10 WWE NXT Wrestlers Who Didn't Succeed Until Turning Heel
5. Roderick Strong
Undisputed and it feels so good.
Truth be told, Roderick Strong was spinning his wheels before agreeing to join Adam Cole, Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish in their quest to conquer NXT. Not only was there minimal buzz surrounding his arrival on the black-and-yellow brand in October 2016, he proceeded to fly under the radar for the following year.
To his credit, he had a few quality TakeOver matches under his belt with Andrade "Cien" Almas and Eric Young, but he didn't start to click as a babyface until the summer of 2017. Vignettes depicted him as a family man and only then did fans feel compelled to root for him... until he fell short of capturing the NXT Championship every chance he had.
He felt like a perfect fit for Undisputed Era when they originally offered him a spot in the group in late 2017, but NXT was wise to wait to have him officially align with them until fans least expected it at TakeOver: New Orleans. It wasn't long after that he and Kyle O'Reilly won the NXT Tag Team Championship and ran roughshod over the brand's tag team division.
Thankfully nothing came of the tension teased between Strong and Cole earlier this year. Strong would likely go back to being a boring babyface if the decision was ever made to break him away from the faction. The confidence and charisma he exudes as a heel matches his exceptional in-ring abilities to a tee.