10 WWE NXT Stars Who Have Been Down In Developmental For 5 Or More Years
4. Danny Burch
Few wrestlers know WWE developmental better than Danny Burch, who has basically resided there for the better part of the past eight years.
The London native reportedly signed with WWE in late 2011 and reported to NXT upon its rebranding the subsequent summer. It was another year before he made his debut on NXT TV, losing to Bray Wyatt on the 15 May 2013 episode.
Burch was relegated to squash match duty for his entire time in NXT before receiving his release in April 2014. Apparently, officials didn't get the memo and continued to bring him back for matches against Kevin Owens, James Storm and Tommaso Ciampa as early as 2015.
His many appearances on NXT TV in the years that followed his release led to his inclusion in the inaugural WWE United Kingdom Championship Tournament at the onset of 2017. His performance there combined with his series of matches with Oney Lorcan later in the year were impressive enough to earn him his spot on the roster back by April 2018, ahead of his first TakeOver match against Undisputed Era that June.
Burch and Lorcan ripped it up in the tag team ranks up until Lorcan took his ball and went home in October. Burch has been faring well for himself on his own on 205 Live since then, but there's virtually zero chance he gets that elusive call-up with his fellow bald-headed partner.