# 2 Sami Zayn
One of the hottest independent stars to ever sign for NXT, Sami Zayn made a name for himself wrestling in various Indy promotions across the globe under the ring name 'EL Generico '.
The Montreal- native signed with WWE in January 2013 and debuted just four months later for NXT on May 22.
After unsuccessfully challenging for the NXT Championship on multiple occasions, Zayn would finally win the NXT Championship from Adrian Neville at NXT Takeover: R Evolution in December 2014 with the added stipulation that if Zayn lost, he would leave NXT. After the match, Zayn was attacked by his long-time friend Kevin Owens and would drop the NXT title to Owens at NXT Takeover: Rival in February 2016 ending his Championship reign at just 62 days.
Zayn would wrestle his final NXT match against a debuting Shinsuke Nakamura at NXT Takeover: Dallas during WrestleMania 32 weekend.
In spite of being on the main roster for almost three years, Zayn hasn't been able to win any gold in the WWE. The former NXT champion is currently on the sidelines after suffering a torn rotator cuff earlier this year and is expected to be out of in-ring action for the rest of 2018. A superstar of Sami's calibre and credibility deserves at least a secondary title but sadly that hasn't been the case so far.