And here's where I will fully admit that I've watched virtually none of NXT in the last several years. So to your point, there probably is a good bit of relevant backstory that I missed out on.
Having said that, the whole thing just kind of wreaked of that thing that wrestling fans do from time to time where they take something that applied really well to certain other unique situations, and then start applying it to multiple other situations to where it gets watered down. Another example was the usage of the "you've still got it" chants. It started out applicable, but then after a while if you were ever on TV in the '80s or '90s, and you came back and threw a few punches and kicks in the ring during the last 15 or so years, chances are you were going to be informed that you've still got it.