10 WWE NXT Main Roster Call-Ups That NEED To Happen In 2025

Which 10 NXT stars are ready to graduate and be called up to Raw or SmackDown in 2025?

Trick Williams
WWE

While NXT is quite successful as a brand in and of itself, the eventual goal of every member of the developmental roster should be a graduation onto the main roster and a spot either on Monday Night Raw or Friday Night SmackDown.

Each year, a select few are called up, either through the annual draft or in more randomized fashion, just suddenly appearing as the latest signing from a general manager. It's a mutually beneficial system and good means to freshen things up and allow for new feuds, all while giving the rookies more people to learn from.

We now also know for sure that WWE will put NXT stars on Raw and SmackDown quite soon, as with the jump to Netflix in January, there will be a "transfer window" where talent can be swapped around, and NXT will be included in the mix.

Whether it happens immediately or is part of a slower roll out over the course of 2025, certain wrestlers in NXT are more than ready to take the leap, take the training wheels off, and either sink or swim in the big leagues.

Here are over 10 NXT stars who should be traded to the main roster at some point over the course of the next year.

10. Roxanne Perez

Trick Williams
WWE

Nobody beats The Prodigy? Well, somebody is going to have to, as she can't hold the NXT Women's Championship forever.

Once she drops that belt—which could come as soon as NXT New Year's Evil, when she faces Iron Survivor Challenge winner Giulia—there will be nowhere for Perez to go but up to the main roster. She'll have already accomplished everything worthwhile in NXT, and it will only hinder her career for her to stick around.

Perez earned that Prodigy nickname because she came into the company already a better wrestler than most of the roster, despite being so young. She's been training since 13, part of Booker T's Reality of Wrestling since 18, and is only now 23.

If she stays in NXT, her only options are to stay champion and keep repeating what she's done all through 2024, which will become more and more monotonous, or to fall down the card and just be a supporting act, which wastes her talents.

Going to Raw or SmackDown now, in particular, allows her an opportunity to progress her way toward the Women's United States or Women's Intercontinental Championship so she doesn't get pushed too far, too fast, and can continue to grow while working with veterans she can truly learn from, instead of rookies she's helping teach to get to her level.

Contributor
Contributor

Founder of pro wrestling site Smark Out Moment (https://www.smarkoutmoment.com) and geek culture site Fanboys Anonymous (https://www.fanboysanonymous.com).