WWE Finally Learned How To Call Up NXT Talent
- Thomas Hall
- May 9
- 5 min read
Wrestling is a rather interesting form of entertainment and in many ways, there is absolutely nothing like it. You get a mixture of action, adventure, comedy, stunts, live theater and a soap opera, all mixed in with athletics at the same time. That is not something you see very often in entertainment, but there are some things that are rather similar, one of which is what we’ll be looking at today.
Like any other sport, professional wrestling, and in this case WWE in particular, has a roster of talent who are tasked with doing their jobs at the highest level possible. That is easier said than done, but there are some incredibly talented people in WWE, both in front of and behind the camera. However, also like every other sport, at some point, you have to refresh the roster with some new blood. That is where we are going today, because WWE is doing incredibly well in this area right now.
WWE’s Developmental System Is Producing Results
One of the most important and valuable resources that WWE has in its bag of tricks is its developmental system. The company is able to sign new prospects, either from the independent scene or from other sports altogether and build them into a star from the ground up. This has been a thing in wrestling for decades, but WWE has never been able to have this much depth to the system. That is an interesting change, and part of that is how well it has been going as of late.
The Recent NXT Callups Have Hit The Ground Running
We’re freshly off WrestleMania and that means we’ve had the long anticipated post WrestleMania Monday Night Raw (and SmackDown). As usual, it meant that a lot of NXT stars came up to the main roster. This year, that wasn’t the only time that they came up, as multiple wrestlers had already made their full time main roster debuts before the post-WrestleMania shows. That is far from unheard of, but you do not see it happen with this kind of success very often.
Something that has become apparent this year is just how well so many of the incoming stars from NXT have hit the ground running. There is always a learning curve for wrestlers who are coming up to the higher levels when they have never been anywhere close to that big of a stage, but you might not know it this time. For some reason, this year’s crop of NXT callups have jumped up fast and already feel like they have been here forever. Let’s take a look at these names.
Since we’ll say the Royal Rumble, the following names have come up to the main roster from NXT (I believe this is everyone but it’s close enough):
Ethan Page
Je’Von Evans
Joe Hendry
Sol Ruca
Ricky Saints
Fatal Influence (Jacy Jayne/Fallon Henley/Lainey Reid)
Trick Williams
Blake Monroe (hasn’t debuted yet but has had vignettes)
Oba Femi
That’s eleven new wrestlers (counting Monroe) who have come up to the main roster in the span of about two and a half months. You do not often get that many names showing up in such a short amount of time, but look at how well they have done thus far. This is where things get interesting, as you would really not have much of an idea that these people are so new on this high of a level.
Now, we’re not going to go through each of these names and how they’ve done so far, as some of them have done a lot more than others (for instance, as of this writing, Saints has been around for two weeks and had a pair of matches). However, at least thus far, none of them look anywhere close to being a disaster and most of them even look like they have quite the potential future.
Fatal Influence Already Feels Comfortable On The Main Roster
First, you have Fatal Influence, who were the dominant force in NXT’s women’s division for a long time and made a rather perfectly smooth transition to the main roster. Jayne is clearly the leader and has already beaten both Charlotte and Alexa Bliss. They basically came in with the exact same characters and style that they had down in NXT. It worked there and it’s working here, so I’d certainly call this a success.
Trick Williams Already Looks Like A Star
Next up we have Williams, who has already won the US Title and turned into a good guy almost immediately. The more I see from Williams, I’m less surprised by how positively he has been received. He’s big, he’s in great shape, he’s charismatic and he can speak well. In short, what’s not to like about him? The fans have certainly gotten behind him and hey look: he’s the US Champion all of a month and a half after coming up to the main roster. Again, it helps when he is basically the same person he was down in NXT and just doing it on the next level.
Oba Femi Looks Like WWE’s Next Monster Attraction
Oh and finally there’s that Femi guy, who showed up, looked like a million bucks right out of the gate and RETIRED BROCK LESNAR AT WRESTLEMANIA. He dominated NXT and it would not surprise me to see him as World Champion by the end of the year. You do not find people like him very often and it turns out he has something to go with the look and muscles. Not bad for someone who had his first match about three and a half years ago (November 2022).
You might be noticing a theme here, and that theme is pretty clear: the most success seems to come when these wrestlers are allowed to figure something out in NXT and then move it up to the main roster. That is how most of these wrestlers have succeeded, mainly because they’re not starting from scratch. NXT is already airing on national television and it makes sense for someone to stick with what works there. Why would you change something that has had so much success in the first place? WWE seems to have finally figured that out and the results appear to be working.
Evolve Has Become WWE’s Next Developmental Step
And that’s not even the end of the pipeline. After all these years, NXT seems to have its own developmental in the form of Evolve. The series airs every Wednesday night on Tubi (at least in the United States) and is basically the same thing to NXT that NXT is to Monday Night Raw and SmackDown. The fact that it very well may be the best weekly series WWE does today makes it even better (seriously, check it out, as they keep things fresh and different enough week to week that you forget just how far down the WWE ladder the show really is).
WWE's Future Looks Promising
WWE has had developmental systems for a long time (dating back to Memphis, the Funkin Dojo, Deep South Wrestling, OVW and if you’re being realistic, the AWA) and while I’m not at all saying this is the best it’s ever been, there is something great about this recent run. Shawn Michaels is doing a heck of a job running NXT and Gabe Sapolsky’s Evolve is setting things up right beneath him. The trick seems to be actually developing people and moving them up to the next level when they’re ready. It’s working rather well, so good job with having wrestlers get promotions through the promotion.
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