#1 Aleister Black
Aleister Black formerly known as Tommy End made his NXT debut at NXT Takeover: Orlando and defeated Andrade Cien Almas, who is the current NXT Champion. The packaging of Black from the get-go was tremendous, his theme song and entrance were mesmerizing. The guy was from kickboxing and MMA background, so WWE allowed him to use similar wrestling style. Later on, he defeated some big names like Kassius Ohno, Hideo Itami, Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish.
His biggest obstacle, however, came when he feuded with Velveteen Dream. Together they produced a Match Of The Year contender at NXT Takeover: War Games. Black showed that he had the skills to tell a story in the ring and could change his hard-hitting wrestling style to a mat-based grappling feast. Many consider him the soon to be NXT Champion and that should and will happen in 2018.