Read part 1 here.
Read part 2 here.
Now we enter the final five. These are the NXT alumni who have done pretty darn well for themselves since coming to the main roster and is a nice reminder that sometimes, WWE doesn’t mess everything up.
5 – Sasha Banks
Days as NXT Women’s Champion: 191
Called Up On: Raw 7/13/15
Best Match Since Callup: vs CharlotteFlair vs Becky Lynch at Wrestlemania 32
Championships Since Callup: 4x Raw Women’s Championship, 1x Women’s Tag Team Championship
Given what’s currently going on with Sasha Banks, it made her a little harder to place on the list, but that doesn’t take away from what she’s already achieved.
Sasha Banks debuted alongside Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch during Stephanie McMahon’s announcement that they were going to stop treating women’s wrestling like shit on your shoe (my words, not theirs). She was paired with Naomi and Tamina to form “Team B.A.D” or “Beautiful and Dangerous”, with Naomi being “Beautiful”, Sasha being “Dangerous” and Tamina being “And”.
Unfortunately for the team, the main crux of the feud ended up being between The Bellas and Charlotte, so Team B.A.D were very quickly swept to one side and didn’t really get a chance to do a whole lot of anything. Banks would soon strike out on her own, interfering in a Divas Championship match between Charlotte and Becky at the 2016 Royal Rumble, declaring herself to no longer be part of the group.
This lead to 2016 where Sasha Banks was always somewhere in the women’s title scene. After being unsuccessful at Wrestlemania 32, she would disappear from TV for a couple of months, until she eventually returned to launch into her memorable feud with Charlotte, during which she would win, and subsequently lose the Raw Women’s Championship 3 times over roughly 6 months. Many worried whether the constant “hot-potatoing” of the Women’s Championship was devaluing it, but as we can see today, it didn’t hurt the title at all and did wonders for raising the stock of both women involved.
Banks remained around the Raw Women’s Title scene through Wrestlemania 33, where she was unsuccessful in the Fatal 4 Way match against Bayley, Charlotte and Nia Jax. Once Alexa Bliss was done destroying Bayley’s credibility after Wrestlemania, Sasha challenged her for the Raw Women’s Championship, failing at Great Balls of Fire, but succeeding at Summerslam, claiming her 4th singles championship on the main roster.
It wasn’t to last, however, as Sasha lost the title back to Alexa 8 days later and would quickly fade away from the title scene. Banks then wouldn’t do much of any consequence until the announcement of the Women’s Tag Team Championships, where Bayley and Sasha would be crowned the first ever champions.
This brings us to the awkward topic of Sasha’s current status in WWE which is…unknown. Reportedly she was extremely unhappy at having to lose the titles to the IIocnics at Wrestlemania as the pair were promised a lengthy reign, she was given time off to think about her future. This time off was supposed to end on the night of Money in the Bank, but she’s still not shown her face.
Whether she stays with WWE or goes elsewhere, Sasha Banks has been instrumental in the rise of women’s wrestling in WWE, she’s put on countless great matches over the years, and wherever she decides to go, I’m sure she’ll be putting on many more.
4 – Finn Balor
Days as NXT Champion: 292
Called Up On: Smackdown 7/19/16
Best Match Since Callup: vs Seth Rollins vs The Miz at Wrestlemania 34
Championships Since Callup: 1x Universal Championship, 2x Intercontinental Championship
In terms of debuts, you couldn’t ask for a much better sequence of events.
Finn Balor was called up on the night of the 2016 brand split, and was among the first 5 picks, up there with Seth Rollins, WWE Champion Dean Ambrose and AJ Styles, so it was clear he was going to be treated as a big deal. The next week, on Raw Balor, would win a Fatal 4 Way match, and then Roman Reigns 1 on 1 in the same night to win the chance to face Seth Rollins at Summerslam to crown the first ever Universal Champion.
Granted, it could be argued that Roman Reigns was still in the doghouse a little following his suspension, but whether that’s the case or not a clean, singles win over Roman Reigns is something not many people can say they’ve done in this era. More so than that, Finn ended up winning the match at Summerslam and became the first Universal Champion in WWE history which, no matter how much you hate that belt, is a big deal.
Unfortunately, this achievement wouldn’t last long as Balor suffered an injury in that match and the next night on Raw, was forced to vacate the Universal Championship and take 8 months off healing up. When Balor returned, there wasn’t really a lot going for him, Brock was now Universal Champion so he couldn’t get anywhere near that scene, he started a feud with Bray Wyatt going into the summer of 2017, and while Balor did win, the feud itself wasn’t overly interesting and was in danger of going into downright awful territory if the universe didn’t intervene and give Bray Wyatt the mumps, stopping their final match from happening.
Over the next year or so, Balor would have some standout moments, like a hard-fought victory over AJ Styles, lasting in the 2018 Royal Rumble for over an hour and one of the best matches on the Wrestlemania 34 card against Seth Rollins and The Miz, but it never felt like the company was ever going to get behind him as a big star like they did when he first debuted. Balor would spend most of the rest of 2018 in a boring feud with Baron Corbin until 2019 arrived and Balor’s fortunes changed once again.
Balor got the opportunity to fight Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship at the Royal Rumble 2019 PPV, and he beat John Cena in order to get that opportunity in the first place. Balor wouldn’t come out victorious int hat encounter, but he took the beast to town for a large portion of the match, and he came out of the match looking better than when he went in. Then, in the build to Wrestlemania 35 this year, Balor feuded with Bobby Lashley, capturing the Intercontinental Championship from Lashley twice, at both Elimination Chamber and Wrestlemania, and he still holds the title to this day.
It’s undeniable that Balor’s time on main roster has had a lot of crap moments, but honestly, I’d struggle to find someone who hasn’t suffered that at some point in their careers. Balor has had more highlights than most in the WWE have had int he past few years, and he’s almost always taken full advantage of those opportunities and has made a big star of himself, that I’m sure will only get bigger over the coming decade.
3 – Kevin Owens
Days as NXT Champion: 142
Called Up On: 5/15/15
Best Match Since Callup: Kevin Owens at Elimination Chamber 2015
Championships Since Callup: 1x Universal Championship, 2x Intercontinental Championship, 3x United States Championship
I know I complimented Balor’s debut, but Owen’s debut is by far the best of anyone on this list.
Kevin Owens was the first former NXT Champion to really be treated like a big deal when he made his way to the main roster. At the time of his debut, Owens was actually still NXT Champion, and he came out to answer John Cena’s weekly open challenge for the US title, much like his former best friend Sami Zayn had done not too long ago. Owens didn’t come out to have a match though, instead, Owens cut a scathing promo on Cena, including a brilliant touch of Owens pointing out his 15 years of experience when Cena tried to give him some “veteran advice”.
This animosity boiled over to a full-blown feud, the first match of which took place at the Elimination Chamber 2015 PPV, wherein one of the most shocking results in recent memory, Kevin Owens pinned John Cena clean as a whistle. In later years this wouldn’t be as big of a deal, but in 2015 it was still an absolute shock to see Cena lose clean like that, and to a rookie in the debut match no less, it was clear big things were on the horizon for Owens. Following two straight losses to Cena of course.
Once Owens had moved on from Cena, he challenged and defeated Ryback for the Intercontinental Championship in what wouldn’t be a super long reign, but in this time he did get a high profile spot at Survivor Series, making it to the semi-finals of a tournament for the then vacant, WWE Championship. Owens would lose the IC title to Ambrose at the end of 2015 but would gain it back just before Fastlane 2016 and hold onto it until Wrestlemania 32.
After a few months of placeholder feuds, the 2016 brand split came about and did wonders for Kevin Owens, firstly it partnered him with Chris Jericho in what would become one of the most entertaining pairs on Raw for the rest of the year, and following Balor’s unfortunate injury, Owens was crowned Universal Champion. This title reign would be somewhat underwhelming, with most of his retentions coming through interference or disqualification, and he would constantly be made to look a fool in non-title matches, however it was a fairly long reign and he was always the main focus of Raw during that time, which is more than can be said for many champions.
After losing the title to Goldberg in humiliation, Owens went into a feud with Chris Jericho, whom he had turned on a couple of weeks prior at the excellent “Festival of Friendship” segment. Owens came out victorious at Wrestlemania and gain the United States Championship in the process and dub himself “The New Face of America”. Owens lost and quickly regained the title twice during this period, before eventually losing it for good to AJ Styles thanks to a surprise return from Chris Jericho. Owens’ feud with Styles was pretty heavily marred by wonky finishes and Shane McMahon getting involved at almost every opportunity, so this was quite the low point for Owens.
Owens then focused solely on Shane McMahon and the two would have a brutal feud, including a Hell in a Cell match where Owens would reunite with his former best friend Sami Zayn. At this point, the feud got quite confusing and boring, as Shane and General Manager Daniel Bryan were bickering over how blatantly biased Shane was against Owens and Zayn even though the story was still trying to present Shane as the good guy.
After several months and an awful feud with Styles where Owens and Zayn would lose to Styles despite having a 2 on 1 advantage, the feud would culminate when Daniel Bryan was medically cleared to compete after 3 years on the shelf and Bryan & Shane put Owens & Zayn away at Wrestlemania 34. Following Wrestlemania, Owens & Zayn were both moved to Raw and Owens wouldn’t do a whole lot of anything except for constantly being destroyed by Braun Strowman until he would sadly be taken out of action with an injury.
Owens would quickly recover upon returning though, as, in early 2019, he returned to Smackdown live as a babyface, replacing Kofi Kingston in the WWE title match at Fastlane in the process. That match would later become a triple threat including Mustafa Ali and it would be very good, although Daniel Bryan would end up retaining. Owens was left out of the Wrestlemania 35 card, but instantly was thrown back into the WWE title mix following the show of shows, turning heel on the New Day and challenging Kofi Kingston for the WWE Championship in a feud that doesn’t look like it’s going to end anytime soon.
As much as the negatives can make things seem a lot worse than they are, Owens has had a really good time of it on main roster. He’s almost always been in one of the major stories on whichever show he’s on and spent a good couple of years in contention for one title or another, and given what’s been going on since his 2019 return, it doesn’t look like that’s going to change anytime soon.
2 – Charlotte Flair
Days as NXT Women’s Champion: 258
Called Up On: Raw 7/13/15
Best Match Since Callup: vs Becky Lynch at Evolution 2018
Championships Since Callup: 4x Raw Women’s Championship, 4x Smackdown Women’s Championship, 1x Divas Championship
It’s hard to argue that Charlotte isn’t one of, if not THE greatest female competitors in WWE history in terms of her overall career.
Charlotte Flair is perhaps the personification of how far women’s wrestling has come in the past 5-6 years. When she debuted alongside Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch that night on Raw, it was clear that Charlotte was going to be the one who had the biggest spotlight on them and that’s exactly what happened. In just a few months she had defeated Nikki Bella and won the Divas Championship for herself, defending it against all comers and turning heel in the process, Wrestlemania 32 rolled around and it was time to get rid of the last relic of the old era of women’s wrestling in WWE, that horrible looking Divas Championship.
So on that night Charlotte would defeat both Sasha and Becky in a Triple Threat match (with a little help from her father) and become the first holder of the new WWE Women’s Championship in a historic moment for the women’s evolution in WWE. Charlotte continued her run of dominance for almost a whole year, during which time the WWE Women’s Championship would become the Raw Women’s Championship in the 2016 brand split, where Charlotte lost and quickly regained the title from Sasha Banks on several occasions in lots of very good matches. Charlotte’s time with the Raw Women’s Championship eventually came to an end (for the time being) when Bayley defeated her in a surprise upset on a February episode of Raw and failed to regain the title at both Fastlane and Wrestlemania that year.
Following Wrestlemania 33, Charlotte was moved over to Smackdown in the Superstar shakeup where she’d be able to thrive as a face and against the whole host of new opponents. She took part in but was unsuccessful in the first-ever women’s Money in the Bank ladder match before losing to Natalya at Battleground causing her to miss Summerslam. She would also take some time off during this period to care for her Father who had a major health scare.
Upon her September return, it didn’t take very long at all for Charlotte to catapult herself back up into the Smackdown Women’s title scene and won the blue brand’s title in November from Natalya. Charlotte then went on to face and defeat Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss at Survivor Series that year before carrying her title into Wrestlemania 34 following defences against both Natalya and Ruby Riott. At Wrestlemania 34, Charlotte would once again make history, becoming the first person in WWE history to inflict a pinfall loss on Asuka, retaining her title in the process. Charlotte wouldn’t have long to dwell on this victory however, as the next night Carmella cashed in her Money in the Bank contract to take the title from her.
After an unsuccessful title defense Charlotte once again failed to capture the Money in the Bank contract and then went on hiatus for another few months to have surgery on a ruptured breast implant but would once again return and make her mark for Summerslam 2018, inserting herself into the Smackdown Women’s Title match between Carmella and Becky Lynch, only to win the title and cause Becky to lose her shit in what was supposed to be a heel turn, but the roles were reversed by the time their feud reached its climax. Charlotte had several matches with Becky, the best of which is the pair’s Last Woman Standing match at Evolution, although Charlotte was unsuccessful each time.
Charlotte would be unsuccessful one more time against both Becky and Asuka in a TLC Match at the TLC PPV where Ronda Rousey would cost both Charlotte and Becky the title. Charlotte was then the runner up in the 2019 women’s Royal Rumble match, losing to a surprise Becky Lynch, but found a way to weasel her way into the main event match between Becky and Ronda by having the surname Flair. In the build-up to this match, Charlotte would dispatch of Asuka just two weeks before Wrestlemania 35 and win her 3rd Smackdown Women’s Championship.
Charlotte lost at Wrestlemania, but that wouldn’t stop her pursuits, as most recently at Money in the Bank 2019 Charlotte took advantage of an exhausted Becky Lynch and a manipulated Lacey Evans to take back the Smackdown Women’s Championship – breaking the record for most titles won by a female competitor in WWE in the process at 9 – only to lose it moments later to Bayley who cashed in her Money in the Bank contract she won earlier that night to win the title.
Charlotte as a wrestler isn’t for everyone, many say she’s a boring character which I can see both sides of, but when she has the right opponent in the right story, Charlotte puts on some of the best women’s matches in company history. You can sit there all day moaning about how Charlotte is being shoved down our throats and is the “Roman Reigns of the women’s division” but the women’s evolution in WWE would not have gone anywhere near as smoothly if it wasn’t for someone as solid as Charlotte for WWE to get behind, and honestly I’d go as far as to say that she IS the greatest female competitor in WWE history.
1 – Seth Rollins
Days as NXT Women’s Champion: 133
Called Up On: Survivor Series 2012
Best Match Since Callup:vs John Cena vs Brock Lesnar at Royal Rumble 2015
Championships Since Callup: 2x WWE Championship, 2x Universal Championship, 2x Intercontinental Championship, 1x United States Championship, 4x Tag Team Championship
I mean come on, could it really be anyone else?
No matter what metric you want to use to measure it, number of championships, number of amazing matches, number of PPV main events, Seth Rollins runs away with this as the best former NXT Champion to grace the WWE main roster.
Rollins made his historic debut alongside Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose the night of Survivor Series 2012, attacking Ryback and John Cena allowing CM Punk to retain his WWE Championship and forming The Shield in the process. The Shield would go on to become one of the greatest factions in WWE’s history, taking out everyone in their path. John Cena, Daniel Bryan, The Rock, The Undertaker, Evolution and so many more would taste The Shield’s brand of justice in many incredible matches, reminding everyone just how awesome 6 Man Tag Team matches can be in the process. During this time Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins also took out Team Hell No, for Rollins to win his first of many Tag Team Championships in WWE.
Good things can never last forever though and one fateful night in May of 2014, Seth Rollins would destroy The Shield, slamming a steel chair into Roman Reigns’ back and laying out Dean Ambrose. Rollins was then heralded as The Authority’s golden boy, labelled the future of WWE Rollins walked into Money in the Bank 2014 and handedly walked out as Mr Money in the Bank. Rollins spent most of 2014 feuding with his former Shield-brother Dean Ambrose, putting on multiple great matches month in and month out and always finding a way to come out the victor. Rollins would next get in the way of one, John Cena, as a match was set up for Survivor Series 2014 that saw Rollins’ benefactors in The Authority ousted from power.
Rollins went after Cena for this injustice, losing to him in a tables match at TLC, until Rollins took the opportunity one night on Raw to threaten Edge’s problematic neck, forcing Cena to reinstate The Authority. Rollins was rewarded with a spot in the WWE Championship match at the Royal Rumble, where he put on an absolutely incredible match, that I still love to go back and watch to this day. Then came Rollins’ crowning achievement at Wrestlemania 31. After he ate one of the most amazing looking RKO’s ever earlier on in the night, Rollins came sprinting down the ramp as the WWE Championship between Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns was going on, cashing in his Money in the Bank contract and coming away with the title.
Rollins held the title all the way through till November due to an unfortunate injury he suffered, however during his title reign he once again went on a streak of constantly putting on brilliant matches against the likes of Dean Ambrose and John Cena, briefly picking up the United States Championship and becoming a double champion in the process. Unfortunately, as I mentioned, Rollins tore his ACL, MCL and meniscus at a live event in November that forced him to vacate the title and sit out 7 months of action.
The moment Rollins returned, he went right back into the thick of the action as he made a surprise appearance at the end of Extreme Rules 2016, to pedigree the WWE Champion Roman Reigns. The pair would have a great match at Money in the Bank the following month that resulted in Rollins reclaiming the title he never lost, unfortunately, it was very short lived as Rollins’ constant foil Dean Ambrose showed up with his newly won Money in the Bank briefcase to snatch the title away from Rollins. Over the next couple of months, Rollins would chase Ambrose for the title, including multiple singles matches and a triple threat between all 3 former members of The Shield, however, Rollins would come up short every time.
After being drafted to Monday Night Raw in the brand split, Rollins was one of the men who was picked to fight for the brand new Universal Championship against the newly debuted Finn Balor. The pair would put on a great match (even if the crowd didn’t seem to care), but Rollins would once again fail to capture title gold, this would happen again two weeks later in a fatal 4 way for the Universal title, because Triple H would shockingly turn on Rollins, turning the architect face in the process. Rollins spent the next couple of months taking on Kevin Owens for the Universal Championship but was thwarted at every turn by Chris Jericho.
Rollins would involve himself in fairly minor feuds until January rolled around, when Rollins refocused and set his sights on the man who turned on him a few months ago, Triple H. Rollins went on a warpath to get his hands on The Game, even going as far as to show up at NXT Takeover: San Antonio in order to call him out. After a minor knee injury threatened to jeopardise the whole story, Rollins thankfully recovered in time and the match was set for Wrestlemania 33. Rollins ended up defeating Triple H in what, for my money, was the best match that night, finally ridding himself of the stormcloud that had hovered over him for months.
Following Wrestlemania, Rollins wouldn’t do much of note for a few months, beating Samoa Joe and losing to Bray Wyatt in feuds that were fun to watch but not very consequential. That changed come summer time when Rollins set his sights on redeeming himself for his past sins and trying to reform The Shield, first winning over Dean Ambrose and winning the Raw Tag Team Championships, before later getting Roman Reigns on-side as well to take out The New Day at that year’s Survivor Series.
Once 2018 rolled around, business really picked up for Rollins. Following a brief run as tag team champions with Jason Jordan, Rollins walked into Wrestlemania 34 and came out of it as Intercontinental Champion. The rest of the year was filled with Rollins putting on fantastic singles matches every single week for the title against wrestlers like The Miz, Elias and Dolph Ziggler. Ziggler is especially noteworthy, as Rollins and Ziggler traded the title a couple of times thanks to Ziggler seeking aid from the debuting Drew Mcintyre until Rollins would get an ally of his own in a returning Dean Ambrose.
This led to one of the best matches of 2018, as Rollins & Ambrose would take on Drew & Dolph in a losing effort. Things took a turn for the worse during the autumn of 2018, as Roman Reigns would tragically announce the return of his leukaemia forcing him to take time off, this led to Ambrose & Rollins winning the tag titles later that night, only for Ambrose to shockingly turn on Rollins. This would come to a head at TLC 2018, where Ambrose defeated Rollins for his Intercontinental Championship.
Rollins bounced back pretty well though, as he won the 2019 men’s Royal Rumble match the next month, putting him on a collision course with Universal Champion Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania 35. In shocking fashion, Rollins slew the beast at the start of Wrestlemania 35, nailing a low blow and 3 Curb Stomps to take Lesnar down and claim the Universal Championship for the first time, and his third world title overall. As of the time of writing, Rollins’ title reign is still going strong, defeating AJ Styles in a fantastic match at Money in the Bank and is currently embroiled in a feud with Baron Corbin that he seems destined to win.
No other former NXT Champion has seen anywhere near as much success as Seth Rollins had on the main roster. No-one in the past few years has been able to put on such consistently great matches in WWE every week he’s about, winning championships left right and centre, and almost always being in one of the major stories of whatever show he’s on. Rollins has very much become the face of the company in this generation of wrestlers and honestly, I don’t think there’s a better man for the job.
And that’s the list! Thank you very much for taking the time to read this, I know it was a long one and a share on social media would be greatly appreciated. You can also let me know what you thought of the list in the comments below or on Twitter @10ryawoo. I’ll see you on Friday for my predictions for Extreme Rules!
The Strong Style Smark 