10 Wrestlers Ready To Become NXT's Top Stars
Which NXT performers are ready to breakout?
After a wildly successful 2015, which saw the brand reach unprecedented levels of popularity, NXT has come back down to earth over the past 12 months or so.
It's the nature of the beast for a brand whose primary responsibility is to develop talent for the main roster of WWE, but that doesn't make it any easier to follow up. Turnover is high as talents come and go all throughout the year; the good ones make their mark and eventually move up to RAW or SmackDown. The great ones have become NXT legends, allowing the brand to achieve a notoriety it didn't have before.
Some of these greats include Kevin Owens, Finn Bálor, Shinsuke Nakamura, Sami Zayn, and Bayley. But none of those names are still a part of NXT and it's up to officials at the Performance Center to create new stars that can carry the brand for 2017 and beyond.
From 2015 to 2016, NXT had a great run of transitioning one main event class (Kevin Owens, Neville, Sami Zayn, Charlotte) to the next (Samoa Joe, Finn Bálor, Shinsuke Nakamura, Asuka), but where will they go in 2017? Those are some big shoes to fill, in terms of their legacy and importance to NXT, but Triple H and company have already begun building the stars of tomorrow.
From international talents to giant-sized freak shows, the talents ready to become the next breakout NXT stars are already down in Orlando.
10. Andrade 'Cien' Almas
Prior to RAW and SmackDown After 'Mania this year, Andrade's name was thrown about in regards to NXT talents expected to be called up to the main roster. Obviously, that didn't happen, but that doesn't mean there aren't still big things in store for Andrade 'Cien' Almas.
Andrade has been at the Performance Center for over a year now and first competed as "Manny Andrade". At NXT Takeover: The End last June, Andrade debuted his new ring name and has been tweaking his character ever since. He's ditched the suspenders and is working to improve his English but 'Cien' seems to be putting the puzzle pieces of his young WWE career together nicely.
While Andrade isn't at the level of past NXT stars like Nakamura or even Sami Zayn or Neville, another year of work, in which he continues to grow and mature as a character, could put him in that upper echelon before long.