NXT is seen as the main developmental brand of The WWE that has produced plenty of stars, but the downside is that once they get to the main roster, they are immediately buried by Vince and the bad writing team.
Here are top 5 former NXT wrestlers that have been buried on the main roster.
1. Bayley - Even though Bayley’s In ring skills are not up to par with other female wrestlers such as Sasha Banks and Asuka, she is marketed as “The Female John Cena” that constantly panders to little kids. She only had certain decent matches in NXT because Sasha Banks and Asuka carried her in those matches. But when she got called up to the main roster in late 2016, she was given an immediate push and won the Raw Women’s Title, but quickly dropped it to one of the bad writing team’s favorite women in Alexa Bliss and then was immediately thrown into one of the worst segments in WWE History called “Bayley: This Is Your Life” where her character was completely assassinated and was buried as a result of this segment. She hasn’t truly recovered from this since. No wonder why she was the last of The Four Horsewomen to be called up to the main roster.
2. Sasha Banks - Even though I’m not a big fan of her “Boss” character, while she was a heel in NXT, she was definitely one of The Four Horsewomen that was at the top of her game showcasing her amazing wrestling ability and knew how to work the crowds well on the mic. But once she was called up to the main roster, she was changed from heel to face which has not only worked out well for her on the main roster, but it’s also led to her being buried on so many occasions especially her short title reigns as Raw Women’s Champion 28, 20, and 8 days and those title losses happened against the bad writing team’s favorites in Alexa and Charlotte. It’s no secret that Vince hates pushing nonwhite wrestlers like Sasha for long title reigns because Alicia Fox held the Diva’s Title for only 2 months in 2010. She has only continued to be buried this year by losing the women’s money in the bank and losing filler matches on the main roster. If I were her, I would definitely ask for my release from The WWE.
3. Shinsuke Nakamura - It’s no secret that The WWE has a very bad track record with Japanese wrestlers because they only use them to get buried from Taka Michinoku, Funaki, Taijiri, and now Shinsuke Nakamura. Nakamura was a huge star in NJPW and NXT where he put on amazing matches and where he was over with the fans, but once he got called up to the main roster, things started to get worst for Nakamura as he would later become just another Japanese wrestler to be buried by The WWE as seen where he was buried four times in the WWE title match this year and it’s so secret that Vince doesn’t like the notion of pushing nonwhite wrestlers as WWE Champion which played a major role in Nakamura being buried in those title matches. He won’t be able to recover from these burials any time soon.
4. Apollo Crews - Apollo Crews was a rising star in NXT where he was improving his craft and honing his skills, but he was called up to the main roster way too quickly as he was getting better and then they immediately buried him by throwing him mostly meaningless filler matches where they often booked him to lose. The burials towards him got very bad when he not only had an Intercontinental Title shot and lost, but he was also in a Tag Team Title Match and lost. The WWE has completely buried him and he’ll never be able to live up to his full potential until he ask for his release from the company.
5. Asuka - Asuka and I have several things in common: we’re both nerds who love anime and video games, but that’s where the similarities end. Asuka was not only a big star in her home country of Japan, she was an unstoppable force in NXT where she holds the record for the longest reign in NXT history at 510 days and technical the longest undefeated streak of any wrestler in WWE history as Andre The Giant technically has the longest undefeated streak of any wrestler in all of wrestling history when he was undefeated from 1972-1987. Things slowly started to go south for Asuka once she was drafted to Smackdown this year where she not only lost her undefeated streak to Charlotte at WM34, but also being buried in filler matches on Smackdown as well as being buried by the bad writing team that made her look stupid and foolish when they picked their one of their favorite Divas in Carmella to go over her for The Smackdown Women’s Title at Money In The Bank and the notion of not pushing nonwhite wrestlers as champions played a role in that decision.
Notable Mentions: Bo Dallas, Becky Lynch, Curtis Axel, Bobby Rhode, The Revival, The Ascension, Austin Aires, etc.
The Conclusion - These five wrestlers would be better off if they were either wrestling on the indie circuit or Impact Wrestling where they can become bigger stars like Cody Rhodes has become during his current time on the indies.
By Kwame Shakir
