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NXT's penchant for pushing the bulk of its roster and finding ways to incorporate a number of its stars into multiple on-camera storylines at once is laudable. Whereas WWE's main roster has a habit of using the same limited number of talent every week in a monotonous barrage of repeat matches, the black and gold brand, by contrast, uses its once-a-week taping schedule to its advantage by alternating talent week to week, thereby preventing any single wrestler from becoming overexposed.
That's not to say some NXT Superstars don't get lost in the shuffle, though. Due to head honcho Triple H signing virtually every notable indie/global wrestler available, the developmental roster has gotten more packed than an inner-city subway at rush hour. This leaves signed talent, who were prominent in other promotions like Ring of Honor not long ago, off TV for months at a time whilst waiting for a spot to become available within the on-screen competition.
Fortunately, NXT's booking style tends to involve using wrestlers to the best of their abilities, building them up for the hope of future main roster success rather than tearing them down, so in theory, everyone currently signed should have some type of opportunity to eventually shine.
This list includes several of those hopefuls, who have all the potential in the world to do equally amazing things as their better-featured peers. These are the 5 top most underutilized stars in NXT.
#5 Shane Thorne
Shane Thorne, formerly of the talented tag team TM61, has recently found himself involuntarily becoming a singles wrestler as his ex-partner Nick Miller (aka Mikey Nicholls) was released from WWE at his own request months ago and returned to Japan, where the two Australian-born wrestlers performed before coming to NXT in Spring 2016.
TM61, who were known as The Mighty Don't Kneel outside WWE, never quite got off to a good start, having their name made fun of by NXT fans who double as Pokemon enthusiasts. They lost their first TV match and subsequently came up short in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic finals to the Authors of Pain, at Takeover: Toronto.
A knee injury that took Thorne out of action for a year made things much worse, and a comeback video documentary, heel turn, change in ring gear and name rebranding (as The Mighty) didn't seem to help them get over at all. Perhaps this was the impetus behind Nicholls' departure.
Nevertheless, Thorne is an immense in-ring talent, as proven in his excellent singles match against Roderick Strong back in the 2016 Dusty Cup. He absolutely deserves a push in NXT before being inevitably called up to perform for the tepid crowds of 205 Live.
Since rumor has it that Thorne is quietly dating Kairi Sane, maybe an NXT love storyline involving the two could be written. On-camera romance with the adorable Sane would certainly endear Thorne to the crowd at Full Sail.
#4 Xia Li
Xia Li, a Chinese-born martial arts exhibitionist, was signed to WWE as the sole woman among a slew of recruits from the world's largest country in 2017. She has since stood out as quite possibly the best of the recruits, several of whom have been released. Yet until recently, she failed to score any TV time outside two fairly impressive showings in the 2017-18 Mae Young Classic tournaments.
After recovering from an arm injury, the pint-sized Chongqing native trained at the Performance Center and worked the Florida house show loop until she was randomly placed in the Royal Rumble match in January. Finally, she was booked in a recent women's tag team bout on weekly NXT TV, but spent most of the match on the apron, and in the end, ate the pin from two arguably less talented wrestlers in Aliyah and Vanessa Borne.
Li's energetic ring entrance, natural charisma, and hard-hitting martial arts kicks make her perhaps the second best homegrown female talent in NXT, following Bianca Belair. Her short stature, limited English skills and lack of model looks might not make her ideal for WWE's sports entertainment focus, but her in-ring work is fairly smooth and her fierce persona is cool. She deserves more.
#3 Raul Mendoza
Raul Mendoza debuted in WWE as part of the much-lauded 2016 Cruiserweight Classic tournament but didn't appear as a regular part of the NXT roster until a year later. Having performed in an excellent first-round match against Brian Kendrick, there was no doubt the high-flying luchador would continue to impress crowds and fans in the black and gold brand.
And he did. Matches against Johnny Gargano, Aleister Black, EC3, Velveteen Dream and others gave him a high-profile platform to show off his skills, but he received no storylines or character development and following a couple of unsuccessful tag matches with newcomer Humberto Carrillo, he seems to have disappeared off the weekly show.
Mendoza's fast-paced, technical and aerial offense make him a standout prospect. Perhaps the only thing missing is English proficiency. There was a missed opportunity for him to do a match with Andrade Cien Almas before the former NXT Champion was called up to Smackdown, but with guys like Ricochet, Velveteen Dream, Montez Ford, Johnny Gargano, Stacey Erwin, and others still around, there's no doubt Mendoza could potentially put on some great performances at Full Sail.
#2 Deonna Purrazzo
One of the most respected indie women wrestlers today, New Jersey native Deonna Purrazzo had already been on WWE's radar long before being signed to NXT. Unfortunately, the attention she initially received from the company was limited and she only scored gigs in short NXT and Smackdown squash matches, and as a second-string alternate in the first Mae Young Classic.
However, with the rise in attention paid to Japan's World of Stardom promotion and the relaunch of Ring of Honor's women's division, Purrazzo increased her profile in just one year, giving WWE the incentive to sign her up ahead of the second MYC, which she was prominently featured in.
In recent months, she has unfortunately been relegated to obscurity as the NXT women's division has gotten crowded. Whilst The Virtuoso Purrazzo is a very good in-ring technician and has a pleasing look for television, she seems to possess a fairly quiet demeanor and lacks the larger-than-life charisma that helps other stars stand out. This may be the reason for her unexplained absence as of late, but it's likely she could overcome this shortcoming if given the opportunity.
#1 Street Profits
Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins' debut as "The Street Profits" was a bit of a head-scratcher, a per their pre-debut vignettes they seemed to be a carbon-copy of the shameful stereotypical tag team Cryme Tyme, who graced WWE TV back in 2006.
Since then, the SPs have proven to be closer to a Harlem Heat successor than a ripoff of a less-than-talented team with a criminal gimmick, and fans have wholeheartedly embraced their energetic sports jock personas.
Ford, the undisputed star of the team, possesses the looks, charm, and sheer athleticism to possibly make it as a singles star one day, and while Dawkins, who spent five years in developmental before the team debuted in late Summer 2017, may not be as impressive as his partner, he nevertheless plays the supportive secondary role well.
Still, with more than a year and a half of respectable NXT TV matches at Full Sail and large arenas under their belt and a proven ability to consistently engage crowds, they've yet to receive a tag team title match or appearance on the main Takeover card.
The most obvious explanation for this is that the tag team division has been stacked for the duration of the Street Profits' time in NXT, with Sanity, the Authors of Pain, the Undisputed Era and the War Raiders dominating the title scene over second-tier teams like Heavy Machinery, TM61 and Ford and Dawkins themselves.
Nevertheless, NXT producers likely recognize this lack of utilization as the 'Profits have been placated with the EVOLVE indie tag team titles in the interim. Hopefully one day soon, they'll finally get their just chance at the main NXT tag straps.
