6 Ways You Didn't Realise The WWE Draft Was Great For NXT

Was NXT the true winner of last week's draft?

Shinsuke Nakamura
WWE.com

Ahead of last week's WWE Draft, many expected the worst for NXT. Reports leading up to the event were talking the developmental brand being raided, with WWE looking to bulk up to separate shows on the main roster.

What happened was something completely different, as only six picks were sanctioned from NXT for the draft. NXT was still expected to lose most of its top names, with Finn Balor, Bayley, Shinsuke Nakamura and American Alpha rumoured to be those making the jump.

Balor, Gable and Jordan went as expected, but the other big names stayed put in developmental. Instead Mojo Rawley, Carmella, Alexa Bliss and Nia Jax got the call to head to RAW and SmackDown.

So what does this mean for NXT? Many were expecting wholesale changes, but what happened has actually left the brand in arguably a stronger position than it was beforehand. This is open for debate of course, but NXT has been one of the best sources of optimism in recent times and I don't see any reason for this to change.

Just a few short months ago I was predicting doom for NXT, but here I am after a potentially tumultuous time championing the glorious future of the brand. Here are six reasons the WWE Draft was great for NXT.

6. Evolving Talents Have More Time To Develop

Shinsuke Nakamura
WWE.com

Tye Dillinger's name was frequently bandied about when attempting to predict the NXT stars who would be picked up in the draft, with many seeing The Perfect 10 as having a future in the middle of the card on RAW or SmackDown.

In hindsight, these were fairly still ideas. Dillinger isn't even realistically in the middle of the NXT card, sitting purely as the most popular enhancement talent in the company. As of right now, Dillinger doesn't have a match on the next TakeOver card, not even a show opening loss to the latest big signing.

Staying in NXT gives Dillinger and other potential draftees further time to develop into fully rounded performers. Maybe The Perfect 10 could even pick up some wins to go with his position as the most popular non-Shinsuke Nakamura talent on the roster.

Contributor
Contributor

Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.