For those not in the know, NXT is WWE’s developmental system where they train and
prepare the wrestlers who will lead the company into the future.
WWE Champions Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns and Kevin Owens have all come through the yellow
brand, but you don’t always get to debut on the main roster as part of a cool faction,
or in a feud with John Cena.
In fact, more often than not, Vince McMahon puts you in a cape.
I am Luke Owen and these are five botched NXT Call-Ups.
Bo Dallas
It’s amazing to think that Bo Dallas is a former NXT Champion.
The belt that has been held by names like Seth Rollins, Samoa Joe and Shinsuke Nakamura.
Not only that, but he holds the record for the third longest reign behind Finn Balor
and Neville.
Dallas was looking to get a big push on his debut on the main roster - lasting 20 minutes
in the 2013 Royal Rumble and entering into a feud with Wade Barrett over the Intercontinental
Championship.
When he made his full transition to the main roster in 2014, he went on a winning streak
on TV doing his Bo-lieve gimmick, but after returning from a four-month injury in 2015,
he was treated like a jobber.
He would interrupt promos from Sting and Brock Lesnar only to get beaten up by the much bigger
stars.
Things looked like they were getting back on track when he became part of The Social
Outcasts, but they also quickly became a joke act.
So, in all, Bo Dallas made his main roster debut in 2013, and it took until 2017 before
he’s done anything of note.
And even then it’s been dressing up like The One Man Gang for The Miz.
Tyler Breeze
Prince Pretty was at the top of the NXT card during a time when Neville, Sami Zayn and
Tyson Kidd were competing for the NXT Championship - and before that he was the FCW Champion
in 2012.
While he never held the gold in NXT, he was always in main event or semi-main event level
feuds, and even had a match with the legendary Jushin Thunder Liger at the first NXT Takeover:
Brooklyn.
It’s a shame then that his call-up to the main roster has been somewhat flat.
Breeze made his WWE debut in October 2015 on Smackdown, and was brought out by his new
valet Summer Rae.
He then went into a feud with Dolph Ziggler, and won their first match at Survivor Series.
But then, for whatever reason, Tyler Breeze went on a losing streak.
His partnership with Summer Rae was quietly dropped and he lost to Ziggler a couple more
times to end that feud - and then lost virtually every match he was a part of until May 2016.
He formed Breezango with the similarly underused Fandango after turning on his previous partner
R-Truth - who remembers that tag team?
- but it wasn’t until April 2017 that the team was taken somewhat seriously thanks to
their backstage Fashion Files skits.
The Ascension
Here’s a fun fact for you: The Ascension - at the time of writing - are the longest
reigning NXT Tag Team Champions.
Granted they held them during a time when NXT weren’t doing regular Takeover shows,
but their reign still lasted just under an entire year beating teams like Too Cool and…
well that’s about it.
Their call up to the main roster is one of the more interesting in recent times.
The whole point of NXT is to develop characters, promo styles and wrestling styles, but The
Ascension were brought up to Raw and Smackdown with a gimmick overhaul.
Gone were the mysterious gothic powerhouses, and in their place were Road Warrior knock
offs complete with facepaint and shouty promos.
Demoliti - I mean The Ascension - made their main roster debut on December 29th 2014 and
began feuding with The New Age Outlaws, leading to a victorious match at the 2015 Royal Rumble.
But it was all downhill from there.
By May 2015, they had only won a couple of their television matches, and lost many more.
By the end of the year they had aligned themselves with Stardust as The Cosmic Wasteland, but
the team quietly disbanded in early 2016.
Since then, there has been nothing of note in their main roster careers, becoming the
butt of the joke in Breezango’s Fashion Files vignettes.
American Alpha
Speaking of tag teams wasted on the main roster, how about former NXT Tag Team Champions American
Alpha?!
The team - made up of Chad Gable and Jason Jordan - quickly became one of the most popular
tag acts in NXT due to their amazing in-ring work.
They had great feuds with The Revival, Authors of Pain and The Vaudevillains - including
an amazing tag team championship victory at NXT Takeover: Dallas in 2016.
The pair came up to the main roster as part of the Brand Split in late 2016 [39] and quickly
got into a feud with the newly heel Usos.
They won the Smackdown Live tag team championships from Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt in December
2016, but lost them shortly thereafter to The Usos just before WrestleMania 33 without
a feud.
The following week’s Superstar Shake-Up made Gable and Jordan an afterthought.
“Once the decision to move the New Day to Smackdown was made, [American Alpha] were
no longer in the top face team spot…”
- Dave Meltzer, Wrestling Observer Newsletter, July 24th 2017
And then, after being mostly absent from TV, Jason Jordan was revealed as Kurt Angle’s
illegitimate son on the July 17th 2017 episode of Raw.
Jordan moved to the red brand as a result, splitting the team up in the process.
Bayley
Is there really a more wasted NXT call-up than Bayley?
Of WWE’s Four Horsewomen, Bayley was the last to be called up to the main roster, but
was one of the most over babyfaces on the entire brand.
Her character went on a huge evolution in NXT, going from a fan happy to be there to
the underdog chasing the championship from bully heels Charlotte and Sasha Banks.
She eventually won the NXT Women’s Championship at NXT Takeover: Brooklyn I in what Dave Meltzer
reckons, “what may have been the best woman's match in WWE history.”
She was beloved by the NXT crowd, and was considered a female version of John Cena that
actually connected with the audience.
A huge merchandise seller with the capacity to be a hero to young girls - a market WWE
have historically struggled to get.
So how could they possibly botch that?
Bayley joined the WWE main roster in August 2016 and was instantly put into the title
picture with Charlotte and Banks.
She challenged for the Raw Women’s Championship several times, and following an unsuccessful
attempt at Royal Rumble 2017, she captured the title on a random episode of Raw.
She defended the belt through WrestleMania, but then lost the championship at Payback
in her hometown of San Jose.
She then had an awful This Is Your Life segment with Alexa Bliss and a dreadful Kendo Stick
on a Pole Match at Extreme Rules.
Since then, WWE’s poor booking of Bayley turned the crowd against her - even booing
her during her announcement that she was injured and wouldn’t be able to compete at Summerslam.
Maybe some of these call-ups should be cut from the WWE Network - like these other clips!
And what about Mick Foley’s botched retirement?
Click the videos to the left.
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I’ve been Luke Owen, and that was a list.