Robert Roode
Another former NXT Champion, Roode has recently been paired up with Dolph Ziggler on SmackDown. As one of the top heel stars when he was on the NXT brand, Roode returning to the brand would give Pat McAfee’s Kings of NXT stable a run for their money as top heels on the yellow brand. Roode could even join forces with former rival Roderick Strong, and The Undisputed Era, to battle the stable, due to Cole’s rivalry with McAfee.
Roode could even challenge Johnny Gargano for the NXT North American title or even go after the NXT Championship again, maybe even looking to become only the fourth superstar to hold the NXT Championship twice, along with Samoa Joe, Shinsuke Nakamura, and current champion Finn Balor. Roode can even enter into rivalries with some of the up-and-coming stars on the brand, with Cameron Grimes, Dexter Lumis, and Bronson Reed rising up the ranks.
Chad Gable
Ever since Jason Jordan’s retirement, Chad Gable hasn’t really done much of note on the main roster, outside of a partnership with Shelton Benjamin. Gable even went as Shorty G for a short time until reclaiming ‘Chad Gable’ earlier this year. What better way to reclaim his identity than to return to NXT and have a solo run, even after his successful tag team run, which included an NXT Tag Team title reign, alongside Jordan.
The NXT roster has changed drastically since Gable’s days on the brand, with fresh match-ups meeting him in abundance if he were to return to the brand. Matches with Finn Balor, Johnny Gargano, KUSHIDA, Pete Dunne and Adam Cole, along with the up-and-coming stars Dexter Lumis, Cameron Grimes, Leon Ruff, Santos Escobar and maybe even find a few friends to battle the Kings of NXT, if Gable were to return to the yellow brand, there would be a few different pathways he could take to rise up the ranks to possibly hold the NXT Championship one day.
With a few superstars making the jump from the main roster to NXT in the past year, there’s always a question of who is going to do it next. NXT has quite a large roster as is, but with the amount of talent WWE currently has, anyone could easily make the jump to try and jumpstart or revitalize their career and NXT is the perfect place to do just that.