10 WWE NXT Stars Who Vanished Without A Trace

7. Bull Dempsey

During the early days of NXT, Bull Dempsey was positioned as one of the no-nonsense tough guys of the brand. Well, before his act was changed up to make him someone obsessed with food, that is.

For a spell there, he and Baron Corbin even had their own personal rivalry based on who could dispatch of enhancement talent the quickest - culminating in a No DQ bout between the pair at February 2015's NXT TakeOver: Rival show.

That was Bull's second TakeOver match, with him having ran through Mojo Rawley in barely a minute at TakeOver: Fatal 4-Way five months prior. In addition to that, the bulldog-like New Yorker also picked up dominant dark match victories over Steve Cutler at TakeOver: R Evolution and Sawyer Fulton at TakeOver: Respect.

The point being, Dempsey was a regular part of NXT programming for a good part of this three-year spell under the WWE banner.

Since leaving NXT in 2016, Dempsey - under the Bull James name - has worked independent shows and a literal handful of dates with Ring of Honor, IMPACT Wrestling and CZW, although he has only competed once in the last 12 months.

Authored by Andrew Pollard

Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.

Posted On: 1st Jun 2021

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