Ranking every NXT Women's Champion on the main roster

Kairi Sane made her main roster debut earlier this week in an eight-woman tag team match, but just beneath the surface, there was an interesting commonality - the babyface side featured four former NXT Women's Champions. Paige's presence at ringside made five. Charlotte Flair also appeared earlier in the show, meaning that SmackDown has the presence of six of the seven NXT Women's Champions who have since come to the main roster.

That's what a stacked division looks like.

Nevertheless, as we've seen by now, winning a title in NXT doesn't guarantee success on the main roster. Truly, nothing does. The jury's still out on Sane. There is a reason to be worried. However, her sheer charisma and ring work, and partnership with Asuka and Paige should make for a relatively soft landing.

How successful have the other former champions gone on to become since they left Full Sail behind?

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#6 Ember Moon

Ember Moon debuted explosively last year, but unfortunately, hasn't gone on to do anything of note since then, not even landing a single title match. Ronda Rousey's presence on Raw probably had something to do with that. Regardless, a move to SmackDown this past Tuesday during the Superstar Shakeup was a good one for her. If Fox wants the show to have a sports-centric presentation, she fits perfectly, as opposed to Raw, with its "sports entertainment" format requiring a certain personal magnetism that Ember Moon struggles with.

With a new sports format, Ember Moon can do what she does best, which is, showcase her athleticism in the ring. She is one of the best workers in the women's division, and quite a bit better than many of the men as well, so hopefully she will get the chance to shine in this year.

As of now, however, Ember Moon is only potential. She's been the least successful of her counterparts on the main roster so far.

#5 Bayley

If I were Bayley, I'd be ready for a change too, because her main roster career has been an almost uninterrupted train wreck, which is a sad fate for arguably the most beloved NXT Women's Champion.

She won the Raw Women's Championship from Charlotte under dubious circumstances but went on to pin her at WrestleMania 33, which looked like it would signal good things to come.

It wasn't to be. Alexa Bliss made the move to Raw in the 2017 Superstar Shakeup and humiliated Bayley in one of WWE's worst feuds of the decade. She has never recovered. After meandering for a year in a bizarre feud/friendship angle with Sasha Banks, the two became the inaugural women's tag team champions, only to have their reign cut short.

Bayley is fast approaching the territory of Bray Wyatt in irrelevance, even getting booed in her SmackDown debut. While that isn't common, the cheers she used to get have been gone for a long time. Hopefully, she will make good on her word of "leaving the hugs behind" on Raw, because her character, more than almost anyone else, needs a makeover.

#4 Sasha Banks

Sasha Banks has won a lot of titles on the main roster, but we know how that always goes. Every time she's given the ball, she has the rug pulled out from under her almost immediately afterward.

She was arguably the most over performer in the company in 2016, but couldn't take advantage because of WWE's desire to bump up the number of Charlotte Flair's title reigns. 2017 and 2018 were both lost years for her.

And then, after spending a year lobbying for their creation and trying to get them over, she had the rug pulled out from under her yet again with the nascent tag team championships. Instead, WWE put them on a joke team like the IIconics.

If I were Sasha Banks, I'd be upset too. Her main roster run has paled in comparison to her barnstorming work as NXT Women's Champion in 2015.

#3 Asuka

In certain respects, Asuka has fallen prey to the same curse as Sasha Banks. Every time she's given the ball, she has the rug pulled out from under her. She too has been hampered by Charlotte Flair's obnoxious push. It's a long fall down from the undefeated juggernaut she was in NXT.

Asuka, however, has had bigger moments than Sasha Banks or Bayley, and more successful title defenses. She won the first women's Royal Rumble match, she won the first women's TLC match, and she made Becky Lynch, the hottest act in the company, tap out. She's also managed to stay over in ways that Sasha and Bayley have not, and unlike Bayley, managed to recover from her own horrendous feud with Carmella.

In certain respects, Asuka has teflon qualities when it comes to atrocious main roster booking. She can't get to the top and stay there, but she can't be totally destroyed, either.

We can only hope that carries over with her new tag team with Kairi Sane and that those qualities can be replicated by her partner.

#2 Paige

Paige had one of the most memorable debuts in history, ending AJ Lee's then-record Divas Championship reign in her very first main roster appearance on the night after WrestleMania 30.

That's how you book a star.

Paige won the Divas Championship two times and became one of the most beloved women of the decade, the forerunner of the "revolution" that would take place about 15 months after her debut. Her rivalries with the likes of the Bellas and AJ Lee were actually far friendlier to ratings than Becky Lynch's story this year.

Unfortunately, injuries and personal problems cut Paige's time on top short. She was never able to reach her potential as a full-time competitor in the ring, but during her short run, she reinvigorated a struggling women's wrestling scene and made a bigger impact than any of the preceding women on the list. Paige was indeed the original "anti-diva," the pioneer in both NXT and on the main roster.

#1 Charlotte Flair

Like it or hate it, no other former NXT Women's Champion comes close to the level of success that Charlotte Flair has had. WWE strapped the rocket to her from day one, giving her eight championship reigns in less than four years, and infamously inserting her into this year's WrestleMania main event.

One indeed suspects that, contrary to the above video, it had everything to do with her father, but no one denies that she has usually put on the matches befitting a push like hers, though the WrestleMania main event turned out to be a disappointment.

Charlotte Flair isn't going anywhere and her push isn't going to stop anytime soon. By the time her career is said and done, she'll probably amass a level of success that nobody else, past, present, or future, will possibly be able to match. As for her next accolade, look for her to win this year's women's Money in the Bank ladder match.