Top 5 Performers of WWE NXT 2018

NXT had another brilliant year, bringing in new talent after others were called up to the Main Roster
NXT had another brilliant year, bringing in new talent after others were called up to the Main Roster

What a cracking year it's been for WWE NXT. At the start of the year, Andrade 'Cien' Almas was the NXT Champion, the NXT Women's Champion was Ember Moon and the Undisputed Era had the tag team gold. Since then, only the Undisputed Era is still in NXT with Almas being called up to Smackdown Live and Ember Moon now competing on WWE Monday Night Raw. At the start of 20128, there was no NXT North American title, as the belt was first introduced in the lead up to Takeover: New Orleans.

Through the year, stars like Ricochet, War Raiders, EC3, Matt Riddle, Keith Lee, Punishment Martinez, Candace LaRae and more made their debut for the promotion, while talents like Almas, Moon, No Way Jose, Sanity, the Iiconics, Authors of Pain and Drew Mcintyre were called up to the main roster. While NXT has had so many roster changes, they have maintained a quality of the performances, and arguably gotten better than ever. With NXT receiving more 5 Star matches and rave reviews than the main roster and has put on solid Takeover events every single time.

The rankings are based on a weekly assessment of the top 3 performers of each week's NXT. The third best performer got 1 vote, the second got 2 votes and the performer of the week received 3 votes. Unfortunately, as the articles only started in August, the votes were only tallied from that point onwards. When the reviews began, Tommaso Ciampa had claimed the NXT title, Adam Cole was the NXT North American champion, Undisputed Era had regained the NXT Tag Team titles from Moustache Mountain and Shayna Baszler was still in her first reign of NXT women's title.


#5 Adam Cole (8 Points)

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What a year that Adam Cole has had since arriving in NXT, last August when he attacked a celebrating Drew McIntyre. Cole established himself as the leader of NXT's best stable, the Undisputed Era, with his cohorts Bobby Fish, Kyle O'Reilly and later Roderick Strong. Cole initially looked like he would challenge for the NXT title. However, the tact would change and at Takeover: New Orleans, Cole would win the ladder match to become the first ever NXT North American champion.

On the same night, Cole helped Kyle O'Reilly retain the tag team champions after the Undisputed Era were joined by Roderick Strong. Following the triumphs of Takeover: New Orleans, and with the services of Strong now added to the Undisputed Era's roster, allowed Cole to focus on defending his North American title.

This would lead to a battle between Cole's Undisputed Era against Ricochet and Pete Dunne, who would team up with the War Raiders. Cole ended the year promising that 2019 would see Undisputed Era covered in gold, only time will tell if his prediction comes true.

A highlight of 2018: Cole winning the 6 Man Ladder match for the North American title at Takeover: New Orleans.

Given that Cole seemed to make a statement that he was chasing the NXT title when he arrived at NXT, he was never really given a program with the belt. So when NXT announced that they would be crowning a North American champion, Cole was the perfect fit to take the first title run. Despite his relatively short time with the belt, his victory and defenses have been entertaining throughout and the belt has held its status with Adam Cole around it.

# 4 Tommaso Ciampa (9 Points)

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Current NXT Champion, Tommaso Ciampa comes in at number 4, having started the year on the sidelines. Upon his return, Ciampa renewed his feud with former #DIY tag team member and friend Johnny Gargano. Ciampa and Gargano's feud was intensely personal and drew in Gargano's real-life wife Candice LaRae, who made her NXT debut in 2018 as well.

After moving on from his feud with Gargano, Ciampa targetted the then NXT Champion, Aleister Black. Ciampa was able to unseat Black due to, unintentional, interference from Johnny Gargano. Ciampa has gone on to have entertaining title defenses against Gargano, Velveteen Dream and also Black himself since getting the title.

If he isn't delivering in the ring, Tommaso Ciampa is backstage delivering a promo to a camera by himself with his title, whom he has named "Goldie". Ciampa will look to carry on his stellar form and performances into 2019, and as long as his health holds up and he isn't called up to the main roster, he will be on the top of this list next year as well.

A highlight of 2018: Defeating Aleister Black for the NXT Title, and claiming "Goldie" for himself.

Despite starting the year injured, Ciampa quickly made up for lost time with his intense feud against Johnny Gargano. While the victory against Gargano in the Last Man Standing main event at Takeover: Chicago would have been sweet for him, his victory against Aleister Black would just probably pip it for his highlight of the year especially given how much affection he has for "Goldie".

# 2 Aleister Black (10 Points)

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The former NXT Champion, who defeated Andrade 'Cien' Almas for the title at Takeover: New Orleans, had a great year. Unfortunately for Black, he had a groin injury that kept him from wrestling for a large period at the end of the year. Marked in a storyline as having been ambushed, there was a long investigation into his attacker on NXT in his absence.

Black returned fantastically destroying anyone and everything in his path. With his first televised match on his return being a 4.75 star classic against Johnny Gargano. The two also backed it up on the last NXT episode of the season with a phenomenal steel cage match.

Black would potentially have finished higher in the rankings, had it not have been for the groin injury that sidelined him from July to November. Black is due to face Ciampa at Takeover: Phoenix in a Last Man Standing match.

A highlight of 2018: Absolving Johnny Gargano at Takeover: War Games of his sins.

Losing the title, being jumped by Johnny Gargano and spending a few months on the sideline with an injury would have made this a hard year for Aleister Black. However, his victory against Johnny Gargano at Takeover: War Games 2 were he claims to have absolved Johnny Gargano of his sins for attacking and injuring him would have been sweet. The high was, unfortunately, short-lived as Gargano got his revenge in a cage match against Black in December.

# 2 Ricochet (10 Points)

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In terms of debut years, Ricochet would arguably have had one of the best first years ever in either the WWE or NXT. His signing was announced by the WWE back in January and he appeared in the crowd at NXT's Takeover: Philadelphia. Ricochet's start to his time was innocuous, wrestling Fabian Aichner. However, at Takeover: New Orleans, Ricochet showed exactly why he had become such a highly sought after talent on the Independent scene. Using the ladder match as a springboard, Ricochet left his mark.

In the months after Takeover: New Orleans, Ricochet went on to feud with Adam Cole and the Undisputed Era, eventually defeating Cole for his North American title at Takeover: Chicago. He would then tangle with Adam Cole and the Undisputed Era again after winning the title, feuding with them all the way into War Games, where Ricochet teamed with UK champion Pete Dunne and the War Raiders.

There is hope that Ricochet's sophomore year will be just as good as his first year at NXT.

A highlight of 2018: NXT North American Championship against Tyler Breeze on NXT

It bears repeating, but Ricochet's debut year in NXT was something to behold as he went from hot feud to hot feud and has now ended the year having achieved his goal of becoming the NXT North American champion. While his victory over Adam Cole at Takeover: Chicago for the belt and his victory at War Games over Undisputed Era both would have been up there with Ricochet's top moments of the year.

It was his title defense against Tyler Breeze, where both men threw their all into the contest that was the highlight of the year. The reaction that they got from the NXT universe on Tyler's return, to the fact that this was one of Breeze's better matches in recent years to the handshake at the end, the match was almost perfect.

# 1 Johnny Gargano (12 Points)

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2018 was a year of "close but no cigar" for Johnny Gargano. Gargano started the year challenging Andrade 'Cien' Almas for the NXT Championships, before the return of his former tag team partner in Tommaso Ciampa. Gargano and Ciampa would trade wins in hard-hitting extreme contests throughout their months' long feud. After Gargano cost Aleister Black his NXT title against Ciampa, their feud escalated to be for the title.

In the final months of the year, Gargano had two great contests against Aleister Black, the first at Takeover: War Games 2 and the second a steel cage match on the last NXT episode of the year. Gargano also finished the year potentially reuniting with his former Tag Team partner in Tommaso Ciampa after the two hit their Tag Team finisher "Meet in the Middle" on Aleister Black to close out NXT for the year.

A highlight of 2018: Defeating Aleister Black in a Cage Match on NXT

Johnny Gargano had a lot of nearly moments this year as previously stated, he constantly failed to achieve his dream of being the NXT champion, despite having several opportunities for the belt. He also lost the feud to Tommaso Ciampa, despite winning their unsanctioned bout at Takeover: New Orleans. As well as his devastating loss to Aleister Black at Takeover: War Games 2. However, the year ended on a high note for Gargano, as he picked up the victory against Aleister Black in a cage match on the last NXT episode of the year.

In a rough year for Johnny Gargano, the win left him finishing the year with a heap of momentum behind him heading into 2019