Splitting this list into thirds has achieved something pretty interesting, because part 1’s reflection on NXT’s former champions was quite a depressing one, filled with wrestlers who sadly weren’t used to their full potential, or have hardly been used at all yet, this part is filled with those who have done ok for themselves, or have yet to reach their full potential, and part 3 can be a nice celebration. This week, we get to look at the NXT Alumni that have ended up doing a lot better for themselves since moving to the main roster…mostly.
Enough faffing about, let’s carry on with the rankings.
10 – Drew Mcintyre
Days as NXT Champion: 91
Called Up On: Raw 4/16/18
Best Match Since Callup: w/ Dolph Ziggler vs Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose at Hell in a Cell 2018
Championships Since Callup: 1x Tag Team Championship
Drew’s a slightly weird one in the context of this list.
Drew Mcintyre would sign with WWE for the first time in 2007 and debuted on Smackdown in 2009. During this time he would be dubbed “The Chosen One” after being handpicked by Vince McMahon as a future star, so it was very strange when come 2013 he was in eternal jobber faction 3MB and losing singles matches to a midget dressed as a bull.
He was released from WWE in June 2014 and would spend the next few years touring the independent scene, with long term appearances in ICW and Evolve. Drew’s physique would wildly change in this time too, he would become a lot more muscular than he was at the end of his first WWE run, dye his hair jet black, grow a grizzled looking beard and become a very angry Scotsman. This new look and vastly improved wrestling style would lead him to re-signing with WWE in early 2017, as a part of NXT. On the same night, his NXT Championship run ended he suffered an injury that would put him out of action for several months.
Come the 2018 Superstar Shakeup, Mcintyre was fully healed up and debuted on Raw to confusingly align himself with a heel Dolph Ziggler. He would spend most of this alliance looking strong as Ziggler’s muscle, helping Ziggler win singles matches with constant interference, and being a constant thorn in the side of Seth Rollins. While still at Ziggler’s side, the pair would win the Raw Tag Team Championships from The B-Team and go on to have one of the best matches of 2018 at the Hell in a Cell PPV.
The alliance would eventually dissolve following several losses to The Shield and Mcintyre would flounder for a bit. He lost singles matches to both Ziggler and Finn Balor while Balor was on his way to a match with Brock Lesnar which hurt him a bit, and yet MORE losses to The Shield also weren’t helpful. However going into Wrestlemania he was poised as Roman Reigns’ big return singles opponent, which even though he lost, is a good position to be in.
As much as Mcintyre has quite done anything special just yet, he’s right on the brink of being a megastar, and I imagine if I were to revisit this list in 3-5 years time, he will be top three, as I’ll be very surprised if he doesn’t capture his first world championship at some point during the next 12 months.
9 – Paige
Days as NXT Women’s Champion: 273
Called Up On: 4/7/14
Best Match Since Callup: vs AJ Lee at Summerslam 2014
Championships Since Callup: 2x Divas Championship
Paige is a unique case in this list because you have to consider some factors that don’t apply to anyone else.
Paige came into WWE about a year and a half before all the women’s revolution kicked off in WWE, so she spent the first stint of her career fighting pressed up against the thickest glass ceiling in WWE history. This means that when looking at her accomplishments, you have to compare it to what the women’s wrestling scene was like at the time, not what it is now.
When you look at it from that perspective Paige is probably the greatest of the era, she debuted on Raw the night after Wrestlemania 30, and would immediately win the Divas Championship from AJ that night. Paige would then go on to have lots of short and forgettable matches for the title against the likes of Tamina, Alicia Fox and Cameron, which was, unfortunately, par for the course at the time. It wouldn’t be without it’s redeeming features, however, as she would have some pretty good matches against Naomi and AJ Lee over the next few months, culminating in a surprisingly good Triple Threat match against AJ Lee and Nikki Bella.
Paige wouldn’t do much of anything for the next 8 months or so, being a heel who lost more and more credibility by the week, she began to fade back into just being “another woman”, which is a very sad indictment of how WWE thought of women’s wrestling at the time.
This would continue until the summer of 2015, where Paige become the catalyst for the women’s revolution and the on-screen flag bearer for the “Give Divas a Chance” hashtag, even if Stephanie McMahon would steal her thunder at every opportunity. Paige would team up with the newly debuted Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch to form the faction “Submission Sorority”, named after the trio’s skill in submission based wrestling.
…what do you mean that’s the name of a porn series?
After being renamed “Team PCB” – because creative names aren’t WWE’s forte – the Paige, Charlotte and Becky Experience would be the trio to lead the charge against the Bella Twins, with Paige standing as an ally for Charlotte as she unseated Nikki Bella as Divas Champion. Following this, she would turn heel and try to take the title from Charlotte in a feud that is sadly only remembered for Paige’s uncomfortable comment about Charlotte’s dead brother, Reid.
After doing a whole lot of nothing for the next year or so, Paige would sadly suffer an injury to her neck that would take her out of action for over a year, and unfortunately, things don’t get much better from here. She returned to Raw in September of 2017, where she would form the “Absolution” faction alongside Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville, but wouldn’t be able to compete for very long, as a second neck injury in December would eventually force her to tragically retire from in-ring competition the night after Wrestlemania 34.
Paige would spend the rest of 2018 as the on-screen General Manager for Smackdown, and ended up being one of the best General Managers in recent memory, before being ousted from the role in late December when the McMahon family declared the audience to be the authority and subsequently ignored our every wish. Paige would most recently show up on Smackdown live once again, this time as a manager for the team of Kairi Sane and Asuka, so she’s not going away any time soon.
While Paige’s career was sadly cut short, she was able to do a surprising amount with what little time she had. If it wasn’t for her, the women’s revolution could’ve gone very differently; we’ve just had the first ever all-women Wrestlemania main event, and it’s entirely possible that it wouldn’t have happened without Paige. Even in retirement, she’s made the most of a bad situation, becoming one of the few management characters to not be insufferably annoying and is still keeping us entertained to this day.
8 – Bayley
Days as NXT Women’s Champion: 223
Called Up On: Battleground 2016
Best Match Since Callup: vs Charlotte Flair on Raw 2/13/17
Championships Since Callup: 1x Raw Women’s Championship, 1x Smackdown Women’s Championship, 1x Women’s Tag Team Championship
When people talk about NXT callups not being handled well on main roster, Bayley is almost always one of the main wrestlers brought to the discussion. That argument certainly has some merit to it, but when you step back and look at things as a whole, it’s really not as bad as it seems.
Upon being brought up to Raw, Bayley was immediately thrown into the mix with Sasha and Charlotte for the Raw Women’s Championship, having an excellent showing in a Triple Threat Match at Night of Champions 2016. She would then move to a more underwhelming feud with Charlotte’s then lackey, Dana Brooke before being on the victorious side of the Elimination Tag Match at Survivor Series. This took a little while to boil over before she would have her first one on one match for the title at Royal Rumble, where she, unfortunately, lose to Charlotte.
The losing ways wouldn’t last long as two weeks later Bayley would defeat Charlotte (with a tiny assist from Sasha Banks) to win her first singles championship on the main roster, following a retention against Charlotte at Fastlane, Bayley would find herself carrying the title into Wrestlemania. Things got even better when she also found herself walking out of Wrestlemania as champion, putting away Charlotte, Sasha and Nia Jax in a fatal 4-way match. In a little over half a year, Bayley had become a staple of the Raw Women’s division and was standing extremely strong as it’s champion; WWE management would have to do something REALLY bad to undo all of that goodwill.
…oh for the love of-
Unfortunately, we know all too well what happened next. Former Smackdown Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss would be transferred to Raw in the superstar shakeup and immediately get the chance to challenge Bayley for the Raw Women’s Championship at Payback. Bayley would, unfortunately, lose the title in this match, but it wasn’t in awful fashion, so it wouldn’t do her any harm, but it wasn’t over. The feud would continue, building towards the Extreme Rules PPV and all of the shit would hit the biggest fan you’ve ever seen.
Alexa Bliss hosted the now infamous “Bayley: This is Your Life” segment, which is still one of the worst Raw segments in recent memory, up there with “The Old Day” and Sami meeting Bobby Lashley’s “sisters”. We still weren’t done though, as the match between the pair at Extreme Rules would be a Kendo Stick on a Pole match, which is an awful stipulation as it is, but things would be made a lot worse when Bayley refused to hit Alexa with the Kendo Stick because…she was either scared or an idiot and lost the match because of it. Either way, it completely destroyed all the goodwill and credibility Bayley had built up over the past 10 months, crowds would either boo her or not react at all when she came out for a long time following that match because – and I can’t stress this enough – she was scared of a stick.
The next two years were filled with absolutely nothing of any value for Bayley. Outside of a decent showing in the 2017 Elimination Chamber match for the Raw Women’s Championship, she would have no standout moments and spent most of 2018 having an on again off again feud with Sasha Banks that ended up going nowhere.
Eventually, things would start to turn around for Bayley though, as in February 2019, her and Sasha Banks would become the first ever Women’s Tag Team Champions in a great match and a very emotional moment. They would, unfortunately, lose those titles to The IIconics at Wrestlemania, but Bayley has bounced back tremendously, with a move to Smackdown immediately placing her toe to toe with Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch, most recently winning the Money in the Bank contract and cashing it in on the same night to win the Smackdown Women’s Championship. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that 2019 will be a great year for Bayley.
7 – Asuka
Days as NXT Women’s Champion: 522
Called Up On: TLC 2017
Best Match Since Callup: vs Charlotte Flair vs Becky Lynch at TLC 2018
Championships Since Callup: 1x Smackdown Women’s Championship
Asuka is a case where people often moan at length about how she’s been incorrectly used or “ruined” since coming up to main roster, and while she has performed below expectations, it certainly hasn’t been awful for her.
Coming out of NXT, she had an undefeated streak of unrivalled proportions, going 186-0 during her time under the brand of black and gold. Her debut, on the main roster, would be heavily anticipated on TV, with video packages every week hyping her up, and several women having to compete just for a chance to face her in her debut at TLC 2017, Asuka was presented as an extremely big deal in the lead up to her debut.
Asuka would eventually make her debut in a match against Emma, where she would win handily, and these winning ways would carry on for quite a while. People had concerns that she wasn’t being used to her full potential, but those fears were laid to rest when the first ever Women’s Royal Rumble match rolled around and Asuka came out of it the winner. She would soon let the world know that she was ready to challenge Charlotte Flair at Wrestlemania 34.
The match itself was great, one of the best of the night, and when it was said and done, Charlotte Flair was standing tall as the winner, Asuka’s undefeated streak shattered. This decision split the fanbase at large, I personally think Asuka should’ve won however given that it was Charlotte that did it, I’m ok with it because honestly, who else could have? In addition to this, undefeated streaks can end up being more of a curse than a blessing if they go on too long because they will always have to end, just ask Rusev.
Asuka could’ve quite easily recovered if that was the only major loss she suffered in the spring of 2018, however, that wasn’t to be as Carmella would cash in her Money in the Bank briefcase the next night on Smackdown to take the title from Charlotte, and Asuka was lined up as her first challenger. Asuka would lose the first encounter thanks to James Ellsworth showing up in Asuka’s entrance gear, then she’d lose the second encounter thanks to more James Ellsworth shenanigans and it was just plain awful.
Asuka would sink down into doing a whole lot of nothing for most of the rest of 2018 until December brought about her revival. With a small assist from Ronda Rousey, Asuka would win her first championship since coming to the main roster, pulling the Smackdown Women’s Championship down from atop a ladder after Rousey had laid out both Becky and Charlotte. Asuka would successfully defend her title against Becky Lynch at the Royal Rumble in a very strong showing for her, and things were looking good going into Wrestlemania season.
Unfortunately it wasn’t to last, since there were no viable opponents for Asuka on Smackdown going into Wrestlemania because WWE put all their eggs into the Ronda, Becky & Charlotte basket and forgot they had TWO women’s titles to deal with, so in the laziest move of all time, Asuka would lose her Smackdown Women’s Championship to Charlotte two weeks out from Wrestlemania clean as a whistle, and wouldn’t get a rematch.
Asuka has had a lot of ups and downs during her time on the WWE main roster, and ultimately I’d say she comes out of it looking about average, she has now teamed up with the newly debuted Kairi Sane and they seem to be going after The IIconics for the Women’s Tag Team Championships, however there really is no telling what the future holds for Asuka right now.
6 – Big E Langston
Days as NXT Champion: 153
Called Up On: Raw 12/17/12
Best Match Since Callup: w/Xavier Woods vs The Usos at Hell in a Cell 2017
Championships Since Callup: 1x Intercontinental Championship, 5x Tag Team Championship
Big E was always earmarked for stardom in WWE, although I’m not quite sure this was how anyone imagined it would happen.
Big E (then with the surname “Langston”) debuted in the dying breaths of 2012, and was instantly paired up with Dolph Ziggler to be his muscle…now I’ve definitely heard that one somewhere before. As a team, they challenged for the Tag Team Championships at Wrestlemania 29, though they would be unsuccessful, and the following night Ziggler cashed in his Money in the Bank contract to become World Heavyweight Champion.
Big E’s partnership with Ziggler would come to an end in the summer of 2013, and they would feud until Summerslam, where Ziggler & Kaitlyn would come out victorious in a match against Big E & AJ Lee. After fighting on and off with The Shield for a few months, Big E would take on Curtis Axel for the Intercontinental Championship on Raw in November and win the championship. This run wouldn’t really be the launching platform he’d hoped for, since following solid defences against Jack Swagger and Damien Sandow, Big E would lose the title to Bad News Barrett in spring of 2014 and hasn’t seen singles gold since.
After a few months of doing nothing, WWE would start hinting at an alliance between Big E, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods, although after about a month of this, nothing came of it and they reverted back to singles competitors. It would then be picked up again in November of 2014 when vignettes started airing for what looked like a Gospel Church style group featuring the three men.
The trio debuted to the mildest of receptions, with them clapping, smiling and preaching the power of positivity, it was boring and no-one cared. However, things would take a sudden turn for the better after Wrestlemania 31, as the group would turn heel, now using the “power of positivity” as an ironic cover for the fact that they would constantly cheat and insult every audience they were put in front.
What followed next was The New Days becoming one of the greatest tag teams/factions in the history of WWE. The comedic chops of the group – Woods and Big E in particular – would be allowed to shine through every time they were allowed to speak, these antics eventually lead to the faction becoming the longest reigning Tag Team Champions in WWE history, defending the belts under the Freebird rule.
Following a face turn in 2016, The New Day would become one of the most beloved acts in all of WWE, a popularity they’ve retained to this day thanks to both their talents on the microphone and Kofi’s recent surge in popularity and WWE Championship win. While Big E’s greatest moments would come as part of a faction, none of those moments would’ve been possible with someone other than Big E in his role. No other trio could’ve done what they did and all three of them were equally important in making it happen, and their popularity isn’t going away anytime soon.
So that’s part 2! Let me know what you think of the list so far in the comments below or on Twitter @10ryawoo and make sure to come back on Monday for part 3.
The Strong Style Smark 
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