9 NXT Champions who went on to become world champions in WWE

#4 Kevin Owens

Kevin Owens is a former Universal Champion

Kevin Owens is one of the most experienced Superstars on the WWE roster at the moment, having wrestled for 14 years before joining NXT in 2014. Owens would enter his NXT Championship feud against his real-life friend Sami Zayn after brutally attacking him right after the latter won the NXT title against Neville at NXT TakeOver: R Evolution.

The Prizefighter would win the NXT title in the most dominant way possible. He powerbombed Zayn five times before being declared the winner via referee stoppage.

KO would go on to make his RAW debut as the NXT Champion when he responded to John Cena's United States title open challenge in May 2015. Owens then went on to beat Cena at Elimination Chamber but eventually came up short in the feud. He would also later drop his NXT title to Finn Balor in July that year.

Owens would win the Universal Championship a year later in a Fatal 4-Way Match for the vacant title against the likes of Big Cass, Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins. He would be surprisingly helped by Triple H to achieve the feat.

Since then, Owens has won the Intercontinental title twice and the United States title thrice. The US Championship is also the last belt that Owens has held in the company dating all the way back to 2017.