So, the WWE attempted to be like college athletics by adding a transfer portal.

But they didn't make it so it was only wrestlers transferring to another WWE program, they've let each show's General Manager have the ability to transfer wrestlers off their show and onto another. 

But when a GM does it, it's not a transfer, it's a banishment, and it makes the wrestler being transferred look diminished.  Why? Because if a wrestler was really making things pop on their current show, then the GM wouldn't be transferring them away. 

When a wrestler transfers, it's because they see opportunity and greener pastures ahead. Maybe they're right, maybe they're wrong, but they start out with hope, and there's no hope when a GM banishes you.

WWE could have, and should have, replaced GM transfers with trades instead of transfers. Trades would present hope for the future, and would at least show that the the wrestlers have value.