NXT has been around for a little over ten years and there has been a lot of wrestlers than have come and gone. There are quite a few that has gone that I know WWE wish they could have back. Here are three wrestlers that I think WWE wish would’ve worked out.
The Authors of Pain (Akam and Rezar)
This is the only cheat that I will have on this list. This is a tag team that had an amazing run in the tag team division in NXT.
I think that WWE made a huge mistake not bringing their manager Paul Ellering to the main roster with them.
They were two wrestlers that even by the time they got called up, they were still very green. They had a great size and a menacing look that few wrestlers in any major company have.
Even though they were green, they had a number of great matches where they actually pulled their weight in the match.
They could’ve made the company a lot of money and probably would’ve still been one of the most dominate tag teams to this day.
They would’ve gotten better in the ring working with the tag teams that they had on the main roster during that time.
Velveteen Dream
Possibly the number one, biggest wrestler that they wished would’ve been different.
Velveteen is someone that had a little experience before he came to NXT. He is someone that actually loves wrestling and wanted to be a wrestler for a long time.
You can see the work that he did to improve in the ring. He grew by leaps and bounds from when he debuted to when he left.
He has superstar written all over him. He had a great size, a great physique, an amazing look, and most importantly, he oozed charisma. This is something that is very hard to teach someone and I feel like he had the potential to be in the same spot as Seth Rollins or Roman Reigns when he put the time in.
I think that if Velveteen Dream was still around now, he would have a higher chance to actually be the “guy” than wrestlers that they have now that would be considered the future including Carmello Hayes, Bron Breakker, and Austin Theory.
He was a big, but necessary loss for WWE.
Hideo Itami
For those that was around during the time that Hideo Itami was in NXT, he had a slightly higher fanfare around him than Shinsuke Nakamura did when he came.
Itami had the pressure of being WWE’s big Asian superstar. He was great in the ring, and the fans were behind him more than anyone at the time.
I think that if WWE had the chance, they probably wish that they would’ve kept Itami. Fast forward almost five years, they still don’t have their signature Asian superstar.
Nakamura was a success for the company overall, but I think that Itami had a higher ceiling.
Hideo got hurt multiple times and I can see how WWE and NXT thought that he was more trouble than he was worth.
If you don’t remember him or know who he was, go on YouTube and search for the first time that Itami used his signature move, the GTS that CM Punk used for years, in NXT and look at the crowd go crazy for him.
