Every Major Wrestling World Title - Ranked From Least To Most Prestigious
4. NXT Championship
While something of a poisoned chalice - NXT Champions invariably meet a less-than-prestigious fate on WWE's main roster proper - the title, on its own terms, is something genuinely worth the investment.
Immediately following the inaugural coronation of Seth Rollins, the title was FCW-lite, used, very optimistically, to push in-house babyface prospects Big E Langston and Bo Dallas. As the face of NXT changed into both glorified Super Indy and glorious teaser trailer for a WWE proper as envisioned by Triple H, so too did the faces holding the title aloft. Finn Bálor resumed the role of Adrian Neville, fighting babyface champion, maintaining also his impeccable, progressive in-ring standard. There is no going back now, following the reigns of Shinsuke Nakamura, Andrade 'Cien' Almas and Aleister Black: the NXT Champion is a role occupied by fire in-ring talents.
The NXT Title, like the very brand, is wonderfully antithetical to its main roster counterpart. It is held more often than not by the talismanic and heroic, utterly unsullied by dire sports entertainment non-finishes. It resonates as something worth fighting for - something that definitively proves its holder the best the brand has to offer.
It is not a mere narrative device; it is a title - even if there is a certain, calculated, even formulaic quality that determines who holds it.