The WWE Draft has concluded, and there were several big superstar moves, including a number of NXT Call-Ups. Overall 18 superstars from NXT are being called up; who are the NXT call-ups with the potential to break out on the main roster? It is impossible to be sure; a lot can happen in a WWE career; some drafted talents have a better shot than others. Most of NXT’s call-ups came from the Men’s division. The sheer size of the pool of NXT talent drafted puts most previous years to shame.
Male NXT Call-Ups With the Potential to Break Out
- Apollo Crews
- JD McDonagh
- Odyssey Jones
- Jinder Mahal, Sanga & Veer Mahan (Indus Sher)
- Grayson Waller
- Cameron Grimes
- Elton Prince & Kit Wilson (Pretty Deadly)
- Von Wagner
- Xyon Quinn
Likely Stars
Grayson Waller
One of the least surprising call up’s this year is also the most likely to pan out. Grayson Waller has the most potential to make it on the main roster. He is a charismatic performer with a talent for irritating the fans. Waller is liable to steal the show in the ring, particularly on premium live events. While he is not the most gifted in-ring performer, he may be the most complete package in a long time. Additionally, he had only four years of experience before entertaining the WWE, so he is a “WWE guy,” which will be helpful if Vince McMahon is back in charge backstage. Putting the whole package together, Waller is an NXT call-up with the potential to break out on the main roster.
His superstar looks, and a history of stand-out performances mean the sky is the limit for Waller. Smackdown is a weird spot for Waller to land. However, that is probably the only reason fans should be concerned. LA Knight is on fire right now, and he and Austin Theory both have a similar obnoxious gimmick on Friday nights. However, if the performer fans saw on NXT 2.0 can come to the main roster unchanged, he should quickly become one of the highlights on Friday nights.
Odessey Jones
Odyssey Jones has a history of injury both in NXT and as a football player at Syracuse University. However, if he can temper any fears of reinjury, Jones likely has the highest upsides of all the NXT call-ups. Exclusively a product of the WWE Performance Center, he has immense athleticism, near superhuman strength, and the beginnings of an interesting character which he developed quickly after joining the company in 2019. Unlike some of the long-tenured NXT draftees, Jones doesn’t have a long list of matches and victories to watch though he has some that stand out.
His loss to Carmelo Hayes in the Breakout Tournament is a perfect example of how the 400-pounder works with high work-rate competitors. He even made a Von Wagner TV match fun with a great Oklahoma drill spot. More importantly, his current partnership with Blade & Enofe and his rivalry with Roderick Strong and Malcolm Bivens for the cruiserweight title showcased a sense of humor. He can make a fun babyface character, reminiscent of what Big E was tasked with doing after the New Day Split into his world title run. While fans were always behind that decision, they missed the New Day, making it much harder for Big E to transition to the new character. Jones has the skill and opportunity to perfect that and reach massive heights in WWE.
Pretty Deadly
Does Smackdown need a new heel team that isn’t the Bloodline-consumed Uso’s to lead a functioning tag division? Yes boy! Pretty Deadly will likely get tossed into a potentially important role on Smackdown. The Uso’s will be busy with their forever family soap opera, and Raw has the undisputed tag team champions of Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens. Assuming this brand split still has meaning by next month, Smackdown will be in the market for a new tag team title and two teams to chase after it. Smackdown has four well-established face teams to go after those titles but only Pretty Deadly and the disintegrating Usos on the heel side.
Kit Wilson and Elton Prince have helmed the NXT division as the top heels for all of 2022. They could keep up with bruising ring workers like The Creed Brothers and Gallus in classic matches that made the division feel more like the highlight it was when NXT started. Pretty Deadly also worked well with the New Day, and if a program with Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston isn’t enough evidence that the company believes in you, then nothing is. They know their characters inside and out. They are reliable workers who can wrestle a fun TV match or really get after it on PLE. To put it plainly, Pretty Deadly are NXT call-ups that have the potential to break out on the main roster. A team that has featured in almost all of the NXT and NXT UK’s central tag team moments the last two years should be seen quite a bit when they arrive on Smackdown after Backlash.
Potential Stars
JD McDonagh
Most NXT fans don’t like JD McDonagh. Of course, as a heel, you’d expect that, but the dislike from some fans stems deeper than his character. He is ever-present and annoying in that regard. For that reason, moving makes sense because he has hit a wall on NXT as long as Ijlia Draganov is around. Keeping those two separate was reason enough to draft JD, a very talented worker in his own right.
He will almost certainly get a shot at the Intercontinental Title early, and it will be a five-star match. Gunther and McDonagh have faced off outside of WWE and within. Each matchup between the two is a good watch. Beyond that, though, nothing jumps out as a must-see matchup. But, of course, that is fine. JD will still have several solid matches for the mid-card title and a strong career on Raw. In the turmoil of the early World Heavyweight Championship division, he may even find a shot to break out as a true star. Unlikely sure for a grating heel, but on a roster that will seemingly rely on great matches and work rate, he does fit the bill.
Cameron Grimes
A lot of people like Cameron Grimes. He is funny, knows his character can work as a heel or a face, and is a talented wrestler. Cameron Grimes has a better than decent chance at making a significant impact in a Triple H run WWE. However, in a Vince McMahon WWE, Cameron Grimes would be a comedy jobber or unemployed, whichever was more straightforward. Since we are living through a weird hybrid of the two, Grimes is in a strange position. On NXT, he is a revered former North American Champion. Unfortunately, this new reality has him sliding down the draft board compared to where he was just a few months ago.
NXT fans love Grimes, and his connection and the resume he crafted on that brand will be his greatest asset. Grimes has worked with many NXT alums, having been on that roster since 2019. He will likely get an opportunity to shine and is talented enough to run with it. Feuds with Waller or LA Knight again are both solid possibilities and could get over with Smackdown audiences. However, even his recent body transformation won’t give Grimes the superstar look that old-school promoters like McMahon seek out. Grimes probably doesn’t need to call his famous friends from Cameron, North Carolina, for a new job. He will likely contend for the United States Championship regardless of his performance. That is unless the fans remember him from NXT and organically push him to the moon.
Indus Sher & Jinder Mahal
Jinder Mahal is a former WWE Champion, and that was essentially his NXT character. Returning to Raw with backup actually gives Mahal a ton of potential. His last run as World Champion included a faction, and while the Singh Brothers were funny, Veer Mahan and Sanga as scary, and that is almost always better in a wrestling heel. Raw is looking to crown a new world champion after Backlash. Including previous champions would make sense to add “prestige” to the participation title, the World Heavyweight championship. Mahaalso l worked as an actual main event caliber heel on NXl with Indus Sher.
Indus Sher is not likely stars in the future. Their matches were standard, and the character work was traditional for a heel group. Two of the three members have already been sent down to NXT after being lower card fillers on the main roster. Also, Jinder might not be considered for the new World title, given how fans reacted last time. However, it would be wrong to say it wasn’t possible. Raw drafted Drew Mcintyre, Seth Rollins, Riddle, and Cody Rhodes. That leaves the Miz and Finn Balor as potential top heels. Sure one of them can and probably will turn to balance things out, but Jinder with Indus Sher does create a legitimate option. Also, if Imperium ends up in the main event to fill the heel deficiency, Indus Sher could replace them. Ultimately it is still Veer Mahan and Jinder Mahal we are looking at, but WWE has a need now, so if they were going to break out for real, the table is set.
Sink or Swim Stars
Von Wagner
The rumor business has much to say about the future of the 2nd generation superstar Von Wagner. His prominent role in the early NXT 2.0 era is a sign that the rumors about Wagner are probably accurate. Unfortunately, all of that hype or potential has yet to be realized on NXT television. He is a physically imposing guy, and there are absolutely worse performers on all three rosters right now in the ring. However, he needs to be much bigger to be boring in a WWE ring, and every now and then, his matches do slip into that bathroom break territory. Some performers can get around that with a big personality to overcome their lack of size and slow performances. Unfortunately for Wagner, he has the antithesis of natural charisma and no character to speak of.
Von Wagner is an athletic guy with good size and knows how to wrestle. Wagner makes perfect sense as an NXT prospect. His draft position, though, could be better. He is one of a handful of free agents that can appear on any brand. That deal makes sense for an attraction like Brock or, honestly, even Omos. It also works for a solid worker like Ziggler, who can help bolster the mid-card while popping down to NXT for a show-stealing match or two in the main event. Unfortunately, a rookie prospect like Wagner is likelier to disappear from TV than gain national exposure with this scheme. Von Wanger will need to overcome inexperience and natural weakness to stand out, or else his free-agent status could result in him fading from the WWE Universe.
Xyon Quinn
One of life’s great mysteries is why Xyon Quinn is a free agent. He has a superstar look, and a couple of main roster matches under his belt. There is nothing inherently wrong with Quinn with some of the raw tools you would look for in a WWE superstar. But the truth is that while some of the people on this list have little left to prove in NXT, Xyon Quinn proved very little in NXT. He was more prevalent in 2021 but hasn’t been prominent on TV for most of 2023. That one of his signature YouTube highlights is a sing-off with Mr. Stone, which is all you need to know about Xyon Quinn’s place in NXT. He was not one of the NXT call-ups with the potential to break out being discussed before the draft.
The free agency gimmick is new this year, and precisely what that entails needs to be clarified. However, for a star who is already struggling for TV time, having no set home is more likely to be a problem than a positive. His new role remains a step up from occasional promos and matches almost exclusively on NXT LVL Up. That he can only get consistent ring time on that program means he is still getting ready for the main roster. Maybe it won’t matter; the free agent thing could indicate he works a match or two on Raw before returning to NXT for a more significant role now that so many of his competitors were drafted to Raw and Smackdown. More likely, though he has a few appearances to get over, he ultimately fails to make an impact, just like in NXT.
Apollo Crews
We have been here before, and it did not end well. Apollo Crews was called up from NXT in 2016. He was part of the tail end of the original NXT and worked with talented stars like Neville and Tyler Breeze. He then went on to have a lackluster run of bad gimmicks and medicore booking on the main roster until 2022, when he was sent back to NXT. At the time, the decision was surprising because of how little he had accomplished in WWE. However, he quickly developed a new character that fits in well with NXT 2.0 and the cartoon nature of that product. That character eventually moved into the strangeness and was then unceremoniously dropped so that Apollo could be just a guy again. Now he is returning to the main roster, and it doesn’t feel like much has changed, which even WWE has admitted in his return video posted online.
Apollo Crews is an outstanding wrestler, but that was the case before he went to NXT the first time, let alone the second. This stint in NXT was supposed to help him find a character to get over with the fans. Anyone familiar with Crews from before and during this NXT run could explain the difference. He has dropped the Nigerian accent, which is a positive. However, he honestly feels even more like “a guy” than he did before that horrible gimmick. If WWE is okay with adding him to the mid-card ranks to fill out the roster on Raw, he could be acceptable. However, if they are expecting a different result from fans when they see Apollo, he could be in serious trouble.
Surprising Omissions
Bron Breakker
With each passing day from Stand and Deliver, it looked less and less likely that Bron Breakker would get drafted. So calling it a surprising omission in that sense is misleading. However, before that show, Bron was the top NXT call-up with the potential to break out after WrestleMania 39. Turning Breakker heel means he has plenty he can do on NXT now. However, he has a ton of momentum from being the face of NXT 2.0. It isn’t impossible to see Bron make it another year as hot as he is now, but it is improbable now that Breakker won’t always be the name on the marquee. As a young guy new to wrestling, this gimmick change and cooling-off period could give him more time to develop and temper expectations when he arrives on Raw or Smackdown.
The Creed Brothers
It is frankly a shock that the Creed Brothers aren’t on the main roster now. Julius and Brutus Creed both started having matches on Main Event this year against main roster talent. Also, they have nothing left to prove on Tuesday nights. For fans watching NXT 2.0 in 2021, and especially this beyond 2.0 era starting last September, they are tag team wrestling. Together with Smackdown’s newly acquired Pretty Deadly, they ran the division until the Stand and Deliver PLE last month. Even before then, they figured prominently in television feuds with MSK, Imperium, and more. Continuity is vital, but Gallus and the DeAngelo family can handle that. They are both studs in the ring with a ton of upside as NXT call-ups with the potential to break out on the main roster. What WWE expects to do with the brothers on NXT as a team is a mystery.
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