The Rise & Fall Of WWE NXT
As Rollins' success foreshadowed a substantial hiring policy shift, Triple H's next move involved creating his own mini-stars from the ground up. To do that, he very publicly reshaped the theoretical future of the company in his image, dipping into the coffers for a state-of-the-art facility designed to match the ambition he had for his project.
The WWE Performance Center was unveiled in 2013 and mostly just looked like an expensive gym with a load of rings in it, but what else does a good wrestling school need to be anyway? For the first time in a long time, the market leader looked like a nice place to work. And as the years went by, outward and longstanding imperfections were ironed out in sync with 'The Game's creative peak.
Bill DeMott had a rancid reputation from the sludgiest days of the mid-2000s developmental scene, and yet more ugly tales saw him turfed in 2015. On-screen NXT General Manager JBL was switched out for beloved PC coach/part-time wrestler William Regal to create a greater divide between the stuff Hunter knew the hardcores hated and the fan service he was only too willing to provide. Dusty Rhodes was at long last credited within the WWE system as a true creative genius way beyond the limited polka dot gimmick he'd been forced to perform in the late-1980s. Legendary trainer Tom Prichard wasn't a Triple H guy but a load of other wise industry heads were, and wrestlers and trainees at every level in the system took every opportunity to speak glowingly about their experiences underneath their watchful eye.
The idea shouldn't have been so revolutionary, but Hunter seemed to listen to just about every internal and external complaint and address them one-by-one. The feeling of separation between main roster and NXT grew, but that was just the way a swelling fanbase liked it.
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