For whatever reason, people seem to think I’m the negative one of this WrestleTalk
trio.
I can’t quite figure out why [MONTAGE - DETAILS BELOW].
But anyhoo, if there is one thing that viewers tend to agree with me on is that 2018 has
been the year of terrible NXT call-ups.
In previous years we’ve seen some half decent outings for NXT call-ups.
Well, The Shield, Samoa Joe, and most of the female roster anyway.
But 2018 has seen some of the most pointless and confounding call-ups seen in recent memory.
Triple H once said in a conference call that WWE would never call up someone from NXT unless
they had six months worth of storylines ready for them - but that sure as hell can’t be
true when you look at what’s happened this year.
For the sake of clarity we’re only looking at NXT call-ups in 2018, so we won’t be
including Riott Squad, Mandy Rose or Sonya Deville from last November in this list.
But for the sake of completion, I’ll illustrate their call-ups with this Alan Partridge shrug.
And no, Nikki Cross doesn’t count as it wasn’t an official call-up.
With that out of the way, let’s dive into it.
Here are the 2018 NXT Call-Ups ranked from best to worst.
9.
SAniTY
During the Superstar Shake-up after WrestleMania it was announced that the team of Eric Young,
Alexander Wolfe and Killin Dane - but not Nikki Cross - would be called up to the main
roster as SAniTY.
The team had won the NXT Tag Team Championships and had amazing feuds with Undisputed Era
and Authors of Pain and were part of that incredible War Games match last November.
Rumour has it that SAniTY - along with Authors of Pain - were called up as part of a master
plan to introduce the first ever Tag Team Money in the Bank ladder match but that never
came to pass.
And because of that, there was no plan for SAniTY.
Evident in the fact they were teased for weeks on end - from April 17th until June 19th to
be exact - and then came in with little fanfare.
They had a short feud with New Day that resulted in a Kick Off Show match at Extreme Rules
and have done nothing since.
Smackdown Live really has become the land of wasted potential in the tag division and
SAniTY are perhaps the biggest failing.
In fact the only thing they’ve done of note since that New Day feud was come out for Nikki
Cross’ match on the Smackdown episode from Manchester.
And no, that Survivor Series pre-show match doesn’t count.
And really the only reason they were in that match because they needed five teams and there
only six on the whole Smackdown roster, and even then they were eliminated early.
Whoop de do.
Also nothing says chaos more than SAniTY wearing matching t-shirts with the rest of the Smackdown
tag division.
SAniTY’s main roster call-up has been frankly embarrassing.
8.
No Way Jose
Anyone else remember that No Way Jose was an NXT call up in 2018?
Nope, me neither.
The only reason he’s higher than SAniTY is that there was wasted potential with them.
Jose is just, I dunno.
He’s No Way Jose isn’t he.
Next?
7.
Andrade “Cien” Almas and Zelina Vega.
Going back to Smackdown for the moment, and let’s look at the sad story of the main
roster call up of Andrade “Cien” Almas.
And, by extension, Zelina Vega.
Almas and Vega began 2018 as the NXT Champion - winning it November from a very game Drew
McIntyre - and proceeded to have one of the best matches of the whole year against Johnny
Gargano at NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia in January.
A match so good it received the coveted 5* rating from Big Daddy Dave Meltzer.
So when it was announced he was coming up to the main roster - to Smackdown Live no
less - people rejoiced.
This had to be a sure-fire winner, right?
This is a roster that has AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, Daniel Bryan, Randy Orton, Rusev,
Samoa Joe, Jeff Hardy and eventually Rey Mysterio.
Surely Almas is going to be slotted right into that main event picture and put on those
incredible matches we all know he can have, right?
Well, not exactly.
Instead he’s had very good TV matches with Styles, Bryan and Rey - but they’ve led
to nothing.
No storyline, no push, no nothing.
Aside from those matches, Almas has been woefully misused on Smackdown Live.
He had a very short-lived feud with Rusev that led to - you guessed it - a Kick Off
Show match, but that was more of a backdrop to that Rusev and Aiden English feud that
- shockingly - went nowhere.
Very poor from WWE here.
Why hasn’t Almas been given a US title feud?
A short WWE Championship feud with Styles following their great TV match?
Why wasn’t he a part of their Survivor Series team?
Why wasn’t he in Money in the Bank?
Why have Andrade “Cien” Almas and Zelina Vega done nothing since coming to the main
roster?
SOMEONE TELL ME WHY [TECHNICAL ERROR SCREEN]
6.
IIConics
I’m afraid it’s another failure for the blue brand here, with the pointless call-ups
of Peyton Royce and Billie Kay.
At first it seemed like things were going to go right for IIconics, they debuted on
the Smackdown after WrestleMania and got right into the mix with Women’s Champion Charlotte
Flair and a couple of weeks later with Royal Rumble winner Asuka.
They even got new merchandise with their brand new team name of IIConics.
But as the weeks wore on, it was quickly becoming apparent that WWE only saw Royce and Kay as
comedy jobbers for the women’s division.
Their sole purpose was to come out, cut promos and then get beaten.
The problem with this is that if you keep beating the people trying to get heat from
the crowd, eventually that heat stops existing as fans recognise them as jokes.
In fact the only reason IIconics are above SAniTY, Jose and Almas is because at least
these two have had PPV matches.
Granted one of those was at Super Show Down which they only got because of their place
of birth - and even that was confusing as they cut a babyface promo before the match
and then worked heel against Naomi and Asuka - what? - and the other was being part of
the Evolution Battle Royal.
And basically they were only a part of that because everyone who wasn’t really booked
for the show was a part of it.
And they were the first eliminated!
Maybe the introduction of Women’s Tag Team Championships will help IIconics as they’ll
have something to fight for.
But given how WWE has stopped caring about their men’s tag belts, I wouldn’t hold
out much hope.
5.
Ember Moon
Another victim of WWE’s rule that women are seemingly only allowed one story at any
given time is former NXT Women’s Champion Ember Moon.
Moon started out her main roster career by beating the former Raw Women’s Champion
Alexa Bliss in a tag match, but has since had nothing to do.
It is baffling to think that Moon - someone who was having incredible matches and feuds
with the likes of Asuka, Nikki Cross, IIconics and Shayna Baszler - has yet to have a single
storyline since coming to the main roster.
Not one.
Her only role on Raw since April has been to second other wrestlers like Nia Jax or
Ronda Rousey.
She hasn’t had an actual feud with emotions or stakes.
Just random matches that lead to nothing.
So what was the point in bringing her up to the main roster?
But I supposed you’re now asking how she’s ranked higher than all the other NXT call-ups
that have had the same lack of story and motivation?
Well, at least she’s been on TV pretty much every week since coming up.
She’s had wins over big names and she lasted longer than a lot of others in the Evolution
Battle Royal.
So, she’s got that going for her I guess?
The problem Ember has is that she’s on the Raw brand which is being built around Ronda
Rousey.
And you’ve got to figure in WWE’s mind that Ember isn’t as popular as Sasha Banks
or Bayley, which makes her the number four babyface on Raw, possibly even five behind
Natalya.
Either way, let’s hope there’s bigger plans in place for The War Goddess in 2019.
But let’s be honest, she’ll be in the WrestleMania Battle Royal along with IIconics
and Zelina Vega.
Good job, guys.
4.
AOP
I tell you what, Authors of Pain - sorry, AOP - are bloody lucky they won those tag
titles or they would be a lot lower down this list.
Let’s look at what’s happened here.
AOP were the dominant team down in NXT along with their manager Paul Ellering.
They won the Dusty Rhodes Tag Classic, they nearly won it for a second time, they held
the NXT Tag Team Championships and had incredible matches with Revival, DIY, SAniTY, Undisputed
Era and more.
They then came up to the main roster, dumped Paul Ellering for some reason, lost on TV
to Titus Worldwide, went missing for months, then came back with Rockstar Spud in cosplay,
got a new and less threatening name, and got involved in a feud with Bobby Roode & Chad
Gable based around Drake Maverick’s urine.
Oh and they won the belts somewhere in that mix - belts they won in a 2-on-1 handicap
match.
It says a lot about the other call-ups on this list when AOPeePee are bloody fourth.
Raw has had a bad 2018 with its tag division.
I mean WWE has as a whole, but Raw has been particularly bad.
The championships went from being held by top stars like Seth Rollins and Jason Jordan
and The Bar, but then went to comedy act Nicholas, to comedy team The Deletors of Worlds, and
then to comedy act The B-Team, made relevant again when won by Drew McIntyre and Dolph
Ziggler, who lost them to Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose, only for them to be treated
like an afterthought when Seth and Dean’s feud didn’t need them.
So AOP won them and Drake Maverick pissed himself.
This act stated to fall apart as soon as they ditched Paul Ellering.
He was an integral part of their act, more so than we ever really gave him credit for.
And without him, any credibility they had seemed to disappear.
And with a Raw tag division that is mostly loaded with comedy teams and jokes, it was
hard to take two behemoths seriously.
3.
Lio Rush
My man, Lio Rush!
Initially called up to be part of the 205 Live brand, Rush really made a name for himself
on Monday Night Raw as the hype man for Bobby Lashley.
The two have become quite a great pair together - with Rush sounding like a cross between
Don King and Meatwad from Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and Lashley as the man who points to
his butt.
Okay, so half of this team is working, but the I’m sure the butt thing is really making
Vince McMahon laugh.
Rush is higher on this list than some of the other NXT call-ups because he’s actually
gotten his act over on Raw - which it turn helped Bobby get over again.
Something WWE were seemingly trying their hardest to not do by making him be the set-up
for Braun’s hot tag, the military guy or that one with the sisters that he loves.
And not only that, given we are just over a year since Tweet Gate and his poorly timed
joke about the release of Emma, Rush has actually somehow survived the WWE locker room.
So well done, I guess.
2.
Buddy Murphy
You see Buddy Murphy is high on this list because he’s on 205 Live and that’s a
show that’s designed to get people over and make them feel like stars.
It’s like NXT but filmed in front of a crowd that is usually indifferent to the product.
But make people feel like stars 205 Live does, and it did perfectly with Buddy Murphy - who
suddenly got the call-up from NXT as The Juggernaut of 205, a guy who was just barely under the
weight limit and that gave him an advantage over all the other guys on the purple brand.
And quite quickly Murphy’s star began to rise - with excellent matches with Mustafa
Ali and Cedric Alexander - the latter of which Murphy beat to win the Cruiserweight Championship
in about the only match worth watching from Super Show Down.
It’s a shame WWE don’t make an effort to promote 205 Live better, as Buddy Murphy
could be a great asset to the Intercontinental and United States Championship pictures on
either Raw or Smackdown.
1.
Drew McIntyre
I don’t think it can be argued that by far the best NXT call-up of 2018 is Drew McIntyre.
But, to be honest, when he was first introduced as a heel partner for Dolph Ziggler despite
his amazing babyface run in NXT, some of us were a little concerned.
Thankfully when WWE - or Vince McMahon to be precise - wants something to work they
will make it work.
And while Drew has been Dolph’s partner, then Braun’s partner and then Baron Corbin’s
partner, he has always felt like a main event player on Monday Night Raw.
He has had actual PPV matches, he won the tag team championships and made them feel
important, and he’s now set to be in the mix for the Universal Championship whenever
Brock Lesnar decides to show up for work again.
Like The Shield, Drew was booked to look like a star from the outset.
There wasn’t a gradual build of random matches or meaningless kick off shows, he was brought
in and you were told from the outset - this is a main eventer and he will be champion
of this brand at some point.
It took until the December 3rd episode of Raw for him to get a pinfall loss - and even
then he lost because Finn Balor booted him into the barricade on the outside.
He’s been kept incredibly strong and protected, and that has made him feel very credible in
the main event.
Just compare that to the 2018 main roster booking of Andrade “Cien” Almas or SAniTY.
So congrats Drew, in a sea of sewage, you got your head above water.
Nice one.
What are the best and worst moments from WWE this year - according to you fine people?
Find out in the WrestleRamble with myself and Oli Davis by clicking the video on screen.
I’ve been Luke Owen and that was a list.