and point his finger in pictures. To do that, he'd have to curate a roster full of wrestlers desperate to grab the spotlight, then ensure that the audience he was engaging with considered these spotlights even brighter than the ones pointed towards the main roster's grandest stages.

To do that, he'd have to launch a TakeOver.

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