Recently, NXT has gone from reality show to developmental to WWE's third brand that is often said to be better than Raw or Smackdown. Many top stars currently thriving on WWE's main roster brands cut their teeth in NXT first, including former WWE Champion and first-ever NXT Champion Seth Rollins.
NXT today is home to many stars that haven't left since joining the brand, like Johnny Gargano, or left the brand but would later return to it, like Tyler Breeze and Finn Balor. While some bigger names like Shinsuke Nakamura and Samoa Joe spent barely a year or so in NXT, others have spent five or more years as part of the black and yellow brand.
10 Oney Lorcan
Oney Lorcan first debuted in NXT in 2015 and is still at home on the brand. While Lorcan hasn't tasted championship success in NXT, he has been an exciting part of the show, especially in the last couple of years. His hard-hitting style and all-caps tweeting make him an exciting character in and out of the ring.
Recently, Oney has been a part of a tag team with Danny Burch. The two had a sleeper hit of a tag title match against Undisputed Era in 2018 but now reside further down the card. They have recently been competing together on 205 Live, as well as NXT.
9 Tommaso Ciampa
The Blackheart of NXT debuted in 2015 as Johnny Gargano's tag partner for the Dusty Rhodes Classic. Together with Gargano, the duo known as DIY became one of the most popular tag teams to ever be featured on the black and yellow brand.
Ciampa would turn on Gargano, splitting up the fan-favorite tag team and would miss nearly a year of action before returning as a main event heel feuding with Gargano. Ciampa would win the NXT Championship from Aleister Black and his feud with Gargano would see the two main event three consecutive TakeOvers. Ciampa has since challenged Adam Cole for the NXT Championship and wrestled NXT newcomer Karrion Kross.
8 Sawyer Fulton
Sawyer Fulton, now known as Madman Fulton in Impact Wrestling, spent five years on the black and yellow brand between 2012 and 2017. He was most popular as part of the early incarnation of the faction known as SAnitY. He would be replaced by Killian Dain in the stable and leave the company.
Fulton is now a monster heel in Impact Wrestling. He was part of Sami Callihan's OVE faction but has recently split. The sky is the limit for this big man as he rises through the ranks.
7 Johnny Gargano
The other half of DIY, Johnny Gargano debuted for NXT with Tommaso Ciampa in 2015 and also remains on the brand today. Along with Ciampa, Gargano rose to the height of popularity as part of DIY.
After Ciampa turned on him, Gargano would rise through the ranks to be the top babyface in the main event scene on NXT. His feuds with Ciampa and Adam Cole made the former NXT Champion the most sympathetic babyface on the brand but Gargano has since turned heel along with wife Candice LeRae.
6 Aliyah
Aliyah joined NXT back in 2015 and remains on the brand today but she hasn't done much of interest. She has always floundered on the roster, failing to get much fan support as a face or many wins as a heel.
Recently, she joined The Robert Stone Brand but it hasn't led to a change in fortune. Unless NXT has plans to revamp her character or show that she can really go in the ring, she will continue to flounder at the bottom of NXT's stacked women's division.
5 Tino Sabbatelli
Tino Sabbatelli is another name that has been with NXT for five years and hasn't done anything. Sabbatelli would be paired with Riddick Moss in an unsuccessful heel tag team. As a duo, they never managed to rise through the ranks.
Sabbatelli hasn't been seen on NXT TV for quite some time, as he has been out with an injury. Moss, however, was called up to Raw for a short-lived partnership with Mojo Rawley and similarly short 24/7 title reign. It remains to be seen if Sabbatelli will be able to achieve some level of success when he returns from injury.
4 Steve Cutler
Steve Cutler debuted for NXT back in 2014 and was finally called up to the main roster this year as part of The Forgotten Sons, along with Wesley Blake and Jaxson Ryker. For the majority of his NXT run, Cutler remained at the bottom of the card if he was on TV at all.
When The Forgotten Sons were formed, he started to see a bit of success. With the monstrous Ryker at their side, Cutler and Blake picked up several wins in the tag division but were unable to win the Dusty Rhodes Classic or capture championships. The trio has since moved to SmackDown where they targeted The New Day's tag team titles.
3 Kona Reeves
Kona Reeves joined the black and yellow brand in 2014 and remains on the roster today. He was another floundering talent until he debuted his The Finest gimmick. It looked as if he might find some modicum of success with this character change.
Unfortunately for The Finest, that wouldn't be the case. Reeves would fail to pick up any meaningful wins and would instead become a stepping stone for other stars. Kona Reeves hasn't been on NXT TV in a while, so maybe he will return as a revamped version of The Finest or with a new gimmick altogether.
2 Angelo Dawkins
With an NXT tenure lasting from 2012 to 2019, it looked hopeless that Angelo Dawkins would ever become a top star. He was met with indifference from NXT fans because he had a boring character.
This all changed when he joined Montez Ford to form The Street Profits. The current Raw Tag Team Champions became a fun and exciting tag team to watch, eventually capturing the NXT Tag Team Championships before moving to the main roster.
1 Wesley Blake
Steve Cutler's partner in The Forgotten Sons, Wesley Blake, had been on the NXT roster since 2013 before finally being called up to SmackDown. Wesley Blake never saw singles success in NXT but he was one half of the NXT Tag Team Champions with Buddy Murphy at one point.
After Blake and Murphy split, Blake stagnated until joining Cutler and Ryker in The Forgotten Sons. He found some success as part of this new trio, so maybe he should have been a tag team specialist all along. Blake is still teaming with Cutler on SmackDown since their call up earlier this year.