10 Most Successful NXT Call-ups

If this piece had been written back in August of last year, Finn Bálor would probably rank in the top two or three. At SummerSlam 2016, just four weeks after his Raw debut and in his first-ever main roster pay-per-view outing, Bálor defeated Seth Rollins to be crowned the inaugural Universal Champion.

So far so good for the newcomer, then. Until it soon became apparent that Bálor had suffered a pretty nasty shoulder injury in that SummerSlam match. As a result, we didn’t see him again until after WrestleMania 33.

That means that despite having been out of NXT for more than a year, Bálor’s only actually wrestled in 23 matches on television.

And while he was in Universal title contention at Extreme Rules, he’s never quite hit those lofty heights of his first few weeks on Raw, and now he finds himself embroiled in a feud with Bray Wyatt that’s frankly run its course already.

Still, there’s a saving grace in that his character’s managed to retain that genuine cool factor and he’s pretty universally loved by the audience. Which is more than most on the main roster can say…