With SmackDown beginning life on the USA Network, and WWE Raw on Netflix in January it is now NXT’s time to start anew on The CW.
While much of the excitement will rightly be on debuting stars such as Stephanie Vaquer and the Motor City Machine Guns, similar buzz can be garnered by a Raw or SmackDown star moving down to NXT.
Some main roster stars are floundering with little direction, and as seen many times in the past NXT can be the perfect step to get their careers back on track.
Here are seven WWE Raw and SmackDown stars to move to NXT.
7. Austin Theory
We start with a switch that has already kind of happened, albeit seemingly on a temporary basis.
Austin Theory and Grayson Waller are set to challenge Nathan Frazer and Axiom for the NXT Tag Team Championships on the October 8 show in St. Louis.
As mentioned this may just be a brief run, as many others have before. However, in Theory’s case there is an argument for him returning for a prolonged run on the brand, specifically as a singles star.
Theory and Waller’s breakup has been teased ad nauseam, so hopefully eventually we get that split and perhaps afterwards Theory can return to NXT and rebuild his stock.
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6. AOP
Like Waller and Theory, AOP have made an occasional NXT appearance since returning to WWE TV in February, also challenging Frazer and Axiom for the NXT Tag Team Championships.
This is about as close as AOP have gotten to capturing gold this year, with little success coming their way on WWE Raw.
This is obviously a far cry from their first run in WWE NXT between 2016-2018, where they held the brand’s tag titles for over 200 days.
With little sign that main roster tag title success is coming their way, a move back to WWE NXT full-time, perhaps even with Karrion Kross would be the best move as NXT’s tag division could also benefit from their presence.
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5. Baron Corbin
Unlike our first two entries, Baron Corbin is someone that did stick around in WWE NXT when he returned to the brand in 2023.
In fact, Corbin’s return to NXT was arguably the best thing WWE has done with him in the last five years and was a much-needed reboot for a character that had truly taken a beating on the main roster.
Unfortunately however, since Corbin moved from NXT to SmackDown he has been barely featured whatsoever. A shame, as it was truly refreshing to see him as a babyface on the main roster for the first time.
While there’s still hope WWE can find something for him to do, there has been little sign of that lately. So, instead a move back to NXT may be the best course of action. I mean it worked greatly the first time so why not?
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4. Tegan Nox
Unlike Baron Corbin, who has made some TV appearances on SmackDown, Tegan Nox has not been seen once since moving from Raw in 2024 WWE Draft.
In fact Nox hasn’t even been regularly competing on WWE’s live event circuit either, with her last match coming in early July.
Since retuning to WWE in 2022 Nox hasn’t quite established a connection with the fans, and in all honesty she should have maybe begun in NXT from the beginning of her second run in the company.
A return to WWE TV as a part of NXT seems like her best shot at success and would hopefully be a good platform to later main roster success.
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3. Shinsuke Nakamura
Shinsuke Nakamura is another SmackDown star yet to make an in-ring appearance since drafting from Raw. While it can perhaps be understood in the case of Tegan Nox, who has yet to establish herself in WWE, the same can’t be said for Nakamura.
This time last year Nakamura was wrapping up a feud with Seth Rollins over the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, before moving on to Cody Rhodes shortly thereafter.
Now, he reportedly has no creative direction. But why waste his talents on the sidelines?
With Nakamura’s reputation taking a hit in recent years, a return to NXT would be a suitable reset on his WWE career, returning to the place he achieved so much success in when he first arrived in WWE back in 2016.
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2. Legado Del Fantasma
Santos Escobar, Berto, Angel and Elektra Lopez is a group that should work, and it still might on WWE’s main roster. But for now, they seem to be without direction and are another without much heat to their names.
The group’s prospects on NXT would likely be far different with less high-level competition in both the men’s singles and tag team ranks.
Feasibly both Escobar and the team of Berto and Angel could all hold gold in NXT, in turn dominating the brand in a way not likely to happen on SmackDown.
It doesn’t have to be permanent, and in all honesty the LWO over on Raw could arguably benefit from the exact same move (bar Rey Mysterio).
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1. Omos
Of all the falls from grace under the Triple H creative regime, few have been quite as steep as Omos’.
Aside from three different battle royal appearances, Omos has been completely absent from TV since his Backlash 2023 loss to Seth Rollins.
While he is obviously limited in the ring, a man that size surely has a place somewhere on WWE TV, with NXT being perhaps the best option of all three brands.
Whether it be in an in-ring capacity, or as we have pitched before, in a team with a smarmy heel like Lexis King, Omos deserves something to do aside from beating Akira Tozawa on live events.
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