While WWE often pushes the idea that NXT is its own distinctive brand, the fact is that the company does still view it as a developmental brand. That is never clearer than when talents are pulled from NXT to the main roster without any real planning taking place.
Some of the moves to the main roster make sense and are clearly planned ahead of time with real detail. Yet some of the moves that have happened over the years have clearly lacked any forward planning. This has led to many storylines just being completely dropped in the middle of things just to make the call-up a reality.
10 Stripping Paige As Champion
Paige remains to this day, one of the greatest NXT Women's Champions of all time, however, her title reign came to an abrupt end because she was called up to the main roster while she was still champion.
WWE decided to just take the title away from her, ending her NXT run without a big moment. She didn't get a huge storyline to finish her time and while her main roster debut was fantastic, it did end her NXT spell poorly.
9 Bronson Reed Drops The North American Title
Bronson Reed's North American Championship reign was short but sweet, which was a real shame. The reported reason for that is because he is set to become a main roster talent, with Reed being someone that is planned for bigger things.
However, WWE's decision to take the title off him in order to move him is one that did hurt NXT. It made the title feel pointless and stopped Reed's momentum immediately, which didn't help anybody.
8 Tegan Nox's NXT Return
Another recent storyline that WWE stopped in its tracks involved Tegan Nox. She had been missing from action due to a serious knee injury, but NXT began building up her return which then took place as she continued her storyline with Candice LeRae.
However, with WWE deciding to bolster the women's division on SmackDown, Tegan was brought to the main roster to team with Shotzi Blackheart. It was a major moment for SmackDown and Tegan's career, but it did leave a lot on the table in NXT.
7 Apollo's Brief Feud With Elias
Apollo Crews was a tremendous in-ring talent in NXT and he was building up steadily to an impressive point. However, he was arguably pulled too soon to the main roster, which brought an end to his brief storyline with Elias.
The two men had only just begun their storyline, and they only managed to have one match against each other, which ended things far too quickly for what was a forgettable main roster debut.
6 EC3 Battles Undisputed Era
EC3's main roster call-up ended up being a disaster with WWE not giving him the right attention that he deserved. The move to the main roster also brought an abrupt end to what could have been a fun storyline between him and the Undisputed Era.
The group and EC3 were only working together briefly when EC3 was pulled to the main roster. Rather than building him further to actually become a top star, WWE rushed everything that he did which led to his ultimate downfall.
5 Liv Morgan's Battles With The IIconics
Liv Morgan was pulled from NXT abruptly in order to create The Riott Squad. However, WWE would have been better creating that group in NXT as Morgan was busy feuding with both of The IIconics at the time.
Rather than finishing up her full storyline with them and possibly starting the group together in NXT, WWE just ended that storyline on its own and quickly made her debut on the main roster.
4 Enzo Amore & Big Cass
Enzo Amore and Big Cass were one of NXT's greatest ever tag teams, but they weren't given the opportunity to hold the NXT Tag Team Titles at any point. That is something everyone expected and their feud with The Revival seemed to be leading to that.
While they lost a title match against them at Roadblock, that didn't mean fans had given up on the storyline. Yet after WrestleMania 32, they were put on the main roster which ended their hopes of winning the titles.
3 Keith Lee
Keith Lee's run as NXT Champion was certainly an underwhelming one, and the fact his storyline with Karrion Kross ended so flat didn't help matters. He lost the title to Kross, who then vacated it thanks to injury and Keith never went to try to reclaim it.
It would have made sense to see Lee demanding his title back after Kross vacated the title, eventually leading to their storyline continuing. But instead, the Limitless One was brought to the main roster immediately.
2 Big E Langston
Big E Langston burst onto the scene as a top talent in NXT with his power and charisma really helping him to catch on with audiences. However, his NXT Championship run was brought to an end without much storyline focus.
He lost to Bo Dallas and then rather than being built up to a big Takeover event, they did the title switch and then took Big E from the show. It was a shame as he could have done more in NXT, but WWE clearly had other plans.
1 Drew McIntyre
Drew McIntyre's return to WWE via NXT was a triumphant moment, but it never quite hit the levels of what his main roster spell did. However, that didn't mean that his NXT run ended in a satisfying manner.
Drew was injured and lost his NXT Championship, and most people expected him to return to feud with Andrade Cien Almas. However, he went straight into the main roster when he was fit enough to do so, forgetting his NXT storyline completely.