NXT's seasonal reality show-based format shifted to what basically amounted to its own little 'promotion within a promotion'. And yet, because of the way WWE tends to operate, the premise really never changed - the standouts in NXT in one year are usually promoted to the main roster in the next. They also usually receive huge pushes, at least initially.
Andrade "Cien" Almas, whose name roughly translates to "Hundrednote Cien Soulsnote Almas Andrade", made his TV debut against Tye Dillinger, who is known as "The Perfect 10." 10 vs. 100. Three guesses who came out on top.
Roderick Strong's Face–Heel Turn becomes less shocking when you watch his match against Cedric Alexander in the Semi-Finals of the Cruiserweight Championship tournament on 205 Live. What does he do to Cedric in that match? Throws him back first into the ring post from the Fireman's Carry position on the apron! Using what is usually considered a heel tactic as a desperation move, Roddy was already showing signs of turning before TakeOver: New Orleans.
It may be a coincidence, but The Undisputed Era is composed by Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, and Kyle O'Reilly. They were later joined by a freshly heel-turned Roderick Strong. As in... CFO$, the duo which succeeded Jim Johnston in the WWE music department.
Possibly another coincidence, but it was only after CFO$ ceased to be the primary music producers for WWE, that the group split.
Most of the callups to the main roster are similar to the way sport clubs behave in real life: like OVW and FCW in the past, Developmental!NXT is the feeder division to Raw, Smackdown and 205 Live's main teams. Most of these changes in real life take place at what's called the "window transfer period", which in the WWE timeline is the period between WrestleMania and the next PPV. At some points, players on the main roster get sidelined by several reasons (i.e. releases, injuries) and NXT has to feed more roster members to these shows.
Adam Cole destroying The Undisputed Era once comes off as just Cole being a self-centered asshole and makes complete sense on that level; however, it makes even more sense if you go back to their history in New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Finn Bálor (or Prince Devitt as he was known then) is known as the founder of the Bullet Club, the iconic stable that Adam Cole would come to take over in later years. As such, Cole and all the other BC leaders have always been somewhat in Devitt's shadow. Cole moves to NXT, starts an Expy group of the Bullet Club. Then Balor comes back to NXT after having been long gone by the time Adam arrived, and it looks like his stablemates are getting too close to him, and in a way he's found himself in Devitt's shadow all over again. Of course he'd react badly.
Booker T's resentment over The New Day winning the NXT Tag Team Championship from Pretty Deadly seems out of character. Especially since they were previously on good terms with each other. But then you remember that one of his students, Roxanne Perez, has just recently became the number one contender for (and eventually winning) the NXT Women's Championship. Given his relationship with WWE, it's likely that there will more Reality of Wrestling students showing up and even win championships in NXT. Then you see a veteran tag team in The New Day, who have accomplishments worthy of the WWE Hall of Fame, stroll in and beat the current tag champions for the belts. Which can be compared to an NFL Team winning the NCAA Football Championship. Seeing that it could possibly happen to Roxanne or any of his students who manage to win a championship, suddenly Booker's outrage towards The New Day makes sense if not outright makes him sympathetic. It doesn't help that this happened after The New Day lost to The Usos for the Unified Tag Team Championship, making it seem like they decided to go "easy mode."
