10 WWE Superstars Who Failed To Rejuvenate Their Careers In NXT
7. Curt Hawkins
For the seven years he was on the main roster, Curt Hawkins was labeled a tag team guy. Never once being able to breakout on his own, he had a number of partners including Tyler Reks, Lance Archer and most notably Zack Ryder with whom he won the WWE Tag Team Championship in 2008.
Following Reks' departure from the company in mid-2012, Hawkins was once again taken off TV indefinitely. He went M.I.A. for quite some time before finally resurfacing on NXT the following May, competing in the debut match of Sami Zayn. Over the next year, he'd be used sporadically on the program, never once winning a match.
If there was ever an opportunity for the New York native to reinvent himself, it was during his time on NXT. He was always talented in the ring and on the mic, but he never seemed to have the star quality WWE was looking for. Being shoehorned into random tag teams for so long, fans didn't see him as anything other than an enhancement talent, which is a shame given the talent he possessed.
Hawkins could have turned heads with his improvement in NXT, but his lack of TV time cost him his spot on the roster in June 2014.