Major WWE NXT Reunion Takes Place At NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17

Four of NXT's greatest ever talents reunited at the Tokyo Dome earlier today.

by Andrew Pollard
FTR Dax Harwood Cash Wheeler Sasha Banks Bayley Mercedes Mone
Twitter @daxftr

Four of the greatest talents to come through the doors of NXT, FTR, Bayley and Mercedes Moné, aka the former Sasha Banks, were reunited at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 earlier today.

FTR's Dax Harwood took to Twitter to share a then-and-now photo of this foursome, with the 'before' picture taken during a time when all four were under the WWE banner.

While FTR were obviously advertised in advance to be at Wrestle Kingdom 17, an appearance from the ex-Sasha Banks was heavily speculated but not outright confirmed by New Japan Pro-Wrestling.

Of course, Mercedes Moné would indeed appear at Wrestle Kingdom 17, laying out IWGP Women's Champion KAIRI after the Pirate Princess had toppled Tam Nakano. That attack sets up Moné to challenge KAIRI on 18 February at NJPW Battle in the Valley.

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Where current WWE star Bayley is concerned, she was in Tokyo to support her long-time friend Mercedes. Likewise, Naomi was another who was in attendance to support her former tag team partner. Both Naomi and the then-Sasha walked out on WWE last May, placing their Women's Tag Team Titles on the desk of John Laurinaitis due to their unhappiness with creative plans presented to them. Neither talent has been seen on WWE programming since, with the Boss now a free agent - though reports from today claim Naomi will be returning to WWE imminently.

As for FTR, Wrestle Kingdom 17 saw Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler lose the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Titles to Hirooki Goto and Yoshi-Hashi. That means Dax and Cash have lost the ROH Tag Titles, AAA Tag Titles, and IWGP Heavyweight Tag Titles across the past month or so, with many speculating that this could be a sign that the former Revival could be returning to WWE later this year.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.