10 Former WWE NXT Wrestlers You Totally Don't Remember

From Finn Bálor and Shinsuke Nakamura to Asuka and Charlotte, some of WWE's current biggest stars came emerged from the yellow-and-black lights of NXT. Not everyone makes the cut though, and for every NXT success story, there are five or six who fell by the wayside.

WWE currently have something like a billion trainees toiling away at the Performance Center. Some will go on to have long, successful main rosters careers, but most won't ever get out of developmental, let alone hit NXT TV.

The company release dozens of wrestlers into the big bad world every year, and the bulk of these come from the Performance Center. Some go on to forge successful careers with small promotions, but a large proportion fade into obscurity. Some of them so much that you've probably completely forgotten about them.

Also known as Taishi Takizawa, Jiro was a Taka Michinoku-trained wrestler who started his career through his mentor’s Kaientai Dojo before transitioning to WWE in October 2011. Starting his FCW run with a loss to Dean Ambrose, Jiro was never used for anything other than putting other wrestlers over, and did the job for a number of future big names like Bray Wyatt, Big E, and Jason Jordan.

FCW became NXT in 2012, but Jiro’s run was just about to end. He competed in a quick loss to Seth Rollins on NXT’s second TV show on 27 June 2012, and was released from his contract shortly afterwards. His run was so short that it barely even makes him a footnote in WWE developmental history, despite his apparent promise in the ring.

Jiro left WWE at just 26 years old, returned to Japan, and started bouncing around the country’s independent circuit. Still working primarily for Kaientai Dojo, Jiro occasionally appears in promotions like AJPW and Pro Wrestling Noah, but his high-level wrestling career is effectively over.