10 Wrestlers Who Failed In NXT (But Were Successful Elsewhere)
While NXT is clearly fantastic, these stars prove it's not the be-all and end-all.
NXT is the place where so many of WWE’s current top stars cut their teeth on the way to becoming true megastars of the business.
From Becky Lynch, to Seth Rollins, to Charlotte Flair, to Finn Bálor, to Bayley, to Kevin Owens, to… you get the point. Regardless of just how good they may have been before signing with WWE, so many of the current crop of top stars gained some extra seasoning in the yellow and black brand.
Of course, not everybody who signs with NXT is guaranteed to become a major star. In fact, some of those to have passed through NXT have barely been heard of since (seriously, what ever happened to Marcus Louis?) as they’ve dropped off the face of the wrestling landscape.
On the flipside of that, leaving WWE and NXT can sometimes prove to be a masterstroke that ultimately sees a talent flourish elsewhere away from underneath the WWE umbrella. It's those who fledglings who flew the roost to become soaring superstars elsewhere who we're going to focus on today.
10. Luchasaurus
Remember the time that NXT had a guy in a dinosaur mask running wild? No? Well, that’s because that never actually happened. That’s not to say that the man behind Luchasaurus didn’t have a spell in WWE’s developmental arm, though.
Recently signed to All Elite Wrestling, Luchasaurus has become a major favourite of many a wrestling fan for his sheer uniqueness. After all, can you really remember any sort of even remotely similar gimmick in a mainstream wrestling promotion?
Way before Luchasaurus was roaring through the competition, the wrestler underneath the gimmick used to go by the name of Judas Devlin back in FCW and then in NXT. Working under the WWE umbrella for just over a year, Devlin was released by WWE as they seemingly saw nothing special about the performer.
Not only did Devlin get reinvented as Luchasaurus, but he also had a spell as Vibora in Lucha Underground that saw him team with Drago and Pindar to win the promotion’s Trios Championships. As mentioned, Luchasaurus is now a signed-up member of the AEW roster as Tony Khan’s upstart company looks to offer wrestling fans a genuine alternative to WWE.