Why Did The Undisputed Era Get Broken Up in WWE NXT?

The Undisputed Era broke up as a faction back in February at NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day when Adam Cole attacked both Finn Balor and Kyle O'Reilly and transformed back into a detestable heel. Cole and O'Reilly went on to have a 40-minute Unsanctioned Match at NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver, Roderick Strong "quit" the brand and Bobby Fish is still out with an injury, bringing the dominance of NXT's most decorated faction to a close.

So why did the split happen? O'Reilly explained while on Sean Waltman's Pro Wrestling 4 Life podcast that it was a decision the group came up with the day of TakeOver: Vengeance Day.

"It goes to show how much trust they have in us as performers," O'Reilly said (h/t WrestlingNews.co). "It started with just 'can you guys come in Sunday and we'll have a booking meeting, and you guys pitch ideas as to what's next.' That's what's been great about the entire...they want to hear our opinion and run things by us and get our suggestions. This booking meeting...it was not the plan coming in, 'we'll split these guys up, we'll let them down easy,' it had nothing to do with an executive decision like, 'this has to happen.' It was a true collaboration in the sense of 'if we're doing this, we do it tonight at the pay-per-view to maximize the opportunity to get the most people to tune in on Wednesday to get the why.' You want to end the show with something big."

"It's kinda crazy how it happened so fast and suddenly," he added. "Literally, within hours it was like, 'this is happening, oh my god.' It does suck because it's been the best thing that has happened to me in my career with these guys. I've had the most fun and learned so much and become a better performer. Just because we split up now it just means the eventual reunion will be a bigger deal."

The group first arrived at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn III in August 2017. Strong became the group's fourth member at NXT TakeOver: New Orleans the following April, and in the years that followed the group won the NXT Championship once, the NXT North American Championship twice, the tag titles three times, the 2018 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic and 10 NXT Year-End Awards. At one point in late 2019 the four fulfilled the "Undisputed Prophecy" by holding every men's NXT title on the brand at the same time.