10 Most Important Wrestlers In NXT History
Celebrating the men and women who put Full Sail on the map.
NXT has become one of professional wrestling’s most widely-respected brands. Debuting in 2010, NXT’s original format saw trainees from WWE’s Florida Championship Wrestling paired with main roster wrestlers. Episodes featured the pros mentoring the rookies through a series of challenges before a live audience, with weekly eliminations until a sole survivor was crowned the series’ winner.
The reality TV format continued for a few years, but NXT became its own fully-fledged promotion in 2012. FCW closed, NXT took its mantle as WWE’s developmental territory, and the brand took off.
Today, NXT isn’t just home to some of wrestling’s brightest prospects, but some of the most talented wrestlers from around the world. Trainees like The Revival rub shoulders with industry veterans Samoa Joe and Austin Aries, making for a rich, diverse talent pool that can always be relied on to deliver a quality wrestling show.
NXT has undergone a swift evolution in its four-year lifespan, and their dedication to in-ring action over everything else has really put them on the map. WWE have cherry picked some of the world’s finest wrestlers to help build NXT, and their work has been invaluable. Triple H’s management deserves credit, but NXT’s reputation for wrestling excellence was built on its performers’ backs.
For all the skilled workers that have passed through Full Sail University, some have had a bigger impact than others. Not including the original reality format, here are the 10 most important wrestlers in NXT history.
10. William Regal
William Regal is one of the most respected wrestling personalities in the world. A globetrotting veteran, he was a near-flawless performer for three whole decades, and he’s now universally-admired for his dedication to the wrestling business.
That’s not why he’s here, though. William Regal only wrestled a couple of matches in NXT, but his all-round contribution to the product cannot be denied. His match - and feud - with Kassius Ohno was a real highlight of NXT’s early TV shows, and a compelling reason to tune in while the brand was finding its feet. They wrestled in April 2013, working a classic, hard-hitting European style reminiscent of Regal’s mid-career wars with Finlay in WCW.
Regal’s most notable NXT performance came that November, however. His match with Cesaro was an outstanding display of technical wrestling, and a callback to Regal’s peak performance years. It’s just a single match, but it was absolutely vital in drawing early eyes to NXT, and many first time viewers became long-term fans there and then.
Moreover, Regal is currently invaluable in his role as NXT’s General Manager, trainer, and talent scout. Regal’s conservative, restrained role on NXT TV supplements the action rather than detracts from it, and he’s been invaluable in bringing some of NXT’s most highly-thought-of superstars through the ranks.
Though his in-ring role was limited, Regal’s impact on NXT cannot be downplayed.