5 Most Notable NXT Alumni (Who Never Had A TakeOver Match)

Another mass NXT call-up occurred in late 2018, when vignettes began to air for the debuts of four individuals and one tag team. Of those, only Lars Sullivan was seemingly planned at first, given that he’d already been subject to a weeks-long hype campaign. Ironically, he has probably fared worst out of any of his counterparts bar EC3 at this point.

Two female performers were part of this group. The first, Nikki Cross, was well-established in NXT, having taken part in several angles as part of the Sanity stable before continuing to jostle for the women’s championship on TakeOvers afterwards. The second, Lacey Evans, was beginning to find her feet on the brand, having established herself as a heel earlier in the year. However, she'd only had one programme of note, a one-sided rivalry with Kairi Sane, which was wrapped up solely on television.

TakeOver opportunities are far more limited for female performers given that there is only usually one women’s match as opposed to four men’s bouts. The only non-title matches that have ever been featured were Asuka’s initial matches (against Dana Brooke and Emma in 2015), Ember Moon’s debut and the recent Io Shirai/Candice LeRae cage encounter. This may change going forwards given the wealth of talent on the roster, but it means that alumna like Evans that were never quite main eventers will always stand out.