6 Former NXT World champions who succeeded on the main roster

#2 Shinsuke Nakamura

Shinsuke Nakamura was one of the most charismatic NXT Champions.

Shinsuke Nakamura made his WWE debut in 2016 by defeating Sami Zayn at NXT Takeover: Dallas. Shinsuke then defeated Finn Balor and entered the NXT title picture in the same year. Shinsuke defeated Samoa Joe to win the title and also became the second Superstar to become a 2-time NXT World Champion when he regained his NXT Championship from Samoa Joe. Shinsuke finally lost his NXT title to Bobby Roode in 2017 and was called up to the main roster where he became a part of the Smackdown Live roster.

Shinsuke struggled on the main roster in 2017 and failed to win the Money in the Bank ladder match and the WWE Championship on 2 different occasions. Nakamura then had a career resurrection and went on to win the Royal Rumble match of 2018.

Shinsuke then feuded with AJ Styles for the WWE title for almost 4 months and even turned heel during the feud. After being unsuccessful in winning the WWE title, Shinsuke managed to defeat Jeff Hardy to become the new (and current) United States Champion at Extreme Rules.