11 NXT Call-Ups Who Are No Longer With WWE

10. Tye Dillinger

Enzo Cass NXT
WWE

Come on, there was no way Tye Dillinger wasn't going to be positioned at No. 10 on this list. Call it low-hanging fruit, but placing him at any other number would have been a missed opportunity.

In fact, Dillinger was essentially one giant missed opportunity for WWE. He worked for years to make it to WWE's main stage after being fired once before in 2008, only to ask for his release a few weeks back. That says a lot about WWE's usage of him (or lack thereof) on SmackDown Live since 2017.

To be fair, Dillinger wasn't anything special early on in NXT and was largely utilized as a utility player for the better part of his run there. It wasn't until the end of his stint on the black-and-gold brand that he broke out as a babyface and became a fan favorite with his "Perfect 10" gimmick.

Although fans had to know he was never going to be a main event caliber competitor on the main roster, there was no reason he couldn't have been a solid midcarder for the blue brand. Instead, he was called up with no plan in place, floundered and was sparingly seen on SmackDown up until the day he departed the company.

Contributor
Contributor

Since 2008, Graham has been a diehard pro wrestling fan and, in 2010, he combined his passions for WWE and writing when he joined Bleacher Report. Equipped with a master's in journalism, Graham has contributed to WhatCulture, FanSided's Daily DDT, Sports Betting Dime, and GateHouse Media. Along the way, he has conducted interviews with wrestling superstars like Chris Jericho, Edge, Goldberg, Christian, Diamond Dallas Page, Jim Ross, Adam Cole, Tessa Blanchard, Ryback, and Nick Aldis among others.