WWE Stars to NXT?

5 years ago by Tempest

NXT house shows have recently featured surprise appearances by former NXT wrestlers and current WWE superstars.

Ticket sales have been the reason for bringing in main roster talent to bolster the shows. The idea is that the hope of a surprise appearance will garner more interest leading to higher ticket sales.

As the NXT house shows often feature matches comprised of performance center talent that has not been routinely showcased on the NXT television show, it is easy to understand why some shows in their regular markets have failed to draw as many fans as the company would like.

Tyler Breeze, The Revival, and Tye Dillinger have been among the returning superstars in recent weeks. Breeze appeared on the Jacksonville house show on May 18th where he defeated Marcel Barthel in the main event. Breeze answered an open challenge that Barthel had issued earlier in the night. The attendance for this event was roughly 350 people.

The Revival returned to challenge the Undisputed Era for the NXT Tag Team Championships where they were defeated by Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong. The show took place in Oklahoma City on May 17th.

The #UndisputedERA’s @KORcombat and @roderickstrong called out the locker room in #NXTOKC. It was quite a #Revival… #RAW’s @DashWilderWWE and @ScottDawsonWWE love a good fight! pic.twitter.com/20JVQvhPtn

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) May 18, 2018

Tye Dillinger made his return to NXT on May 26th in Orlando, Florida. Just as Breeze had done a week earlier, Dillinger answered the open challenge issued by Marcel Barthel and defeated him. After the match, Dillinger cut a promo stating that regardless if they end up on Raw or SmackDown Live, they are always NXT. The attendance for the show was approximately 450 people.

Breeze wrestled for NXT before being called up to the main roster in October 2015. Since then Breeze has been best known for his work as part of the comedy tag team Breezango alongside Fandango.

The Revival saw success in NXT, becoming the only two-time NXT Tag Team Champions before making their main roster debut the night after WrestleMania 33. Their run on the main roster has been marred by injuries as Dash Wilder suffered a fractured jaw and Scott Dawson suffered a ruptured bicep resulting in the duo being out of action until December 2017.

Dillinger made an appearance in the 2017 Royal Rumble match entering at the No. 10 slot to a huge ovation. He later officially debuted on SmackDown Live after WrestleMania 33.