History YMMV / WWENXT

** After the NXT 2.0 reboot, Von Wagner would fall into this category, mainly due to his less than impressive wrestling skills, poor physique, being seen as incredibly generic, and being shoehorned into an NXT Title match replacing EnsembleDarkhorse Kyle O'Reilly, and subsequently being placed in a tag team with him. Him being the one to write O'Reilly off NXT didn't help him in the slightest.
** Joe Gacy's NXT 2.0 "SJW" character was absolutely ''despised'' by people for being a ShallowParody of left-wing social politics who doesn't say anything meaningful, just repeating pointless out-of-context buzzwords while not actually seeming to have any character direction other than to hang around annoying people.

* WereStillRelevantDammit:
** Bronson Reed's wrestling outfit used to reference the "thicc" meme, and this was in early 2020. However this was eventually dropped and now he just wears a regular singlet.
** Following the 2021 Breakout Tournament where he was just a regular wrestler, Joe Gacy was given a Social Justice Warrior-type gimmick, where he frequently spouts typical SJW buzzwords like "safe space", "triggered" and "snowflake."

** Wrestling/EvaMarie. Despite having at this point being signed for two years and having received personal training from Brian Kendrick she has shown very little improvement since her disastrous matches in 2013 and legitimately '''forgot to kick out of a pinfall''' while Full Sail went nuclear once they realized what had happened. She has rapidly reached XPacHeat, and it only got worse after fans heard rumors that officials wanted to portray her as "an underdog overcoming adversity" against Bayley at ''Takeover: London''. [[FromBadToWorse It got worse]] when she then injured Carmella (see RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap) at a live event with a kick to the head. Fans had already expressed disgust at Eva's presence in NXT to begin with (even allowing that it is a developmental system) and now have evolved into wanting her blacklisted from the company (and her defenders becoming rapid victims of FanHater members of the IWC as a consequence, justified or not).

* CreatorWorship: Deconstructed; while his booking of NXT has helped Triple H to be viewed by wrestling fans (even those leery of him as a wrestler) as a good booker or wrestling executive, HHH still remains a reviled if not controversial figure among wrestling fans as a ''wrestler'' due to the laundry list of beyond-the-pale behind-the-scenes crap he's pulled on- and off-camera.

* MorePopularSpinoff: Wrestling/TheNexus is much more remembered today that the first season of WWE NXT is. Or any season, for that matter.

** While it's true that NXT is considered to be generally better booked than ''Raw'' and ''[=SmackDown=]'', the amount of praise that it gets from the IWC is bound to leave some viewers wanting more (this became especially noticeable after the brand started airing on the USA Network). Outside of its [=TakeOver=] specials, famed for having virtually ''every'' match deliver, many fans consider the actual NXT television episodes to have its strengths and weaknesses like the rest of the product.

** [[Wrestling/TheRevival Dash and Dawson]]. There are quite a few fans who appreciate their old-school brawler tag team tactics, comparing them favorably to the Brainbusters. In contrast, another group of fans think their matches are dragging and boring and wish they would just get released already. ''[=TakeOver=]: London'' illustrated this perfectly. While they get a decent mixed reaction at Full Sail, [[AmericansHateTingle the British booed them out of the building]], although in all fairness it could have been because they were facing {{Ensemble Darkhorse}}s Wrestling/EnzoAndCass. [[spoiler:Didn't help that they won the match.]] Also, to be fair, they are heels. Later on, however, they shook off this status by establishing themselves as an incredibly good and incredibly over heel team.

** Dexter Lumis, as new fans to NXT that started watching when the show started airing on USA Network can't get enough of him and his more traditional wrestling style and magic realism stalker/vigilante character, while older NXT fans are critical of him being a character-driven wrestler rather than a topnotch in-ring competitor like much of the roster.

** While it's true that NXT is considered to be generally better booked than ''Raw'' and ''[=SmackDown=]'', the amount of praise that it gets from the IWC is bound to leave some viewers wanting more (this became especially noticeable after the brand started airing on the USA Network). Outside of its [=TakeOver=] specials, famed for having virtually ''every'' match deliver, many fans consider the actual NXT television episodes to have its strenghts and weaknesses like the rest of the product.

** "The Dream has no memory of that."
** "I think Ricochet is still spinning." Said by HHH in the post-Wargames II conference call, in reference to Ricochet's [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome double moonsault off the top of the cage]].

** Mei Ying.[[note]]Originally referred to as "Tian Sha" but it appears as though that is actually the name of the stable of Ying, Xia and Boa.[[/note]] Chinese NXT wrestlers Xia Li and Boa received mysterious letters which led to a number of vignettes showing them undergoing TrainingFromHell, causing both to [[TookALevelInBadass become more aggressive.]] While their repackagings were well received, people were less enthusiastic about the debut of their aforementioned mysterious new manager/benefactor, whose backstory makes it impossible to take her seriously.[[note]]She was a Chinese princess whose father was killed by her brother and took over their kingdom, so she made a deal with a dragon to get power to defeat him, but the dragon corrupted her and now she has to spread hatred to others, or something.[[/note]] Given that it sounds straight out of ''Series/{{Daredevil|2015}}'' or ''Series/{{Iron Fist|2017}}'', that seems like the kind of character you'd see on Raw or [=SmackDown=], or even the now-defunct ''Wrestling/LuchaUnderground'', not NXT. It doesn't help that, despite being played by a developmental talent [[note]] Chinese-American Karen Q [[/note]] all she does is [[OrcusOnHisThrone sit on her throne at the entrance stage]], look evil, and choke anyone that gets too close to her.

** One spot during the Wrestling/SashaBanks vs. Wrestling/BeckyLynch match at NXT ''Unstoppable'' that also counts as NauseaFuel and a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome for Sasha: During the match, Sasha locks in a modified Armbar and then, to add more pressure, ''stands on Becky Lynch's arm as it's being wrenched past her shoulder blade.'' It legitimately looked like Becky's arm [[BodyHorror was about to be snapped in half or ripped out of its socket]], [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer the move was THAT brutal.]]

* RetroactiveRecognition: Leva Bates wrestled in several matches during the early days of NXT as a developmental branch billed as "Blue Pants" (as that was the outfit she wore for her matches). Afterwords she gained recognition as Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling's [[BadassBookworm "The Librarian" Leva Bates]].

** Wrestling/EvaMarie. Despite having at this point being signed for two years and having received personal training from Brian Kendrick she has shown very little improvment since her disastrous matches in 2013 and legitimately '''forgot to kick out of a pinfall''' while Full Sail went nuclear once they realised what had happened. She has rapidly reached XPacHeat, and it only got worse after fans heard rumours that officials wanted to portray her as "an underdog overcoming adversity" against Bayley at ''Takeover: London''. [[FromBadToWorse It got worse]] when she then injured Carmella (see RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap) at a live event with a kick to the head. Fans had already expressed disgust at Eva's presence in NXT to begin with (even allowing that it is a developmental system) and now have evolved into wanting her blacklisted from the company (and her defenders becoming rapid victims of FanHater members of the IWC as a consequence, justified or not).

* SeasonalRot: In the second half of 2016, while NXT was still considered to be miles better than the main roster (specifcally the ''Raw'' brand), many were questioning the stability of the roster (particularly the women's). The revival of the brand extension had taken in loads of NXT stars including [[Wrestling/FergalDevitt Finn Balor]], Wrestling/{{Bayley}}, Wrestling/AmericanAlpha, Wrestling/{{Carmella}}, Wrestling/NiaJax and Wrestling/AlexaBliss, leaving a somewhat barren roster. Fortunately, NXT were able to get back on their feet by the spring of the following year, with many fans being won back over with the fantastic ''NXT [=TakeOver=]: Chicago'' and ''NXT [=TakeOver=]: Brooklyn III'' events.

** Dakota Kai's vicious FaceHeelTurn at Wargames 2019, and Rhea Ripley beating Shayna Baszler at long last.
** Kevin Owens making a surprise return to NXT as the fourth member of Tommaso Ciampa's Wargames team.

** Wrestling/DanaBrooke got loads of heat for her near-CreatorsPet status, and her obnoxious personality didn't help either. However, she got her just deserts at ''Takeover: Respect'', where she decided to pick a fight with the debuting [[Wrestling/KanakoUrai Asuka]], [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown who proceeded to lay into her with so many kicks]] that Dana ''didn't even know where she was'' by the end of the match. And then Asuka did it again at ''Takeover: London'' by laying out Dana's cohort [[Wrestling/TenilleDashwood Emma]] with a ''nasty'' spin kick after not one, not two, but ''three'' dirty finish attempts. Seeing Dana and Emma's plans blow up in their faces was so supremely satisfying that even heel-leaning commentator Corey Graves had NoSympathy for them afterwards. CatharsisFactor? Yes, indeed.

** The "Namer of Dummies" himself, Eli Drake (under the new ring name LA Knight) appearing on the ''NXT [=TakeOver=]: Vengeance Day'' pre-show, due to 1). he'd last been seen in the [[Wrestling/NationalWrestlingAlliance NWA]], 2). he had no real reason to sign with WWE at all, having alreadey had an unproductive stint in WWE developmental in the past.

** After the NXT 2.0 reboot, Von Wagner would fall into this category, mainly due to his less than impressive wrestling skills, poor physique, being seen as incredibly generic, and being shoehorned into an NXT Title match replacing EnsembleDarkhorse Kyle O'Reilly, and subsequently being placed in a tag team with him.

** After the NXT 2.0 reboot, Von Wagner would fall into this category, mainly due to his less than impressive wrestling skills, poor physique, and being shoehorned into an NXT Title match replacing EnsembleDarkhorse Kyle O'Reilly, and subsequently being placed in a tag team with him.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Leva "Blue Pants" Bates wrestled in several matches during the early days of NXT as a developmental branch. Afterwords she gained recognition as Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling's [[BadassBookworm "The Librarian" Leva Bates]].

* WereStillRelevantDammit: Bronson Reed's wrestling outfit used to reference the "thicc" meme, and this was in early 2020. However this was eventually dropped and now he just wears a regular singlet.
** Following the 2021 "Breakout Tournament" where he was just a regular wrestler, Joe Gacy was given a Social Justice Warrior-type gimmick, where he frequently spouts typical SJW buzzwords like "safe space", "triggered" and "snowflake."

** With the NXT roster currently considered to be at its absolute best, "The Finest" Kona Reeves stuck out in the worst way possible upon his debut in 2018; he was ''hated'' by the majority of the fanbase due to his boring character and basic in-ring abilities. He was sparsely used until being released on August 2021.

** Wrestling/{{Elias}} Samson has been unpopular since the debut of his Drifter gimmick. Chants of "Drift Away" and other forms of XPacHeat are common and he is generally seen by fans as, while not bad in the ring, rather unremarkable. However, he won over ''a lot'' of people following his unexpected callup to the main roster in 2017.

** With the NXT roster currently considered to be at it's absolute best, "the Finest" Kona Reeves stuck out in the worst way possible upon his debut in 2018; he was ''hated'' by the majority of the fanbase due to his boring character and basic in-ring abilities.
** After the reboot, Von Wagner would fall into this category, mainly due to his less than impressive wrestling skills, poor physique, and being shoehorned into an NXT Title match replacing EnsembleDarkhorse Kyle O'Reilly, and subsequently being placed in a tag team with him.
** Joe Gacy's NXT 2.0 "SJW" character was absolutely ''despised'' by people for being a ShallowParody of the far left, who doesn't say anything meaningful, just repeating pointless out-of-context buzzwords while not actually seeming to have any character direction other than to hang around being an annoying loser.

** Joe Gacey's NXT 2.0 "SJW" character was absolutely ''despised'' by people for being a ShallowParody of the far left, who doesn't say anything meaningful, just repeating pointless out-of-context buzzwords while not actually seeming to have any character direction other than to hang around being an annoying loser.

** After the reboot, Von Wagner would fall into this category, mainly due to his less than impressive wrestling skills, poor physique, and being shoehorned into an NXT Title match replacing [[EnsembleDarkhorse]] Kyle O'Reilly, and subsequently being placed in a tag team with him.

** With the NXT roster currently considered to be at it's absolute best, Kona Reeves stuck out in the worst way possible upon his debut in 2018; he was ''hated'' by the majority of the fanbase due to his boring character and basic in-ring abilities. But he's "the Finest."

* SmurfetteBreakout: The NXT women's division on the developmental show quickly became incredibly popular. NXT has given each of its women much more time to wrestle, as well as some kind of CharacterDevelopment. Each women's match on the live specials has been incredibly well received - as the women are treated like main event material.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Zig-Zagged with the Breakout Tournament, which NXT held in the summer of 2019 to show off some of their new talent, with the winner earning an NXT title match of their choice; ultimately it was won by Jordan Myles (formerly Wrestling/RingOfHonor's ACH). Myles vanished from TV shortly after his title match, which was unfortunate but unavoidable due to a dispute with WWE; less forgivable is that almost no one else from the tournament (save Angel Garza, who won the Cruiserweight title and later made it to the main roster) has done anything of significance either. However, this was gradually subverted by the following year as participans Cameron Grimes, Dexter Lumis, Boa, Bronson Reed and even Joaquin Wilde all began to establish themselves as legitimate competitors.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Leva "Blue Pants" Bates wrestled in several matches during the early days of NXT as a developmental branch. These days she's more well known as Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling's [[BadassBookworm "The Librarian" Leva Bates]].

* UnexpectedCharacter: The "Namer of Dummies" himself, Eli Drake (under the new ring name LA Knight) appearing on the ''NXT [=TakeOver=]: Vengeance Day'' pre-show, due to 1). he'd last been seen in the [[Wrestling/NationalWrestlingAlliance NWA]], 2). he had no real reason to sign with WWE at all, having alreadey had an unproductive stint in WWE developmental in the past.

* MagnificentBastard: [[Wrestling/KevinSteen Kevin Owens]], who successfully manipulated both current champion Wrestling/SamiZayn and General Manager Wrestling/WilliamRegal into giving him a title shot, then proceeded to [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown beat the living hell out of Zayn]] to become NXT Champion within two months of his debut.

** Also, several years later, the [[Wrestling/ChrisJericho lead singer]] of said band would throw his lot in with Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling and become its inaugural world champion - which, besides some sarcastic comments about whether WWE considered him a "Judas", was another event that precipitated significant changes to the NXT landscape.[[note]]Around the time AEW debuted on television, NXT was brought to network TV as well and extended to two hours, mainly to compete for ratings with AEW's show.[[/note]]

** Mei Ying.[[note]]Originally referred to as "Tian Sha" but it appears as though that is actually the name of the stable of Ying, Xia and Boa.[[/note]] Chinese NXT wrestlers Xia Li and Boa received mysterious letters which led to a number of vignettes showing them undergoing TrainingFromHell, causing both to [[TookALevelInBadass become more aggressive.]] While their repackagings were well received, people were less enthusiastic about the debut of their aforementioned mysterious new manager/benefactor, whose backstory makes it impossible to take her seriously.[[note]]She was a Chinese princess whose father was killed by her brother and took over their kingdom, so she made a deal with a dragon to get power to defeat him, but the dragon corrupted her and now she has to spread hatred to others, or something.[[/note]] That seems like the kind of character you'd see on Raw or [=SmackDown=], or even the now-defunct ''Wrestling/LuchaUnderground'', not NXT. It doesn't help that, despite being played by a developmental talent [[note]] Chinese-American Karen Q [[/note]] all she does is [[OrcusOnHisThrone sit on her throne at the entrance stage]], look evil, and choke anyone that gets too close to her.

* DesignatedHero: Wrestling/CharlotteFlair inspires this reaction whenever she's a face, as she tends to come across as very arrogant and full of herself. It doesn't help that in one promo, she yelled at the crowd for chanting (she was meant to be the face). At the Fatal 4 Way for the Women's title, she was technically a face but was the only woman in the match to get audibly booed during her entrance. Ironically, she did seem relatively popular when she was a heel. She received further criticism of this when she was called up to the main roster and was eventually turned heel.

** While it's true that NXT is considered to be generally better booked than ''Raw'' and ''[=SmackDown=]'', the amount of praise that it gets from the IWC is bound to leave some viewers wanting more. Outside of its [=TakeOver=] specials, famed for having virtually ''every'' match deliver, many fans consider NXT to have its strenghts and weaknesses like the rest of the product.

** Bull Dempsey was hated for being a generic heel with low wrestling prowess who was fat and slow with terrible cardio. After taking some time off to get back into shape and expand his moveset, his "[[{{Pun}} Bull-Fit]]" face gimmick has been much better received.

** Wrestling/DanaBrooke had very few fans for a while after her debut due to being seen as simply far too green to deserve a regular spot on the roster. The fact she was almost instantly added to the opening title sequence following her debut (while some big names such as Enzo Amore still are not present and others like [[Wrestling/FergalDevitt Finn Balor]] took weeks or months to be added to it) put her dangerously close to being a CreatorsPet. Thankfully, between her finding a spot as TheDragon to Emma, her vast improvement both in and out of the ring, and an incredibly well-received match with [[Wrestling/KanakoUrai Asuka]] at ''Takeover: Respect'', she seems to have won over many of the viewers. She fell back into Scrappy territory after she was called up to the main roster however.

** Wrestling/{{Carmella}} became this for those who feel that her "Princess of Staten Island" character and the associated RunningGag involving [[PoliticallyIncorrectHero Enzo Amore being sexist towards her]] [[DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale and constantly getting hit for it]] is nowhere near as funny as intended to be and actually throws a wrench into Enzo and Big Cass's dynamic. (That being said, some fans have turned on Enzo instead for his sexist comments and his constant refusal to acknowledge that Carmella is not interested in him.) Even the NXT crowd at Full Sail was initially cold to her, showing more appreciation towards her {{jobber}} opponent, [[CosplayOtakuGirl "Blue Pants" Leva Bates]]. Thankfully [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap averted]] later on.

** Wrestling/{{Elias}} Samson has been unpopular since the debut of his Drifter gimmick. Chants of "Drift Away" and other forms of XPacHeat are common and he is generally seen by fans as, while not bad in the ring, rather unremarkable. However, he has won over ''a lot'' of people following his unexpected callup to the main roster in 2017.
** The Full Sail audience have gradually become this to the rest of the fandom as of August 2015. Whilst the Full Sail audience was largely seen as passionate, as NXT became more popular over the course of 2014, a portion of the NXT fanbase began to see them as more concerned with getting themselves over than the product. However, come 2015, a portion of the Full Sail audience have begun booing any shows announced to take place outside of Florida and are being viewed as arrogant because they feel that they "deserve" to have every NXT taping & live special whilst everyone else has to make do with watching them on the WWE Network. It got to the point where Kevin Owens had to cut a WorkedShoot on them and tell them off for how selfish and entitled they were being before they began to actively support the brand's expansion again. While they have improved since the fact, they are still Twitter and Website/{{Reddit}}'s ArchEnemy and tend to get nitpicked on every single questionable moment by the [=r/SquaredCircle=] community.
** With the NXT roster currently considered to be at it's absolute best, Kona Reeves sticks out in the worst way possible; he is ''hated'' by a majority of the fanbase with many seeing him as a boring and incredibly basic competitor. But he's "the Finest."
* SeasonalRot: In the second half of 2016, while NXT was still considered to be miles better than the main roster (particularly ''Raw''), many were questioning the stability of the roster (particularly the women's). The revival of the brand extension had taken in loads of NXT stars including [[Wrestling/FergalDevitt Finn Balor]], Wrestling/{{Bayley}}, Wrestling/AmericanAlpha, Wrestling/{{Carmella}}, Wrestling/NiaJax and Wrestling/AlexaBliss, leaving a somewhat barren roster. Fortunately, NXT were able to get back on their feet by the spring of the following year, with many fans being won back over with the fantastic ''NXT [=TakeOver=]: Chicago'' and ''NXT [=TakeOver=]: Brooklyn III'' events.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The Breakout Tournament, which NXT held in late 2019 to show off some of their new talent, with the winner earning an NXT title match of their choice; ultimately it was won by Jordan Myles (formerly Wrestling/RingOfHonor's ACH). Myles vanished from TV shortly after his title match, which was unfortunate but unavoidable due to a dispute with WWE; less forgivable is that almost no one else from the tournament (save Angel Garza, who won the Cruiserweight title and later made it to the main roster) has done anything of significance either. However, as of 2020, this seems to be averted as participans Cameron Grimes, Dexter Lumis, Boa, Bronson Reed and even Joaquin Wilde have all established themselves.

** Wrestling/DanaBrooke got loads of heat for her near-CreatorsPet status, and her obnoxious personality didn't help either. However, she got her just deserts at ''Takeover: Respect'', where she decided to pick a fight with the debuting [[Wrestling/KanakoUrai Asuka]], [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown who proceeded to lay into her with so many kicks]] that Dana ''didn't even know where she was'' by the end of the match. CatharsisFactor? Yes, indeed.
** And then [[Wrestling/KanakoUrai Asuka]] did it again at ''Takeover: London'' by laying out [[Wrestling/TenilleDashwood Emma]] with a ''nasty'' spin kick after not one, not two, but ''three'' dirty finish attempts. Seeing Dana and Emma's plans blow up in their faces was so supremely satisfying that even heel-leaning commentator Corey Graves had NoSympathy for them afterwards.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Three of the developmental Divas who carried over from FCW when the show was first re-branded. All with lots of potential who got released before they could do much on TV. Sadly it seems all three of them were let go because of sexual harassment from Bill [=DeMott=].
** [[Wrestling/IvelisseVelez Sofia Cortez]] was the most egregious example, with six years of indie experience and the ability to play both face and heel effortlessly (she in fact received great reactions when she appeared as a face against Natalya). She was preparing for a main roster debut when she was abruptly released for "attitude problems" (which it later turned out were speaking up against [=DeMott=]'s abuse of trainees). Her incredible work for promotions like ''Shine'', FWE and ''Wrestling/LuchaUnderground'' just shows what a dumb move it was letting her go.
** Audrey Marie, who'd had a successful run as the top face in FCW as the Divas' Champion and was catching onto wrestling very quickly - holding her own in matches with Paige, Naomi and Sofia Cortez. She was only ever used as a {{Jobber}} for her first year before eventually getting a storyline involving tricking Sasha Banks into thinking she had a secret admirer (yes, before AJ Lee did the same to Kaitlyn). As a look at [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyV14Nnr6tM her work on live events]] shows, she was a great {{Heel}} and quite adept at working the crowd.
** Caylee Turner, a contestant from ''Wrestling/WWEToughEnough'' and the sister of Wrestling/AliciaFox. Another Diva who caught onto wrestling very quickly and was able to play both the heel and the face. She wrestled one match on TV and then was quietly released, more egregiously after she had won the FCW Divas' Championship!
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The Breakout Tournament, which NXT held in late 2019 to show off some of their new talent, with the winner earning an NXT title match of their choice; ultimately it was won by Jordan Myles (formerly [[Wrestling/RingOfHonor Ring of Honor's]] ACH). Myles vanished from TV shortly after his title match which was unfortunate but unavoidable due to his burning bridges with WWE for, ahem, [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment controversial reasons]]; less forgivable is that almost no one else from the tournament (save Angel Garza, who won the Cruiserweight title and later made it to the main roster) has done anything of significance either. Notably, finalist Cameron Grimes actually started to get somewhat of a push, but has since become a glorified jobber. However, as of 2020, this seems to be averted as Grimes, Dexter Lumis, Boa, Reed and even Joaquin Wilde have all established themselves.

* UnexpectedCharacter: The "Namer of Dummies" himself, Eli Drake (under the new ring name LA Knight) appearing on the ''NXT [=TakeOver=]: Vengeance Day'' pre-show, due to 1). he'd last been seen in the [[Wrestling/NationalWrestlingAlliance NWA]], 2). he had no real reason to sign with WWE at all.

** The Shield isn't [[Wrestling/TheWyattFamily the only faction]] to have put such a high bar on future NXT stars.

* HarsherInHindsight: The use of Music/{{Fozzy}}'s [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqURPBtGJzg "Judas"]] for ''NXT [=TakeOver=]: Brooklyn 3''. [[spoiler:It was the night that Wrestling/TommasoCiampa betrayed Wrestling/JohnnyGargano, ending #DIY]].
** Also, several years later, the [[Wrestling/ChrisJericho lead singer]] of said band would throw his lot in with Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling and become its inaugural champion - another event that precipitated significant changes to the NXT landscape.[[note]]Around the time AEW debuted on television, NXT was brought to network TV as well and extended to two hours, mainly to compete for ratings with AEW's show.[[/note]]

** While it's true that NXT has its strengths and is generally better booked than ''RAW'' and ''[=SmackDown=]'', the amount of praise that it gets from the IWC is bound to leave some viewers wanting more. Outside of its [=TakeOver=] specials, many fans consider NXT to be SoOkayItsAverage like the rest of the product.

** Wrestling/BaronCorbin yelled "You should have stayed in Wrestling/RingOfHonor" once at Apollo Crews. Since then, it's become a meme to portray him as yelling "Go back to X!" where X is any random promotion (or country in the case of foreign wrestlers) that his opponent isn't from.

* MyRealDaddy: When Wrestling/VinceMcMahon was still involved with dictating the direction of NXT, it was filled with silly competition segments, and was largely ignored by wrestling fans. When Wrestling/TripleH took over, it basically became his own personal project & he essentially turned it into basically an indy show with the financial backing of WWE. Its' meat and potatoes wrestling style has made it very popular among fans, since it has less "sports entertainment" aspects than the main roster shows.

** Mei Ying [[note]] Originally referred to as "Tian Sha" but it appears as though that is actually the name of the stable of Ying, Xia & Boa. [[/note]]. Some quick backstory- Chinese NXT Superstars Xia Li & Boa received mysterious letters which led to a number of vignettes showing them undergoing TrainingFromHell, causing both to [[TookALevelInBadass become more aggressive.]] While their repackagings were well received, people were less enthusiastic about the debut of their aforementioned mysterious new manager/benefactor whose backstory [[note]] She was a Chinese princess whose father was killed by her brother and took over their kingdom, so she made a deal with a dragon to get power to defeat him, but the dragon corrupted her and now she has to spread hatred to others, or something.[[/note]] makes it impossible to take her seriously. That seems like the kind of character you'd see on RAW or [=SmackDown=], or even the now-defunct Wrestling/LuchaUnderground, not NXT. It doesn't help that, despite being played by a developmental talent [[note]] Chinese-American Karen Q [[/note]] all she does is [[OrcusOnHisThrone sit on her throne at the entrance stage]], look evil, and choke anyone that gets too close to her.

** Wrestling/JamesStorm appeared in two matches for NXT in late 2015 but was not signed to a developmental contract and eventually returned to TNA. Despite this his two appearances received some of the biggest pops of the night on the episodes they featured on.
** The tag team The American Wolves received only a tryout match against the Ascension before being turned down and picked up by TNA and given their tag championships almost immediately.

* RootingForTheEmpire: Sasha Banks was cheered almost unanimously against Charlotte at the last live special of 2014 - despite Sasha unambiguously being the heel.

** Wrestling/{{Carmella}} became this for those who feel that her "Princess of Staten Island" character and the associated RunningGag involving [[PoliticallyIncorrectHero Enzo Amore being sexist towards her]] [[DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale and constantly getting hit for it]] is nowhere near as funny as intended to be and actually throws a wrench into Enzo and Big Cass's dynamic. Even the NXT crowd at Full Sail was initially cold to her, showing more appreciation towards her {{jobber}} opponent, [[CosplayOtakuGirl "Blue Pants" Leva Bates]]. Thankfully [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap averted]] in recent months.
*** That being said, some fans have turned on Enzo for his sexist comments and his constant refusal to acknowledge that Carmella is not interested in him.

** Wrestling/EvaMarie. Despite having at this point being signed for two years and having received personal training from Brian Kendrick she has shown very little improvment since her disastrous matches in 2013 and legitimately '''forgot to kick out of a pinfall''' while Full Sail went nuclear once they realised what had happened. She has rapidly reached XPacHeat, and it only got worse after fans heard rumours that officials wanted to portray her as "an underdog overcoming adversity" against Bayley at ''Takeover: London''.
*** [[FromBadToWorse It got worse]] when she then injured Carmella (see RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap) at a live event with a kick to the head. Fans had already expressed disgust at Eva's presence in NXT to begin with (even allowing that it is a developmental system) and now have evolved into wanting her blacklisted from the company (and her defenders becoming rapid victims of FanHater members of the IWC as a consequence, justified or not).

** With the NXT roster currently considered to be at it's absolute best, Kona Reeves sticks out in the worst way possible; he is ''hated'' by a majority of the fanbase with many seeing him as a boring and incredibly basic competitor.
*** But he's "the Finest."

* FriendlyFandoms: Despite NXT vs Wrestling/{{AEW}} Dynamite being dubbed the "Wednesday Night War", both have a smark-heavy audience who appreciate good wrestling no matter which promotion it's from, and many fans watch one show live and time-shift the other.

[[folder:Competition!NXT]]

* {{Narm}}: [[Wrestling/CurtisAxel Michael McGillicutty]]'s "Genesis of [=McGillicutty=]" promo. Hell, just ''the name'' [=McGillicutty=] counts. The fact that some will recognize it as the name of ECW valet Beulah [=McGillicutty=] or as [[Series/ILoveLucy Lucy Ricardo's]] maiden name doesn't help.
* NeverLiveItDown: Heartwarming story of weightloss aside, people still remember when Sage Beckett was the fat TNA Knockout that ended Daffney's career by dropping all her weight on her sternum.

[[folder:Developmental!NXT]]

* CreatorWorship: Deconstructed in that, for all of his attempts to use NXT to absolve himself to fans for the laundry list of beyond the pale behind the scenes crap he's pulled on and off camera, HHH still remains a reviled if not controversial figure among wrestling fans.

* HoYay: #DIY had a lot of this, to the point that Wrestling/ChuckTaylor lamented their breakup as it made his list of fifty ways they had sexual chemistry together pointless. Then again... (see FoeYay above)

** Mei Ying [[note]] Originally referred to as "Tian Sha" but it appears as though that is actually the name of the stable of Ying, Xia & Boa. [[/note]]. Some quick backstory- Chinese NXT Superstars Xia Li & Boa received mysterious letters which led to a number of vignettes showing them undergoing TrainingFromHell, causing both to [[TookALevelInBadass become more aggressive.]] While their repackagings were well received, people were less enthusiastic about the debut of their aforementioned mysterious new manager/benefactor whose backstory [[note]] She was a Chinese princess whose father was killed by her brother and took over their kingdom, so she made a deal with a dragon to get power to defeat him, but the dragon corrupted her and now she has to spread hatred to others, or something. [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer Seriously]]. [[/note]] makes it impossible to take her seriously. That seems like the kind of character you'd see on RAW or [=SmackDown=], or even the now-defunct Wrestling/LuchaUnderground, not NXT. It doesn't help that, despite being played by a developmental talent [[note]] Chinese-American Karen Q [[/note]] all she does is [[OrcusOnHisThrone sit on her throne at the entrance stage]], look evil, and choke anyone that gets too close to her.

** Tian Sha. Some quick backstory- Chinese NXT Superstars Xia Li & Boa received mysterious letters which led to a number of vignettes showing them undergoing TrainingFromHell, causing both to [[TookALevelInBadass become more aggressive.]] While their repackagings were well received, people were less enthusiastic about the debut of their aforementioned mysterious new manager/benefactor whose backstory [[note]] She was a Chinese princess whose father was killed by her brother and took over their kingdom, so she made a deal with a dragon to get power to defeat him, but the dragon corrupted her and now she has to spread hatred to others, or something. [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer Seriously]]. [[/note]] makes it impossible to take her seriously. That seems like the kind of character you'd see on RAW or [=SmackDown=], or even the now-defunct Wrestling/LuchaUnderground, not NXT. It doesn't help that all she does is [[OrcusOnHisThrone sit on her throne at the entrance stage]] and look evil.