Back in 2012, WWE decided that it was time to close down their primary developmental territory, FCW, and replace it with something newer and fresher. Thus, off the back of this decision, NXT was born, and it has evolved continuously ever since its inception.
Big names have come and gone, but one thing that has always remained consistent is the ability of NXT to produce superstars that are capable of going on to achieve great things on the main roster. In this sense, it can be agreed that NXT has been a major success.
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Whilst some members of the WWE Universe argue that NXT has already peaked, the fact remains that it will continue to supply the WWE with some major talent for many years to come.
To celebrate the overall success that NXT has become, and the transformative effect that it's had on the entire wrestling world, let's run through the ten best Superstars that NXT has ever produced. You may be surprised at some of the names that didn't even get to feature.
Honourable Mentions
The pure volume of superstars that have graduated from NXT to WWE is very impressive. This is illustrated by the fact that such a hugely talented individual as Neville, doesn't even make the top 10. The Englishman became the first man ever to hold the NXT Title and the NXT Tag Titles concurrently during his run on the yellow brand, and built himself into a household name down at Full Sail.
Sadly, with WWE's continued inability to do anything with the majority of their Cruiserweights, Neville's progress was stunted upon his arrival on the main roster. He shone briefly, however, twice nearly winning gold after running John Cena agonisingly close in a US Open Challenge match, as well as very nearly pinning Seth Rollins for the WWE World Title on an episode of RAW, after hitting a picture perfect Red Arrow.
The trio of Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch and Bayley find themselves in a similar scenario, as they all tore the house down regularly on NXT, making themselves fan favourites at various points.
However, thanks to some poor booking once they left the safety of developmental, all three of those talented women currently reside at a level far below where they should be, on the WWE ladder. Other acts to have enjoyed success both in NXT and on the main roster include Austin Aries, Xavier Woods, The Wyatt Family, Kalisto and Tyler Breeze.
#10 Big E
When Big E burst onto the scene in WWE, nobody could have ever envisaged that he'd morph into the crazy, fun-loving, babyface star that he's become today. It's been a long and winding road for the former NXT Champion, who was referred to as Big E Langston earlier in his WWE career.
After becoming the man to defeat the inaugural NXT Champion, Seth Rollins, and claim his belt, there was nothing more for Big E to achieve on the yellow brand. He debuted in WWE as a quiet, dominant monster, fresh from a highly successful period in NXT, during which he would routinely ask the referee to count to five as he made the cover to finish his matches. By the side of Dolph Ziggler, he was the muscle in a short-lived stable also involving AJ Lee.
After inevitably splitting from Ziggler, he went on to have a forgettable run as Intercontinental Champion which nearly killed his momentum. Luckily, fate decided to intervene and the formation of The New Day arguably saved the career of not just Big E, but Kofi and Xavier too.
Regardless, The New Day kicked on in a big way and went on to become the longest reigning WWE World Tag Team Champions of all time, cementing Big E's status as one of NXT's most notable success stories.
#9 Sami Zayn
Before his emergence on Monday Night RAW, Sami Zayn was once one of NXT's most beloved figures. A smiling man of the people, Zayn won the hearts of the Full Sail faithful during his lengthy quest to obtain the NXT Championship.
When this goal was finally achieved, after defeating Neville in an emotional contest at TakeOver: R-Evolution, he was attacked by Kevin Owens in a shocking moment that set the wheels in motion for both men to become genuine stars in the developmental brand.
Losing the NXT strap to Owens two months to the day after winning it, Zayn eventually was called up to the main roster. His ascension was delayed after injuring his shoulder during his debut against John Cena, but as ever, "The Underdog From The Underground" defied the odds to return and concrete himself as a mainstay of Monday nights.
His strong body of work has followed him onto the main roster, with Zayn having partaken in entertaining programmes with the likes of Owens and Braun Strowman.
His status as a cult hero in NXT goes to show that Sami Zayn could genuinely excel in a role similar to the one formerly occupied by the now-retired Daniel Bryan, if given the chance to do so.
#8 Charlotte Flair
Charlotte Flair has come through to revolutionise Women’s Wrestling in the last couple of years following a largely successful three-year stint in NXT, during which she marked herself out as an extremely talented worker. Obviously, given her status as the daughter of “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair, expectations for Charlotte were very high when she finally hit the main roster in August 2015.
She came up as part of the “Women’s Revolution” angle, which was a nice idea initially, but ultimately degenerated into an overload of contrived battles between makeshift factions. Having won the NXT Women’s Championship once, the Divas Championship once and the RAW Women’s Championship four times, Charlotte Flair is by far the most decorated female superstar in the recent history of WWE.
Whilst other similarly talented stars such as Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch have slowly faded away over the past few months, now languishing dangerously close to irrelevance, Flair has reinvented herself over on Smackdown Live with a face turn. Now armed with new areas of her character to explore, Charlotte can push on and make a bid to become the first ever woman to win the NXT, RAW and Smackdown Women’s Championships.
She is already the biggest success story that NXT have ever produced, in terms of female superstars, and will no doubt continue to set the bar for years to come.
#7 Dean Ambrose
When Dean Ambrose first hit the main roster, wreaking havoc at Survivor Series 2012 alongside Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns, everybody predicted that he would go on to achieve a great deal of success.
Those people were correct, although Ambrose hopes to add to the sole WWE Championship he has earned, alongside his undeniably massive fan following. Even during his FCW and then NXT days, which were admittedly very, very brief – he appeared at a couple of live events, but never on TV – it was clear that Ambrose was marked out for success.
Before he even hit the main roster, an intriguing feud with Mick Foley was being planned but ultimately had to be shelved when Foley couldn’t pass an impact test. However, he went on to make an even bigger impact than could possibly have been imagined as part of The Shield.
The way that he, Rollins and Reigns ran roughshod over the entire company whilst they were together paved the way for all three men to become World Champions in their own right. To come out of a new developmental system and then make it all the way to the top of your industry isn’t something that’s particularly common, but it’s certainly something that “The Lunatic Fringe” has achieved.
Ambrose still has much more to give, making his continued involvement at the business end of the card a welcome sight to most members of the WWE Universe.
#6 Samoa Joe
One name that was never expected to emerge from NXT was Samoa Joe. A mainstay of TNA for many years, he left the company in early 2015 after a new contract could not be agreed, which convinced WWE that the best decision would be to swallow their pride and sign “The Destroyer” to NXT.
Though everyone was fully aware of Joe’s immense talent, it was widely assumed that he would never see the main roster, instead he was allowed to make a name for himself as NXT’s biggest star, whilst helping to develop and maintain that brand. For a while, this turned out to be the case, as Joe became the first ever two-time NXT Champion and engaged in a lengthy run at the top of the card, battling top names such as Finn Balor and Shinsuke Nakamura.
After over 18 months spent down in Florida, Samoa Joe finally made his main roster debut in monstrous fashion, viciously taking out Seth Rollins, injuring the knee of “The Kingslayer” and looking like a huge star in the process. Whilst Joe has only been on Monday Night RAW since January, and despite being left off the WrestleMania card, Joe has shown in just a few short months that he’s a big deal and is here to stay.
His dominant NXT run played a very strong role in setting up Samoa Joe to be portrayed as an absolute beast on the main roster, and he can now use this solid foundation to push on further than anybody could have imagined.
#5 Shinsuke Nakamura
Shinsuke Nakamura, for many years now, has been regarded as the most charismatic man in pro wrestling. His energetic performances over in NJPW had marked him out as a man the world would like to see a lot more of, and they got their wish in 2016 as Shinsuke was assigned to NXT.
Debuting against Sami Zayn in one of the best NXT matches ever, at TakeOver: Dallas, this performance instantly had Nakamura off and running.
Fans warmed to him straight away, and his rapid ascent to the top of NXT was complete by August of last year, when he defeated Samoa Joe to become NXT Champion for the first time. Before long, he was a two-time champion, and everybody was begging to see Nakamura on the main roster.
Finally, in April 2017, it happened; Nakamura made his Smackdown Live debut, and since then has looked like a genuine star in the making.
Admittedly, his first match against Dolph Ziggler at Backlash didn’t quite live up to expectations, but he’s still being pushed as one of the top guys on the blue brand. All of this was made possible by his explosive run in NXT, and it will be fascinating to see just how far Nakamura can go in the WWE.
All the signs are pointing towards him going a very long way.
#4 Finn Balor
It’s arguable that Finn Balor was the biggest NXT star in history. During his incredible 292-day run as NXT Champion, NXT transformed from a developmental system to a legitimate third brand of WWE, that attracts the big stars in its own right. This has been further shown since, by the arrival in NXT of names such as Austin Aries, Samoa Joe, Shinsuke Nakamura, Eric Young and more.
After his short chase for the NXT Title culminated in a victory over Kevin Owens for the strap at The Beast In The East event, Balor promptly developed into the perfect champion. Captivating fans with his high-octane in-ring performances and stellar promo work, he quickly became recognised as a genuine star.
Finally, he began to outgrow NXT, thus the decision was made to have Samoa Joe to beat him for the title at an NXT live event (how often do title changes happen on live events? Barely ever) and send him up to the main roster.
His RAW debut was even more impactful than his NXT career, defeating Cesaro, Kevin Owens, Rusev and Roman Reigns on his first night to send him into a Universal Championship clash with Seth Rollins.
At Summerslam, 27 days after his main roster debut, he defeated Rollins to become the new champion and cement himself as a top name in WWE. He had to vacate the title due to injury a day later, but everybody was now aware who Finn Balor is, if they weren’t already. He has since returned, and picked up right where he left off at the top of the card.
#3 Kevin Owens
Kevin Owens spent a minimal amount of time in NXT, far less than a year, but was able to make an impact of seismic proportions during that period. Debuting at TakeOver: R Evolution, initially as a babyface, he defeated CJ Parker before reappearing at the end of the show to congratulate Sami Zayn on becoming the new NXT Champion.
As we all know, Owens went on to turn on his former best friend by ferociously assaulting him, power bombing Zayn onto the ring apron in one of the more memorable heel turns in recent WWE history. Exactly two months later, he defeated Zayn to become NXT Champion for the first time. Whilst still holding the title, he made his main roster debut in emphatic fashion, appearing to answer John Cena’s US Open Challenge before verbally tearing him to shreds and then leaving him laying in the middle of the ring.
They faced off in a “Champion vs Champion” match at 2015’s Elimination Chamber event, a match that Owens incredibly won to cement himself as a genuine WWE superstar before he was even out of developmental. Owens lost his NXT Title to Finn Balor at Beast In The East, but ascended to the main roster full time and ended up winning the Intercontinental Champion just 2 months later.
Today, KO stands before us as a former Universal Champion, a two-time Intercontinental Champion and a two-time US Champion. None of this would have been possible without his incredible, albeit brief, run in NXT.
#2 Roman Reigns
KO may have only been in NXT for a short period, but Roman Reigns spent even less time on the developmental brand. Wrestling just three times on NXT, defeating CJ Parker, Chase Donovan and Gavin Reids, the bulk of Roman’s early WWE career was spent in FCW.
However, regardless of how long he spent in NXT, the fact remains that he spent some time there before heading to the bright lights of WWE television. He emerged from developmental alongside Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose, and the trio very quickly became the hottest commodity in the company. Roman always played the role of the silent muscle of the group, a role which he undoubtedly thrived in and allowed him to make a very genuine connection with the fans.
Certain sections of the WWE Universe have claimed to be sick of Reigns being constantly presented as a top guy, but it has not always been this way. When it came down to Reigns and Batista in the final two of the 2014 Royal Rumble, it cannot be denied that the arena was firmly behind The Big Dog. Since leaving NXT, Reigns has become a household name at the top of the card in WWE, winning both the US and Tag Team Titles once each, the 2015 Royal Rumble, and is a three-time WWE World Heavyweight Champion.
NXT may not have had a massive influence on the direction of Reigns’ career – from his early FCW days, he was primed to be a top superstar – however, this does not alter the fact that Roman Reigns is one of the biggest success stories ever to come through NXT.
#1 Seth Rollins
How fitting, that the man who defeated Jinder Mahal to become the first ever NXT Champion, takes the top spot on this list. Seth Rollins exploded into NXT, upon its inception back in 2012, clearly demonstrating that he had all the potential to achieve amazing things.
As already mentioned, Rollins enjoyed a massively successful initial post-NXT career alongside Reigns and Ambrose, but it’s more what he’s achieved since that point, that elevates Rollins above Reigns on this list. In mid-2014, when The Shield first split up, everybody was expecting Reigns or Ambrose to become the big stars of the trio.
Nobody expected Rollins to achieve quite the level of success that he has, but he snatched every possible opportunity to find himself today, in 2017, announced as the cover star of the WWE 2K18 video game. Recent names to grace the cover of WWE’s video games include The Rock, John Cena, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Brock Lesnar, a stark illustration of just how far Rollins has come since his NXT days, a mere 5 years ago.
Alongside his aforementioned accolades, Seth Rollins won the 2014 Money In The Bank briefcase shortly after departing The Shield, which allowed him to subsequently become the first man to cash in that contract at WrestleMania, pinning his ex-stablemate Reigns to become champion. Rollins is a former WWE Tag Team Champion, US Champion and a two-time WWE World Heavyweight Champion, and also the first man ever to hold the WWE and United States Championships at the same time.
A frankly astonishing list of accolades, made even more amazing by the fact that Rollins is nowhere near his full potential yet. NXT’s most successful graduate to the main roster, without question, has to be Seth Rollins.
