Ranking The Subsequent Success Of Every NXT Champion
How has each NXT, Women's and Tag Team champion fared since they held developmental gold?
Since
its inception in 2012, NXT has been the port of call for the vast majority of new WWE arrivals,
with only AJ Styles, The Club, Braun Strowman and Mike Kanellis bypassing it to
go directly to the main roster in the five years since. It has long since evolved
from its developmental roots to become a distinguished brand in its own right,
showcasing both those that the company have built from the ground up and assorted
talents from the independent wrestling scene.
The upside of the brand's evolution has been the showcasing of some truly exceptional storylines and matches. The downside has been that when the time comes for talents to make the step up to the main roster, some have struggled to replicate their previous success, given that they essentially have to forego their NXT character growth (as the majority of viewers will not be familiar with it).
With everyone having to begin afresh, there are cases where champions have become nonentities on the main roster.
Conversely, there are instances wherein individuals that never came close to
winning one of them have soared.
21. Bobby Roode
Bobby Roode has only been on SmackDown for two weeks at time of writing, so his placement on this list cannot yet be determined. He'll quickly rise above some of the lower entries in no time, but as of yet there is no telling as to what his ceiling will be. It's certainly quite surprising that he seems to have debuted on the main roster as a face, given that he spent the entirety of his NXT run as a smug heel, and his mannerisms appear unchanged.
Much of Roode's success can be attributed to his entrance music, 'Glorious Domination', which he has built his entire character around. An entertaining rivalry with Tye Dillinger was developed naturally through their clashing takes on narcissism and led to Roode entering the NXT Championship picture on a wave of momentum, overthrowing Shinsuke Nakamura at the start of the year.
Sandwiched between Takeover defences against Hideo Itami and Drew McIntyre was perhaps Roode's best program. This pitted him against Roderick Strong. It quickly became deeply personal and rooted in reality as Strong's wife, son and troubled family history were all dragged into the narrative. Thankfully, the conclusion to this has been allowed to play out on the most recent set of NXT tapings despite Roode's promotion, freeing both parties for whatever is coming their way next.