5 NXT UK Superstars Who Could Breakout In NXT

Peter seems doing be doing okay in the States, who else could follow suit?

Source: WWE

NXT UK has been killing it on Wednesday nights since it’s inception in 2018. With ‘The Bruiserweight’ Pete Dunne leaving the infant brand in the very capable hands of WALTER, Dunne travelled across the pond to OG NXT to make a name for himself in front of a totally different audience. Of course, US fans have been exposed to ‘The Bruiserweight’ and his two British Strong Style pals, but they’ve never really been able to keep him long enough for him to make an impact in any of their title pictures.

Now that Dunne is a fully-fledged member of the NXT roster on USA, the sky’s the limit for the brummy-native to climb through the ranks. With this success story now able to inspire the rest of the NXT UK locker room, who else do we think worthy of a transition to the American branch of NXT?

Before any fellow NXT UK fanboys start jumping down our throats, we wouldn’t consider this a promotion or upgrade in any way. NXT UK is a fantastic breeding ground for UK based talent and is going through a very tricky process of establishing itself as a mainstream product. However, the issue that the roster faces is that once you’ve accomplished all you can within NXT UK, there’s nowhere for you to go from there. Where NXT talent can eventually be ‘called-up’ onto the main roster to varied success, NXT UK stars are kept somewhat relegated to the BritWres scene, which is by no-means a bad thing, but there’s always more for an aspiring wrestler to accomplish.

With this in mind, let’s have a look at five NXT UK superstars that we could see making the same jump as Pete Dunne in the near future. We’ve even made it interesting by not going for the obvious choice of WALTER.

 

1. Toni Storm

The NXT UK Women’s Division has gotten off the ground pretty well over the past year. With Rhea Ripley also making the jump over to NXT along with fellow championship alumni Pete Dunne, there’s plenty of chance for someone like Toni Storm to also leave the UK scene behind and strike up a career in NXT. Toni Storm recently dropped the NXT UK Women’s title to Kay Lee Ray in Cardiff, so in truth there’s not much left for her to do in NXT UK.

Piper Niven seems to be the next natural contender for the Women’s Championship, so Toni Storm could easily take this opportunity to leave the division in good hands. Toni has already been given enough exposure to the US audience as part of the second Mae Young Classic, not only competing in the tournament but winning the whole thing. Storm has also had several battles with current NXT Women’s Champion, Shayna Baszler, so there’s a ready-made feud waiting for her on arrival.

Storm has proved herself as one of the more popular female stars under the WWE umbrella, so why not pull the trigger and have her go all-in as part of NXT.

 

2. Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson and James Drake)

Source: WWE

There’s a reason the Grizzled Young Veterans are soon to be recognised as the world’s number one. Zack Gibson and James Drake make up one of the most despicable heel tag teams in all of professional wrestling, as they have a natural talent of turning any crowd against them, both in and out of the UK. Having already won the NXT UK Tag Team Championships and already clashed with the best that the NXT UK tag division has to offer, it’s time for GYV to seek new opportunities elsewhere.

NXT is the perfect place for Gibson and Drake to hone their skills as one of the best tag teams on the planet, giving them more of a diverse range of tag teams to work with and equally a new audience to aggravate. I’d love to see if a global audience would react the same way that the BritWres fans do to these guys.

Honestly, even if it’s just Zack Gibson that heads over to NXT, it could do wonders for the brand.

 

3.  Dave Mastiff

‘Bomber’ Dave Mastiff still has a lot to achieve on the NXT UK roster, but at the same time, Mastiff is taking a lot of big losses. He recently found himself on the losing end of a Last Man Standing match with Joe Coffey and has once again fallen back into the trend of squashing jobbers and having minor feuds with mid-carders. Mastiff is hitting somewhat of a glass ceiling, despite being a very capable athlete who could break through into the main event scene.

Perhaps a guy of his size and presence would be better suited to the body-centric world of WWE and what better place to forge his path than NXT in the US. Big Dave is one of the few powerhouses featured on NXT UK, having already feuded with the majority of those names, a big-match with WALTER is really the only thing left for him to put together.

I think seeing Mastiff tear it up with the likes of Keith Lee, Dominik Dijakovic and Damien Priest on NXT TV would be a treat for all involved.

 

4. Flash Morgan Webster

Source: WWE

‘The Modfather’ has become a widely-recognised name in the US thanks to his work in indie promotions like PWG. The NXT crowd would naturally welcome Flash Morgan Webster into the fray at Full Sail University. Flash could easily fit into the NXT Cruiserweight division, or break out into the North American/NXT Championship scenes. Flash is an eclectic character that you can’t help but find yourself drawn towards, so perhaps it’s time for him to spread his wings and fly the coop.

Morgan Webster currently holds the NXT UK Tag Team titles alongside Mark Andrews, another name who could make the jump across to NXT, but things seem to be winding down for the babyface tag team, who will be facing Gallus in coming weeks.

Flash had already had one outing on WWE programming as part of 205 Live during one of the main roster’s UK tours. WWE executives obviously see some value in Webster, so I suspect his name will show up at least a couple of times in WWE’s future. Maybe that should all start on NXT.

 

5. Ilja Dragunov

Ilja Dragunov has only just started to scratch the surface on NXT UK. His matches with WWE mainstays Cesaro and Kassius Ohno have started to get the mainstream world talking about the European assassin, but as I’m sure most BritWres fans will tell you, Ilja has a lot of potential ready to be tapped into. If this move were to happen, then I’d put at least another year into his NXT UK career before he jumps ship. Ilja has that special attraction vibe that could make him a big name in NXT UK’s future.

Dragunov could be another name that could transition nicely into either the Cruiserweight or major title divisions. Ilja would be a great opponent for some of NXT’s biggest stars – Lio Rush, Kushida and Roderick Strong would all be fun names to see match up against the Russian.

We all know how much WWE loves a good Russian villain, so who knows if we’re looking at the next Rusev here.

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