NXT and the current day is great because you can throw things at the wall and see what sticks. This is why it's awesome that it does exist. You can have more fun than a Raw SmackDown. I do believe it's been designed that way. Of course, the idea of a developmental brand has been around for a long old time now and look. You can't hit home runs every single day. It actually is better to drop the ball here and there, I do believe

that is how we learn.

So let us get in our time machines and go back in time, obviously, to see who stepped

into the spotlight before we had to rethink things.

Let's find out.

Number 25, Eli Cottonwood.

So we start off with a difficult one.

Promo we're going to talk about did derail Eli Cottonwood, but man, all things considered, I kind of love it. This was during a time when NXT was more of a game show than the third brand, and therefore the roster were basically contestants. It meant they had to do weird challenges such as cut promos about facial hair. I mean, why not? Eli was given moustaches before going on this

incredible tirade about how he didn't have one, but maybe he should. His fellow rivals should

also consider sporting some fluff under their nose. I mean, he actually sounded crazy. Today,

he likely would have become a cult hero, but the internet was far crueler in 2012, I suppose,

and after some ridicule he sort of vanished

and then he was released. Cottonwood was a giant so it felt like he may get a stay of execution,

especially as he sort of teamed up with Bray Wyatt for a bit. Sadly not, this was the end.

Number 24, Damager versus Doug Basham. In the early 2000s, OVW took these two on their developmental show, and my gosh, they made one hell of a rivalry. If you go down the rabbit hole, you will see Damager and Doug Bashan engage in all-out wrestling war, with hardcore fans praising it. Why wasn't this stuff happening on the main roster? Well, I'm about to tell you. Because given the noise, we did cool them up, and the first

thing we did was make them the Basham Brothers. That's right, they became a team. Now, if you only watched Raw on Smackdown, you didn't know this, but not only did it ruin their program in OVW, but it left Doug and Danny as they were now known in Nomadsland. Vince McMahon didn't care about tag teams in 2003.

Whatever heat they'd built up was now gone.

What was the point in that?

OVW Booker Jim Corner had to rec on his story to pretend this was their master plan too.

And trust me, it was not.

Maybe it would have been better had NXT existed back then because there may have been some synergy.

Instead, it ruined the whole thing and left

...