All NXT Champions Ranked - From Worst To Best
2. Adrian Neville
Adrian Neville is the most successful superstar in NXT history. He walked out of the very first NXT live special as the champion, adding it to a resumé that already included two separate NXT Tag Team Championship reigns (one with Oliver Grey, another with Corey Graves). To this very day, Neville is the only individual to win both singles and tag gold in NXT.
It was Neville who was champion as NXT truly blew up, and the man that gravity conveniently forgot defended his title for an impressive 287 days before being dethroned by Zayn at TakeOver: R Evolution. Along the way, Neville dispatched Brodus Clay, Tyler Breeze, Tyson Kidd, and others. He would be the longest reigning NXT Champion until Finn Bálor surpassed him in 2016.
Not bad for a little guy from Newcastle upon Tyne.