Ranking WWE's First Ever NXT Class - From Worst To Best
22. Erick Rowan
Erick Rowan only improved during his time within WWE, which isn't as common as one might think considering how that's the very point of time within the system.
The Wyatt Family got over huge on NXT, and while Husky Harris' reinvention as Bray was at the centre of all of it, Rowan and Luke Harper were integral to the success of the presentation. Winning gold on the brand was validation, but more of that should have appeared on Raw and SmackDown that what the wider audience eventually saw.
After a corny and shlocky introduction to proceedings in 2013, various splits and restarts doomed the act, and Rowan with it. A renewed Bludgeon Brothers run alongside Luke Harper wasn't enough to save Rowan from being caught up in some absurd WWE comedy in late-2019/early2020 when he debuted a mystery burlap-covered box (!) that had a giant spider in it (!!) until babyface Drew McIntyre pulverised it with a hammer (!!!)
His release in April 2020 was so criminal that it should have had charges brought against it.