While there are plenty of incredible talents still working their butts off on the “WWE NXT” roster, the developmental brand took a major hit this week, from call-ups to the main roster to a slew of post-WrestleMania releases on Friday. While head of “NXT” creative Shawn Michaels has been open about knowing these things happen often, and his stars aren’t meant to stick around for years, it still has to suck for him and everyone involved behind the scenes.
Not including the likes of Oba Femi, Je’Von Evans, and Trick Williams who were called up prior to WrestleMania, “NXT” has now lost Blake Monroe and Ricky Saints, who are set to debut on “SmackDown” on Friday, as well as Joe Hendry, Sol Ruca, Jacy Jayne, Fallon Henley, Lainey Reid, and Ethan Page. A majority of those stars are former champions on “NXT,” from Women’s North American champs to all the most recent holders of the NXT Championship.
Thinking of everyone called up over the last few months, “NXT” had taken one of the biggest hits to its roster in recent memory. Thankfully, the women’s roster remains strong, with the likes of champion Lola Vice (who herself may not be long for “NXT”), Tatum Paxley, Kendal Grey, Wren Sinclair, Jaida Parker, and more, but the men’s roster hasn’t been as deep as the women’s since the days of “NXT” Black & Gold. There’s going to be a lot of pressure on guys like current NXT Champion Tony D’Angelo, who returned with a completely revamped gimmick to end 2025, Keanu Carver and the Vanity Project, all who just were called up from developmental’s developmental, “WWE EVOLVE,” and North American Champion Myles Borne.
The releases were more so developmental talent who hadn’t debuted on Tuesday nights, or had only wrestled a handful of televised matches, but it was still be a hit to “NXT.” And don’t get me started on the fact that talents from the new season of “WWE LFG: Legends & Future Greats” were released prior to the season even premiering on Sunday. The season already had a new premise which wasn’t as exciting, and now, knowing that talent on the show have already been released, I don’t exactly think there’s much incentive to watch.
Written by Daisy Ruth
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