5 NXT Alumni Winners and 5 NXT Alumni Fails
5 NXT Alumni Fails
Apollo Crews
On NXT, Apollo looked like a can’t miss prospect. He had the look, size and demeanor to be a force for years to come. His NXT title match against Finn Balor seemed to foreshadow a potential breakout star.
But rather than let Apollo continue honing his skills, particularly his mic work, he was thrust to the main roster where he’s settled in to that comfortable groove of losing most weeks and getting the occasional fluke win. Unlike some of the other stars, I have no confidence WWE will give him a chance to be anything more.
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The Ascension
Konnor and Viktor were never going to be the modern-day Demolition, Legion of Doom or even Dudley Boyz. But in NXT, they were positioned as monsters who decimated anyone that crossed their paths.
Now they’re the bodyguards/pals with comedy team The Fashion Police. If they remained in NXT, the Ascension would be battling fellow monsters like the Authors of Pain and Sanity while provided another tough challenge for smaller teams like DIY.
Bayley
Poor Bayley. Easily the best example of bad booking and writing decisions than a reflection of her talent, Bayley hasn’t caught on with the main roster fans. In NXT, she was arguably one of the most popular acts. It helped that NXT fans watched her journey and evolution into a legit star.
Now she’s the buddy who gets beat up and made to look like a loser. Unlike Bayley’s fellow Four Horsewomen, she headed to the main roster with her tail between her legs after failing to defeat Asuka. She’s never truly regained that momentum despite a cup of coffee with the WWE Women’s title.
Tye Dillenger
Like Bayley, Tye steadily got more and more over with the NXT crowd only to become an afterthought on the main roster. Tye was another NXT star whose journey wasn’t completed in Full Sail. He’d gotten into some featured angles with Bobby Roode and Eric Young, but he was still making his way to the top tier of NXT.
Now on SmackDown Live, he’s forced to do it all over and the fan excitement quickly dies down after a few 10 chants. Tye was the kind of star that would benefit from an NXT North American title run that would have legitimized him before he moved up.
The Revival
This one pains me as these guys (and DIY) are my favorite tag team since LAX (Homicide, Hernandez and Konaan classic version). But thanks to an overall main roster disinterest in tag teams, their actual gimmick of not being flashy and snake-eyes luck dealing with injuries, The Revival has been DOA almost since they were called up.
In NXT, they were the dominant, technical workhorses of the tag team division as its Top Guys. They still wouldn’t be lacking for worthy opponents to battle in NXT and have potential show-stealing matches every TakeOver.
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