wrestling / Columns

Moving From NXT To WWE: There’s Always Strength In Numbers

September 25, 2014 | Posted by Greg De Marco

On the heels of successful events like ArRival, TakeOver and TakeOver: Fatal 4 Way, WWE NXT is proving to be one of the most successful ventures of the company’s modern era. For me it’s the #1 selling point of the WWE Network right after the monthly pay-per-view events (and all for the rock bottom price of $9.99!!!) and it oftentimes represents the best in-ring product that the company has to offer.

One of the major reasons for NXT’s success is, sadly, Vince McMahon’s lack of concern for the NXT brand. Now it’s not that Vince doesn’t want it to be successful—he’s not that stupid—but he tends to keep his hands in the main television product and leaves NXT to Triple H.

And Triple H is kicking all kinds of ass with WWE NXT.

While several NXT superstars have been successful at the main roster level (Daniel Bryan, The Shield, Bray Wyatt & The Wyatt Family), several could be classified as a bust (Mason Ryan, Bo Dallas, Adam Rose). A recent Raw match with NXT Champion Adrian Neville, Sami Zayn, and Tyler Breeze—along with Tyson Kidd—received a great response for the current top of the NXT card. Add that in with the reception for then NXT Tag Team Champions The Ascension on Main Event, and you have more hints at main roster success for several NXT stars.

Furthermore, you have the recent stir caused online with the WWE’s “NXT Five” (their term) article leads many to believe that more NXT success could be on the horizon.

However, history is already telling is that there is one key element to success when moving up to the main roster from NXT.

Is it about your in-ring work? Your promo skills? Your charisma? Or the all-too-important “It Factor?” Your background before WWE?

The most successful NXT stars to make it on the WWE’s grandest scale all have one thing in common: Strength In Numbers.

That’s right, the most successful transitions are those that happen as part of a group. A faction. A stable.

Think I’m wrong? Well that’s what the comments section is for! But first, allow me to show you why I am right.

Daniel Bryan – The Nexus

The picture you see above is the apex of Daniel Bryan’s WWE career. He main evented WrestleMania, walking out of the New Orleans Superdome as the WWE World Heavyweight Champion. In one night, he singlehandedly defeated Triple H, Randy Orton and Batista—Evolution—to complete one of the longest stories the WWE has told over a past decade.

That happened in 2014. But in 2010, Daniel Bryan made his WWE debut as part of a stable termed The Nexus.

Multiple success stories came out of the first season of NXT, including Wade “Bad News” Barrett, Skip “Ryback” Sheffield, Heath Slater, Justin Gabriel and Darren Young. But none were more successful than multi time world champion, WrestleMania main eventer and Total Divas season one star Daniel Bryan…

…who got his start as a member of a faction.

Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose – The Shield

Seth Rollins is the current holder of the Money In The Bank Briefcase. Dean Ambrose is slowly building fan support not seen since Steve Austin. Roman Reigns is pegged as the next face of the WWE. All three of these men have appeared destined for greatness since their WWE main show debut.

They’ve already had title reigns, as Dean Ambrose held the United States Championship for a record 351 days—the longest of any superstar under the WWE. Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns held the WWE Tag Team Championships.

Together the group has two WrestleMania wins—their WrestleMania 29 win against a WWE super-team of Randy Orton, Sheamus and The Big Show and a dominant WrestleMania XXX victory over Kane and The New Age Outlaws.

And no one can forget their great ring entrance, still used by Roman Reigns today.

The question stemming from The Shield’s break up isn’t which member will win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, it’s which member will win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship first. And when whichever Shield member does that, it’s guaranteed to be one…

…who got his start as a member of a stable.

Bray Wyatt and The Wyatt Family

2014 has been a strange, strange year for Bray Wyatt. He kicked off the year in a feud with Daniel Bryan—including a clean win over Bryan at the Royal Rumble. Once Bryan’s WrestleMania plans were in full swing, Bray moved his attention to a larger target—the face of the WWE, John Cena. Wyatt was tapped as Cena’s WrestleMania opponent, and really shined during the build.

Bray would lose the feud to Cena, but seemed to have (pun intended) the whole WWE world in his hands. A feud with Chris Jericho followed, and many feel it failed to love up to expectations. During this time, his Wyatt Family members Luke Harper and Erick Rowan had some great tag team matches, especially their feud with The Usos over the WWE Tag Team Championships.

Since the Chris Jericho culminated with a steel cage match on Raw, Bray has been largely left off of WWE programming, likely due to a lack of planning for his long-term growth. Despite Bray’s odd booking turn, his in-ring and promo talent is hard to ignore, and I still see him as a future world champion and WrestleMania main eventer.

Despite Bray being a heel, he’s been met with many a face reaction, including the Wyatt Family’s June 2013 debut.

Yes, his 2014 has taken the same turn as many WWE superstars who were heavily pushed at the start of their televised career. But the former Husky Harris is a wrestler poised for greatness in the WWE…

…who got his start as a member of a group.

And that Husky Harris guy I mentioned? Yep, he’s another…

…who got his start as a member of a faction.

Sami Zayn, Hiedo Otami, Adrian Neville, Fergal Devitt and Kevin Steen – The NXT Five

Now we come to the NXT Five, a set of wrestlers poised to lead the next generation of WWE Superstars along with those mentioned above. How do you make this happen? The answer should be obvious at this point, and it has actually already started.

The Raw viewing audience was set ablaze with excitement at the tag team match featuring NXT Champion Adrian Neville & Sami Zayn against Tyler Breeze & Tyson Kidd. They didn’t debut as a faction or stable, but they did appear as a group. It just happened to be a group that stood on opposite sides of the ring.

What I am getting to is the fact that they don’t all need to debut as a stable—even if that would excite the hardcore fanbase. But they should be called up in bunches. The solo NXT call-up is basically set-up to fail. They have no one to work with that is on equal footing, and the fans don’t know who they are. Even with the popularity of NXT on the WWE Network, it’s a smaller percentage of the of the RAW viewing audience—less than a third, actually.

Like we saw with The Nexus, not everyone is going to be a smashing success. But several of them could, and that’s a great batting average for the WWE. It’s also less likely they turn out like Mason Ryan, Bo Dallas or Adam Rose.

So learn from history—recent history—and be intentional about how we call NXT Superstars up to the WWE main roster. It’s a vital part of their success.

Greg DeMarco is a wrestling fan of over 30 years and has also worked on the independent circuit as a promoter, announcer, character and booker. Greg a weekly contributor at 411Mania.com, applying his opinionated style to the world of pro wrestling on Sundays and Thursdays.

He began writing for 411Mania in October 2010 and has been pissing readers off ever since!

Greg’s latest series of must read articles at 411Mania.com:
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article topics :

Hideo Itami, NXT, Triple H, WWE, Greg De Marco