5 Wrestlers Who Will THRIVE In WWE NXT's New Era

5. Duke Hudson

As Brendan Vink, the former Elliot Sexton was hardly going to be a standout name under the WWE banner. He'd been pushed to the main roster too soon, joining Shane Thorne pre-RETRIBUTION for a few weeks during those early, eerie Performance Center episodes of Raw.

He desperately needed a rebranding, making the Duke Hudson guise a genuine potential Breakout Tournament winner. His opening-round collision with the uber-talented Ikemen Jiro achieved the exact purpose of the tourney; both guys broke out, looking like true stars in the immediate aftermath. Jiro won't make it in this NXT, though. Hudson, however? Maybe.

There was a moment in the match where the Aussie hoisted Ikemen above his shoulder, kicked his leg up above his own head to knock Jiro silly, and end the sequence with a clubbing Polish Hammer. Moments later, an overhead belly-to-belly saw Hudson execute the move to such excellence that it wouldn't have looked out of place in a peak Kurt Angle contest.

There are obvious improvements to be made, such as the basic black trunks gear. It's not a terrible look for a big bruising b*stard per se, but it's not a WWE look. That's a minor issue. In-ring-wise, the guy is surely what the company desires from their NXT talents moving forward. At six foot five and 253 pounds, he'll be fine.